2002–03 British Basketball League season explained

2002–03 BBL season
League:	British Basketball League
Sport:	Basketball
Playoffs:	Roll of Honour
Conf1:	BBL
Conf1 Champ:	Sheffield Sharks
Conf2:	Play Off's
Conf2 Champ:	Scottish Rocks
Conf3:	National Cup
Conf3 Champ:	Brighton Bears
Conf4:	BBL Trophy
Conf4 Champ:	Chester Jets
Seasonslist:	List of British Basketball League seasons
Seasonslistnames:	British Basketball League
Prevseason Year:	2001–02
Nextseason Year:	2003–04

The 2002–03 BBL season was the 16th campaign in the history of the British Basketball League.

Teams

width=25%	Team	width=19%	City/Area	width=29%	Arena	width=12%	Capacity	width=15%	Last season
Birmingham Bullets	Birmingham	Aston Events Centre	2,000	5th (South)
Brighton Bears	Brighton	Brighton Centre & Burgess Hill Triangle	3,600 1,800	2nd (South)
Chester Jets	Chester	Northgate Arena	1,000	1st (North)
Essex Leopards	Brentwood	Brentwood Centre	2,000	4th (South)
Leicester Riders	Loughborough	Loughborough University	1,000	5th (North)
London Towers	London	Crystal Palace National Sports Centre	3,500	1st (South)
Milton Keynes Lions	Milton Keynes	Bletchley Centre	800	3rd (North)
Newcastle Eagles	Newcastle upon Tyne	Telewest Arena	6,500	3rd (North)
Scottish Rocks	Glasgow	Braehead Arena	4,000	4th (North)
Sheffield Sharks	Sheffield	Hallam FM Arena & Ponds Forge	8,500 1,600	2nd (North)
Thames Valley Tigers	Bracknell	John Nike Sports Centre	1,000	6th (South)

Notable occurrences

• Attracted by the opening of the brand-new 4,000-seat Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Edinburgh Rocks uprooted from their aging Meadowbank venue in Edinburgh and moved 45 miles west to Scotland's largest city Glasgow, and rebranded as the Scottish Rocks.^[1] The move received a mixed response from fans; whilst many said that the move would not work, the official supporters club backed the franchise's decision.^[2]
• Although based in Brentwood, Essex for the past two years, Greater London Leopards eventually rebranded the franchise as the Essex Leopards prior to the season starting.
• Due to a decreasing membership, the league abolished the Conference system it had imposed for the past three seasons and returned the regular single-league table set-up, with the top eight teams progressing to the play-offs.

BBL Championship (Tier 1)

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	%	Pts
1	Sheffield Sharks	40	33	7	0.825	66
2	Brighton Bears	40	30	10	0.750	60
3	Chester Jets	40	28	12	0.700	56
4	Thames Valley Tigers	40	26	14	0.650	52
5	Newcastle Eagles	40	25	15	0.625	50
6	Scottish Rocks	40	22	18	0.550	44
7	London Towers	40	19	21	0.475	38
8	Milton Keynes Lions	40	12	28	0.300	24
9	Birmingham Bullets	40	11	29	0.275	22
10	Essex Leopards	40	11	29	0.275	22
11	Leicester Riders	40	3	37	0.075	6

	= League winners
	= Qualified for the play-offs

Playoffs

Final

National League Conference (Tier 2)

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	%	Pts
1	Teesside Mohawks	22	21	1	0.955	42
2	Plymouth Raiders	22	18	4	0.818	36
3	Reading Rockets	22	16	6	0.727	32
4	Worthing Thunder	22	15	7	0.682	30
5	Manchester Magic	22	12	10	0.545	24
6	Kingston Wildcats	22	11	11	0.500	22
7	Sutton Pumas	22	11	11	0.500	22
8	Oxford Devils	22	11	11	0.500	22
9	Solent Stars	22	7	15	0.318	14
10	Ware Rebels	22	4	18	0.182	8
11	Hackney White Heat	22	3	19	0.136	6
12	Coventry Crusaders	22	3	19	0.136	6

	= League winners
	= Qualified for the play-offs

National Cup

Last 16

width=240	Team 1	width=240	Team 2	width=80	Score
		73-102
		82-85
		98-97
		63-88
		60-99
	Newcastle Eagles	78-80
		71-113
		84-98

Quarter-finals

width=240	Team 1	width=240	Team 2	width=80	Score
		94-98
		89-100 OT
		91-73
		84-111

Semi-finals

width=240	Team 1	width=240	Team 2	width=80	Score
		96-76
		80-84

Final

BBL Trophy

This season's BBL Trophy featured all 11 BBL teams plus one invited teams from the English Basketball League, the Teesside Mohawks to bring the total number of teams divided evenly. The First round saw all 12 teams split into four regionalised groups with the top finishing team advancing to the semi-finals.

Group stage

Northern Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Chester Jets	6	4	3	1	0.750
2.Sheffield Sharks	6	4	3	1	0.750
3.Leicester Riders	0	4	0	4	0.000

Southern Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Birmingham Bullets	6	4	3	1	0.750
2.Essex Leopards	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Milton Keynes Lions	2	4	1	3	0.250

Northern Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Newcastle Eagles	8	4	4	0	1.000
2.Scottish Rocks	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Teesside Mohawks	0	4	0	4	0.000

Southern Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.London Towers	4	4	2	2	0.500
2.Thames Valley Tigers	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Brighton Bears	4	4	2	2	0.500

Final

Statistics leaders

Category	Player	Stat
Points per game	Kenny Gregory (Chester Jets)	24.7
Rebounds per game	David Fisher (Essex Leopards)	10.5
Assists per game	John Thomas (Chester Jets)	7.3

Notes and References

1. News: Mark Woods . Rocks leave Edinburgh behind . 2009-11-28 . BBC Sport . 2002-07-04.
2. News: Gordon Scott . Rocks fan club would back team in Glasgow . 2009-11-28 . Edinburgh Evening News . 2002-06-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130225062938/http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/evening-news-edinburgh-scotland/mi_7832/is_2002_June_19/rocks-fan-club-team-glasgow/ai_n33162021/ . 2013-02-25 . dead .