Baltic Basketball League

For women's league, see Baltic Women's Basketball League.
Baltic Basketball League
SportBasketball
Founded2004
Ceased2018
No. of teams14
CountryEstonia
Latvia
Lithuania
ContinentEurope
Last
champion(s)		Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės
(1st title)
Most titlesLithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
(5 titles)
TV partner(s)Viasat Sport Baltic
Official websitebbl.net

Baltic Basketball League (BBL) was the Baltic states basketball league founded in 2004. The league mainly focused on teams from the Baltic states, but teams from Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland, and Belarus have participated in the Baltic League. After the 2017–18 season, the league announced that it was suspending its operations.[1]

History

For the 2015–16 season, the format of the BBL included a regular season composed by two groups of seven teams that competed in a round-robin competition system, with each team facing their opponent twice. The teams qualified for the eight-finals based on their ranking after the regular season. Out of the five teams who participated in FIBA Europe Cup competition – Ventspils, Juventus, Šiauliai, Tartu Ülikool/Rock and Pieno žvaigždės – the latter three did not qualify for the FIBA Europe Cup playoffs and thus started playing at the start of the BBL playoffs, seeded respectively first, second and third based on last season's results.[2] All play-off games are played in home-and-away series.

Baltic Basketball League also featured a Baltic Basketball League Cup competition before the beginning of the regular season since 2008.

Teams

These are the teams that participated in 2017–18 season:

Group Team City, Country Arena Head coach
Group A Estonia AVIS Rapla Rapla, Estonia Sadolin Sports Hall Estonia Aivar Kuusmaa
Estonia Pärnu Sadam Pärnu, Estonia Pärnu Sports Hall Estonia Heiko Rannula
Latvia Betsafe/Liepāja Liepāja, Latvia Liepāja Olympic Center Latvia Agris Galvanovskis
Latvia Jūrmala Jūrmala, Latvia Jūrmala State Gymnasium Latvia Mārtiņš Gulbis
Lithuania Šiauliai Šiauliai, Lithuania Šiauliai Arena Lithuania Antanas Sireika
Lithuania Vytautas Prienai/Birštonas, Lithuania Prienai Arena Lithuania Virginijus Šeškus
Belarus Tsmoki-Minsk II Minsk, Belarus The team will play away Belarus Rostislav Vergun
Group B Estonia University of Tartu Tartu, Estonia University of Tartu Sports Hall Estonia Priit Vene
Estonia TLÜ/Kalev Tallinn, Estonia Kalev Sports Hall Estonia Gert Kullamäe
Estonia TTÜ Tallinn, Estonia TTÜ Sports Hall Estonia Rait Käbin
Latvia Valmiera/ORDO Valmiera, Latvia Vidzeme Olympic Center Latvia Kristaps Valters
Latvia Ogre Ogre, Latvia Ogre 1st Secondary School Latvia Arturs Visockis-Rubenis
Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys, Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės Arena Lithuania Gediminas Petrauskas
Kazakhstan Barsy Atyrau Atyrau, Kazakhstan The team will play away Serbia Aleksandar Vrzina

Baltic League champions

Elite Division champions

Season Champion Runner Up 1st leg 2nd leg Host City
2004–05 Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas Lithuania Lietuvos rytas 64–60 – Lithuania Vilnius
2005–06 Lithuania Lietuvos rytas Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas 86–74 – Estonia Tallinn
2006–07 Lithuania Lietuvos rytas Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas 81–77 – Latvia Rīga
2007–08 Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas Lithuania Lietuvos rytas 86–84 – Lithuania Šiauliai
2008–09 Lithuania Lietuvos rytas Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas 97–74 – Estonia Tartu
2009–10 Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas Lithuania Lietuvos rytas 73–66 – Lithuania Vilnius
2010–11 Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas Latvia VEF Rīga 75–67 – Lithuania Kaunas
2011–12 Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas Lithuania Lietuvos rytas 74–70 – Lithuania Šiauliai
2012–13 Latvia Ventspils Lithuania Prienai 91–69 70–73 Lithuania Prienai & Latvia Ventspils
2013–14 Lithuania Šiauliai Lithuania Prienai 62–57 78–66 Lithuania Prienai & Lithuania Šiauliai
2014–15 Lithuania Šiauliai Latvia Ventspils 68–70 88–80 Latvia Ventspils & Lithuania Šiauliai
2015–16 Lithuania Šiauliai Estonia Tartu Ülikool/Rock 74–81 102–76 Estonia Tartu & Lithuania Šiauliai
2016–17 Lithuania Vytautas Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės 85–88 89–74 Lithuania Prienai & Lithuania Pasvalys
2017–18 Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės Latvia Jūrmala 98–80 76–68 Latvia Jūrmala & Lithuania Pasvalys

Challenge Cup champions

Season Champion Runner Up 1st leg 2nd leg Host City
2004–05 Lithuania Panevėžys Latvia Bumerangs/Gulbene/ASK 87–74 – Lithuania Panevėžys
2007–08 Lithuania Nevėžis Latvia VEF Rīga 81–68 – Latvia Rīga
2008–09 Lithuania Sakalai Latvia VEF Rīga 84–77 – Lithuania Utena
2009–10 Sweden Norrköping Dolphins Lithuania Rūdupis 77–87 107–72 Lithuania Prienai & Sweden Norrköping
2010–11 Lithuania Juventus Lithuania KK Kaunas 87–81 89–72 Lithuania Kaunas & Lithuania Utena
2011–12 Lithuania Lietkabelis Estonia Rakvere Tarvas 89–74 71–82 Estonia Rakvere & Lithuania Panevėžys

BBL Cup winners

Season Winner Finalist Score Host City
2008 Lithuania Lietuvos rytas Latvia Barons/LMT 80–78 Latvia Rīga
2009 Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas Lithuania Lietuvos rytas 83–78 Lithuania Kaunas
2010 Estonia Tartu Ülikool/Rock Lithuania Lietuvos rytas 61–57 Estonia Tartu
2011 Latvia VEF Rīga Estonia Tartu Ülikool 95–69 Estonia Tartu
2012 Estonia Rakvere Tarvas Latvia Liepāja/Triobet 80–71 Estonia Rakvere
2013 Lithuania Nevėžis Estonia Tartu Ülikool/Rock 82–64 Lithuania Kėdainiai
2014 Latvia Liepāja/Triobet Estonia Tartu Ülikool/Rock 74–61 Latvia Liepāja
2015 Not held
2016 Latvia Valmiera/ORDO Latvia Ventspils 66–64 Latvia Valmiera
2017 Not held

Baltic League awards

Regular season MVP

Season Player Team
2004–05 United States Tanoka Beard Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2005–06 Lithuania Darjuš Lavrinovič Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2006–07 United States Travis Reed Estonia Kalev/Cramo
2007–08 Serbia Vladimir Štimac Latvia Valmiera
2008–09 Lithuania Paulius Jankūnas Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2009–10 United States Alex Renfroe Latvia VEF Rīga
2010–11 Belarus Artsiom Parakhouski Latvia VEF Rīga
2011–12 Lithuania Valdas Vasylius Lithuania Šiauliai
2012–13 Lithuania Gediminas Orelik Lithuania Prienai
2013–14 United States Travis Leslie Lithuania Šiauliai

Finals MVP

Season Player Team
2004–05 United States Tanoka Beard Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2005–06 United States Fred House Lithuania Lietuvos rytas
2006–07 United States Kareem Rush Lithuania Lietuvos rytas
2007–08 United States DeJuan Collins Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2008–09 United States Chuck Eidson Lithuania Lietuvos rytas
2009–10 United States Marcus Brown Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2010–11 Lithuania Tadas Klimavičius Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2011–12 Lithuania Mantas Kalnietis Lithuania Žalgiris Kaunas
2012–13 Latvia Jānis Timma Latvia Ventspils
2013–14 United States Travis Leslie Lithuania Šiauliai
2014–15 Lithuania Gintaras Leonavičius Lithuania Šiauliai
2015–16 Lithuania Rokas Giedraitis Lithuania Šiauliai
2016–17 Lithuania Tomas Delininkaitis Lithuania Vytautas
2017–18 Canada Jahenns Manigat Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės

Statistical leaders

Statistics include regular season and play-off games

Points per game

Rebounds per game

Assists per game

See also

References

  1. ^ Urbonas, Donatas (13 June 2018). "Merdėjantis BBL turnyras stabdomas, LKL mąsto apie naują lygą". LRT.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Triobet BBL Play-Off pairs confirmed". Baltic Basketball League. February 3, 2016.