The 2008–09 BBL season was the 22nd campaign in the history of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

(BBL), which commenced on 14 September 2008 with the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

. The regular season began a week later with 12 teams competing, though a line-up change saw the Birmingham Panthers withdraw and fold during close season and the inclusion of

Worthing Thunder The Worthing Thunder are an English professional basketball team based in Worthing, West Sussex. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). Founded in 1999 as the Worthing Rebels after the Worthing Bears had relocated to Bri ...

from the

English Basketball League The National Basketball League, or NBL for short, is a league competition representing semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 4 on the British basketball pyramid, in line with the Scottish B ...

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Playing in the top-tier British Basketball League and holding the franchise for Tyne & Wear, they are the most successful team in the League's histor ...

continued their dominance of Britain's basketball scene, scooping up the League title, the Play-off crown and the

BBL Trophy The British Basketball League Trophy, often shortened to the BBL Trophy, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripher ...

, beating rivals

Guildford Heat The Surrey Scorchers are an English professional basketball team based in Guildford, Surrey, that compete in the British Basketball League. The team was established in 2005 as the Guildford Heat by fans of former British Basketball League te ...

71-83 at the

Guildford Spectrum Guildford Spectrum is a leisure complex in Guildford, Surrey, England. Owned by Guildford Borough Council, it was opened on 23 February 1993 at a cost of £28 million. It is the home of ice hockey teams the Guildford Flames and the Guildford Pho ...

. After a promising rookie season for

Everton Tigers The Mersey Tigers were a professional basketball team based in the city of Liverpool, England. The club was established in 2007 as a start-up franchise of the British Basketball League, the country's elite competition. The Tigers started compe ...

in 2007–08, the Merseyside team came of age in their sophomore year, finishing as runners-up in the League and the play-offs whilst entering the record books for their 103-49 win in the

BBL Cup The British Basketball League Cup, often shortened to the BBL Cup, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripheral c ...

Final against

Plymouth Raiders The Plymouth Raiders was a professional basketball team based in Plymouth, England. The team competed in the British Basketball League, the country's premier basketball competition. The club was founded in 1983 through a merger between two lo ...

, the biggest winning margin (54 points) in BBL history and lowest ever score conceded in a Final. This season also saw the return of the BBL All-Star game, which was played as a warm-up to the play-off Grand Final. Two select-teams – the British All-Stars and the Rest of the World All-Stars – were pitted together using a selection of players from across the League, with the Rest of the World team narrowly winning 117-124.

Teams

Notable occurrences

* Following a disastrous rookie campaign and lack of investment the Birmingham Panthers franchise folded during the close season and would not return for the 2008–09 season. * The gap vacated by Panthers was subsequently occupied by

who stepped up from the

Division 1. Though their application was accepted before the Panthers folded, Worthing were one of two South-coast franchises bidding for a place in the BBL, with an unsuccessful bid coming from

Brighton Cougars The Brighton Cougars are an English basketball club from the city of Brighton. The Cougars play at Dorothy Stringer School and attract a broad-based membership of boys and girls from five years old through to adult men and women. History ...

. * The second edition of the

saw

sweep away the honours yet again with a closely fought two-game series against last season's

winners

Milton Keynes Lions London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in Stratford, East London, England, and compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. The team was originally founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead ...

. Heat ran out victors with a 159-149 aggregate score. *

BBL Championship (Tier 1)

Final standings

Playoffs

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Cup Winners' Cup

The

was contested between the winners of the BBL Cup and BBL Trophy from the previous season. Guildford were winners of the Trophy and Milton Keynes were winners of the Cup. The tournament was played over two-legs – one at each home arena – and the winner decided by a total aggregate score from both games.

First leg

Second leg

win 159-149 on aggregate scoring.

EBL National League Division 1 (Tier 2)

Final standings

EBL National League Division 2 (Tier 3)

Final standings

BBL Cup

Of the 12 competing teams in this season's

, eight entered into the First Round while the top-four ranked teams from last season's Championship –

and

– received byes into the quarter-finals, where they would also receive home-court advantage.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals 1st leg

Semi-finals 2nd leg

win 162-142 on aggregate and

win 202-198 on aggregate.

Final

BBL Trophy

The First Round of the

uses its usually round-robin format with the 12 competing teams divided into four regionalised groups with the winner of each group then advancing to a two-legged Semi-final encounter and progress to the Final being determined by a total aggregate score.

Group stage

Group 1 Group 3 Group 2 Group 4

Semi-finals 1st leg

Semi-finals 2nd leg

win 187-161 on aggregate and

win 176-159 on aggregate.

Final

All-Star Game

Seasonal awards

* Most Valuable Player:

Trey Moore Warren Neal “Trey” Moore III (born October 2, 1972), is a former American professional baseball pitcher. He pitched parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), between and , for the Montreal Expos and Atlanta Braves. He also play ...

(

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

) * Coach of the Year:

Rob Paternostro Robert Paternostro (born 16 January 1973) is an American professional basketball coach. He is head coach of the Leicester Riders in the British Basketball League. High school career Paternostro went to Holy Cross High School in Waterbury, Conne ...

(

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

) * All-Star First Team: **

(

) ** Andre Smith ( Everton) ** Keonta Howell (

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

) ** Robert Yanders ( Scots Rocks) ** Tommy Swanson (

) * All-Star Second Team: ** Mike Martin (

) ** Josh Gross ( Everton) **

Andrew Lasker Andrew "Drew" Lasker (born November 20, 1982) is an American professional basketball player who played for the Newcastle Eagles in the British Basketball League (BBL). Born in Katy, Texas, he attended Point Loma Nazarene University from 2002 to ...

(

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

) ** Anthony Paez (

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

) **

Chris Sanders Christopher Michael Sanders (born March 12, 1962) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, illustrator, and voice actor. His credits include ''Lilo & Stitch'' (2002) and ''How to Train Your Dragon'' (2010), both of which he co-wrote and ...

(

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 British Basketball League season British Basketball League seasons 1

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...