The International Basketball League (IBL) was a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

featuring teams from the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The IBL also sometimes featured teams from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

which temporarily relocated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for the IBL season. The IBL season typically ran from the end of March through July.

History

Founded by

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

area sports promoter Mikal Duilio, the league featured rules designed to create a fast-paced, high-scoring brand of

. Duilio first began planning for the league with a series of test games in Portland and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in November 2003. These games featured a mixture of traditional college and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

rules, plus two rules created specifically for the league: * The "Immediate Inbound" Rule: After a made basket, the referee threw the ball to a nearby player from the team which had been scored on, instead of a player throwing in the ball from under the basket, to eliminate wasted time. * A 22-second shot clock was used instead of the NBA's 24-seconds. A defensive non-shooting foul or kicked ball reset it to 12. The test games proved popular and resulted in the founding of the IBL in August 2004. Founded with eight teams, the league expanded to 17 by the start of the season in April 2005. Each team played approximately 20 regular season games, most of them centered on their home region, with the teams with the two best records playing in a championship game at the end of the season. The

Battle Creek Knights The Battle Creek Flight are a team in the Independent Basketball Association (IBA) located in Battle Creek, Michigan. They previously played in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) and in the International Basketball League. The team was known ...

won the inaugural title by going undefeated in the regular season and beating the

Dayton Jets The Dayton Jets were a team in the International Basketball League based in Dayton, Ohio. The team made the championship game their first year. In the team's first season, the Jets were coached by former Ohio State University standout Mark Baker. ...

in the finals. In the league's first year, the up-tempo rules resulted in the average team scoring 126.9 points per game, nearly 30 points more than the NBA team average in 2004-05, and slightly higher than the NBA record for points per game by a team in a single season, set by the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

in 1981-82. In 2010, the league launched a winter season which saw nine different teams compete. Four teams played an entire schedule and thus made them eligible for the playoffs. In July 2011, Duilio sold the league to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, businessman Bryan Hunter. Sharleen Graf was appointed as the league's new commissioner. In March 2014 the IBL ceased operation as an independent entity and combined with the

West Coast Basketball League The West Coast Professional Basketball League, often abbreviated to the WCBL, was an American professional men's spring basketball minor league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also k ...

(WCBL). Teams were split into an 'International Conference' and 'Continental Conference' based on geography.

Teams

Joined other leagues

Akron Cougars The Akron Cougars are a professional men's minor league basketball team, members of the upstart Universal Basketball League, based in Akron, Ohio. 2006 Season The Cougars formed in 2005 as the Cuyahoga Falls Cougars (playing at Cuyahoga Falls ...

(joined the Universal Basketball League. The league folded before the first season.) *

(joined the

Independent Basketball Association The Independent Basketball Association (IBA) was a semi-professional men's basketball league that began play in the fall of 2011. The six charter members were Battle Creek Knights, Chicago Redline, Gary Splash, Kankakee County Soldiers, Lake Count ...

) * Dayton Air Strikers (rejoined the

Premier Basketball League The Premier Basketball League, often abbreviated to the PBL, is an American professional men's basketball minor league that began play in January 2008. The league folded after the 2017 season. It was announced that the league would be revived un ...

) *Gary Splash (joined the

* Holland Blast (joined the

) * Lake County All-Stars (joined the

) * Lansing Capitals (joined the

) *

Kankakee County Soldiers The Kankakee County Soldiers was a semi-professional basketball team of the Independent Basketball Association (IBA). For their first five seasons (2007-11), the Soldiers played in the International Basketball League (IBL). In October 2011 tea ...

(left to form the

) *

Salem Stampede The Salem Soldiers were a basketball team from Salem, Oregon that played in the International Basketball League from 2005–07 and in 2012. Originally the Salem Stampede, they played home games in the Salem Armory, which seats 3,000 for basketbal ...

(joined the

National Athletic Basketball League The National Athletic Basketball League (NABL) was a men's semi-professional basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. The league was founded by Nathan Mumm and Joe Becerra. The NABL was an owner controlled leagu ...

) *

Santa Barbara Breakers The Santa Barbara Breakers are a pro minor league basketball team that played in the West Coast Professional Basketball League (WCBL) and the (IBL). The team played their home games on the campus of Santa Barbara City College. History The Break ...

(joined the

West Coast Pro Basketball League The West Coast Professional Basketball League, often abbreviated to the WCBL, was an American professional men's spring basketball minor league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. It operated from 2007 to 2013. Teams Fina ...

) * Snohomish County Explosion (joined the

) * Washington Raptors (joined the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

) * West Virginia Wild (joined the National Professional Basketball League, then the

)

Teams history

Champions

Wins by club

Notable people

Commissioners

* Mikal Duilio (2004–July 2011) * Sharleen Graf (July 2011 – 2014)

Players

Toby Bailey John Garfield "Toby" Bailey (born November 19, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He is currently a sports agent. College career Bailey played four years of college basketball at UCLA, being part of the Bruins squad th ...

, former UCLA player and NCAA Champion; NBA player *

Tim Hardaway Timothy Duane Hardaway Sr. (born September 1, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. Hardaway played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets a ...

, former

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

star * David Jackson, former NBA and Euroleague player; former Oregon Duck * Shawn Kemp, former

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

star *

Lamond Murray Lamond Maurice Murray Sr. (born April 20, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Murray was selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1994 NBA draft after a college career at the University of California a ...

, 13-year NBA veteran *

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding ...

, former

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

player and

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

member *

Bryon Russell Bryon Demetrise Russell (born December 31, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player. During a National Basketball Association (NBA) career that spanned from 1993 to 2006, he played for the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and ...

, former

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

star *

Fred Vinson Frederick "Fred" Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890 – September 8, 1953) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to ...

, former

player and current NBA Assistant Coach *

Grayson Boucher Grayson "The Professor" Scott Boucher (born June 10, 1984) is an American streetball player, actor, and former semi-professional basketball player. He is most known for playing on the highly stylized, international AND1 Mixtape Tour; he has also ...

American street ball player

Coaches

* Rob Ridnour, head coach of the

Bellingham Slam The Bellingham Slam are a semi-professional basketball team that formerly competed for seven seasons in the International Basketball League. Before joining the IBL, they played two seasons in the American Basketball Association. They were original ...

and father of

guard

Luke Ridnour Lukas Robin Ridnour (born February 13, 1981) is an American retired professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association (NBA). High school career Ridnour was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and grew up in Blaine, Washington. His fa ...

* Logan Vander Velden, head coach of the

and former

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

playerVander Velden takes the helm in Battle Creek
, IBLHoopsOnline.com, 24 October 2006, International Basketball League, retrieved 27 December 2007

Final regular season standings

References

External links

Official league website
{{IBL Teams, state=expanded Basketball leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 2004 2004 establishments in the United States 2014 disestablishments in the United States Sports leagues disestablished in 2014