The 1995–96 BBL season was known as the

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...

League for sponsorship reasons. The league featured a total of 13 teams, playing 36 games each. The division retained the same thirteen teams as the previous year after the BBL rejected an application from Crystal Palace who had sealed the National League Division One (the second tier) title. The main change saw the Sunderland Scorpions renamed the Newcastle Comets due to a change of franchise and venue, their new home would be in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

until the newly built

Newcastle Arena The Newcastle Arena (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Utilita Arena) is an indoor arena in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Owned and operated by ASM Global, the naming rights are currently held by Utilita Energy. Ha ...

opened on 18 November. The Manchester Giants also had a new home at the

Nynex Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Prior to the opening of Co ...

and the sport was boosted by the return of TV coverage by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

. London Towers clinched a treble, winning the

National Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

, 7 Up Trophy and finishing top of the regular season standings. They were defeated in the Championship Play-off final by

Birmingham Bullets The Birmingham Bullets were a British professional basketball team from Birmingham, England who competed in the British Basketball League (BBL). The club was founded in 1974 as Coventry Granwood before moving to Birmingham in 1980 as part of the ...

.BBL Media Guide 2003/04, page 11

Budweiser League Championship (Tier 1)

Final standings

Playoffs

Quarter-finals

(1) London Towers vs. (8) Thames Valley Tigers (2) Sheffield Sharks vs. (7) Worthing Bears (3) Birmingham Bullets vs. (6) Derby Storm (4) Leopards vs. (5) Manchester Giants

Semi-finals

Final

National League Division 1 (Tier 2)

Final standings

One point deducted *

Sainsbury's Classic Cola National Cup

Fourth round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

7 Up Trophy

Group stage

Northern Group

Southern Group

Chester finished ahead of Doncaster by having the best head-to-head record between the teams. London, Manchester, Sheffield and Thames Valley all received a bye into Quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals

Chester Jets vs. Birmingham Bullets Manchester Giants vs. Sheffield Sharks Thames Valley Tigers vs. London Towers Worthing Bears vs. Derby Storm

Semi-finals

London Towers vs. Birmingham Bullets Worthing Bears vs. Sheffield Sharks

Final

Seasonal awards

* Most Valuable Player: Tony Dorsey (

) * Coach of the Year: Kevin Cadle ( London Towers) * All-Star Team: ** Tony Dorsey (

) ** Karl Brown (

Leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

) **

Steve Bucknall Steven Lee Bucknall (born 17 March 1966) is a retired English professional basketball player, and former head coach of British Basketball League (BBL) expansion franchise London Capital. A and shooting guard, Bucknall was the third English ...

( London Towers) ** Todd Cauthorn (

Sheffield Sharks The Sheffield Sharks, currently known as B.Braun Sheffield Sharks for sponsorship reasons, are a professional basketball team from the city of Sheffield, England. The Sharks compete in the Super League Basketball and play their home matches at ...

) ** Roger Huggins (

) ** LaKeith Humphrey ( Derby Storm) ** Colin Irish (

Worthing Bears Brighton Bears were a British basketball team based in Brighton, Sussex. From 1984 to 1999 the club was known as the Worthing Bears and was based in the town of Worthing, 12 miles west of Brighton. The Bears played in the top-flight British Bas ...

) ** Danny Lewis ( London Towers) ** Mark Robinson ( Manchester Giants) ** Tony Windless ( London Towers)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1995-96 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...