National Superior Basketball
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| National Superior Basketball | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sport | Basketball |
| Founded | 1933 |
| Motto | "Aqui si se juega"' (Here its really played) |
| No. of teams | 12 for the 2008 Season (13 in the 2007 season) |
| Country(ies) | Puerto Rico |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Santurce Crabbers |
| Official website | www.bsnpr.com |
National Superior Basketball —or Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) in Spanish— is the main Puerto Rican men's basketball league. It currently has 12 teams, but has had many in several cities of the island. The league was established in 1932 producing players that have distinguished in leagues like the NBA, European Leagues, and others.
Each year, the regular season is played to a length of either 30 or 33 games per team. The regular season is followed by a round robin pitting the best 8 teams of the season, after which the best four teams start the semi-final series, to be played to a best of seven games. The season concludes with the finals, played also, to a best of seven games.
The San Germán Athletics are the current leaders in all time championships with fourteen. The Bayamón Cowboys have thirteen, and the Ponce Lions have twelve.
Contents |
[edit] History
The BSN was a struggling league economically until the 1980s, when, with Genaro 'Tuto' Marchand as President, an explosion of basketball popularity happened all over Puerto Rico. Basketball overtook baseball as the Puerto Rican fans' second favorite sport after boxing at that time.
The fact that WAPA-TV Channel 4 transmitted six games a week for the whole island to see, was a major contributor to this change in popularity. These games were shown Sundays at 2 p.m., Sundays at 9 p.m., Wednesday nights at 9, Friday nights at 9, and Saturdays at 2 p.m. and at 9 p.m..
During that time, other legends followed in the footsteps of Juan "Pachin" Vicens (Named Greatest Basketball Player in the World at the Basketball World Championship, held in Santiago, Chile, 1959). Among those younger stars, various bright stars soon emerged, such as Mario 'Quijote' Morales, Raymond Dalmau, Jose 'Piculin' Ortiz, Jerome Mincy, Georgie Torres, Angelo Cruz, Angel 'Cachorro' Santiago, the late Federico 'Fico' Lopez and Ruben Rodriguez showcased their talents to all of Puerto Rico's TV viewers and game goers.
After Hetin Reyes took the league over there were economic problems, but in part this is due to the rise in the cost of living. Nevertheless, the league continues to operate with 13 franchises but is looking at the future with optimism.
Currently, the leagues games are showcased on Puerto Rico's TUTV television channel.
Although some conssesions have been made, even offering Santurce fans free rides on the Tren Urbano train system so that they can attend away games at Bayamon, the league continued suffering monetary loss in 2005, and the basketball tournament was drastically reduced to only nine competing teams. In order to try to attract more fans to the venues in which the tournament is being played.
For the 2007 Season, the Morovis team moved to Fajardo and two teams joined back the league, Mayagüez Indians and Carolina Giants.
[edit] 2008-present
Prior to the inaguration of the 2008 season, Henry Neumann rennounced the president's chair and entered politics. Felix "Felo" Rivera, at the moment owner of the Caguas Creoles was selected to suceed him. Rivera debuted as president on September 22, 2007, when he presided a reunion with most of the league's staff and other members of the sports community in Puerto Rico.[1] The reunion extended to ten hours and served primarly as a ceremony to officially present him as the BSN president.[1] Several changes to the league's rules were discussed, with two being adopted. The first one being a 50% penalty to franchises with payrolls larger than the $500,000 top.[1] This had been approved before in 2004 and only Santurce and Ponce failed to meet the salary top, however it was abandoned following the conclusion of that season. The main difference was that in the new rule the money that the league received with the penalty would be awarded to teams that dodn't violate the top.[1] The second rule approved was that restrictions on second "reforce" players were dropped, noting that the quality of inmigrant players was supposed to rise.[1] In the reunion the league announced that the 2008 tournament would be inagurated on March 1, 2008, earlier than in previous years. When September concluded Miguel Laborde was replaced by Juan Trinidad as the BSN's tournament director.[1]
[edit] Teams
| Division | Team | City | Colors | Arena | Founded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro Division | Bayamón Cowboys | Bayamón | Blue, White | Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum | 1930 | |
| Carolina Giants | Carolina | Red,White | Guillermo Angulo Coliseum | |||
| Fajardo Cariduros | Fajardo | Red, Blue | Tomas Dones Coliseum | |||
| Guaynabo Conquistadores | Guaynabo | Blue, Silver | Mario Morales Coliseum | |||
| Humacao Grays | Humacao | Yellow, Green, Red | Emilio E. Huyke Coliseum | |||
| Santurce Crabbers | Santurce | White, Orange, Blue | José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum | |||
| Isla Division | Caguas Creoles | Caguas | Red, Black, White | Héctor Solá Besares Coliseum | 1976 | |
| Arecibo Captains | Arecibo | Blue, Yellow | Manuel Iguina Coliseum | |||
| Guayama Wizards | Guayama | Brown, Yellow | Dr. Roque Nido Stella Coliseum | |||
| Mayaguez Indians | Mayagüez | Green, Red | Palacio de los Deportes | |||
| Ponce Lions | Ponce | Red, Black | Juan Pachín Vicéns Auditorium | 1950 | ||
| San Germán Athletics | San Germán | Orange | Arquelio Torres Ramírez Coliseum | 1932 |
[edit] Inactive Teams
Currently, there are two inactive team remaining in the league; the Quebradillas Pirates and the Coamo Marathon Runners. Due to financial problems, Quebradillas has been inactive since the end of the 2004 season. In August 2006, it was announced that the Quebradillas Pirates will return to active competition in the 2008 season. However, this was pushed back to the 2009 season due to the construction of a new Coliseum.
The team from Coamo announced at the end of the 2007 season that they would not participate in the 2008 tournament due to financial problems.
[edit] 2007 Season
Fico Lopez Division
| Team | Wins | Losses | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fajardo Cariduros | 19 | 11 | .633 |
| Santurce Crabbers | 17 | 13 | .567 |
| Arecibo Captains | 17 | 13 | .567 |
| Carolina Giants | 16 | 14 | .533 |
| Guaynabo Conquistadors | 14 | 16 | .467 |
| Bayamon Cowboys | 14 | 16 | .467 |
| Humacao Grays | 11 | 19 | .367 |
"Pachin" Vicens Division
| Team | Wins | Losses | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guayama Wizards | 18 | 12 | .600 |
| Ponce Lions | 18 | 12 | .600 |
| San German Athletics | 16 | 14 | .533 |
| Caguas Creolles | 14 | 16 | .467 |
| Mayagüez Indians | 12 | 18 | .400 |
| Coamo Marathon Runners | 9 | 21 | .300 |
Round Robin Group A
| Team | Wins | Losses | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fajardo Cariduros | 8 | 2 | .800 |
| Arecibo Captains | 7 | 3 | .700 |
| Caguas Creolles | 5 | 5 | .500 |
| Ponce Lions | 4 | 6 | .400 |
Round Robin Group B
| Team | Wins | Losses | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guayama Wizards | 6 | 4 | .600 |
| Santurce Crabbers | 6 | 4 | .600 |
| San German Athletics | 4 | 6 | .400 |
| Carolina Giants | 0 | 10 | .000 |
Semi Finals
The Santurce Crabbers defeat the Fajardo Cariduros 4-1
98-83, 98-80, 78-85, 95-83, 90-87
The Arecibo Captains defeat the Guayama Wizards 4-2
84-87, 93-86, 92-89, 84-82, 95-77, 92-89
Finals
The Santurce Crabbers defeat the Arecibo Captains 4-3
88-78, 89-86, 91-85, 84-73, 83-75, 93-81, 102-97, OT
The SANTURCE CRABBERS are the 2007 BSN Champions (7th Championship)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Site - (in Spanish)
