NCBasketball.net

The Non Chinese Basketball League 2009 (NCBL 09) season is set! The first game of the season will be played on 17 May 2009.

This season will feature the introduction of a 2 division format. With the increasing number of teams participating (26 teams this year compared to 16 last year), it is only viable that the league is split into 2 divisions.

Division 1 consists of 10 teams with a track record  in the Non Chinese Basketball League history, while Division 2 is split into 2 groups of 8 (16 teams total).

The venue for the tournament has not been confirmed yet as there is pending sponsorship deal from a well known public listed company. If the deal goes through, the league may be played at the MABA Stadium for the whole season

Here’s the breakdown of the Divisions:

DIVISION 1

The top 10 teams who have participated in the NCBL before. Division 1 consists of the following teams:

1. Swoosh (Reigning Champion)
2. Pegasus
3. Phantoms
4. Flames
5. Cocoro
6. Cons
7. Scorekeys
8. UBSA
9. Lycans
10. Prinze

The top 4 teams will advance to the Semi-Final stage, and winner of each semis will play the Championship Game.

The bottom 3 teams will be relegated to Division 2 next season (NCBL 2010).

I can’t confirm the total prize for the winners, but the Champion will receive RM5000 cash. That’s alotta money!

DIVISION 2

16 teams are split into 2 groups of 8. Here is the breakdown:

Group A

1. Archers
2. Zero
3. Griffin
4. Snipers
5. Swoosh II
6. Amfabia Froggers
7. Benchwarmers
8. Army

Group B

1. Phoenix
2. KPTM
3. Arion
4. Ying Hong
5. Rebound
6. Malaya Titan
7. Titans
8. Hurricanes

The top 4 teams from each group (total of 8 teams) will advance to the Quarter Final stage, which is in a round robin format.

The top 3 teams from Division 2 (Champion, 1st and 2nd Runner up) will be promoted to Division 1 next season.

As for the prizes for Division 2, the Champion will receive RM1500 cash. However, there has been talks on the increase of this prize money.

Looking forward to a glorious 2009 season! NCBL has grown length & breadth since its humble beginnings in 2006, and this 4th edition of the tournament WILL spring some surprises and higher expectations. Good Luck for all the teams!

With the MB Cup/Pertandingan Bola Keranjang Bukan Cina Selangor gone in the history books, Sultan Cup Division 2 is another tournament for NC teams to compete in.

While Sultan Cup Div. 2 is open to all races (Chinese included), they have applied a rule whereby Agong Cup State players (current and former players) are not allowed to participate. This rule will balance the teams as some teams have good “access” to the highlly skilled and experienced Agong Cup players.

So far, one NC team has made their intention clear on participating in this league. The Snipers will be competing in the Sultan Cup Div. 2, on top of their participation in the NCBL.

As for the rest of the NC community, Swoosh may be sending in a team, but Swoosh’s representative could not be contacted for confirmation. Apart from that, there may be many NC teams that will be entering this league due its amateur status.

The registration for the Sultan Cup Div. 2 is now open until March 25th 2009. Please refer to these sites for more details on the tournament:

Mislan RPK Blog

Selangor Amateur Basketball Association

P.S. – Pegasus is still reviewing our participation for this tournament. If we do compete in this tournament, we will be without Lolo and Aznorizam “Baby Mawas”.

Kuala Lumpur, 10 July 2008 – Pegasus has elected not to participate in this year’s Piala Menteri Besar Selangor 2008 (MB Cup 2008) due to their lack of players available for this tournament.

“We would love to participate in the tournament to defend our title (as MB Cup Champions 2007), however due to unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to have a full 12 man squad for this tournament.”

Pegasus wishes to extend their apologies to Selangor Amateur Basketball Association (SABA) and Pusat Sukan UiTM as the committee presiding the MB Cup 2008 tournament for this decision.

Press Contacts
Khuzairil Mohd Hussaini
Pegasus
cuz [at] ncbasketball.net
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