Ed Odeven at The Japan Times wrote a great piece Saitama and Tokyo's decision to end their seasons early.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20110320eo.html

As someone who watches the league from outside of Japan I had many of these thoughts, but felt that I did not have access to any information to confirm my suspicions. Thanks for w

In the past two days we heard that the JBL and three bj league teams (Sendai, Saitama, and Tokyo) will be canceling the rest of their schedule for this season. The three bj league teams were the most effected by the disasters. Obviously Sendai is ground zero for the tsunami, but both Saitama and Tokyo are effected by the continued energy crisis and did not feel confident in their ability to run their teams.

The Broncos Announcement: http://broncos.sailog.jp/topics/2011/03/2010-2011-11cd.html
The Apache's Announcement: http://www.tokyoapache.com/en/2010-2011-bj-league-season/

Not to show too much bias, but I could care less about the end of JBL season. Following the league is a real pain. I am really sad though that the Apache had to end their season, as Jeremy Tyler was starting to make things really interesting. I'll look to post some the updates I have not posted yet for him. I will also continue to do bj

Congratulations to Satria Muda Britama! With their 67-50 over the CLS Knights SMB grabbed the inaugural NBL Championship. It is interesting to think back to October when the team started the year out 0-2 and people were asking if they had stretched themselves too thin playing in two leagues. What a difference five months can make! No one player stood out in the victory, instead seven players ended up putting points on the board. Amin Prihatono led the way with 16 points while Sitepu and Sondakh also reached double figures with 13 and 12 respectively. Continuing the trend of great attendance we have seen all year, 5500 fans packed the DBL Arena in Surabaya creating an atmosphere Perbasi Chairman Anggito Abinmanyu described as "incredible." Mainbasket blogger Rosyidan also reported that the TV viewer numbers were high as well.

In the night's earlier game PJE came away with a come-from-behind victory over Dell ASPAC 62-61. While probably not the result PJE was hoping for a week ago, they should still be proud of beating an extremely competitive ASPAC squad. In the end the top four teams played in the semi-finals, a result the league must be happy about.

Overall, from a fan's point of view, the NBL's first season was a resounding success. From what I could see from my vantage point a few thousand miles away, the fan and business support of the league was phenomenal. While I have been critical of the rotating venue setup in other leagues, it seems to have worked well for the NBL. I hope in the future they can find a way to spread out the paly a little more than they did this season, and maybe now that they have seen the successful attendance numbers they will do that.

I am excited to watch and listen to see how the league will grow and develop in the off-season.

Before I begin my weekly SBL update I think it is important to note Song-shan High School's third straight HBL Championship victory. The HBL competition was a lot of fun to watch this season, but Song-shan clearly stood out to me all along. Their pressure man-to-man defense is really unique for Asia, where even pick-up games resort to a zone. I hope their coach begins to feature even more prominently in the national basketball scene.

Upsets - If there was any theme to this past week's games it was that there is no guaranteed win in the SBL this year. With perennial doormats Bank of Taiwan and KKL actually showing the ability to put points on the board, every game has the potential to be interesting. This past week, last-place KKL defeated first-place Taiwan Beer, #6 Taiwan Mobile beat #3 (at the time) Dacin, and #4 Yulon defeated #2 Pure Youth. While KKL is still solidly in last place, they have shown the ability to beat the best a couple of times this season.

Standings – I realize I haven’t provided the actual standings recently.

1.       Taiwan Beer: 19-4
2.       Pure Youth: 15-8
3.       Yulon: 12-10
4.       Dacin: 11-11
5.       Bank of Taiwan: 8-13
6.       Taiwan Mobile: 7-15
7.       KKL: 5-16

Imports – I also realized I have not provided a complete list of imports since the beginning of the season. 4 of the 7 teams have new imports at this point.

Taiwan Beer – Sticking with Emmanuel Jones who is pacing the team with averages of 17 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Pure Youth – The charismatic Rashad Jones-Jennings continues to put up huge rebounding numbers and playing with intensity the SBL is not accustomed to. He is by far the most polarizing player in the league this year: some people hate him and others love him.

Yulon – Jermaine Dailey has taken the place of the departed Tseng Wen-ting. In 8 games he is averaging a respectable 15 points and a strong 16 rebounds per outing.

Dacin – Despite his gaudy numbers Keith Gayden was replaced by the fan favorite from last season Alexus Foyle. Foyle plays with great energy and athleticism, two traits Taiwanese fans love. He is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds a contest.

Bank of Taiwan – John Vaudreuil continues to put up solid numbers in the most unremarkable way. There is no flash, just pure efficiency to his 17 points and 9 rebounds a game.

Taiwan Mobile – The enigma that is Marcus Dove continues to baffle me. While 19 and 11 is a great stat line normally, this guy still looks like he should be dominating this league.

KKL – Lastly, Shawn Hawkins, he of recent scoring fame. He is averaging 27 points and 12 rebounds a game. While he makes KKL dangerous in any game, his supporting cast is truly unremarkable. Of all the import players though, he is the only one I think you need to put a hand in his face when he is shooting a 3. I guess that is what separates SBL import players and Euro import players – a jump shot.

Tseng Wen-ting – While he is listed on the team site as an active player, he did not in the end play in the Tokyo series. According to Taiwanese press he will be making his debut this weekend. This article provides a full recap of his living arrangements and daily routine . . .  yes, people apparently care about those details!