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Independent Basketball Association

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Independent Basketball Association (IBA)
SportBasketball
FoundedOctober 2011
First season2011-12
No. of teams8
Country United States
ContinentFIBA Americas (Americas)
Most recent
champion(s)		Kankakee County Soldiers (Fall 2015)
Most titlesKankakee County Soldiers (6)
Official websitewww.IBAball.net

The Independent Basketball Association (IBA) is 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 County Stars and Rockford Riverdawgs.[1]

IBA play two separate seasons each calendar year: a Spring season (March–June) and a Fall season (September–January). Teams compete in one or both league competitions.

Commissioner of the IBA is Barry Bradford, president of the Kankakee County Soldiers.

History

The first league championship (2011–12) was won by the Kankakee County Soldiers, who also won the 2012 Spring season championship.

In the Spring of 2012 the league expanded beyond its midwest footprint, adding a total of seven teams: Albany Legends, Kenosha Ballers, Lansing Capitals, Los Angeles Lightning, Malibu Pirates, Springfield Xpress[2] and St. Louis Trotters.

The Holland Dream were added to the IBA for its third season in 2012-13, bringing the league total to 14 teams.

IBA and PBL joined forces in 2013, but the merger was short-lived. Travel issues, questions of league rules and other issues were too much to overcome and the two parted ways[3] before the end of the Spring season.

2013-14 began with the addition of the Windy City Blazers, who played previously as the Windy City Monsters in the ABA. Grand Rapids Fusion and Markham City Racers entered league play for the 2014 Spring season.

In the Fall season of 2014-15 four teams (Binghamton Pioneers, Jersey G-Force, Kansas City Kryptonite, and Toronto 3D) played a partial schedule in anticipation of full league membership in 2015. CyFair Cobras, Houston Xperience and Louisiana Soul also were to compete as "branding teams" in the Fall season. None played an IBA game.

In December 2014 Schenectady Legends captured their first IBA championship, defeating Kenosha 154-137.[4] Albany High School graduate Lloyd "Pooh" Johnson score an IBA championship game record 61 points and was named the game MVP.[5]

Kankakee County won their league-best sixth championship in the Fall of 2015 by avenging their finals loss to St. Louis for the Spring title.

Teams

Team City Arena Founded First season in IBA
Grand Rapids Fusion Grand Rapids, Michigan City High Middle School 2014 2014
International Racers Lemont, Illinois Lithuanian World Center 2014 2014
Kankakee County Soldiers Kankakee, Illinois KVPD RecCenter 2007 2011
Kenosha Ballers Kenosha, Wisconsin Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha 1995 2012
Lansing Capitals Dimondale, Michigan Aim High Sports 2006 2011
Rockford Riverdawgs Loves Park, Illinois Clinton Sports Complex 2010 2011
St. Louis Trotters St. Louis, Missouri Mathews-Dickey Boy's & Girl's Club 1970 2011
Windy City Blazers Aurora, Illinois Prisco Community Center 2011 2013 
* = IBA Branding Division (provisional league member)
** = on hiatus

Former teams

Team City Arena Founded Last season in IBA
Battle Creek Flight Battle Creek, Michigan Kellogg Arena 2004 2011
Binghamton Pioneers Binghamton, New York Binghamton High School 2014 2014
Chicago Redline Chicago, Illinois Calument Park Recreation Center 2011 2013
Gary Splash Gary, Indiana Genesis Convention Center 2010 2013
Holland Dream Holland, Michigan Holland Civic Center 2005 2012
Jersey G-Force Union City, New Jersey Union City Sports Complex 2011 2014
Kansas City Kryptonite Kansas City, Kansas travel team 2014 2014
Lake County Stars Deerfield, Illinois Trinity International University 2011 2014
Los Angeles Lightning Thousand Oaks, California Gilbert Sports Arena 2007 2012
Malibu Pirates Moorpark, California Moorpark High School 2012 2012
Schenectady Legends Scotia, New York Scotia-Glenville High School 2010 2015
Springfield Xpress Springfield, Illinois Lanphier High School 2012 2013
Toronto 3D Toronto, Ontario The RISE Centre 2014 2014

Champions

Season Champion Runner-up Result
2011-12 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers Gary Splash 2-0 (best-of 3 series)
2012 Spring Kankakee County Soldiers Albany Legends 150-116
2012-13 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers Battle Creek Knights 2-1 (best-of 3 series)
2013 Spring Kankakee County Soldiers Gary Splash 116-99
2013-14 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers St. Louis Trotters 118-112
2014 Spring Grand Rapids Fusion Markham City Racers 104-92[6]
2014-15 Fall Schenectady Legends Kenosha Ballers 154-137
2015 Spring St. Louis Trotters Kankakee County Soldiers 100-85
2015 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers St. Louis Trotters 95-81

References

  1. ^ "Battle Creek Knights to join new league". USbasket. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  2. ^ "New basketball league brings hoops to Springfield". Illinois Times. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  3. ^ "The nasty breakup and the online sniping". Times Union. 3 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Schenectady Legends Win First IBA Championship". USbasket. 14 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Knapp goes undefeated in first season as coach". The Daily Gazette. 17 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Grand Rapids Fusion are Spring Champions". USbasket. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
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