EBA B: Ball in the air in the extended Conference Center

Everything is ready for the orange ball to start rolling on the courts of Group B of the EBA League, which this season brings together 28 teams after the expansion approved by the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) with the consensus of the federations that make up Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and the Canary Islands.

It will be tomorrow, Friday the 14th, when the regular league starts in the so-called Central Conference which, after its expansion, goes from 16 to 28 teams -16 from Madrid, six from Castilla-La Mancha and another six from the Canary Islands-, divided into two subgroups, BA and BB, of 14 sets each.

With the extension, Group B is equal to Groups A, C and E (which have already started the season), and only Group D is different, which brings together 24 teams, with two subgroups of 12 and which will start on Saturday 22.

The agreement signed by the FEB and the regional federations stipulates that of the expansion places, 12 in total, three correspond to the Canary Islands, another three to Castilla-La Mancha and six to Madrid. Once the direct promotions from the Men’s First Division were guaranteed -a team from the Canary Islands, another from Castilla-La Mancha and two from Madrid-, to cover the added places (12), the four teams that finished the 2021/22 season in relegation zone (Zentro Basket Madrid, Majadahonda, Globalcaja Quintanar and Estudio), since with the extension there would be no relegation.

The enlargement, according to the coaches

The extension is indicated as positive by the majority of the Group B coaches, who agree that it will make the competition more attractive, although some indicate the possibility that the level, especially in Madrid, could drop a little.

While some believe that the possibility opens up for First National teams to participate in FEB competitions and, above all, to bring high-level basketball to small towns, others say that the expansion has made it “very cheap” to play in this League, which neither It will benefit the training of young players, because for that there should be more restrictions in the competition bases.

It may also be that by increasing the number of teams there may be large differences in level, some stronger than others, some technicians point out.

But, according to the majority, it is good to unify the competition systems of the different groups, either by expanding group B or reducing the rest to a single group, because it does not seem logical that in the same category more or fewer games are played with a system or other competition.

Regular league, promotions and relegations

The regular league will be played in a double round all against all in each of the subgroups, in total 26 days, the last one on April 29, 2023.

At the end of the regular league, three teams from Group B will qualify for the promotion phase to LEB Plata: the first from each of the subgroups, as well as the winner of a single-game eliminator between the best second on the field of highest ranked team.

And in the Final Phase 16 teams will participate. There will be three teams from each of the Conferences, 15 in total. Place number 16 will be for the conference to which the EBA League champion team belongs for the 2021/22 season (Conference C).

The teams classified in the first place of each of the groups of the Final Phase (4), plus the two winners of the matches between the second classified of each of the groups, will be promoted to LEB Plata.

As usual there will be two promotion phases, with eight teams, divided into subgroups, in each one. Each of them will be played by league system, all against all in a single round.

By agreement between the member federations of Group B, the teams classified in positions 13 and 14 of each Group (four in total) will be lowered to the Men’s First Division. If there were relegations from LEB Plata that had to be included in Group B, as many teams as necessary will be relegated, in addition to those already indicated, in order to ensure promotions from the First Men’s Division to EBA.

The teams

All the Madrid teams from the previous season repeat, Real Madrid, CB Pozuelo -which did not make the promotion to LEB Plata effective-, Uros de Rivas, NCS Alcobendas, Movistar Estudiantes, CB Fuenlabrada and Baloncesto Alcalá. Also the three that finished the season in the relegation zone, Zentro Basket Madrid, Majadahonda and Estudio, who did not drop due to the extension, although in the case of Zentro that place is occupied by the first team, relegated from LEB Plata.

Six teams from Madrid have joined the Group: two, CB Getafe and Torrelodones, champion and runner-up of the First National Division and therefore promoted directly, and four thanks to the expansion: Pintobasket, Sun Chlorella Dragons, Spanish Basketball Academy and Jofemesa ADC Boadilla, which returns to the EBA League after its relegation two seasons ago.

The Canarians Náutico de Tenerife, CB La Matanza and Transportes Gobra Güímar follow, to which are added Inmobiliaria Gálvez Santa Cruz, runner-up of the First National of the Canary Islands and promoted directly after the resignation of the champion, Evecan Gran Canaria, to which they add CB Aridane and CB Valsequillo.

The Castilian from La Mancha Lujisa Guadalajara Basket, Cabezuelo CB Socuéllamos and CD Basket Globalcaja Quintanar also continue, which did not drop due to the extension, and Autocares Rodríguez Daimiel -First National champion-, Doña Ramoncita CB La Solana and Tobarra Gasóleos Sánchez and Murcia join. .

Subgroups

BA Group B.B. Group
CB Aridane CB La Matanza
Real Estate Galvez Santa Cruz CB Valsequillo
Nautical Tenerife Transport Gobra Güímar
Rodriguez Daimiel Coaches CD Basket Globalcaja Quintanar
Head CB Socuéllamos Lujisa Guadalajara Basket
Doña Ramoncita CB La Solana

Tobarra Gasóleos Sánchez and Murcia

Basketball Alcala Torrelodones Basketball
CB Getafe CB Fuenlabrada
Study CB Pozuelo
Majadahonda Jofemesa ADC Boadilla
real Madrid Movistar Students
Spanish Basketball Academy NCS Alcobendas
Aurochs of Rivas pintobasketball
Zentro Basket Madrid Sun Chlorella Dragons

Relay on the benches

Seven teams have changed coaches, including Real Madrid, to which Javi Juárez returns, who already led the white subsidiary from 2015 to 2018. After his departure he managed the ACB teams in Murcia and Fuenlabrada and then the Syrian men’s team.

There has also been relief in Uros de Rivas, to which Jesús Sala arrives; in Pozuelo, to which Iñaki Refoyo joins, and in the CB Majadahonda, directed by Juan Manuel Ruiz.

Dani Molina leads Zentro Basket Madrid and Jorge Lorenzo takes the reins of the Sun Chlorella Dragons. He also took over at Socuéllamos, which is taken over by Manuel Jiménez “Júnior” after directing CBV Villarrobledo for seven seasons, the last four at LEB Plata.

And one addition to highlight in Madrid is that of Andrés Miso at CB Getafe. After 11 seasons in ACB with what is now Movistar Estudiantes, Fuenlabrada, Seville, Zaragoza and Murcia, four in LEB Gold and one in Silver, he arrived at Getafe in August 2020 as coach of the first team in the First National Division category.

preseason

All the teams have been working for several weeks and have measured their strength in the preseason tournaments that serve to present the squads and dress rehearsal for the start of the regular league.

Among the tournaments, the EBA of the Community of Madrid, the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha Trophy and the Canarian Government Cup stand out.

XIII EBA Tournament in Madrid

NCS Alcobendas was proclaimed champion of the XIII EBA Tournament of the Community of Madrid Juan Martín Caño Memorial for the fifth time, second in a row, by beating CB Pozuelo in the final by 62-72.

A final that was tilted in the third quarter, when the defensive work of the Alcobedenses was joined by the success in attack.

Equal and very competitive were the two semifinals. Pozuelo and Movistar Estudiantes (82-70) met in the first, and Alcobendas and Zentro Basket Madrid (88-70) in the second.

“Experience rules: Pozuelo and Alcobendas to the final” is the headline of its chronicle by the Madrid Basketball Federation (FBM), organizer of the tournament, and it is that the two teams “imposed their greatest experience in the semifinals”.

A tournament that from September 17 to October 9 brought together the 16 teams that play the EBA League, divided into four groups of four teams each.

In Group A, Zentro Basket Madrid, Baloncesto Alcalá, CB Getafe and Spanish Basketball Academy; in group B, CB Pozuelo, CB Fuenlabrada, Basket Torrelodones (BT) and Jofemesa ADC Boadilla; in C, Uros de Rivas, Movistar Estudiantes, Sun Chlorella Dragons and Pintobasket, and in D, NCS Alcobendas, Real Madrid, Majadahonda and Estudio.

Castilla-La Mancha Regional Government Trophy

Bueno Arenas Albacete Basket and CB Almansa with Afanion, the two Castilian-La Mancha teams that play in LEB Oro, will play the final of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha Trophy (JCCM), but we will have to wait because that match will be played between the November 7 and 12 next.

A regional tournament in which the Castilian-La Mancha teams of the EBA League participated -Guadalajara, Tobarra, Quintanar, La Solana, Daimiel and Socuéllamos-, and from the semifinals those of LEB Plata, Decolor Fundación Globalcaja La Roda and Baloncesto Talavera, and LEB Gold, Almansa and Albacete.

Canary Islands Government Cup

Inmobiliaria Gálvez Santa Cruz was proclaimed champion of the Canarian Government Cup by beating CB Aridane in the final 86-72.

A tournament organized by the Canarian Basketball Federation in which the six teams from the archipelago that play in the EBA League participated -RC Náutico de Tenerife, CB La Matanza, CB Dadarmo Güímar and the recently promoted CB Aridane, CB Vito Valsequillo and Real Estate Gálvez CB Santa Cruz, plus CB Gran Canaria who plays for LEB Plata.

As a result of the increase in Canarian representatives in the EBA League, the FCB organized the Cup in three phases. In the first, the six teams that play in the EBA were measured; in the two semifinals the three winners of the first phase and Gran Canaria, and in the final the two winners of these.

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EBA B: Ball in the air in the extended Conference Center