2020–21 National Basketball League (England) season

The 2020–21 NBL season was the 49th edition of the English Men's National Basketball League.

2020–21 NBL season
LeagueNBL England
SportBasketball
Number of teams14
2020–21
English Basketball League seasons

It was announced that there would be no promotion or relegation following the 2020–21 season, due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] The NBL2 and NBL3 seasons were indefinitely suspended, later cancelled, and the NBL1 season structure was revised into regionalised schedules, due to the ongoing situation presented by the pandemic.[2][3]

NBL Division 1

edit

Team changes

edit

Promoted from NBL Division 2

Relegated to NBL Division 2

Team changes

Teams

edit
Club Location Last Season
BA London Lions London (Barking) 12th
Bradford Dragons Bradford 8th
Derby Trailblazers Derby 3rd
Essex Rebels Colchester D2 Sou, 1st (promoted)
Hemel Storm Hemel Hempstead 4th
Leicester Warriors Leicester 9th
Loughborough Riders Loughborough 6th
Nottingham Hoods Nottingham 10th
Oaklands Wolves St Albans 11th
Reading Rockets Reading 7th
Solent Kestrels Southampton 1st
Team Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne D2 Nor, 1st (promoted)
Thames Valley Cavaliers London (Uxbridge) 2nd
Worthing Thunder Worthing 5th

Regular season

edit
Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Solent Kestrels (C) 19 17 2 1718 1201 +517 34 Qualification to Playoffs
Quarter-finals
2 Thames Valley Cavaliers 19 17 2 1761 1497 +264 34
3 Hemel Storm 19 14 5 1735 1574 +161 28 Qualification to Playoffs
First Round
4 Derby Trailblazers 19 14 5 1645 1496 +149 28
5 Team Newcastle 19 13 6 1601 1542 +59 26
6 Essex Rebels 19 9 10 1625 1705 −80 18
7 Worthing Thunder 19 9 10 1554 1637 −83 18
8 Loughborough Riders 19 8 11 1577 1560 +17 16
9 Reading Rockets 19 7 12 1682 1717 −35 14
10 BA London Lions 19 7 12 1484 1595 −111 14
11 Bradford Dragons 19 7 12 1501 1604 −103 14
12 Leicester Warriors 19 5 14 1535 1673 −138 10
13 Oaklands Wolves 19 4 15 1513 1795 −282 8
14 Nottingham Hoods 19 2 17 1285 1620 −335 4
Updated to match(es) played on 18 April 2021. Source: Basketball England Official Website
(C) Champions

Playoffs

edit

First round

edit
24 April 2021
Hemel Storm 101–68 Nottingham Hoods
25 April 2021
Derby Trailblazers 105–77 Oaklands Wolves
24 April 2021
Team Newcastle 87–77 Leicester Warriors
25 April 2021
Essex Rebels 73–74 Bradford Dragons
25 April 2021
Worthing Thunder 89–83 BA London Lions
24 April 2021
Loughborough Riders 75–68 Reading Rockets

Quarter-finals

edit
1 May 2021
Hemel Storm 81–69 Bradford Dragons
2 May 2021
Derby Trailblazers 82–84 Team Newcastle

Semi-finals

edit
8 May 2021
Solent Kestrels 113–69 Team Newcastle
8 May 2021
Hemel Storm 95–82 Worthing Thunder

Final

edit
15 May 2021
18:00
Solent Kestrels 93–62 Hemel Storm
Scoring by quarter: 28–16, 20–20, 25–16, 20–10
Pts: I Smith 37
Rebs: I Smith 11
Asts: I Smith 9
Pts: G Poleon 17
Rebs: T Oyefusi 9
Asts: B Adeluola 6

Awards

edit
Award [4] Name Team
Player of the Year   Greg Poleon Hemel Storm
Team of the Year   Greg Poleon Hemel Storm
  Hakeem Sylla Thames Valley Cavaliers
  Taylor Johnson Thames Valley Cavaliers
  Ian Smith Solent Kestrels
  Travis Charles Solent Kestrels
British Team of the Year   Kyle Jimenez Loughborough Riders
  Orlan Jackman Solent Kestrels
  Andre Arissol Solent Kestrels
  Morakinyo Williams Leicester Warriors
  Blayne Freckleton Thames Valley Cavaliers
Coach of the Year   Matt Guymon Solent Kestrels
U-19 Player of the Year   Blake Bowman Derby Trailblazers
Defensive Player of the Year   Andre Arissol Solent Kestrels

Statistics

edit

Player of the Week Awards

Week Player Team Ref Week Player Team Ref Week Player Team Ref
1   Ian Smith Solent Kestrels [5] 15   Travis Charles Solent Kestrels 28   Mike Williams Hemel Storm
2   Hakeem Sylla Thames Valley Cavaliers [6] 16   Orlan Jackman Solent Kestrels
3   Blake Bowman Derby Trailblazers [7] 17   Taylor Johnson Thames Valley Cavaliers
4   Travis Charles Solent Kestrels [8] 18   Greg Poleon Hemel Storm
5   Mike Williams Hemel Storm [9] 19   Hakeem Sylla Thames Valley Cavaliers
6   Zaire Taylor Worthing Thunder [10] 20   Greg Poleon Hemel Storm
7   Kyle Jimenez Loughborough Riders [11] 21   O'Showen Williams Reading Rockets
8   Seth Hawley Thames Valley Cavaliers [12] 22   Taylor Johnson Thames Valley Cavaliers
9   David Moya Team Newcastle [13] 23   Howard Crawford Worthing Thunder
11   Max Richardson Worthing Thunder 24   Ian Smith Solent Kestrels
12   Greg Poleon Hemel Storm 25   Brandon Federici Team Newcastle
13   Hakeem Sylla Thames Valley Cavaliers 26   Max Richardson Worthing Thunder
14   Ethan Price Essex Rebels 27   Tom Ward Worthing Thunder

L Lynch Trophy

edit

The 2020–21 L Lynch Trophy was the inaugural edition of the competition, organised by participating clubs to mark the return to play for men's basketball. 16 teams, the 14 NBL Division 1 sides and the Myerscough and Charnwood academy sides, were split into four regional groups. Each group was intended to play all games within one "bubble" venue. The top 2 sides from each group would advance to the quarter-finals, therein playing a knockout format to determine the overall winners.[20][21]

Group stage

edit

Group 1, Myerscough

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Derby Trailblazers 3 3 0 263 224 +39 6 Qualification to quarter finals
2 Bradford Dragons 3 2 1 239 214 +25 4
3 Myerscough College 3 1 2 233 196 +37 2
4 Team Newcastle 3 0 3 193 294 −101 0
Updated to match(es) played on 05 December 2020. Source: Basketball England
10 Oct 2020
Bradford Dragons 84–59 Team Newcastle
17 Oct 2020
Bradford Dragons 74–71 Myerscough College
8 Nov 2020
Team Newcastle 81–110 Derby Trailblazers
14 Nov 2020
Bradford Dragons 81–84 Derby Trailblazers
5 Dec 2020
Team Newcastle 53–100 Myerscough College

Group 2, Oaklands

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Thames Valley Cavaliers 3 3 0 273 228 +45 6 Qualification to quarter finals
2 Hemel Storm 3 2 1 273 236 +37 4
3 Reading Rockets 2 0 2 141 168 −27 0
4 Oaklands Wolves 2 0 2 154 209 −55 0
Updated to match(es) played on 05 December 2020. Source: Basketball England
10 Oct 2020
Reading Rockets 70–83 Hemel Storm
17 Oct 2020
Oaklands Wolves 80–107 Hemel Storm
24 Oct 2020
Hemel Storm 83–86 Thames Valley Cavaliers

Group 3, Loughborough

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Loughborough Riders 3 3 0 260 217 +43 6 Qualification to quarter finals
2 Nottingham Hoods 3 2 1 239 243 −4 4
3 Charnwood College 3 1 2 234 250 −16 2
4 Leicester Warriors 3 0 3 235 258 −23 0
Updated to match(es) played on 05 December 2020. Source: Basketball England
17 Oct 2020
Leicester Warriors 88–92 Nottingham Hoods
29 Nov 2020
Charnwood College 70–91 Nottingham Hoods

Group 4, Solent

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Solent Kestrels 3 3 0 305 208 +97 6 Qualification to quarter finals
2 Worthing Thunder 3 2 1 243 255 −12 4
3 BA London Lions 3 1 2 245 249 −4 2
4 Essex Rebels 3 0 3 213 294 −81 0
Updated to match(es) played on 05 December 2020. Source: Basketball England
11 Oct 2020
Solent Kestrels 92–78 BA London Lions
11 Oct 2020
Worthing Thunder 91–78 Essex Rebels
18 Oct 2020
Solent Kestrels 117–61 Essex Rebels
25 Oct 2020
Solent Kestrels 96–69 Worthing Thunder
25 Oct 2020
BA London Lions 86–74 Essex Rebels
22 Nov 2020
BA London Lions 81–83 Worthing Thunder

Quarter-finals

edit
10 Jan 2021
Derby Trailblazers 73–81 Worthing Thunder
17 Jan 2021
Solent Kestrels 88–68 Hemel Storm

Semi-finals

edit
7 Mar 2021
Solent Kestrels 82–80 Worthing Thunder

Final

edit
20 Mar 2021
18:00
Solent Kestrels 87–78 Thames Valley Cavaliers
Scoring by quarter: 25–24, 21–21, 23–12, 18–21
Pts: A Arissol (24)
Rebs: O Jackman (12)
Asts: I Smith (7)
Pts: T Johnson (21)
Rebs: H Sylla (16)
Asts: B Freckleton (5)

References

edit
  1. ^ "NBL: 2020/21 structures confirmed with no promotion or relegation". 2020-08-05.
  2. ^ "NBL: NBL Division One Men's fixtures restructured". 2020-11-24.
  3. ^ "NBL: Lockdown: Non-elite season cancelled, Covid testing for elite". 2021-01-13.
  4. ^ Basketball England – Awards 2020–21
  5. ^ Week 1 – Basketball England
  6. ^ Week 2 – Basketball England
  7. ^ Week 3 – Basketball England
  8. ^ Week 4 – Basketball England
  9. ^ Week 5 – Basketball England
  10. ^ Week 6 – Basketball England
  11. ^ Week 7 – Basketball England
  12. ^ Week 8 – Basketball England
  13. ^ Week 9 – Basketball England
  14. ^ NBL D1 Top Scorers – Dave Owen Basketball
  15. ^ NBL Competition Statistics – Genius Sports
  16. ^ NBL D1 Top Rebounders – Dave Owen Basketball
  17. ^ NBL Competition Statistics – Genius Sports
  18. ^ NBL D1 Top Assists – Dave Owen Basketball
  19. ^ NBL Competition Statistics – Genius Sports
  20. ^ L LYNCH TROPHY ANNOUNCED FOR NBL DIVISION 1 – L Lynch
  21. ^ Lynch Trophy to provide opener to new NBL Division 1 Men's season – Hoopsfix