Name changes for 2008

[Dan K]

The team listing on the IBL site [www.iblhoopsonline.com] has some name changes for teams from last season. The Tacoma Jazz is listed as the Jazz of Tacoma, the Lewis County Raptors as the Washington Raptors and the Everett Explosion as Snohomish County Explosion. The change of the Chicago Heights Soldiers to the Windy City Soldiers was previously announced.

It looks like the Seattle Mountaineers will sit out, as they are listed as an expansion team. Several other teams like Colorado, Hub City, Tri-Valley and Marysville are no longer listed.

The new China-Shanxi Kylins and Los Angeles Lightning are listed, along with the Gary Steelheads (USBL) and the Bellingham Slam (ABA).

I guess the owners of the Arizona Flame have dropped the Arizona Lightning project and LA took that nickname. Also, no mention of the Akron and Lansing teams that played partial schedules with the Lightning in 2007.

[Pounder]

The re-name to Snohomish County is due to the Explosion moving out of Everett. Monroe isn't that far from Everett... but not that close, really. Are they playing in a fairgrounds building?

Washington Raptors? Sounds like they could get the heck out of Centralia or Chehalis. Noticed that the new coach is an old Centralia guy who had time in Europe (note also that Detlef Schrempf played a year at Centralia HS, probably as a foreign exchange before college). Sounds like they'll stay, but the name change indicates the ability to move... and Olympia, in whose paper the new coach was announced, seems a far better choice.