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Minor League basketball notebook

by Sam Amico
October 24, 2006 - International Basketball League (IBL)


USBL NOTES

The Dodge City (Kan.) Daily Globe reported that the Dodge City Legend, Oklahoma Storm, and Kansas Cagerz will all be returning to the USBL for the 2007 season. Those three teams are expected to form the core of the Midwest Division.

As one league insider told PBN.com, "This should put to rest the stories about the Midwest teams leaving the USBL to join the WBA."

• Cagerz coach Dale Osborne has been named an assistant with the

D-League's Austin Toros. Osborne becomes the third current or former USBL head coach to join the staff of a D-League team. The others are Bryan Gates and Kent Davison.

• Former Nebraska Cranes guard Brian Chase, arguably the best player in the USBL this past season, is averaging 5.4 points per game for the Utah Jazz during training camp.

IBL NOTES

• Former Los Angeles Clippers forward and overseas journeyman Logan Vander Velden has been named the head coach of the Battle Creek Knights. Vander Velden, who was with the Clippers during the 1995-96 season, played for the Knights last year.

• The expansion Tri-Valley Titans and Tijuana Galgos will play a game at the Oracle in Oakland, Calif., on Feb 11, prior to the Golden State Warriors' game against the Atlanta Hawks.

WBA NOTES

• The WBA announced it has expanded to Dallas, Knoxville, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss. It has also received expansion applications from Indianapolis and Evansville, Ind. The WBA also has franchises in Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas.

• The WBA-Mexico tournament will be held Dec. 1-3 in Sonora, Mexico. Teams will be made up of players from "diverse backgrounds and nationalities," according to a league press release. "Four players have been selected from Nigeria, six from the United States, one from the Bahamas, and four are from Mexico. "

LEAGUE-SPECIFIC NOTEBOOKS ON PBN.COM

ProBasketballNews.com will begin coverage of each of the three winter minor leagues -- ABA, CBA and NBA D-League -- beginning this Thursday. This season will mark the first in which a notebook will be written exclusive to each league.

ABA notebooks will appear each Thursday, CBA notebooks each Friday, and

D-League notebooks each Saturday.

Meanwhile, the spring/summer leagues will receive regular updates on a shared page until their seasons begin (as is seen here).

Also, each minor league will receive its own season preview to go with the rest of PBN.com's in-depth coverage.

Sam Amico is the editor of ProBasketballNews.com. He can be reached at amico@probasketballnews.com.



International Basketball League Stories from October 24, 2006


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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