BAL (basketball club)
Basketball Academie Limburg, commonly known as BAL, is a Dutch basketball club based in Weert in the province of Limburg. The club was founded in 2013 as an academy to develop youth players from the province of Limburg. The club entered the Dutch Basketball League for the 2017–18 season after the dissolution of the professional team BSW. Currently, the team plays in the BNXT League.
| BAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Leagues | BNXT League | ||
| Founded | 9 April 2013 | ||
| History | BAL (2013–present) | ||
| Arena | Sporthal Boshoven | ||
| Capacity | 1,000 | ||
| Location | Weert, Limburg, Netherlands | ||
| President | Jeroen van Veen[1] | ||
| Head coach | Radenko Varagić | ||
| 2021–22 position | BNXT League, 15th of 21 | ||
| Championships | 1 Dutch Cup | ||
| Website | basketballacademielimburg | ||
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In 2021, BAL won its first-ever trophy when it won the DBL Cup in surprising fashion as the team was ranked eight in the DBL that season.[2]
History
Foundation
The club was established on 9 April 2013 to function as a club for regional talent from the province of Limburg. In its first years, the team played with several youth teams in domestic competitions.
In the 2017 offseason the professional club BSW from Weert and BAL intended a merger, which would integrate BSW into BAL.[3] Following BSW going defunct during this offseason, BAL decided to take its place in the DBL. As BAL played in the same home arena and the team consisted of several of the same players, the team can be considered a phoenix club. Radenko Varagić coached the team.
First DBL seasons
In its debut season, BAL finished in the ninth and last place in the DBL, winning 4 out of its 32 games. The team consisted of a selection of young promising players, such as guard Sam van Dijk who was named the DBL Most Improved Player in the club's debut season. On 1 August 2018, BAL signed its first ever foreign player when American center Tony Washington signed for one year.[4] In its second season, BAL once again finished last in the DBL with this time five wins in 2018–19.
In the 2020–21 season, BAL reached the playoffs for the first time after finishing in the eight seed. This season the team also won the 2021 DBL Cup, the club's first-ever trophy.[2] In the semi-finals, BAL upset first-seeded ZZ Leiden and in the final the team was too strong for Yoast United. Trevor Jasinsky led the team in scoring in the final with 27 points.
Since the 2021–22 season, BAL plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.[5]
Season by season
| Champions | |
| Playoff berth | |
| (X) | National ranking standings |
| MIP | Most Improved Player |
| RS | Rising Star of the Year |
| Season | Tier | League | Regular season | National playoffs | Dutch Cup | BNXT playoffs | Head coach | Individual awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Played | Wins | Losses | Win% | ||||||||
| BAL | ||||||||||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | DBL | 8th | 32 | 4 | 28 | .125 | – | Withdrew | – | Radenko Varagić | Sam van Dijk (MIP) |
| 2018–19 | 1 | DBL | 9th | 34 | 5 | 29 | .147 | – | Eightfinals | – | ||
| 2019–20[note 1] | 1 | DBL | 6th | 24 | 9 | 15 | .375 | – | Eightfinals | – | ||
| 2020–21 | 1 | DBL | 8th | 21 | 12 | 9 | .571 | Lost quarterfinals to ZZ Leiden (148–183) | Champions | |||
| 2021–22 | 1 | BNXT League | 15th (7th) |
30 | 11 | 19 | .367 | – | Fourth Round | Won first round (Yoast, 163–152) Lost second round (Feyenoord, 138–158) |
Sander Hollanders (RS) | |
| 2022–23 | 1 | BNXT League | 18th | 28 | 7 | 21 | .250 | – | Fourth Round | Lost, first round (Liège Basket, 161–188) | Oshean Brathwaite (RS) | |
Players
Current roster
| BAL roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Updated: October 20, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.
Individual awards
- Sander Hollanders – 2022
- Sam van Dijk – 2018
- Jacco Fritz – 2018
- Nino Gorissen – 2018
- Ivan Simic – 2019
Top scorers by seasons
The following players led BAL in scoring in each DBL season:[6]
| Season | Name | PPG |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 |  Sam van Dijk |
12.2 |
| 2018–19 |  Tony Washington |
12.2 |
| 2019–20 | Trey Burch-Manning |
14.5 |
| 2020–21 | Trevor Jasinsky |
15.8 |
| 2021–22 |  D. J. Mitchell |
16.0 |
Club records
Bold denotes still active with team. As of 14 April 2021:
| Category | Player | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Games played | Wietze Nossek | 120 |
| Points scored | Wietze Nossek | 754 |
| Rebounds | Roel Aarts | 443 |
| Assists | Roel van Overbeek | 329 |
| Steals | Roel van Overbeek | 94 |
| Blocks | Roel Aarts | 41 |
| Three-point field goals | Sander Hollanders | 141 |
Notes
- The 2019–20 season was ended prematurely in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
References
- BAL verwelkomt plan voor invoering BENE-League
- "Basketball Academie Limburg uit Weert verovert nationale beker". nos.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- "BSW wordt Basketbal Academie Limburg en wil nieuwe hal". L1Limburg.nl. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
- "BAL Weert haalt Amerikaanse center in huis". 1Limburg - Nieuws en sport uit Limburg. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- "Licenties BNXT League 2021-2022 toegekend". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- "Basketball Academie Limburg Stats - RealGM". basketball.realgm.com. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
