BAL (basketball club)

Basketball Academie Limburg, commonly known as BAL, is a professional basketball club based in Weert, Limburg, Netherlands. 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.

For the defunct professional basketball club from Weert, see BSW (basketball club).
BAL
LeaguesDutch Basketball League
Founded9 April 2013 (2013-04-09)
HistoryBAL
(2013–present)
ArenaSporthal Boshoven
Capacity1,000
LocationWeert, Limburg, Netherlands
PresidentJeroen van Veen[1]
Head coachRadenko Varagic
2018–19 positionDBL, 9th of 9
Websitebasketballpromotielimburg.nl
Former logo of the club, used until 2017

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.[2] 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.

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.[3] In its second season, BAL once again finished last in the DBL with this time five wins in 2018–19.

Season by season
Season Tier League Finish Wins Losses Win% Playoffs NBB Cup Head coach
BAL
2017–18 1 DBL 8th 4 28 .125 – Withdrew Radenko Varagić
2018–19 1 DBL 9th 5 29 .147 – Eightfinals
2019–20[note 1] 1 DBL 6th 9 15 .375 Season curtailed due to COVID-19 pandemic Eightfinals
2020–21 1 DBL –

Players

Current roster
BAL roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.
SF 4 Ackermans, Tom 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
SG – de Vries, Jef
G 6 de Windt, Jamayro 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
G 7 Hollanders, Sander 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
SF – Jasinsky, Trevor 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)
PF – Masnic, Neil 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)
PF 12 Nossek, Wietze 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)
PG 5 Simic, Ivan 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
F 13 Vrede, Nathilio 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)
PF – Wilson, Quattarius 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)
F 8 Wirjo, Elay 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)
Head coach
  • Radenko Varagic
Assistant coach(es)
  • Chris van Dinten
  • Koen van Gerwen
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Development player
  • (I) Import player
  • Injured
Updated: 15 July 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Individual awards
DBL Most Improved Player
DBL All-Rookie Team
  • Jacco Fritz – 2018
  • Nino Gorissen – 2018
  • Ivan Simic – 2019

Top scorers by seasons
Season Name PPG
2017–18 Sam van Dijk 12.2
2018–19 Tony Washington 12.2
2019–20 Trey Burch-Manning 14.5

Head coaches
Coach Nationality Tenure
Radenko Varagić Serbia2017–present

Notes
  1. The 2019–20 season was ended in March 2020 prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References
  1. BAL verwelkomt plan voor invoering BENE-League
  2. "BSW wordt Basketbal Academie Limburg en wil nieuwe hal". L1Limburg.nl. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  3. "BAL Weert haalt Amerikaanse center in huis". 1Limburg - Nieuws en sport uit Limburg. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2019.

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