Basketball action returns to the spotlight with the One Guyana Basketball League, commencing at the National Gymnasium on August 12, 2023, showcasing potential basketballers for national selection to represent Guyana on the international stage.
The tournament will see 14 teams divided into two conferences, the Harpy Eagle Conference and the Jaguar Conference, with a projected 56 to 63 games. Match-ups start from 17:00h (5 pm).
Georgetown Basketball Association President Jermaine Slater, in an invited comment, emphasised how beneficial the tournament would be to the sustenance of the sport.
Georgetown Basketball Association President Jermaine Slater
“This is what the players/coaches were lacking for the past couple of years and we’ve never done it. Normally people would do the knockout tournaments where one team would only get to play one team if they lose and they have to wait six-seven months again to play another club tournament. So, this League is to give them the much-needed court hours which eventually will improve their talent, improve the teams and it will develop the level of play generally in Guyana,” Slater shared.
“When national teams for basketball are sent out to play international events, we normally often suffer a lot of bad consequences, because most of the players we play against are from different countries, they are playing basketball year-round, they have more court hours, the timing and we only play once every three months and so…the talent level wasn’t growing, but this League will definitely raise the talent level and it will develop not only the players but the coaches also because now the coaches will get to review their team on a daily basis.”
He continued, “You’ll find now each team getting to play at least six games within the regular season and once they make the top four to play in the play-offs, they will have two best-of-three series to follow, so they won’t just play one team one time in the play-offs, they will have three times thus more games for them to understand their opponent and more ways to understand themselves and their talent.”
Players, organisers, and officials at the launch
The tournament will see the teams from the Jaguar Conference and Harpy Eagle Conference playing the teams within their conference twice with the top four teams qualifying for the play-offs where the number one ranked team play the team ranked fourth and the number two team play the third ranked team.
The winners of the play-off games will then advance to their Conference Finals where they will play the best two-of-three games to determine who advance to the National Finals.
The teams of the Jaguar Conference are Stabroek Eagles, Leonora D-UP Rising Stars, Cummingsburg Bounty Colts, Lamaha Park/Springs Pepsi Sonics, Bagotstown/ Prospect Kobras, Cummings Lodge and UG Trojans.
The Harpy Eagles Conference squads are the Kitty/Campbellville Ravens, South Ruimveldt Ravens, Plaisance Guardians, Guyana Defence Force, Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust Pacesetters, North Ruimveldt Caimans and Kwakwani Untouchables.
The tournament-winning team would receive $1 million along with trophies, while the runners-up would receive $500,000 plus trophies.
The Tournament was made possible by sponsorship from the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry; G-Boats Guyana; National Sports Commission, Guyana Basketball Federation, and Georgetown Basketball Federation.
