The 2003–04 BBL season was the 17th campaign in the history of the British Basketball League.
Teams
TeamCity/AreaArenaCapacityLast season Birmingham Bullets Birmingham Birmingham Sports Centre 1,000 9th Brighton Bears Brighton Brighton Centre & Burgess Hill Triangle 3,600 1,800 2nd Chester Jets Chester Northgate Arena 1,000 3rd Leicester Riders Loughborough Loughborough University 1,200 11th London Towers London Crystal Palace National Sports Centre 3,500 7th Milton Keynes Lions Milton Keynes Bletchley Centre 800 8th Newcastle Eagles Newcastle upon Tyne Telewest Arena 6,500 5th Scottish Rocks Glasgow Braehead Arena 4,000 6th Sheffield Sharks Sheffield Hallam FM Arena & Ponds Forge 8,500 1,600 1st Thames Valley Tigers Bracknell John Nike Sports Centre 1,000 4th
Notable occurrences Due to uncertainty regarding the future of Aston Events Centre, the Birmingham Bullets were forced to relocate to a new home venue. Their first games of the campaign were postponed until a suitable venue could be found, with the owner Craig Bown eventually acquiring the use of Birmingham Sports Centre for the duration of the season. With their 68–66 win in the BBL Trophy Final against Brighton Bears, Chester Jets made history as the first team to win the Trophy for four consecutive seasons.
BBL championship (Tier 1)
Final standings PosTeamPldWL%Pts1 Brighton Bears 36 30 6 0.833602 Sheffield Sharks 36 26 10 0.72252 3 London Towers 36 23 13 0.63846 4 Scottish Rocks 36 23 13 0.63846 5 Chester Jets 36 21 15 0.58342 6 Newcastle Eagles 36 18 18 0.50036 7 Thames Valley Tigers 36 18 18 0.50036 8 Milton Keynes Lions 36 13 23 0.36226 9 Leicester Riders 36 5 31 0.13810 10 Birmingham Bullets 36 2 34 0.0554 = League winners = Qualified for the play-offs
Playoffs
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
EBL National League Division 1 (Tier 2) Final standings PosTeamPldWL%Pts1 Plymouth Raiders 22 20 2 0.909402 Reading Rockets 22 17 5 0.77334 3 Teesside Mohawks 22 16 6 0.72732 4 Manchester Magic 22 16 6 0.72732 5 Worthing Thunder 22 15 7 0.68230 6 London United 22 11 11 0.50022 7 City of Sheffield Arrows 22 10 12 0.45520 8 Ware Rebels 22 9 13 0.40918 9 Sutton Pumas 22 7 15 0.31814 10 Solent Stars 22 4 18 0.1828 11 Kingston Wildcats 22 4 18 0.1828 12 Bath Romans 22 3 19 0.1366 = League winners = Qualified for the play-offs
Haribo Cup This season saw the first edition of the newly created Haribo Cup. Following the BBL's decision to withdraw from the National Cup due to import player regulations, the League's newest competition saw all 10 teams competing in a knock-out style tournament culminating in the Grand Final at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.
First round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
BBL Trophy Due to the lack of teams competing in this season's Championship, the BBL Trophy featured all 10 BBL teams plus two invited teams from the English Basketball League (Plymouth Raiders and Teesside Mohawks). The First round saw all 12 teams divided into four regionalised groups with the top finishing team advancing to the Semi-finals.
Group stage
Northern Group 1
TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.Scottish Rocks84401.0002.Newcastle Eagles44220.5003.Teesside Mohawks04040.000
Southern Group 1
TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.London Towers64310.7502.Milton Keynes Lions64310.7503.Birmingham Bullets04040.000
Northern Group 2
TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.Chester Jets64310.7502.Sheffield Sharks64310.7503.Leicester Riders04040.000
Southern Group 2
TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.Brighton Bears84401.0002.Thames Valley Tigers44220.5003.Plymouth Raiders04040.000
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics leaders
CategoryPlayerStatPoints per game Mike Pegues (Leicester Riders) 24.7Rebounds per game Shawn Jamison (Milton Keynes Lions) 11.6Assists per game Rob Paternostro (Birmingham Bullets) 7.8
References