BAL (basketball club)

For the defunct professional basketball club from Weert, see BSW (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; 11 years ago (2013-04-09)
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.nl
Home Away

Former logo of the club, used until 2017

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]

Honours

DBL Cup^[2]

• Champions (1): 2021

Dutch Supercup

• Runners-up (1): 2021

Season by season

Key

	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
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age C 2   Miller, Walker 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 26 – (1997-08-16)16 August 1997 F 3   Frederick, Tyler 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 30 – (1993-09-23)23 September 1993 G 4   van den Heuvel, Max 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 21 – (2002-10-03)3 October 2002 SF 6   Brathwaite, Oshean 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) 21 – (2002-05-28)28 May 2002 F 7   Tholel, Revelinio 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 24 – (1999-09-01)1 September 1999 PG 8   Strojil, Armin 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 20 – (2003-06-24)24 June 2003 PF 10   Masnic, Neil 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 24 – (2000-05-10)10 May 2000 SG 11   Vogelaar, Renars 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 20 – (2004-02-09)9 February 2004 G 12   Wilson, Marques 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 25 – (1998-07-12)12 July 1998 F/C 14   van Holst, Niels 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 19 – (2004-08-26)26 August 2004 C 16   Hintzbergen, Stijn 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 22 – (2001-06-10)10 June 2001 G/F 27   Matushev, Aleksandar 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 24 – (2000-05-12)12 May 2000	Head coach   Radenko Varagić Assistant coach(es)   Koen van Gerwen Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (I) Import player   Injured Roster Transactions 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

BNXT League Rising Star of the Year

• Sander Hollanders – 2022

DBL Most Improved Player

• Sam van Dijk – 2018

DBL All-Rookie Team

• 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

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

References

1. BAL verwelkomt plan voor invoering BENE-League
2. "Basketball Academie Limburg uit Weert verovert nationale beker". nos.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 May 2021.
3. "BSW wordt Basketbal Academie Limburg en wil nieuwe hal". L1Limburg.nl. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
4. "BAL Weert haalt Amerikaanse center in huis". 1Limburg - Nieuws en sport uit Limburg. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
5. "Licenties BNXT League 2021-2022 toegekend". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
6. "Basketball Academie Limburg Stats - RealGM". basketball.realgm.com. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

External links

• Eurobasket.com BAL Page

51°15′17″N 5°40′45″E / 51.254740°N 5.679090°E / 51.254740; 5.679090