East Asia Super League to return with new format for second season

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East Asia Super League to return with new format for second season

 
The East Asia Super League (EASL) draw for the 2023-24 season is set with eight basketball teams from across Asia joining the tournament.
 
The eight teams, hailing from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, are split into two four-team groups for the group stage; A and B.
 
Group A includes inaugural champions Anyang KGC from Korea alongside the Taipei Fubon Braves from Taiwan, Chiba Jets Funabashi from Japan and TNT Tropang Giga from the Philippines.
 
Over in Group B, last season’s runners-up the Seoul SK Knights from Korea will be competing against the Ryukyu Golden Kings from Japan, the Bay Area Dragons from Hong Kong and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel from the Philippines.
 
The EASL season will run from Oct. 11 through March 10, 2024, with the exact game schedule yet to be announced.  
 
The four teams in each group will first play in a round robin format with the top two teams advancing to the semifinals, scheduled to take place in March next year.
 
Last season’s games had an unusual round robin format in which every team in each group only played two games rather than playing at least one game with each other.
 
That decision was made because the teams had to finish the entire tournament in a short period of time.
 
This year’s group stage games will take place with a home-and-away format, as opposed to playing all of them in one location like last season.  
 
All EASL games last season were held in Japan, as the teams were unable to travel back and forth due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
The Korean teams dominated last season, with the final turning out to be an all-Korean affair between KGC and the Knights.
 
The Seoul SK Knights' Kim Sun-hyung, left, in action during the final of the East Asia Super League against Anyang KGC at Okinawa Arena in Okinawa, Japan on March 5. [EASL]

The Seoul SK Knights' Kim Sun-hyung, left, in action during the final of the East Asia Super League against Anyang KGC at Okinawa Arena in Okinawa, Japan on March 5. [EASL]

 
KGC became the inaugural champions with a 90-84 victory.
 
“I am really glad that the KBL can compete at the EASL once again,” KBL president Kim Hee-ok was quoted as saying by local media Wednesday.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]
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