The Sophomore Basketball League (SBL) and Senior Basketball Association (SBA) lunchtime basketball leagues are back for another exciting year, offering students the opportunity to continue their love for basketball on the court during lunch breaks.
Commissioner and senior Ben Salama created SBA in his freshman year. Entering his sophomore year, Salama decided to reimagine the league’s capability. “When we were freshmen, it was super disorganized. During sophomore year, we recorded every game — that way we could track the statistics better. We posted games, highlights [and] statistics on Instagram so that the league felt more real,” Salama said.
Junior Jackson Flanagan, who is league commissioner for the junior league — still termed the Sophomore Basketball League in reference to its sophomore-year origins — developed the idea for SBL from the current senior class. “I saw the now senior class run a league in my freshman year and I thought that could be super fun,” Flanagan said. “My dad also told me about something he did in high school, which was very similar. They did a nighttime basketball league which honestly sounds almost better than we have.”
Unfortunately, Salama was forced to cancel the SBA last school year due to a lack of commitment. “What ended up happening is that junior year is very stressful, kids are trying to figure out what they want and they’re pushing themselves academically,” Salama said. “It became too difficult to get people to play games.”
However, this year, Salama was able to get enough participation to restart the league. Before the season started, Flanagan was tasked with choosing 12 team captains and Salama eight. Flanagan and Salama choose the captains based on whoever had played well the previous year and members of the boys basketball team. Then the league draft begins, with each team getting two picks. “I try to put all the varsity basketball player captains at a later pick in the draft to try and level the teams a little bit. Some of the less experienced captains will get the higher overall picks,” Flanagan said.
To manage the high demand, both Flanagan and Salama implemented a reserve player system this year — each team of three drafts an additional fourth player, who is ready to play if needed. SBL and SBA have one game a day during lunch, with each team playing four games a season. Each game is a three-on-three to 17 points. “Every lunch is one matchup, and it’s basically all the guys in junior grade. We try to be as inclusive as possible, having reserves as well, so in total that’s around 50 people,” junior Ethan Zhao, a member of the varsity boys basketball team and SBL referee, said.
Along with reserves, the buy-in for the junior league was increased to ten dollars, further increasing the incentive to win. Salama doesn’t believe in a buy-in system for the senior league, trying not to interfere with the experience of competing on a team with friends.
Zhao, who also takes statistics for each player and team, explained the regular season format, with each team’s season consisting of four games that control playoff seeding. Two games are for divisional matchups while the other two are non-division. “Then we use those games to determine our seeding. This year, we’re still doing that, where no one gets eliminated. But we also might consider a play-in tournament like the NBA to add some competitiveness,” Zhao said.
Flanagan created the playoff format based on the added college football playoffs, with 12 teams and the top four receiving a first-round bye. “This year, we have four division winners who receive a bye. The rest of the seeding is determined based on record,” Flanagan said.
The SBA’s playoff format consists of six teams, competing for a chance at the league title. The top two seeds from the regular season receive a first round bye, while the bottom two teams are eliminated.
Looking ahead to next year, Zhao sees potential for new innovations that SBL could implement. “I think the play-in would be a good addition because last year it didn’t matter how badly you played in the regular season. Your team would still have the same opportunity as every other team. Another way to motivate teams is by eliminating the worst two teams, which would be a bigger incentive for teams to try harder in the regular season,” Zhao said.
Salama encouraged other grades to follow suit, creating their own leagues. “I’m super jazzed about younger grades starting their own leagues. I go into the gym and I don’t feel like I’m necessarily the founder. There were kids even before me who did it, but I’m glad that we can continue the tradition, and hopefully, it facilitates connections between kids who might not talk with each other at other times,” Salama said.
