BAL (basketball club)

Last updated
PrismaWorx BAL
BAL Basketball logo.png
Leagues BNXT League
Founded9 April 2013;12 years ago (2013-04-09)
HistoryBAL
(2013–present)
ArenaSporthal Boshoven
Capacity1,000
Location Weert, Limburg, Netherlands
PresidentJeroen van Veen [1]
Head coach Radenko Varagić
2021–22 position BNXT League, 15th of 21
Championships1 Dutch Cup
Website basketballacademielimburg.nl
Former logo of the club, used until 2017 Basketball Academie Limburg logo.png
Former logo of the club, used until 2017

Basketball Academie Limburg, commonly known as BAL and for sponsorship reasons as PrismaWorx 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.

Contents

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]

In June 2024, BAL signed its first name sponsorship contract and agreed to be named PrismaWorx BAL for three years, starting from the 2024–25 season. [6]

Honours

DBL Cup [2]

Dutch Supercup

Season by season

Key
Champions
Playoff berth
(X)National ranking standings
MIP Most Improved Player
RS Rising Star of the Year
CoY Coach of the Year
SeasonTierLeagueRegular seasonNational playoffs Dutch Cup BNXT playoffsHead coachIndividual awards
FinishPlayedWinsLosses Win%
BAL
2017–18 1 DBL 8th32428.125 Withdrew Radenko Varagić Sam van Dijk (MIP)
2018–19 1 DBL 9th34529.147 Eightfinals
2019–20 [note 1] 1 DBL 6th24915.375 Eightfinals
2020–21 1 DBL 8th21129.571Lost quarterfinals to ZZ Leiden (148–183) Champions
2021–22 1 BNXT League 15th
(7th)
301119.367 Fourth Round Won first round (Yoast, 163–152)
Lost second round (Feyenoord, 138–158)
Sander Hollanders (RS)
2022–23 1 BNXT League 18th28721.250 Fourth Round Lost, first round (Liège Basket, 161–188)Oshean Brathwaite (RS)
2023–24 1 BNXT League 10th28917.346Lost quarterfinals to Donar (1–2)QuarterfinalistNot heldRadenko Varagic (CoY)
2024–25 1 BNXT League 18th36630.167Eightfinals

Players

Current roster

BAL roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Age
SF 0 Flag of Croatia.svg Tišma, Bojan 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)21 – (2004-04-28)28 April 2004
PG 2 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Sibilo, Romano 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)21 – (2004-05-14)14 May 2004
C 4 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Afolabi, Adekule 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)20 – (2005-05-07)7 May 2005
PG 8 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Strojil, Armin 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)22 – (2003-06-24)24 June 2003
SG 11 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Vogelaar, Renars 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)21 – (2004-02-09)9 February 2004
PG 13 Flag of Slovenia.svg Ličan, Lon 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)20 – (2005-01-31)31 January 2005
F/C 14 Flag of the Netherlands.svg van Holst, Niels 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)20 – (2004-08-26)26 August 2004
C 91 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Hautekeet, Milo 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)21 – (2004-06-07)7 June 2004
SG 99 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Thole, Revelinio 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)25 – (1999-09-01)1 September 1999
PG Flag of the Netherlands.svg van Overbeek, Roel 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)24 – (2000-08-07)7 August 2000
SF Flag of the Netherlands.svg Ondaan, Kenyuoe 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)26 – (1999-03-07)7 March 1999
SF Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Muhr, Ryan 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)22 – (2002-08-17)17 August 2002
F Flag of the Netherlands.svg De Graff, Kjell 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)25 – (1999-09-08)8 September 1999
F Flag of France.svg Bonfils, Lucas 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)20 – (2004-09-05)5 September 2004
F Flag of France.svg Flag of Senegal.svg Sene, Kara 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)19 – (2006-07-10)10 July 2006
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Flag of the Netherlands.svg Koen van Gerwen
  • Flag of Spain.svg Manuel Luis Suárez Marín-Ricky

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Development player
  • (I) Import player
  • Cruz Roja.svg Injured

Updated: August 1, 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Individual awards

BNXT League Rising Star of the Year
DBL Most Improved Player
DBL All-Rookie Team

Top scorers by seasons

The following players led BAL in scoring in each DBL or BNXT League season: [7]

SeasonNamePPG
2017–18 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Sam van Dijk 12.2
2018–19 Flag of the United States.svg Tony Washington 12.2
2019–20 Flag of the United States.svg Trey Burch-Manning 14.5
2020–21 Flag of the United States.svg Trevor Jasinsky 15.8
2021–22 Flag of Ireland.svg D. J. Mitchell
16.0
2022–23 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Noel Botuli
11.9
2023–24 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Noel Botuli
12.7
2024–25 Flag of France.svg Lionel Colson
14.9

Club records

Bold denotes still active with team. As of 14 April 2021:

CategoryPlayerRecord
Games playedWietze Nossek120
Points scoredWietze Nossek754
Rebounds Roel Aarts 443
AssistsRoel van Overbeek329
StealsRoel van Overbeek94
Blocks Roel Aarts 41
Three-point field goalsSander Hollanders141

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. 1 2 3 "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. "BAL sluit driejarig contract met PrismaWorx". basketbalacademielimburg.nl. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
  7. "Basketball Academie Limburg Stats - RealGM". basketball.realgm.com. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

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