Ehime Orange Vikings

The Ehime Orange Vikings (愛媛オレンジバイキングス, Ehime Orenji Baikingusu) are a professional basketball team based in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, that will compete in the second division of the B.League, a new league that will commence in September 2016. The team was founded in 2005 as the Oita HeatDevils, one of the founding members of the bj league. The team was based in Ōita city, Ōita Prefecture until 2015, at which time the club relocated to Matsuyama for the 2015-16 season of the bj league and changed its name to the Oita Ehime HeatDevils.

The team was founded as the Oita HeatDevils in 2005 and were one of six founding members of the bj league, a professional league set up in competition to the Japan Basketball League operated by the Japan Basketball Association. Their first league game was on 5 October 2005, which they won 100–95 against Osaka Evessa. After losing to Osaka in their second match the following day, Oita hosted their first home game a week later against the Sendai 89ers at the Beppu Beacon Plaza. They lost both matches in the series though, and their losing streak increased to six until they won the second game of a return series in Sendai on 3 December. After that they won just two of their next twelve matches for a 4–16 win-loss record at the mid-point of the season. Oita improved in the second half of the season and managed a six-game winning streak at one stage. They finished in fifth place with a 15–25 win-loss record, three games behind fourth-placed Sendai. They played the majority of their home matches at Beppu Arena.

In the 2006–07 season, when the bj league expanded to eight teams, Oita compiled a 22–18 win-loss record, their only winning season to date, and finished in fourth place, thereby qualifying for their first finals appearance. They lost their semi-final against the top-placed and eventual champions Osaka Evessa 69–63, before recovering the next day to defeat Niigata Albirex BB 92–70 in the playoff for third. To increase their popularity in the wider region, the team played half of their home games in Beppu and two matches each in Hita, Oita and Usa cities in Oita Prefecture as well as Buzen and Fukuoka cities in Fukuoka Prefecture.

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