Yokohama B-Corsairs
| Yokohama B-Corsairs | |
|---|---|
| Leagues | B.League |
| Founded | 2010 |
| History | bj league (2010-2016) |
| Arena | Yokohama International Swimming Pool |
| Location | Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Team colors | navy blue |
| President | Tetsuya Ueda |
| Team manager | Naoki Ogawa |
| Head coach | Taketo Aoki |
| Team captain | Kenji Yamada |
| Ownership | Yokohama Sports Entertainment Co., Ltd. |
| Championships | 1 (2012-13 bj league) |
| Website | b-corsairs |
| Uniforms | |
The Yokohama B-Corsairs (横浜ビー・コルセアーズ Yokohama Bii Koruse'a-zu) are a Japanese professional basketball team. Following the team's establishment in 2010, they participated in the Eastern Conference of the bj league for five seasons and in 2013 became the first team based in the Kanto region of Japan to win the league's championship. From September 2016 the team will compete in the first division of the new professional basketball league.
The B-Corsairs entered the league in the 2011-2012 season as one of four expansion teams, seeing the league grow from 16 to 20 teams. In their first season they finished in second place in the Eastern Conference, led by league MVP Justin Burrell. Former NBA player Reggie Geary won the coach of the year award. In the playoff series they finished third overall, losing the Eastern Conference Final to the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix but defeating the Kyoto Hannaryz in the playoff for third.
The following season the B-Corsairs won the 2012-13 bj-league title, defeating Rizing Fukuoka in the championship game. After again finishing second in the Eastern Conference, they overcame conference leader Niigata Albirex BB in the Eastern Conference Final, with Draelon Burns scoring in the final second of the game. With the victory, Geary became the first foreign-born coach to win a title in the bj-league. Team captain Masayuki Kabaya was named playoff MVP.
The club's initial success came at a financial cost. In the off-season following their championship success, it was reported that the club was in financial difficulty and the ownership changed. Geary left the club to join the Chiba Jets and the B-Corsairs' import players also signed with other clubs within Japan. Geary's assistant Michael Katsuhisa became head coach and Taketo Aoki retired as a player to become an assistant coach. Import players Wayne Marshall, Marquise Gray and Omar Reed joined the club. The 2013-14 season started reasonably well for the club, which was in playoff contention with a 16-17 record, but it slumped at the end of the year and finished with a 24-28 record, missing out on the playoffs for the first time.
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