Tuesday night’s championship showdown was a classic. Top-seeded Black, a team consisting of mostly seniors,  hoped over power Blue as they had done in the first game of the season. Blue came in riding a seven-game win streak and playing some of the best team basketball IBL had ever seen. The top two teams were set to battle for the 2011 IBL Championship.

The game started even – if either teams had any pre-game jitters, it certainly didn’t take long for them to disappear. Both teams got off to a slow start just they way Black had hoped. Then Jerry “Jigz” Lerman took over. The Jigz was raining threes, and no form of Black defense could stop it.

“From the day game of the game I told Ricky I was feeling good. And I went off,” said Lerman. His performance is why I am naming him finals MVP. Without the sharp-shooting Lerman, Blue would not be champion. Once Blue started to knock down their shots, Black could not keep up. Blue won the championship 53-39.

The Blue team will go down in history with the highest winning percentage in IBL histroy with a record of 8-2 (.800). This is partly because never before has an IBL season been this long, but hey, an eight-game win streak is hard to accomplish.

The season is now over, and I will give out my IBL season awards.

MVP:

This was tough, but this years MVP is Blue’s Mackland Steele. Steele was acquired after the draft and sparked Blue’s run to the title. Steele may not have the most flashy stats, but here’s a pretty good one: 8-0. The Blue team was 8-0 with Mackland at center. He created a much needed presence in the paint for an under-sized Blue team. Steele was the missing piece to Blue championship puzzle, thus making him the most valuable player in IBL.

All-Star Teams:

I would like to say that my all-star teams are not official. This is simply who I feel is worthy of all-star recognition.

First Team:

Joe Cooper (Grey)

Nitin Rajinikanth (Yellow)

Joey Felipe (Red)

Mackland Steele (Blue)

Tommy Carmichael (Black)

Second Team:

Cal Williams (Red)

Jerry Lerman (Blue)

Nate Fujita (White)

Jeremy Brofsky (White)

Matt King (Orange)

Standings:

**1. Blue        8-2

*2. Black         7-3

*3. Red         5-4

*4. White         4-5

5. Yellow         5-4

6. Orange         3-6

7. Green         2-7

8. Grey         2-7

* made playoffs

**Champions

This is my final post, thanks for reading. I would do a preview for next year, but seeing how the teams will be shuffled up I can’t really do that. Who knows what kind of basketball IBL 2012 will see in the newly-renovated field house…