1996–97 British Basketball League season a bye into Quarter-finals. Birmingham Bullets vs. Leicester Riders Leopards vs. London Towers Thames Valley Tigers vs. Chester Jets Worthing Bears vs. Sheffield Sharks Chester Jets vs. Leicester Riders Sheffield Sharks vs. London Towers 1996–97 British Basketball League season The 1996–1997 BBL season was known as the Budweiser League for sponsorship reasons. The league retained a total of 13 teams, playing 36 games each. The main change featured the long-awaited return of Crystal Palace after several seasons of rejected applications. Palace replaced Doncaster Panthers following the liquidation of the South Yorkshire club. The League's two London-based teams dominated throughout the
Josh Steel (basketball) Josh Steel (basketball) Joshua Steel (born 14 January 1997) is a British professional basketball player who currently plays for the Surrey Scorchers in the British Basketball League. Steel attended Barking Abbey School and represented the Barking Abbey Basketball Academy. In 2012, he played 12 games for National Basketball League Division One team the Essex Leopards aged 14. He also spent two seasons playing semi-professionally with the Kent Crusaders between 2013 and 2015. In 2015, Steel moved to the United States to join Duquesne University. He averaged 2.2 points, 0.7 assists, 0.8 rebounds and 0.2 steals per game in his freshman