GT Sports Club, CIBA president Dale Ramoon and Digicel representative Crystal Gomez
While they feel that the Cayman Islands Basketball Association (CIBA) Men's League always showcases talent and excitement, coaches, officials and players have always felt that the level of play and strategy has been limited because of the lack of true basketball statistics.
In 2006 this changed, with players being able to set personal standards for themselves and track their progress using information being recorded during each game. The best players can now be clearly identified because the statistics available give a complete picture of a person's performance, showing their free-throw shooting percentage, their assists, steals, turnovers and rebounds per game.
According to the organisers this gives players additional recognition and allows them to aspire to other goals in the game besides the top scorer.
Statistics also assist proper coaches to formulate playing strategies by allowing them to study their opponents, analyzing strengths and weaknesses as well as looking for dominant opposing team members.
Fans also benefit because they are able to get a better overview of the game and a player's.
The CIBA credits the development to Digicel's Sponsorship of the league, this has enabled statisticians to be specifically hired for the task of collating proper game statistics.
At the end of the season it was the reigning champions, George Town Sports Club, who emerged victorious once again, showing their dominance over the competition. GTSC has won the Big Four Tournament Title for 3 of the past 4 years and there game has recently been lead by the emerging stars Jorge Ebanks and Phillip Barnes.
During the championship series against the much improved Esso Blazers, Barnes averaged 25 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists per game while Ebanks averaged 32 points and 6 steals per game. Another player that stepped up for GT and was integral in their success was Jonothan Mitchell. Mitchell averaged an unprecedented 18 rebounds per game and did a lot of the "dirty work" for the team.
According to the CIBA, Digicel's support of basketball in Cayman has created an incredible surge of enthusiasm and even more teams are expected next year.
