Southeast Basketball League Rule Book
SECTION I: THE DRAFT
A. The league shall consist of 12 teams.
B. Entry fee for the league is $30 per team.
C. Each team will draft a total of nine players, at a time to be determined by the commissioner, usually on the weekend before the schools’ first exhibition games.
D. In the first round of the draft, coaches will select in the following order, based on the teams’ finishes from the previous season: The fifth- through 12th-place finishers will select, in order, in the No. 1 through No. 8 positions. The fourth-place team will draft ninth, the third-place team will be 10th, the runner-up will be 11th and the league champion will pick 12th. In all subsequent rounds, the order will be the reverse of the previous round.
E. If a new coach enters the league, he will draft in the slot vacated by the coach who left the league. If there is more than one new coach, the commissioner will determine, through a blind draw or series of coin flips, which new coach inherits which vacant draft position.
F. Coaches may choose players from any of the 14 Southeastern Conference schools: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
G. There is no limit to the number of players a coach may select from any school.
H. Players are not drafted by their positions.
SECTION II: LEAGUE FORMAT
A. The 12 teams will be split into two six-team divisions:
1. The Eastern Division will consist of the coaches who drafted in the first, third, fifth, seventh, 10th and 12th positions in the first round of the draft.
2. The Western Division will consist of the coaches who drafted in the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, ninth and 11th positions in the first round of the draft.
B. The season will consist of a 16-game regular season and a two-game postseason.
1. Regular season: Each team will play two games against each of the other five teams in its division and one game against each team from the other division.
2. Postseason: After the conclusion of the regular season, each team will play two additional games (See Section IV).
C. In determining the college games to be used for league play, the commissioner will select 17 games from each school’s conference schedule and each school’s first game in the Southeastern Conference tournament. Exceptions will be made at the discretion of the commissioner to preserve the chronological integrity of the schedule.
D. All league games will consist of two teams playing head-to-head against only each other, comparing the points scored by each team’s eight active players in a group of college games to be determined by the commissioner (See Section II-C). Before the season, the commissioner will distribute a list showing which college games count for which league games.
E. For any game that ends in a tie, the following steps will be taken until a winner is determined. If one team is ahead after any of the following steps, that team is declared the winner.
1. First Overtime: One point will be awarded in each of three categories. Those points will go to the team whose eight active players have the higher combined total of:
(a) Rebounds
(b) Assists
(c) Steals plus blocked shots
2. Second Overtime: One point will be awarded to each team for each of its active players who reach any of the following statistical milestones:
(a) 12 rebounds
(b) 10 assists
(c) 10 combined steals and blocked shots
3. Third Overtime: One point will be awarded to the team whose inactive player scored the most points.
4. Fourth Overtime: A head-to-head points comparison of players in each lineup slot (See Section III-H) will be made, comparing only players of equal status, beginning at the No. 8 position and working backward to No. 1. If at any point one team’s player outscores the other team’s player, that team will receive one bonus point.
Example: Assume the following are the lineups for two teams that end a game in a tie:
Slot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Team A #1 pick #2 pick #3 pick #4 pick pickup #6 pick #8 pick #9 pick
Team B #1 pick #2 pick #3 pick #4 pick #6 pick #7 pick #8 pick #9 pick
In the above case, the player slots that would be compared for the tiebreaker would be (in order) No. 8, No. 7, No. 4, No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1. Slots No. 5 and No. 6 would not be considered because they did not match players of equal status. Even though both teams played their No. 6 draft picks, they would not be compared because they were not “head to head” in the lineup.
5. If the teams remain tied after the previous four steps, the game will be declared a tie.
SECTION III: ROSTERS
A. All rosters will consist of nine players, eight of whom will be designated as active in the lineup for each game.
B. Coaches will designate one player from their roster to be inactive for each round of play. The commissioner will provide a lineup deadline for all coaches to notify him of the player that will be inactive for each round. Coaches may choose to sit out any player at any time for any reason.
1. In cases where a coach fails to designate which player will sit out a particular game, the lineup from the previous game will be used.
2. If a coach misses the lineup deadline for Round 1, the first eight players selected in the draft (or the eight remaining original players, if a replacement has been made) will be used as that team’s lineup.
C. The commissioner will notify all coaches of receipt of their lineups. Prior to the beginning of play in each round, he will post on the league Web site (www.leaguelineup.com/southeastbl) a list of the 12 players who will be sitting out. Lineups may not be changed for any reason once the lineup deadline has passed or the commissioner posts the list of inactive players, whichever comes first.
D. Before each round during the regular season, including Round 1, coaches may replace one player on their roster for any reason. Below are the steps involved in making a roster change.
1. Any coach wishing to make a roster change for the upcoming round will contact the commissioner, prior to a pre-set roster deadline, and provide the following:
(a) Notification that he would like to make a roster change for the next round.
(b) The name of the player that will be replaced.
(c) A list of players, in order of preference, from which the commissioner will choose the replacement player. If all of a coach’s choices have been taken before his turn in the mini-draft (See Section III-E), the commissioner will contact the coach for additional names.
*Note: Coaches can put stipulations on their requests. For example, they can notify the commissioner that they would like to replace Player A but only if they can get Player B in his place; otherwise they would like to hold on to Player A. There is no penalty for making such a conditional request for which no transaction is completed.
E. Once the commissioner has received all the requests for changes, he will conduct a mini-draft involving all of the coaches who requested a change. The order for that mini-draft will be as follows.
1. For changes going into effect for Round 1, replacements will be made in the order in which the players to be replaced were originally drafted.
2. For changes going into effect for Round 2 and beyond, replacements will be made in the following order:
(a) Won-loss record – team with the worst record picks first.
(b) Opportunity Index (total record vs. every team every round) – team with the lowest OI picks first.
(c) Scoring average for the season – team with the lowest average picks first.
(d) Original draft position – the coach replacing the player drafted earlier will pick first.
3. In all cases, coaches who have made fewer roster moves will get to pick ahead of coaches who have made more moves, regardless of any of the above factors.
4. Injuries, suspensions, etc. will have no impact on the order in which players are replaced.
5. The commissioner will post on the Web site a list of all changes prior to the beginning of each round.
6. Coaches may not replace more than one player per round.
F. The fee for replacing a player on a team’s roster is $5 per transaction (dropping a player and replacing him with another player is considered one transaction). That money will be added to the pool of money to be distributed after the postseason. Coaches must make payments for transactions in a timely manner; failure to do so could result in the loss of the ability to conduct future transactions.
G. Players may be replaced on a roster after the completion of Round 16 to take effect for the postseason; however, the following conditions and stipulations will apply to these moves:
1. The transaction fee will be $10.
2. Coaches must provide documented evidence that at least two of their players will not be available for the postseason game(s).
3. For the player being replaced, the reason for his unavailability (injury, suspension, etc.) must have occurred during or after the Round 16 game.
4. If a player who is replaced actually plays in his college team’s game for a particular round, the transaction is nullified and that player goes back into the lineup in the position of the player who was picked up in the nullified move.
H. Each player will be slotted for lineup purposes from 1 through 9 (with No. 9 being the bench) based on their selection order in the draft. If a player other than the original No. 9 player is inactive for a particular round, he will move to the No. 9 slot and the other players will slide up one spot for that round. If a player is replaced on a roster, the substitute player will assume the slot of the player he is replacing.
I. Because of quirks in the schedule, there could be occasions when one or more of a team’s players will have played their game for a particular round before the official lineup or roster deadlines for that round. In those cases, the coach will have the advantage of knowing what he is getting from the player or players for that round and can make his lineup decisions accordingly.
J. A team’s roster will always be considered to be the nine players on the roster at the time of the lineup deadline. If a player is dropped after playing a game for a particular round but before the lineup deadline, he will not be considered to be on that team’s roster. The transaction deadline will be earlier than the roster deadline so that any player added to a roster may be used for the upcoming round.
K. Players who are dropped from a roster will return to the pool of available players but will not be eligible to be picked up until the following round.
L. Coaches who drop a player from the roster for any reason relinquish all rights to that player. They may pick that player up again, but only by following the replacement procedure outlined in Section III-D-F.
M. The commissioner will not at any time send out a list of available players. He will, however, provide a list of players who were selected in the draft and an ongoing, up-to-date list of player transactions. It is the responsibility of the coaches to monitor which players are not on a roster.
N. All roster moves are subject to the commissioner’s approval and may be denied for reasons of competitive fairness.
SECTION IV: POSTSEASON
A. After the completion of the regular season, each team will play two additional games to determine the final standings:
1. Championship Bracket: The first- and second-place teams from each division will play a two-game tournament to determine the league champion. The first-place team from the Eastern Division will play the second-place team from the Western Division, and the first-place team from the Western Division will play the second-place team from the Eastern Division. The winners of those two games will meet to determine the league champion and runner-up. The losers of those two games will meet to determine third and fourth place overall.
2. Fifth-Place Bracket: The two teams that finish in third and fourth place in each division will play a two-game tournament to determine the fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-place overall finishers, using the same format as the Championship Bracket.
3. Ninth-Place Bracket: The two teams that finish in fifth and sixth place in each division will play a two-game tournament to determine the ninth-, 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-place overall finishers, using the same format as the Championship Bracket.
B. If two teams are tied in the final regular-season standings, the following formula will be used to determine the final seeding:
1. Head-to-head records
2. Opportunity Index (total record vs. every team every round)
3. Most points scored in all games
4. Division record
5. Average margin of victory in all games
6. Total points in head-to-head meetings
7. Coin flip
C. If more than two teams are involved in a tie in the final regular-season standings, go through steps 1-7 above. If one of the tied teams is eliminated at any step and the others remain tied, return to step 1 and go back through the list with the remaining teams. However, if one of the three or more tied teams is ahead after a step, that team wins the tiebreaker. In all of the steps involving points scored (Nos. 3, 5 and 6), any overtime “bonus” points will be included in the total.
D. Each of the league’s 12 coaches will contribute $30 to the pool at the beginning of the season, for a total of $360. Subtracted from that total will be $30 for the commissioner (a refund of his league fee). The remaining $330, plus transaction fees, will be distributed in the following manner:
1. The league champion will receive $255, plus 60 percent of the transaction fees ($3 from each transaction).
2. The league runner-up will receive $50.
3. The third-place team will receive $25.
4. The two division champions also will receive 20 percent of the transaction fees ($1 from each transaction), regardless of where they finish in the final standings.
E. Any coach who receives a cash prize may choose, but is not required, to have the commissioner keep all or part of that prize and apply it toward the entry fee for the following season.
SECTION V: DISCLAIMER
The commissioner reserves the right to interpret, clarify or modify any of the above rules as necessary in the best interests of the Southeast Basketball League. All decisions of the commissioner are final. This set of rules replaces any and all previous versions.
