Former University of Washington star Donald Watts scores in Tacoma's 3BA game against San Francisco.
(Courtesy Mike Urban/PI)
BADEN PERFECTION® OFFICIAL BALL OF NEW 3 ON 3 PRO LEAGUE
[Apr-12-2006]
Courtesy Mark Bergin, Seattle P-I
3BA: PRO LEAGUE WITH AMBITIOUS DREAMS
TACOMA WA - The 3BA opened its nine-city tour earlier this month with a four-team tournament of full-court action played on a portable Sport Court surface of interlocking 10-inch tiles.
Entrepreneur Kevin LuBahn, a former college player with longtime ties to the Seattle area, stood on the sideline and watched with quiet satisfaction as his 10-year brainchild came to fruition. He watched former Pepperdine standout Topper Allen weave the dribble between defenders, unencumbered by the overpopulated lane of the five-man game. He watched 5-9 Western Washington graduate Darnell Taylor flourish in a game built more for speed than height.
"We need people to start noticing," he said.
Prospective 3BA fans haven't had many chances to climb aboard thus far. The league introduced itself in August with a free exhibition tournament in Seattle's Judkins Park.
Fan turnout was light for the recent four-team 3BA tournament at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, but
provided the league continues to land sponsors, the victorious team from each respective city will continue advancing to such stops as Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago before the national tour culminates in New York on Dec. 27-29.
LuBahn has a plan -- an ambitious, four-year business plan bent on filling, or creating, a market niche. By 2007, the 3BA aims to adopt a franchise format and field a dozen teams for a six-month, 40-game schedule, complete with an all-star break and three rounds of postseason playoffs. LuBahn intends to expand to 16 teams by 2008 and to 20 by 2009.
Ambitious hardly covers it. "If at any point, someone had told me the game was no good and would never make it, I'd have given it up, but no one's ever said that. It's good basketball," states Luhban. "There's a lot of action and not really any dull moments."
Modeled after Arena Football, a scrunched-down game that has outperformed exact replicas of the NFL, the 3BA's style is designed to draw more attention than numerous NBA duplicates.
Seattle contract estimator Gary Lang, 58, sat with eyes glued to the court, completely hooked. "I was never interested in basketball until now," he said. "There's just something about it."
Former University of Washington star Donald Watts scores in Tacoma's 3BA game against San Francisco.
