EASL News: KBL's Anyang KGC have a chance the EASL champion?

2023/02/09

Anyang Korea Ginseng Corporation, sometimes known as Anyang KGC, is a professional basketball team that competes in the Korean Basketball League, AKA, KBL. The Anyang Arena in the city of Anyang is home to the Anyang KGC. From 1992 until the present day, the team has undergone five different name changes.

Anyang KGC will represent KBL in the 2023 EASL Champions Week. EsballPH HaloWin Bet will discusses the team history, spirit below and his chances of winning the 2023 EASL title.

EASL News: KBL's Anyang KGC have a chance the EASL champion?

The Beginning of KBL Anyang KGC

Anyang KGC may trace its roots back to an amateur basketball squad established in 1992 by the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS). It was one of several basketball teams created by corporate companies to capitalize on the basketball fever that was prevalent from the early to the middle of the 1990s.

Before 1997, domestic basketball was considered an amateur sport, and all teams, regardless of whether they were sponsored by a corporate company or a university, took part in the competition held by the National Basketball Festival.

The SBS team did not have the financial resources necessary to entice the era's most prominent players. As a result, they were largely overshadowed by the dominant performances of the Kia, Samsung Electronics, and Hyundai Electronics teams and the college teams from Yonsei University and Korea University.

Early days of Anyang KGC - Anyang SBS Stars (1997 - 2005)

SBS entered its squad into the future league as soon as the local basketball competition became professional. It was decided that the Anyang SBS Stars would relocate to Anyang, where they have been ever since. In addition to the football team (the Anyang LG Cheetahs) and the ice hockey team, the municipal government of Anyang has decided to invest in constructing a brand-new sports complex. This complex will house the basketball team (Anyang Halla).

Nevertheless, because it would take several years to finish the project, the Anyang SBS Stars had to play their "home" games somewhere else, even though "Anyang" was included in the team's name.

The first few years of the team's existence were spent playing games at Jamsil Arena, which is now the home of the Seoul Samsung Thunders; Uijeongbu Gymnasium, which was converted into a volleyball arena and is now the home of the Uijeongbu KB Insurance Stars; and the gymnasium at Daelim University College. Anyang Gymnasium was completed on time and in advance of the 2000 - 2001 season.

After the 2004 - 2005 campaign, SBS completed the franchise sale to the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation (KT&G). It was the only basketball team sponsored by a broadcasting business during that period. Because Taeyoung Group, which owns SBS and is also SBS's parent firm, decided to concentrate its available financial resources in the broadcasting industry, this deal took place.

EASL News: KBL's Anyang KGC have a chance the EASL champion?

Early days of Anyang KGC changed name - Anyang KT&G and Anyang KGC era (2005-present)

Anyang KT&G Kites played the next many seasons in the middle ranks of the league table after receiving new sponsors. During this time, the team also changed their name multiple times. Red, the color of KGC's most well-known product, Cheong Kwan Jang, was chosen to be the team's color; ever since then, red has been synonymous with Anyang KGC.

In 2010, KT&G decided to transfer ownership and naming rights of its sponsored sports teams to the subsidiary Korea Ginseng Corporation (KGC). The company directors felt that having the sports teams associated with a tobacco company would be detrimental to marketing efforts, so they decided to transfer ownership and naming rights.

The squad went through a rebranding process, adopting a new team logo and mascot. Still, they kept the red hue that has been their characteristic.

The club reached a significant new benchmark when they won their first Championship during the 2011 - 12 season. This achievement was a key milestone for the team.

Anyang had a young and inexperienced team back then, with players like center Oh Se-keun, forward Yang Hee-jong, and guards Kim Tae-sul, Park Chan-hee, and Lee Jung-hyun. Additionally, Anyang's head coach Lee Sang-beom was only in his third season as the head coach of a KBL team at the time. The squad was forced to endure the humiliation of scoring only 41 points in the January game against the Wonju Dongbu Promy, who ultimately went on to win the regular season championship and set an all-time record for the lowest score ever recorded in a league contest.

EASL News: KBL's Anyang KGC have a chance the EASL champion?

Anyang overcame the obstacles and made it all the way to the championship game of the playoffs, where they faced off against Dongbu. Pundits and other observers had projected that the young club would not be able to compete with a Dongbu squad that had acquired the nickname "Dongbu Mountain Fortress" for earning the best defensive record in the league. With four victories out of six, Anyang claimed the Championship for the first time in history.

Oh, Yang, Kim, Park, and Lee came to be known collectively as Insamshinki, a combination of the names Dong Bang Shin Ki and the Korean name for KGC, Insamgongsa. The five went on to carve out successful careers for themselves as some of the best domestic players in the league. They also established themselves as a vital component of the national side.

Late Anyang KT&G and Anyang KGC Era

Anyang KGC finished in the bottom half of the league table in both the 2013 - 14 and 2014 - 15 seasons, and the club could not advance to the playoffs in either of those years. The 2011 - 12 squad was quickly disassembled after Kim's move to Jeonju KCC Egis, followed shortly after by Park, Lee, and Oh's respective enlistments in the military to fulfill their necessary obligations. They were even another setback when it was discovered that Jun Chang-jin, Lee Sang-replacement, beom's was being investigated for charges of match-fixing during his time spent at Busan KT Sonicboom.

Because Jun quit before the 2015 - 16 season, he was never allowed to manage the squad in a league game. Oh was also investigated in connection with the match-fixing case after discovering that he and several of his college teammates had placed bets with the illegal sports betting site back when they were students. This added more confusion to the situation, which was already complicated by the fact that Oh was being investigated. Kim Seung-gi, Jun's assistant, took over and found himself having to fill the vacuum left by Oh, who was suspended for 20 games and other key players away due to injury or conscription.

EASL News: KBL's Anyang KGC have a chance the EASL champion?

KBL's Anyang KGC have a chance the EASL champion Conclusion

On the first day of play in the 2022-23 East Asian Super League season, the reigning All-Filipino champion San Miguel Beer will face off against Anyang KGC, who recently signed Rhenz Abando (EASL).

When the San Miguel Beermen take on Anyang KGC on the 12th of October in Seoul, Korea, they will field an import player named Thomas Robinson.

Anyang KGC, who finished in second place in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) the previous year, was able to secure the services of the NCAA Rookie-MVP before beginning play in the EASL.

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