The Blue Conference is the Eastern Conference in the American Basketball Association (ABA). The league also has a Red Conference and a White Conference. The colors were chosen to represent the colors in the leagues' well-known red, white and blue ball.

2005-2006 Season

Roger Brown Division

The Roger Brown Division is a divisions in the Blue Conference (the east) in the ABA. All divisions in the league beginning in 2005 were named after a former American Basketball Association (ABA) outstanding player. The Roger Brown division included the Harlem Strong Dogs, the Strong Island Sound, the Montreal Matrix, the Newark Express and the Boston Frenzy during the 2005-2006 season. The division was named after the former American Basketball Association player, Roger Brown. Newark and Harlem were the two strongest teams in the first half, but Harlem broke ahead for first place. Newark fell to Long Island and Montreal late in the season, but was able to catch up to Montreal once again. The Boston Frenzy, which was the only team that wasn't an expansion franchise this year only won two games. Despite their poor record, the Frenzy still got into the playoffs as a wildcard team because of the number of games they had played. Every team in this division made the playoffs this year, although only Newark got a bye week the first round (because the Tacoma Navigators, their first round opponent forfeited the game). Newark lost their playoff game to the 2005-2006 Champions, the Rochester Razorsharks. Long Island won their first two playoffs games against Harlem and then Indiana, but lost to the SoCal Legends in the semi-finals in Rochester. Montreal lost their first playoff game in their innagural season to the Maryland Nighthawks.

Final Standings

All teams in the Roger Brown division made it to the playoffs. Boston lost in their wild card game and Newark advanced from their wild card game because of a forfeit and Montreal won their wild card game to advance.

Connie Hawkins Division

The Connie Hawkins Division was one of the divisions in the Blue Conference (the east) in the American Basketball Association (ABA). It included the Rochester Razorsharks, the Maryland Nighthawks, the Buffalo Rapids and the Baltimore Pearls. It previously included the NEPA Breakers and the Niagara Daredevils, but both teams folded during the 2005-2006 season. Connie Hawkins, the division's namesake, is a former ABA and NBA player and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Buffalo, Maryland and Rochester made it to the playoffs this season. Maryland was the only franchise that was not an expansion team (including NEPA and Niagara). The Maryland Nighthawks were an expansion team the previous season, originally intended to play as the Hershey Nighthawks somewhere in the Harrisburg region, but before they began moving were moved to Maryland. This year the Nighthawks were moved again, but within the state to Montgomery County. They saw a lot of success from the team who had all-stars: Randy Gill, Lawrence Moten and Ray Cunningham. Moten announced that he was ending his professional basketball career at the end of the Nighthawks season, after their second round playoff loss to the SoCal Legends. The Baltimore Pearls had a rough season, winning only two of their games and being forced to move into the division as a result of the loss of teams in their original division to the south. The Buffalo Rapids started out their season, looking like they would be a tough regional opponent to the Rochester Razorsharks, but struggled later in the season. Although Buffalo was able to get into the playoffs, they suffered a two-point defeat against the Atlanta Vision. Although Buffalo had a mediocre record, they had many close games against their opponents with stellar players such as Brad Buddenborg and all-star Tim Winn. The ABA champions, the Rochester Razorsharks, with some losses early and with the undefeated Indiana Alleycats were an outstanding team that was overlooked. They were able to pull into first place in the league standings at the end of the season with a number of outstanding players including all-star, championship MVP and league MVP, Chris Carrawell. The Razorsharks beat the SoCal Legends 117-114, after trailing most of the game in front of a loud recordbreaking crowd of 6,377 at Blue Cross Arena.

Final Standings

Baltimore was the only team in the Connie Hawkins division that did not advanced to the playoffs.

Barnes-Malone Division

The Marvin Barnes Division and the Moses Malone division were merged during the season as most of the teams in these divisions folded or changed leagues. The two divisions had teams in the southeast United States. By the end of the season only three teams were left in the two merged divisions and the Atlanta Vision were the league leaders and went to the playoffs, where they lost to the Rochester Razorsharks in the quarter finals.

Final Standings

The Atlanta Vision were the only team from the merged Barnes-Malone division to advance to the playoffs.

Playoffs

• Blue Conference teams in black

Wild Card Round

• Includes wild card games with Blue Conference teams only

• Montreal Matrix (12) defeated Ohio Aviators (23) 140-83
• Strong Island Sound (13) defeated Birmingham Magicians (19) 97-95
• Buffalo Rapids (15) defeated Boston Frenzy (16) 133-88

Division Changes

Changes to the teams that were in the division were: Harlem moved to Florida as the Tampa Bay Strong Dogs and Boston moved to Cape Cod as the Cape Cod Frenzy. As a result of expansion teams and lost teams throughout the league there were division realignments during the offseason in 2006. The new Northern Division includes teams from the Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown divisions. Rochester and Buffalo were added to the northern division from the Connie Hawkins Division and Montreal and Boston (which became the Cape Cod Frenzy) joined from the Roger Brown division. The Northern division also had the addition of two expansion teams: Quebec City and Vermont. The new Central Division kept the remaining teams from the Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown divisions, which naturally were further south. This left Long Island, Newark, Maryland, and Baltimore. Harlem moved their franchise to Tampa Bay and has decided to sit a season out. Three expansion franchises were added to the Central Division: Wilmington, Richmond, and Brooklyn. The south saw the greatest changes as these divisions saw growth during the offseason. The Birmingham Magicians decided to sit out a season and will resume during the 2007-2008 season. Atlanta and Mississippi (who changed their name to the Miracles) remained in a division together, the Southern Division. This division saw expansion teams from Knoxville, Southern Alabama, and Tennessee introduced. The Southeast Division or Florida Division is completely expansion teams consisting of Miami, Palm Beach, Orlando and Jacksonville. Florida saw ABA teams throughout its history including the Floridians in the old ABA and the Jacksonville Wave and Florida Pit Bulls, the former who folded and the later left the league during the playoffs last season.

2006-2007 Season

Northern Division

The teams in the Northern Division are the:

• Rochester Razorsharks
• Cape Cod Frenzy
• Vermont Frost Heaves
• Montreal Matrix
• Quebec City Kebekwa
• Buffalo Silverbacks

Final Standings

Central Division

The teams in the Central Division are:

• Baltimore Pearls
• Brooklyn Wonders
• Maryland Nighthawks
• Newark Express
• Richmond Ballerz
• Strong Island Sound
• Wilmington Sea Dawgs

Final Standings

Southern Division

The teams in the Southern Division are the:

• Atlanta Vision
• Knoxville Noise
• Mississippi Miracles
• Southern Alabama Bounce
• Tennessee Mud Frogs

Final Standings

Florida Division

The teams in the Florida Division or Southeast Division are the:

• Jacksonville Jam
• Orlando Aces
• Palm Beach Imperials

Final Standings

Playoffs

• Blue Conference teams in black

2007-2008 Season

Northern Division

The teams in the Northern Division are the:

• Buffalo Silverbacks
• Corning Bulldogs
• Halifax Rainmen
• Montreal Royal
• Quebec City Kebekwa
• Syracuse Raging Bullz
• Vermont Frost Heaves

Central Division

The teams in the Central Division are:

• Newark Express
• Strong Island Sound

Southern Division

The teams in the Southern Division are the:

• Atlanta Vision
• Georgia Gwizzlies

Florida Division

The teams in the Florida Division or Southeast Division are the:

• Jacksonville Jam
• Miami Tropics
• Orlando Aces
• Palm Beach Imperials

External links

• American Basketball Association