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.

2005-2006 Season

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.

Season-ending standings