DB’s chances of winning the regular league have increased very much, but you should not let your guard down.
Wonju DB ranks first in the 2023-2024 Professional Basketball League with 30 wins and 9 losses. It has been a solo player since the season started with seven consecutive wins, but even if it wins the regular league, wire to wire will not be established. This is because DB won its first game of the season on the day when Seoul SK won its second straight game and started the regular league in second place.
Not only is it wire-to-wire, but DB is highly likely to win its seventh regular league title. The gap between DB, which ranks first, and KT, which ranks second, is 4.5 games. KT, which has 25 wins and 13 losses, can win up to 41 wins in the regular league. Even if DB, which has a 3-1 advantage in opponent teams, loses both of its remaining two showdowns with KT and is lagging behind in goal difference, it will win if it reaches 42 wins.
In other words, DB’s winning magic number is 12 with 15 games left until the end of the regular league. The magic number decreases whenever DB wins or KT loses. If it achieves the championship, DB will be tied for first (7 times) with Ulsan Hyundai Mobis.
Teams with 30 wins had a very high probability of winning the regular league. The KBL has been played in a 10-team system since the 1997-1998 season, and at least one team has exceeded the mark of 30 wins every season except for the 2019-2020 season, which ended early in the aftermath of COVID-19.
Among the 25 seasons excluding the 2019-2020 season, a team that has grabbed 30 wins has an 80 percent chance of winning the regular league title (20/25). If the team wins the fifth round match against KT, it can secure an edge against the opponent team and reduce the magic number by three in just one game 꽁머니지급.
Of course, we must not let our guard down. DB was one of the five teams that failed to win a regular league title even though they had 30 wins. DB was ahead of second-ranked Hyundai Mobis by 3.5 games with seven games left until the end of the regular league in the 2008-2009 season (then Dongbu).
While Hyundai Mobis won all six remaining games, DB lost only one win and six losses, losing the championship trophy that was on the verge of. DB, whose momentum was dampened, also handed over the championship game ticket to Busan KCC (then Jeonju KCC) in the semifinal playoff, finishing the season in vain.
Head coach Kim Joo-sung, senior coach Han Sang-min, and coach Lee Kwang-jae, who are currently forming the coaching staff, were all players who played in the DB at the time. Can the coaching staff, who know better than anyone else that “indulgence is forbidden,” give DB its first regular league victory in four seasons since the 2019-2020 season.
