2006 in basketball

Tournaments include international (FIBA), professional (club) and amateur and collegiate levels.

Championships

International

*2006 FIBA World Championship:
**Gold medal: flagicon|Spain Spain
**Silver medal: flagicon|Greece Greece
**Bronze medal: flagicon|USA USA
**MVP: flagicon|Spain Pau Gasol, Spain
**All-tournament team:
***flagicon|Spain Pau Gasol
***flagicon|USA Carmelo Anthony (USA)
***flagicon|Spain Jorge Garbajosa (Spain)
***flagicon|Argentina Manu Ginobili (Argentina)
***flagicon|Greece Theodoros Papaloukas (Greece)
*2006 FIBA World Championship for Women
**Gold medal: flagicon|Australia Australia
**Silver medal: flagicon|Russia Russia
**Bronze medal: flagicon|USA USA
**MVP: flagicon|Australia Penny Taylor, Australia
*Basketball at the 2006 Asian Games
**Men's tournament:
***Gold medal: flagicon|China China
***Silver medal: flagicon|Qatar Qatar
***Bronze medal: flagicon|Iran Iran
**Women's tournament:
***Gold medal: flagicon|China China
***Silver medal: flagicon|Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei
***Bronze medal: flagicon|Japan Japan

Professional

Men

*flagicon|USAflagicon|Canada NBA season and playoffs:
**2006 NBA Finals: Miami Heat 4, Dallas Mavericks 2. MVP: Dwyane Wade
*Euroleague (Europe-wide):
**CSKA Moscow defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 73-69 in the final
*flagicon|Croatia Croatian League:
**Cibona defeated Zadar 2-1 in the best-of-three finals
*flagicon|France French League:
**Le Mans defeated Nancy 93-88 in the one-off final
*flagicon|Germany German Bundesliga:
**RheinEnergie Köln defeated ALBA Berlin 3-1 in the best-of-five finals
*flagicon|Greece Greek League:
**Panathinaikos defeated Olympiakos 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
*flagicon|Israel Israel Premier League:
**Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 96-66 in the one-off final (the first such final in Israel history)
*flagicon|Italy Italian Serie A:
**Benetton Treviso defeated Climamio Bologna 3-1 in the best-of-five finals
*flagicon|Lithuania Lithuanian LKL:
**Lietuvos Rytas defeated Žalgiris 4-0 in the best-of-seven finals
*flagicon|Philippines Philippine Basketball Association 2005-06 season:
**Red Bull Barako over the Purefoods Chunkee Giants 4-2 in the Fiesta Conference Finals. Finals MVP: Lordy Tugade
**Purefoods Chunkee Giants over Red Bull Barako 4-2 in the Philippine Cup Finals. Finals MVP: Marc Pingris
*flagicon|Poland Polish League:
**Prokom Trefl Sopot over Anwil Włocławek 4-1 in the best-of-seven finals
*flagicon|Russia Russian Super League:
**CSKA Moscow over Khimki 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
*flagicon|Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro Super League:
**Partizan over Red Star 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
*flagicon|Spain Spanish ACB:
**Unicaja Málaga over TAU Cerámica 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
***2005-06 season, 2005-06 playoffs
*flagicon|Turkey Turkish Basketball League:
**Ülkerspor over Efes Pilsen 4-0 in the best-of-seven finals. Only three matches were actually played; under Turkish rules, Ülker was granted a 1-0 lead by virtue of its regular-season sweep of Efes.
*flagicon|United Kingdom British Basketball League:
**Newcastle Eagles defeated Scottish Rocks 83-68 in the one-off final
*flagicon|Bosnia and Herzegovinaflagicon|Croatiaflagicon|Sloveniaflagicon|Serbiaflagicon|Montenegroflagicon|Macedonia Adriatic League:
**FMP defeated Partizan 73-72 in the one-off final

Women

*flagicon|USA 2006 WNBA Finals: Detroit Shock 3, Sacramento Monarchs 2
**MVP: Deanna Nolan, Detroit

College

*Men
**flagicon|USA NCAA
***Division I: University of Florida 73, University of California, Los Angeles 57
***National Invitation Tournament: University of South Carolina 76, University of Michigan 64
***Division II: Winona State University 73, Virginia Union University 61
***Division III: Virginia Wesleyan College 59, Wittenberg University 56
**flagicon|USA NAIA
***NAIA Division I: Texas Wesleyan University 67, Oklahoma City University 65
***NAIA Division II: University of the Ozarks (Mo.) 74, Huntington University (Ind.) 56
**flagicon|USA NJCAA
***Division I: Arkansas-Ft. Smith 68, Tallahassee Community College (FL) 59
***Division II: Cecil CC 9 (MD) 64, Kirkwood CC (IA) 63
***Division III: North Lake College (TX) 78, Gloucester County College (N.J.) 65
**flagicon|PHL UAAP Men's: University of Santo Tomas over Ateneo de Manila University, 2 games to 1
**flagicon|PHL NCAA (Philippines) Seniors': San Beda College over Philippine Christian University, 2 games to 1
*Women
**flagicon|USA NCAA
***Division I: University of Maryland 78, Duke University 75 OT
***WNIT Kansas State University 77, Marquette University 65
***Division II: Grand Valley State University 58, American International College 52
***Division III Hope College 69, University of Southern Maine 56
**flagicon|USA NAIA
***NAIA Division I: Union University 79, Lubbock Christian University (TX) 62
***NAIA Division II Hastings College (Neb.)58, University of the Ozarks (Mo.) 39
**flagicon|USA NJCAA
***Division I: Monroe CC (Rochester, NY) 76, Odessa College (TX) 64
***Division II: Illinois Central College 71, Kirkwood CC (IA) 54
***Division III: Monroe College (Bronx, NY) 100, Mohawk Valley CC (NY) 70
**flagicon|PHL UAAP Women's: University of Santo Tomas over Far Eastern University, 2 games to 1

Prep

*flagicon|USA USA Today Boys Basketball Ranking #1: Lawrence North High School, Indianapolis, Indiana
*flagicon|USA USA Today Girls Basketball Ranking #1: Christ the King, Queens, New York
*flagicon|PHL NCAA (Philippines) Juniors: San Sebastian Recoletos High School over Philippine Christian University Union High School, 2 games to 0
*flagicon|PHL UAAP Juniors: Ateneo de Manila High School over Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Educational Foundation, 2 games to 1

Awards and Honors

Professional

*Men
**NBA Most Valuable Player Award: Steve Nash
**NBA Rookie of the Year Award: Chris Paul
**NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award: Ben Wallace
**NBA Coach of the Year Award: Avery Johnson
*Women
**WNBA Most Valuable Player Award: Lisa Leslie
**WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award: Tamika Catchings
**WNBA Rookie of the Year Award: Seimone Augustus
**WNBA Coach of the Year Award: Mike Thibault

Collegiate

*Naismith College Player of the Year
** Men: J. J. Redick, Duke
** Women: Seimone Augustus, LSU
*John R. Wooden Award
** Men: J. J. Redick, Duke
** Women: Seimone Augustus, LSU
*Naismith College Coach of the Year
** Men: Jay Wright, Villanova
** Women: Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina
*Women's awards:
**Wade Trophy: Seimone Augustus, LSU
**Nancy Lieberman Award: Ivory Latta, North Carolina

Events

*December 13- after a few months in use and complaints from players, the NBA announces it will disuse the new synthetic ball in favor of the classic leather one.
*December 16- a brawl erupted at the Madison Square Garden game between the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets.

Movies

*Church Ball
*Crossover (film)
*The Heart of the Game
*Glory Road (film)

Deaths

*February 11 - Harry Vines, 67, American wheelchair basketball coach
*March 17 - Ray Meyer 92, Hall of Fame coach of the DePaul University men's team
*April 30 - Harold "Bunny" Levitt, 96, player for the Harlem Globetrotters who once sank 499 consecutive free throws
*April 28 - Ron Mather, 68, Scottish coach
*April 6 - Maggie Dixon, 28, women's coach at Army.
*May 9 - Bob Rogers, former Texas A&M coach
*October 28 - Arnold "Red" Auerbach, 89, Hall of Fame coach and president of the Boston Celtics
*December 12 - Paul Arizin, 78, Hall of Famer for the Philadelphia Warriors who twice led the NBA in scoring
*December 13 - Lamar Hunt, 74, Last remaining [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2697040 original ownership partner] of the Chicago Bulls