Four teams with plenty to play for as Korisliiga regular season ends

Regular season ends?? I hear you say – in January!!??

Yes, Korisliiga regular season comes to a close on Saturday 18th of January, after which the league is divided into an upper and lower section – with six teams in both sections.

Where do we stand with 23 hours to go until tip-off of the final round of games (well, more like 22 hours by the time I get this done).

• 1 : Helsinki Seagulls – the team that will not lose any more games between now and May – they have sealed their #1 spot long time ago and are only three wins away from getting #1 seed for the playoffs.
• 2 : Kataja Basket – firmly in the Top 3 for the regular season, with #2 spot in their own hands when heading into the last game, but wins do count for the upper and lower sections – so expect a 100% from the tomorrow.
• 3 : KarhuBasket – team that has been going through a lot this season, injuries, young roster, new comers to Korisliiga .. despite all this, they will finish in the Top 3 heading into the next stage of the league, and with a cushion of a game or two for the teams behind them.
• 4-7 : Vilpas, Pyrintö, Korihait, Biisonit – Four teams out of which ONE will miss out on the automatic playoff berth, things are nicely poised ahead of the last round. With Vilpas and Pyrintö on 12 wins and Korihait and Biisonit on 11 wins. So a win for Pyrintö and Vilpas will be enough to seal their spot in the top half, where as Biisonit and Korihait need to win their respective games and hope that Vilpas or Pyrintö slip up in theirs.
• 4-7 : Looking at the teams recent games and who they play in the last round.
• Vilpas : playing away at BC Nokia (#10). BC Nokia are on a four game winning run at home, where as Vilpas are on a one game losing streak – So in this light you might look at league positions in one hand and lean towards Vilpas, and then look at BC Nokia having a good form at home and say that they are favourites to get the W.
• Korihait : playing away at Kataja Basket (#2) – the longest journey between two Korisliiga teams is not going to help Korihait here, with the long coach journey ahead of the game. Kataja are a strong home team, having only lost twice, and Korihait are not the same force they are at their soon to be ‘decommissioned’ Pohitulli Arena – but one thing is for sure this will go to the wire. If a heated game, it could be Bojan Sarcevic who flips this game one way or another.
• Pyrintö : Home game against #3 KarhuBasket – nothing to read from the form table for either team, will Topias Palmi play for Pyrintö?? Who is fit for KarhuBasket?? This game leans slightly towards an away win, although Luka Sakota is capable of dropping 40 points on any given night for Pyrintö, so…what you can be sure of here is that the KarhuBasket Fan Club is going to make one corner of Pyynikki orange!
• Biisonit : Home game vs #8 Tapiolan Honka, Biisonit are a better traveling team than they are at home, although they can even the record with a win on Saturday. Big presence under the rim for Biisonit, and their court leader is Jeremiah Wood – if anyone knows what a game like this means it is him. And for a team that has been, more often than not, near the relegation battle – it would be a HUGE morale boost to secure a playoff spot already in January – and with their young head coach this would be some achievement. Honka have their own pair of experienced shoulder with David Gonzalves and Tuukka Kotti .. hopefully a sold out venue (as there is also a Naisten Korisliiga game there before the mens game!)
• 8 : Tapiolan Honka – went through their game above, as every team who will stay in the lower section, wins mean a big deal as two top teams from here will reach the playoffs.
• 9 : Kouvot – really a team that has come alive in the recent weeks – one of the teams I predict to make a good push towards a playoff spot. At the moment on even points with Honka.
• 10 : BC Nokia – Defending Korisliiga Champions – after a disaster start to the season, they have picked up pace, especially at home. But – if any team in the recent years has shown how BIG of an importance there is to the FOUR import player right in Korisliiga.. The showcase example is BC Nokia – before last season no-one rated the team in the Top 4 .. but their imports really gelled and were one of the reasons why BC Nokia lifted the Pantteri at the end of the season. Is a playoff spot still possible, of course – they are only one win away from it, but a lot has to improve in Nokia (still) for them to enjoy a long run in playoffs.
• 11 : KTP – not the season for them, with four wins under their belt so far, to reach playoffs would need almost a clean sweep of games in the lower section of the Korisliiga.
• 12 : Kobrat – two wins out of 21 games, you can not agree with the statement that ‘ The only way is up !’ Something has to change and soon, for the team not to slip down to First Division for 2025-26.

So there – little look at where things are as regular season ends in Korisliiga – all games streamed live on Ruutu in Finland – plenty of content on all the teams social media channels ….

And myself – I am sure I will find myself in a game where there is something BIG to play for!