2006 in basketball

Championships

International

• 2006 FIBA World Championship:
• *Gold medal: Spain
• *Silver medal: Greece
• *Bronze medal: USA
• *MVP: Pau Gasol, Spain
• *All-tournament team:
• ** Pau Gasol
• ** Carmelo Anthony
• ** Jorge Garbajosa
• ** Manu Ginóbili
• ** Theodoros Papaloukas
• 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women

• *Gold medal: Australia
• *Silver medal: Russia
• *Bronze medal: USA
• *MVP: Penny Taylor, Australia
• Basketball at the 2006 Asian Games
• *Men's tournament:
• **Gold medal: China
• **Silver medal: Qatar
• **Bronze medal: Iran
• *Women's tournament:
• **Gold medal: China
• **Silver medal: Chinese Taipei
• **Bronze medal: Japan

  Professional

Men

• NBA season and playoffs:
• *2006 NBA Finals: Miami Heat 4, Dallas Mavericks 2. MVP: Dwyane Wade
• EuroLeague :
• *CSKA Moscow defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 73-69 in the final
• Croatian League:
• *Cibona defeated Zadar 2-1 in the best-of-three finals
• French League:
• *Le Mans defeated Nancy 93-88 in the one-off final
• German Bundesliga:
• *RheinEnergie Köln defeated Alba Berlin 3-1 in the best-of-five finals
• Greek League:
• *Panathinaikos defeated Olympiakos 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
• Iranian Super League, 2005–06 season:
• *Saba Battery defeat Petrochimi 3–0 in the best-of-five final.
• Israel Premier League:
• *Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 96-66 in the one-off final
• Italian Serie A:
• *Benetton Treviso defeated Climamio Bologna 3-1 in the best-of-five finals
• Lithuanian LKL:
• *Lietuvos Rytas defeated Žalgiris 4-0 in the best-of-seven finals
• 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
• Polish League:
• *Prokom Trefl Sopot over Anwil Włocławek 4-1 in the best-of-seven finals
• Russian Super League:
• *CSKA Moscow over Khimki 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
• Serbia and Montenegro Super League:
• *Partizan over Red Star 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
• Spanish ACB:
• *Unicaja Málaga over TAU Cerámica 3-0 in the best-of-five finals
• **2005–06 season, 2005–06 playoffs
• 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.
• British Basketball League:
• *Newcastle Eagles defeated Scottish Rocks 83-68 in the one-off final
• Adriatic League:
• *FMP defeated Partizan 73-72 in the one-off final

  Women

• 2006 WNBA Finals: Detroit Shock 3, Sacramento Monarchs 2
• *MVP: Deanna Nolan, Detroit

  College

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

  Prep

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

  Awards and honors

[Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame]

• Class of 2006:
• * Geno Auriemma
• * Charles Barkley
• * Joe Dumars
• * Alessandro "Sandro" Gamba
• * Dave Gavitt
• * Jacques Dominique Wilkins

  [Women's Basketball Hall of Fame]

• Class of 2006
• * Geno Auriemma
• * Maria Paula Gonçalves da Silva
• * Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil
• * Janice Lawrence Braxton
• * Katrina McClain Johnson
• * Barbara Stevens

  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
• *FIBA Europe Player of the Year Award: Theodoros Papaloukas, CSKA Moscow and
• *Euroscar Award: Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks and
• *Mr. Europa: Jorge Garbajosa, Toronto Raptors and
• Women
• *WNBA Most Valuable Player Award: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
• *WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award: Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
• *WNBA Rookie of the Year Award: Seimone Augustus, Minnesota Lynx
• *WNBA Most Improved Player Award: Erin Buescher, Sacramento Monarchs
• *Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award: Dawn Staley, Houston Comets
• *WNBA Coach of the Year Award: Mike Thibault, Connecticut Sun
• *WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award: Deanna Nolan, Detroit Shock
• *FIBA Europe Player of the Year Award: Maria Stepanova, CSKA Samara and

  Collegiate

• Combined
• *Legends of Coaching Award: Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
• Men
• *John R. Wooden Award: J. J. Redick, Duke
• *Naismith College Coach of the Year: Jay Wright, Villanova
• *Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award: Dee Brown, Illinois
• *Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year: J. J. Redick, Duke
• *NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player: Corey Brewer, Florida
• *USBWA National Freshman of the Year: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
• *Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year: Roy Williams, North Carolina
• *Naismith Outstanding Contribution to Basketball: Jerry Colangelo
• Women
• *John R. Wooden Award: Seimone Augustus, LSU
• *Naismith College Player of the Year: Seimone Augustus, LSU
• *Naismith College Coach of the Year: Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina
• *Wade Trophy: Seimone Augustus, LSU
• *Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award: Megan Duffy, Notre Dame
• *Associated Press Women's College Basketball Player of the Year: Seimone Augustus, LSU
• *NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player: Laura Harper, Maryland
• *Basketball Academic All-America Team: Lindsay Shearer, Kent State
• *Carol Eckman Award: Gail Goestenkors, Duke
• *USBWA National Freshman of the Year: Courtney Paris, Oklahoma
• *Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year: Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina
• *List of Senior CLASS Award women's basketball winners: Seimone Augustus, LSU
• *Nancy Lieberman Award: Ivory Latta, North Carolina
• *Naismith Outstanding Contribution to Basketball: Val Ackerman

  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
• The Heart of the Game
• Glory Road

• Deaths

• February 11 — Harry Vines, American wheelchair basketball coach
• March 17 — Ray Meyer, American Hall of Fame coach of the DePaul University men's team
• April 6 — Maggie Dixon, women's coach at Army
• April 6 — Price Brookfield, American NBA player
• April 19 — Gene Rosenthal, American NBL player
• May 6 — Bob Dro, national champion at Indiana and Indianapolis Kautskys player
• May 9 — Grady Wallace, All-American and national scoring champion at South Carolina
• May 18 — Irving Meretsky, Canadian Olympic silver medalist
• July 3 — Dick Dickey, NBA player and All-American at NC State
• July 4 — Bobby Joe Mason, Harlem Globetrotters player and college All-American at Bradley
• July 21 — Alexander Petrenko, Russian player
• August 18 — Dick Hickox, American college All-American
• September 7 — Ozell Jones, American NBA player
• October 5 — Cleveland Buckner, American NBA player
• October 5 — George King, American NBA player and college coach
• October 25 — Johnny Hoekstra, American NBL player
• October 28 — Arnold "Red" Auerbach, Hall of Fame coach and president of the Boston Celtics
• November 9 — Mikhail Semyonov, Russian Olympic Silver medalist
• November 29 — Gary Alcorn, American NBA player
• December 12 — Paul Arizin, Hall of Famer for the Philadelphia Warriors who twice led the NBA in scoring
• December 13 — Lamar Hunt, original ownership partner of the Chicago Bulls
• December 21 — Warren Hair, American NBL player
• December 29 — Charlie Tyra, All-American college and NBA player