The prelude of many basketball fans having their brackets busted with this past March’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was seen at the end of last summer in July 2015 as both the number-one seed Pammer Chiropractic and number-two seed Dan’s Siding were upset by three-seed Mark Smith for ASB and four-seed Coordinated Health in the semifinals of the North Catty Adult Basketball League.

Mark Smith went on to win the 2015 title game. Mark Smith for ASD returns to defend their title under a new sponsor, Sugar Hill Jazz House, as well as the other mentioned teams above as the 2016 season begins this coming Monday, May 9, at the North Catty Park and Playground.

Also returning from last year will be Orange Julius, Curmaci Dental, B’town Chiefs and Brady’s (Catasauqua High School). The two new teams will be the Crabs, coached by Andrew Serensits, and Turko Insurance (William Allen High School), coached by Doug Snyder who is entering his 20th year of coaching his alma mater.

The 2016 season will see many changes, including 10 teams divided into two divisions, five in each, with teams playing the squads within their division twice, and then four of the five teams in the other division. Also new this year is that each team will be entered into a single-elimination playoff tournament with the winner going into the Catasauqua Tournament of Champions scheduled to be played July 31 through August 4.

“In the past 26 years of my involvement with summer basketball, last year was one of the most exciting seasons. You had competitive games every night and could never guess the outcome,” said Jason Bogden the North Catty League Director. “This season you could face upcoming stars like Isiah Graves, Tyrese Martin and Talik Williams, to local coaches Ben Tannous, Ray Barbosa and Ed Ohlson Jr., to international stars Derek Hall and Terrence Roderick and the Via 2016 Hall of Fame inductee Darnell Braswell.

“It is a privilege to have so many players from the entire Lehigh Valley to continue their careers only if it is for 9 to 10 weeks a summer.”

Games next week will be on Monday, May 9, and Wednesday, May 11. There are three games each night with starting times of 6:15 p.m., 7:05 p.m. and 8 p.m. All games will be played at the North Catty outdoor courts between Grove Street and Arch Street, weather permitting.