DB won 107-103 in the 2023-2024 professional basketball regular league game against Suwon KT at Wonju Gymnasium on the 14th after extra time.

DB, which had 38 wins and 10 losses, confirmed its top spot in the regular league regardless of the results of the remaining games.

It is the team's seventh regular league No. 1 in four years since the 2019-2020 season, when the season ended early due to COVID-19 and tied for first with Seoul SK.

In addition, DB, which has never missed the top spot since the first day of the opening, completed its fourth wire-to-wire No. 1 in history.

Coach Kim Joo-sung said after the game, "I'm very happy. I was nervous, but I feel new because I won the championship with the victory. The players led me really well. He's a poor coach, but the players played well in the season so that I could learn. I'm grateful."

Having ranked No. 1 in the regular league as both a player and a manager in the DB, he said, "When I first came to Wonju, I never imagined that I would be there for more than 20 years. I thought it was far away, but now it is my first hometown that I have lived the longest in my life. That's why fans cheer for me and encourage me more."

Coach Kim, who took the helm of DB as an acting coach during the last season and started this season as an official coach, became the fifth leader in KBL history to rank No. 1 in the regular league in his first year.

Earlier, Kim Jin (Dongyang) in the 2001-2002 season, Moon Kyung-eun (SK) in the 2012-2013 season, Choo Seung-kyun (KCC) in the 2015-2016 season, and Jeon Hee-chul (SK) in the 2021-2022 season ranked first in the regular league in the official managerial debut season.

"When I won the championship as a player, I used to play with him and liked him, but I can't do that now that I became a coach," Kim said with a smile. "If I win the championship, I will play with him. I'm more happy that he made me feel better than me."

"While serving as captain, he broke away from his personality and led his seniors and juniors well even though he was in the middle of his age," said Kim, who singled out "captain" Kang Sang-jae as the top contributor in the regular league. "I am very proud as the coach has displayed all the skills I originally had this year."

Kim said, "Every game this season has been a crisis," adding, "The failure of the cup competition before the regular season has become a turning point."

"I was told that I had prepared well, but I had a very disappointing game," Kim said. "I was really angry on the way back to the bus. We had a video meeting the next day for four to five hours, and although the regular season is only a week away, we had intense training. That became the turning point."

Attention is also being paid to whether DB, which ranked first in the regular league, will monopolize the season's MVP.

Didric Lawson is likely to be the MVP of foreign players, while Kang Sang-jae and Lee Sun-bano will have a "house fight" over the MVP of domestic players.

Coach Kim said, "Rawson is so good that I can't put it into words. When I'm not in a good condition, I try to cover it with something else. Thanks to you, the team was maintained. It's too big. I think Lawson deserves it."

He declined to comment on the competition between Kang and Albano, but said, "All the statistics of Albano have been upgraded compared to last year. He deserves it." "Kang is also the most contributing player in Korea. I think that's too much."

"Kim Jong-gyu's knee is not good, so we need to adjust the playing time," said Kim, who confirmed the regular league's No. 1 ranking early. "I can't just rest because I have a lot of time left."

Kim also thanked coach Han Sang-min and coach Lee Kwang-jae. "I couldn't do it alone. It was very helpful to have discussions with the coaches, raising their voices. The coaches caught what I couldn't see in front of the bench," he said.

Coach Kim said the current DB is stronger than in the Eastern days when he played as an active player.

"When I was playing, I won with defensive basketball, but now DB is good at defense, but I think the players are doing better now," he said.

DB, which went straight to the semifinal playoff, will challenge itself again for the first time in 16 years after the 2007-2008 season when it won the championship overall. DB has won three championship series.

When asked which team he would like to meet in the playoffs, he said, "It's hard no matter which team. No team has won easily. It's in the fog what kind of team it will be. I'll watch the rest of the games carefully." [안전놀이터](https://www.outlookindia.com/outlook-spotlight/2023%EB%85%84-11%EC%9B%94-%EB%A9%94%EC%9D%B4%EC%A0%80-%ED%86%A0%ED%86%A0%EC%82%AC%EC%9D%B4%ED%8A%B8-%EC%88%9C%EC%9C%84-%EC%B6%94%EC%B2%9C-%ED%86%A0%ED%86%A0-%EC%95%88%EC%A0%84%EB%86%80%EC%9D%B4%ED%84%B0-top15-news-332207)