"Two teams are the championship favorites" — Players, fans, and media in unison... The named coach responds, "That's unexpected" [On-site at Yeongdong-daero]

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KB Stars, which achieved the feat of winning both the regular season and playoff titles last season, and fourth-place Woori Bank were named strong championship contenders for the new season, forming a fierce two-horse race.

The Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) released the results of a season prediction survey conducted on the 27th at the KB Star Banking 2026-2027 Women's Professional Basketball League opening media day held at Hotel Libera Cheongdam in Yeongdong-daero, Seoul. The survey targeted 719 fans, 109 players, and 43 media members.

Predictions for the championship favorite were divided. In fan (37.6%) and player (28.4%) votes, Woori Bank took first place, while in the media vote, defending champion KB Stars received high support of 44.2% to claim the top spot.

Kim Wan-su, head coach of KB Stars, who received overwhelming support from the media, stated, "This season, the teams have leveled up, and the roster reinforcements by BNK and Woori Bank are noticeable." He added, "I thought we would be on a downward trend after Kang Yi-seul left for Woori Bank, but I will achieve back-to-back titles to live up to the media's trust."

On the other hand, Jeonju-won, head coach of Woori Bank, who monopolized the votes of fans and players, kept a low profile. Head coach Jeon, who is taking on his first challenge as a professional team commander this season, said, "It seems to reflect the fans' hearts." He continued, "Even I see that KB Stars has Park Ji-soo and Heo Ye-eun, whose skills have already been proven, making them closest to winning. It was unexpected for us to be named championship contenders, but since we have your support, we will do our best no matter where we are."

Predictions for the four teams advancing to the playoffs showed perfect agreement among the three groups. There were only differences in vote percentages; fans, players, and media all named Woori Bank, KB Stars, BNK Sum, and Hana Bank as playoff contenders.

BNK Sum's deep roster was cited as the top target for caution by team commanders. Choi Yun-a, head coach of Shinhan Bank, and Lee Sang-beom, head coach of Hana Bank, agreed that "BNK has the deepest bench." Head coach Jeonju-won also warned, "They are so solid that there is no weakness even if they run a 10-player rotation." In response, Park Jung-eun, head coach of BNK Sum, said, "We have many good players, and our young players have gained a lot of confidence," but added, "KB Stars also feels like their roster keeps growing as if using a clone technique, so they are the team we watch most closely."

Teams classified in the lower ranks vowed to stage an upset. Ha Sang-yoon, head coach of Samsung Life, who received the lowest vote percentage among playoff contenders and was evaluated as the bottom team, said, "I don't feel very good about it." He emphasized, "We didn't receive a good evaluation last season either, but we ultimately finished third. I trust my players and will break the evaluation once again."

Choi Yun-a, head coach of Shinhan Bank, who was effectively evaluated as fifth place by all three groups, said with a smile, "The evaluation has gone up one step from last year, so I feel slightly good." She then declared her resolve, saying, "You don't know until you open the lid. Since we have diligently prepared during the offseason, we will sprinkle chili powder from the start of the season to completely overturn expectations."

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original