Newbie......who to follow?

The BBL themselves aren't great at marketing or promoting things very well so if you're following on Twitter your best bet is to follow individual teams to build up knowledge of each. At a lot of the clubs there is a real close relationship between fans and players though which is nice and if you're near a team it'd be good to go and experience it. The level of performance and the whole production value is nowhere near the US but you really feel a part of things at times.

Depending on which one that is you might even get a game?

Thanks. I’m living in Wembley so no problem going to see soccer! Played at UCF last year but had to quit to focus on my grades. Parents. Ugh!!! Gonna try to see those Lions.

Welcome to the UK !

Just a tip - call it football not soccer - that's guaranteed to alienate your new hosts !

I hope you enjoy your basketball experience here - Lions is easiest to get to on public transport.  Royals and Scorchers are achievable if you have your own transport.

There's a few lions fans on here who would "look after" you at games

Yep. Played for the legendary Johnny Dawkins. Rode the bench but made the squad! My playing days are behind me tho.

Even if not playing, you could quickly train to become a table official or statistician if you wanted a little cash on the side.

That must have been pretty awesome. I suspect Dawkins will replace (as much as you can replace) Coach K when he finally calls it quits.

If I thought you were eligible, I'd be harassing you to play for Leopards (second tier of English basketball). 

Rules like these just hurt the game

Good questions, dunkster (and welcome!).

A few thoughts:
1. BBL is definitely less professional than you will be used to in the States - you have to understand that the professional teams are run on a shoestring in the UK with limited funding and sponsorship and no TV income of any significance.
2. But perhaps all not as bad as you might think. If you look at many leagues across Europe (not just the UK) you will find out that many teams have not announced full rosters yet. Outside of the elite European leagues (and even including some of them) teams finalise and announce their rosters late. In part that is because the price of US import talent comes crashing down as summer turns to autumn - basically, if you are prepared to play poker you can get a better quality of American import player at the end of the summer than at the beginning simply because agents get less greedy and players more desperate to avoid a season without a team.
3. That said, my suspicion is that many teams will have completed many more signings than they have announced yet. They tend to "drip feed" announcements over the month before the season starts in order to try and promote ticket/ season ticket sales and generally to raise profile. So, just because rosters may appear incomplete doesn't necessarily mean that they are.
4. Lack of prime time players - certainly true. It's pretty rare for BBL teams to get players from the elite NCAA programs and, when it does happen, there's usually a reason such as injury behind it (Scott Martin from Notre Dame, or Taylor King from every program going, being examples of that). The best teams can usually afford is guys with solid stats from decent D1 programs (eg Leicester have just signed the Providence starting PG) and some of the best players we have had in the UK historically have come from smaller programs including D2/ NAIA.
5. You will certainly notice that venues vary enormously and are usually pretty small. That said, though, teams like Leicester and Newcastle have their own (owned) arenas whilst others (like London Lions and Glasgow) play in large facilities constructed for major sporting events such as the Olympics/ Commonwealth Games.

My advice - give it a go with your local team - you will enjoy it!

Final thought - if you are worried about the players, just wait until you see the referees.

Groundhog day.