Muslim Basketball

What is there to say? They had a bit of a rough start but they’ve hit their stride. Offensively, they cannot be stopped. Defensively, refer to their offense - they score too much for the other team to have a chance. Will this formula win a championship? Stay tuned.

Winners of nine straight and most of which have not been close. They’ve jelled into a dominant force on both sides of the ball. They have all the necessary pieces to win any kind of game.They can run up and down the court, they can pick teams apart in the half court, and they can straight up defend. Terrific season after what appeared to be a potential end to the Mombasa empire. Raza with another unbelievable year - the MVP runner up had a career scoring season, averaging 18.2 while grabbing 6 boards and dishing a hair under 5 assist per game. You can bet though, that he won’t be posting his stats on social media **cough, Abdul, cough** until his squad wins their last game of the post season. He and his teammates have a clear understanding of what the ultimate goal is and they expect nothing less.

It was very, very hard moving them up to 3 after a loss, but the rest of the top 5 gave them a hand. Another team with a great season, knocking off 3 of the top 6 teams. Joe Z is a menace under the rim, Joe P plays with an unmatched level of hustle and mosquito-ness on defense. They are another team that can go the distance after a tremendous regular season.

Chemistry and rhythm are probably the two most accurate words to describe the Islamabad season. Congratulations to Omar Abbassi for another unbelievable season this far into his career! Highs in both points and rebounds, 4 assists per game as a center, and just tremendous IQ dictating what happens on the court. Hi team had a great season, but going forward, where is the chemistry after playing just once (and losing in a shorthanded affair) in what feels like 2 months. Will they be able to pickup where they left off?

Defensive juggernaut. Middle of the pack offensively. Their length and hight make it very difficult on their opponents, their ability to capitalize in transition ended games in their favor. But they aren’t without flaws, a flaw that more and more teams are picking up - they have no perimeter jumpsuit outside of Salman. They were very successful regardless of their outside shooting woes, but when the court shrinks and teams clog the paint, will they be able to get and hit the open three to win a championship?

Would Ibrahim Omar please come to the stage to collect your General Manager of the Year Award? Year after year, his teams are one of the best defensively, but they were losing games solely because of their offense. Now, with Mujtaba, they’ve shown that they can rely on their offense win games in critical moments (see week 2, Muj game winning 3 against Granada). A great season, but those 3 loses came against 3 of the top 5 teams, teams they will have to beat if they look to win a championship.

One of those head scratching seasons that could’ve have swung both very well and very poorly, but ended up middle of the pack. Three loses in very competitive games, but also won a couple close ones. They could’ve ended with a single loss or at .500, so it’s hard to really grasp what they accomplished on the year. Also, they are very well rounded, but I am not too sure what they do exceptionally well - solid offense, very solid defense, pretty good 3 point shooting - when the moment comes though, what will win them games against a top team?

A season that started with some defensive promise, ended in Alexandria like fashion - 88 points given up. In this league, 60 points has to get you a win - when you average 63 but give up 61, you’re playing with fire. New comers Bernie and Ahmad provided more balance to a team that heavily relied on 3 point shooting, making them much harder to defend - they have a handful of guys averaging double digits. Very interesting looking at some of their game scores: losses when scoring 61 and a season high of 75, losing a game 46-47, and another loss putting up 63. They need to play more complementary basketball if they want to win games this postseason - it cannot be all offense or just defense.

Solid season that concluded with their most impressive game of the season. They executed late in game to beat a terrific Tehran team. They’ve been somewhat inconsistent on both sides of the ball, but they have the championship pedigree to make a timely run. They also have the most underrated player in Muslim Basketball.

Very ugly start to an average season, but that second half..boy is this team scary. Leonard and Rameez put up MVP caliber numbers as the engine to the 3rd ranked offense. They are another team that relies a LOT too much on their offense, but they have a darn good one to rely on.

A season that started with championship aspirations has now turned into a mindset of survival. Jaber came on late in the year, Marwan provided a much needed spark to fill some of the void left after Anas’ injury. Malik had his best scoring and shooting season in his still young career. They won the games they should’ve won and lost the games they may have won if they had Anas.

When the defensive effort what there, they were a pretty solid team. Ed found the fountain of youth, aging like a fine wine and averaging a career high (21) at his old age of 63. We know that Adam is a future but for now, Fez #SummerBall2017Champs may live on.

Definitely not how a team wants to end their regular season - poor attendance and 5 straight losses. They have one of the most talented backcourts in Luis and Moayad, a top center in Omar Mana - their issue is that they don’t all play at the same time. 

Beat Sana’a by 7 in what was by far their best game to end the season. Not sure where that was for the first 9 games, but they seem like a confident group going into the playoffs.

After a great start to the season they faded a bit, but remained one of the better defensive teams in the league. This is no longer your regular Suba team, they’ve shown dramatic improvement and have the foundation of a respectable team.

Some impressive games, but not enough wins to make an impact. They looked better in their second season, but they have ways to go. They need to find someone else to take the pressure off of Hosam - looking at you Hamza. 

3 wins for a group that believed they were being disrespected in the first half of the season. Not sure what else to say. Kareem is solid, but not ‘the guy’ that can lead a team.

Nothing to say other than they had a tough schedule to start and didn’t have the talent to challenge the top of the league.

Definitely not where they imagined to end their season after one that had championship potential. They came into this year as a legitimate contender and straight up flopped. It took 8 weeks for them to beat and opponent.

This may very well be the end for a team that won a championship not too long ago.

Bright spot came week 5 in Muhanad’s return and Splash’s debut, but they were not able to carry that effort into any of their final 4 games. They have the talent to challenge some teams so they are by no means an easy out when the effort presents itself.

Unbelievable statistical season for one of the greatest scorers to play in the league. One point I wanted to address was the notional that there was an inverse relationship between Abdul’s points scored and margin of defeat - after running the regression there is actually ZERO correlation between the two, which is still kind of funny. Even though it literally meant nothing to his team, Abdul still lit it up in our hearts.