Muslim Basketball

The efficiency and ball movement of their offense is a thing of beauty. The chemistry and understanding where everyone is comfortable with the ball makes their offense click. Solid defensive team, but they’ll win games by taking and making better shots than their opponents. Have not shot the ball well from beyond the arc, that’s where Bilal and Fursan need to find a way to make defenses respect the team’s full offensive arsenal and un-crowd the interior.

Did not have it going early, but Mo Amin and Raied found it in the latter part of the first half and did not stop. Impressive come from behind victory in a game that looked like Jakarta was cruising to victory in. Most impressive was even when Mo was not able to get a great look, he forced the defense to commit foul after foul. They have two guys with an incredible act for getting to the rim, but as a team, they are very weak from 3. They shoot the lowest percentage in the league from deep and make less than three 3s per game. Fortunately, they have two horses that find a way to get good looks #thingsMBsays

40 from Ali and Ameer on a whole lotta shots. Didn’t necessarily shoot well, but they have Salman doing his thing down low, grabbing boards on both ends. Being +20 on the shot attempt scale and shooting the same percentage as your opponent will virtually guarantee you victory. If Ali can hit the looks he gets and Ameer can capitalize on his interior touches when Farzad and Fahad are both present, Dhaka can and will be right there looking at that three-peat. They have Fez this week, in what should be a game with an over/under at 150 – the fireworks will be on display.

Raza looks like he’s picking up where he left off after last season’s MVP campaign. He’s seeing the whole floor, dictating what the defense does, then exploits it. Weiss continues to be a menace down low, grabbing boards and finding creases along the baseline. Even though they didn’t show it in this performance, Yousef and Sadat will have to match the level of play Raza has been providing if they hope to continue climbing.

Just like the DNC, the Bern was not felt. Big time shot from Waqas followed by an even bigger time move to draw the foul by Qasem, who then knocked down the second free throw to win it. Big time.

Take Ahmad Odeh off the floor and you have an 11-38 shooting day, scoring 26 points. They got after it defensively and Bernie showed off his extreme grit and hustle, but they were plagued with fouling a more aggressive Granada team. Mohammad Masri/Ahmad Odeh almost salvaged it for them, but another foul with less than a second left sealed it. I’d like to see them be more aggressive getting to the hole when shots don’t fall. Mo Masri only shot 3s – even though he can be automatic from within half court, it’s much easier to defend a shooter when he doesn’t even look to drive.

Shot a high percentage but couldn’t get that many shots. Moayad only attempted 8 shots, but found a way to get to the line a handful of times. Unfortunately, he only converted half of them, leaving a flurry of points off the scoreboard. They didn’t have Mana, so I’ll give them a bit of slack. Mana may not be an offensive force, but defensively and rebounding the ball, he impacts the game and influences results in Amman’s favor.

Bad second half against a very solid team. Struggled to contain Raza but he’s the type of player that needs to be guarded by pair of fresh legs. Tehran struggled mightily offensively, but their two quality wins to start the season keeps them in the top 10.

What a difference Muj makes. Couldn’t buy a basket in the second half, after looking like they were going to send Sana’a off with a blowout loss. On top of that, they could not defend Mo Amin without fouling. 

These dudes can play. Flying under the radar so far, but Kareem Ahmed looks like the real deal. Didn’t show off his best offensive ability in Week 3, but defensively, he made Amman’s stud guards work hard and got his team the W.

Often fall far too in love with playing in shootouts, they don’t get enough stops to come out on top. Fez is definitely one of the teams you have to be disciplined and aggressive against defensively. Mingo asserted himself somewhat, but still ended up with only 12 points. They’ll need to find a way to defend Mujtaba this week if they look to bounce back after what should have been a win.

The magic wore off a bit after 5 halves of terrific basketball. They lost to the defending champs, no shame in that. Got smacked a bit in the second half, so they’ll need to come out swinging to regain our trust. 

ESPN Films presents a new 30 For 30: Edriss Froogh – 30 Dropping 30. All I have to say is “You already know. Fez Summerball ’17 champs.” ***This portion of the power rankings was sponsored and approved by, but not written by, Edriss Froogh***

With Anas Zubi, they are a top team. Without him, only Malik has shown the ability to score and contribute consistently. The trio of Ammar, Malik, and Jaber must take this team over in Anas’ absence. He tried giving it a go, but my sources have whispered that some more time may be missed. We’ll see. On the bright side, they held Abdul to his season low of ‘only’ 25.

I like what team team has been doing, especially on the glass. Not the most skilled or explosive in offensive sets, but they control the game and get after it on the glass. Hosam Karkis has been extremely impressive to watch this season, a season in which his leadership and maturity will lead Damascus into very competitive games later this season. Watch out for this bunch, definitely not a bottom nine team, unfortunately, there are 13 teams ahead of them at this point in time. I see a bright future for them in the weeks to come.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – this team should be good, very good. They got a win under their belt, now let’s see what they turn it into.

They’re 2-1 but they just do not look comfortable. Nothing I have seen in their first 3 games has lead me to believe this could be a return of the championship team from Spring 2014.

They need a win before this gets ugly. They face five of the best teams in the league, starting with Sana’a and then Alexandria. Making a run will need to start soon, because the road ahead is not an easy one.

Not much to really comment on. They lost to a terrific team, but they never seemed up to the challenge.

New Popal, same problems. L.

Their loss wasn’t as bad as Sarajevo’s.

Got dominated. Someone other than Rameez (and sometimes Leonard) needs to do something.