Muslim Basketball

You could bet anything that Suba was not losing two straight, no matter who their opponent was. An extremely hindered Medina gave them a good fight, but Suba was just too overwhelming for them.

Nobody was going to beat a Suba team coming off of their first lost in 2 seasons. Medina is a bit banged up, no Big O, no Samna, Jawad checked in just to be a fifth body. They were hurt, but 27 point on 30 shots from Biggz and Anas won’t cut it. They have to be scoring around 40 points and on a decent percentage, especially without Big O in the lineup.

Lost to a very respectable Cordoba team whose size will give everyone problems. Not Patrick’s best game, but he shook off some early struggles, had a stretch where he hit four of five attempts from three, and really gave Kazan a chance. Unfortunately, they could not get anything to fall late and Cordoba was able to hold on. They have some dog fights coming up on their schedule too - man, there are a lot of good teams.

Some very respectable wins from this group, but unarguably the most coming from their week 5 performance. Though it was a low-scoring game, they were able to contain the offensive threat that was one of the last undefeated teams standing. Huge double double from Mingo shooting 60%, and despite a minor setback from Kenny this game, their big three with Nick posed too much of a difficulty to a team filled with scorers in Jeddah. I said before that Kenny was their ticket to making what might be another run to the finals… Let’s see if I was right.

Khalied and Muntasir each shooting 1-9 from the field ultimately decided the outcome of this game considering that it was a back and forth, especially with the rest of the scoring cast in Anas, Raied and Rocco contributing well. A minor setback for this group against a tough Beirut team that breaks defenses well, but I still see this team being a top threat come playoff time. Too big and versatile for most teams to handle; I think they’ll have the same mid-season record to end it.

Had it not been for their attendance troubles in their week 2 loss against a gritty Lahore squad, this team could very much have been 5-0. Taking down an undefeated team in Kazan is no easy task, yet Kenny & co. seemed to balance out their offense and play defense well enough to hold off Kazan to 29% from the field. The game could’ve ultimately been decided by free throws, but that won’t always be the case going up against a Cordoba group looking to continue their momentum after 2 W’s against some great teams.

Quietly 4-1. If Ahmad Saleh and Jeremy can bring that type of shooting, Moayad does his thing attacking the rim, and Mana does his thing under the rim, these guys can play with anyone.

Paul and Raza brought it to this one - they weren’t going to let Mombasa lose three straight. They are one of the few teams with a lighter schedule to end the season, even though they take on Kazan and Suba in the final two games. That’s how good the league is right now.

Visar is exactly the piece they needed to complement Muj. He can do work down low and score on demand. Him, along with Yousef have to be able to provide offense, because teams will do everything to not let Muj beat them.

I said it from the start, when Abdul is hot, combined with what Yaqob and Bilal and do, this team will score. They will score a lot. This group is very capable of sustaining that 67ppg average. The only matter in question is their level of consistency. Will they score 65-70 points, or between 50 and 90?

Lost a close one to a tough Damascus team that didn’t plan on looking back after giving Suba their first loss in two seasons. For that reason, along with the fact that they only lost by 3 with Farzad shooting 0-9 from deep, it’s not the most unexpected loss. Salman being the only player to shoot over 50% from the field, and on 5 shots, won’t cut it for this team. Tough chance to redeem themselves next week against a Kazan team with a comeback mentality of its own, but if they find a way to get out of that 22nd spot in rebounding and into the top 15 teams, then I&

Not the most impressive win, but in this league, you take them however you get them. I would’ve like to beat this team a little bit more decisively - Tehran is good, but I don’t trust them again the league’s best just yet.

Amir, Moe, and Tim can all get going and cause some serious trouble for the opposing teams’ defense almost at will, but they just can’t seem to do it at the same time. In another light, allowing 87 points?! Not at all what I’d expect from such a solid group. Though they’re shooting 34% from deep (which is, surprisingly enough, first in the league), they can’t afford to be second last in points allowed if they hope to make a run past their 3 easy games left on schedule.

Many of us could’ve seen this team being on the come-up; it was just a matter of when. With so many versatile scorers on this squad including Omar Hussein (despite some struggling shooting performances), Musa Yanes, and Omar Qasem, it’s especially difficult for defenses to respond with an effective way to match up. Their grit, quickness, and offensive threats were on full display in their past 2 wins against a couple of championship teams in Dhaka and Suba. If they can continue these overall balanced scoring performances when the whole team is present, then this is certainly a team to look out for down the stretch of the season. <

Their first two losses of the season were understandable, and the upset pulled off last week by their opponent in Lagos was only decided by 4 points. Either way, would never have expected such a deep group to be 2-3 at this point of the season. 2-11 and 1-11 from Luke and Idris is something that isn’t going to cut it for this group especially since they rely on their contribution, but also isn’t something to expect again. Look for the whole team to add on to Zain’s monster performance next week in their blowout against Kashgar.

Big game from Kyseem, they didn’t have an answer for Zain, but they were able to survive and holdoff Islamabad. They’re going to need to continue to bring that level of performance if they plan of putting together a winning season.

21 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists. The only thing stripping Ed from his MVP title last game was his in and out buzzer beater that couldn’t match Moayad’s eventual game-ending layup. Pretty balanced performance from this group all around with 4 players in double figures, but their last-second run to bring the game to a back-and-forth scenario wasn’t enough to close out the W. Easily my number 1 pick as underdog moving forward, especially with Malik back.

They have enough to give the big dogs some problem, but they don’t have enough to be the big dogs.

Gave Tehran everything they could handle in the second half. Fabian scored 19 after scoring just 9 total points in Kashgar’s first four games. They have a tough second half schedule, not sure if they find a way to win another game.

They were able to grab what was likely their only win of the season- though beating another notoriously bad team by only 5 points doesn’t necessarily deserve credit. Do not see this group winning another game, or coming close for that matter.

Let what might’ve been their only shot of winning another game slip out of their hands late. Kenny needs a lot of help. Hani provided a decent amount with 11 points, but not enough. Let’s see how minimally they can keep a losing deficit against Cordoba next week.

Regardless of any poor shooting performances or troubles communicating on defense, I’m going to have to cut this team some slack. Despite having lost two proven and talented MB threats in the Ahmad bros (while we make du’a for their health, ameen), this group has still shown instances of promise in smoothly running their offense. Oh, and also, PSA: Ahmed Fayoumi is back!!! Out of courtesy, I’m now putting the league on notice with his presence. He and singer will make for a crazy threat of a backcourt if they learn to work well with one another, and with Daniel Goldberg and Ahmad Sehwail leading the frontcourt, a run can certainly be made