Muslim Basketball

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. 

I hope y’all enjoyed camp.

Oh man.

Nothing too special about this win, but as always with this bunch, they bring the effort and grit to win games they should. Terrible shooting performance, but Hosam and Ahmad dominated the glass to keep the ball in Damascus’ hands. Everyone got involved scoring the ball and just did enough to outscore Suba. They have a gauntlet coming up - any wins over the next three games would be a tremendous feat. 

Almost created an interesting finish against Beirut, but they continue to improve. Even though they’ve lost 3 games, they challenged 3 top 10 teams - that means something. Not sure why Hosam Karkis isn’t in the Most Improved Player conversation or even mentioned as Best Young Play, boy can play and is a handful on both sides of the court. They have a tough remaining schedule, facing 3 of the top 4 teams. A 4-6 finish is the floor, 5-5 would be solid. 

Gave Granada a fight early on thanks to Humza's early outburst. Could not sustain anything though. Offensively, no one got anything going. Defensively, Granada's guards were too aggressive, getting to the line, and exploiting them in transition. They were without their big man Muhanad, but I can't really see a different outcome even if he was playing. They're a good team, but very inconsistent and inefficient. Hosam's 7-19 and 0-6 from deep gave his team zero chance to sustain their early push.

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.

The box score is not pretty. A lot of low numbers, but most striking, is the goose egg by Hamza Karkis’ name. Gotta go get it every week – cannot score 17 then 0. Regardless, they still found a way to be competitive against a very good team. Still saying what I have said so far, they’re getting better.

THE YOUNGLIN! Fez, ignorant of my note, decided to sleep on Hamza Karkis. The Rook dropped 17 on a cool 9 shots, displaying his aggression by getting to the line a handful of times. His older brother, Hosam, had a strong 11 and 15 performance, albeit significantly less efficient – maybe he can share a bit more with his younger bro? They look good – they learned the hard way often last season, but this season, look for them to hold their own. They are terrific rebounders and have shot-making ability.