Muslim Basketball

Sarajevo is now entering the playoffs coming off back to back losses. They still were able to grab a bye week, but they cannot be happy with their performance as of late. Aymen and Justin combined for 3-24 from the field. Yikes. Hopefully this bye week will help them out.

Wow! Who would’ve thought the team that upset the undefeated Sarajevo would be Delhi! Delhi has a point differential of -19.6! Justin dropped 35, but everyone else on the team shot an atrocious 8-48 (16.7%)! With a win next week they are still guaranteed a bye week and the 1st overall seed, since they are still the only one loss team in the league, but this isn’t the type of game they want with the playoffs around the corner.

They just got the W against a really competitive Islamabad squad. What makes this win really impressive though, is they showed they can do it without their captain, Aymen. Justin and Elias did a great job holding down the fort, shooting a combined 18-30 for 49 points. They have a game that they will win by 20+ next week, and then another tough game against an underperforming Kazan squad.

Another week at the top. Great all-around performance from the entire squad. Possibly their toughest matchup is coming up next game against Islamabad.

Sarajevo – Another week, another number 1! This one was tough. It was obviously between Sarajevo and Kabul, and I went with Sarajevo solely because they have a 0 in the loss column. Granted, Kabul’s loss was on a forfeit, but there is still a 1 in that column. To be honest, neither team has had a tough schedule. They both have played only one true competitor (Sarajevo beat Beirut, Kabul beat Timbuktu). Sarajevo kept it rolling this week beating Sana’a by 15. They had a new leading scorer this week in Justin Matthews, dropping 28 points and 11 boards. He lit it up from 3, shooting 7-11. That is what is most impressive about this team. Every week can be a different leading scorer. One week it is Aymen, then it is Salim, now it is Justin. They will be at the top until they lose. Three of their last four games are against good teams, so we shall see.

The only undefeated team left! Number 1 in the standings doesn’t mean number 1 on the power rankings. Strength of schedule matters more than anything. The fact of the matter is in the 5 games they have played, the teams’ records are a combined 8-17, with Beirut being the only team with a winning record that they have faced. Granted, they don’t make the schedule. They just have to keep taking care of business week after week. Salim Laib isn’t a name we have mentioned on here before. 28 points and a perfect 10 for 10 from the charity stripe. Way to have a game, sir.

Aymen and team did exactly what they are supposed to do when you have these lopsided matchups on the schedule. They won by 30+. 33 to be exact. That is how you get your point differential up and move up in the standings. They were super-efficient from the field, with the entire team shooting a combined 52.9%. It starts and ends with Aymen. Can he bring this team to the promise land?

Sarajevo is quietly becoming a top team in MB. Their upcoming schedule is pretty easy. I don’t see them losing more than 2 games in the regular season. The scoring can come from anywhere with this team. I don’t think Aymen will be returning to Suba anytime soon.

As expected, they absolutely demolished Riyadh, winning by almost 30 points. These aren’t the type of games that move you up too much in the rankings, but a W is a W in the standings.

Aymen and Salim looks like they may have made the right choice in leaving Suba. They look to keep it going next game against a struggling Riyadh.

I assume this is the same Aymen that left Suba. He decided to pull an Amir and start his own squad. He took Salim with him and brought in a bunch of new guys.