Muslim Basketball

Without their star scorer Omar A, Medina managed to muster up some offense amongst themselves. Season-high 23 from Qasim M helped propel them past Tarim this week. They should get Omar back for week 1 of playoffs which will be a big help. On the flip side, they haven't set themselves up for success, they'll be facing 3 weeks straight of elimination games if they want to win a championship. Promising performance on Saturday, however, I think this is where they belong after this season. 

3 points in 20 minutes really says it all. They’re missing Omar A. big time. The defense was pretty solid as it usually is with these guys, at the first half actually saw them take control for a while. But as Qasim M. cooled off from a crazy hot streak and Mecca heated up, the lead switched hands. Couldn’t break the zone and couldn’t find buckets down the stretch. Medina will have their hands full moving forward to their path to a championship. 

Medina had their best game in terms of on-court performance this week against Al-Andalus. Consider this, Al-Andalus, after 3 weeks with injuries, was finally back at full strength, and Medina lost their clear-cut top player Omar A after only 2 minutes. They forced DOUBLE overtime, where they lost in sudden death. The key was the defense of Medina. They shut down the fast break all day, forcing Al-Andalus into half-court offense, where they looked discombobulated. They need to carry this defensive momentum and start supplementing it with some offensive continuity. 

Medina just struggled with the same thing they have all season. The lack of an offensive spark is killing them down the stretch. They came out early and took a lead, but as the game progressed, their one-dimensional style just became a little too predictable. Gonna be really important for some of the guys on this squad to step up. If they can net some wins, Omar A may have a word or 2 to say about that MVP race.

Medina slides down 1 spot on this week's ranking because they just didn't do much this week, that we hadn't already seen last week. Besides Omar E's 26 points, they didn't have another scorer over 5 points. They've gotta give him a little bit of help out there and they'll be in a much better spot, but until then, it's a one-man-show.

This loss definitely stung, it came down to the wire for Medina today. Marvelous performance by Omar in todays game. Also they were missing some big time scorers this week. Don’t sleep on Medina, they’re a dark horse for championship this year.