BAL4: Sahara CONFERENCE PREVIEW

The Sahara conference in Dakar, from 4 to 12 May, will conclude the BAL season 4 qualifiers with the last two qualifiers for Rwanda. At the end of this phase, the two best third-placed teams will be announced, and will earn their tickets to compete with FUS Rabat of Morocco, Petro de Luanda of Angola, the two qualifiers from Pretoria in South Africa, and Al Ahly Sporting of Cairo and Al Ahly Benghazi, the newly qualified teams from Cairo in Egypt. 

In Dakar, at the Diamnadio Arena, four teams will be battling it out. The AS Douanes team, who are playing at home, are no strangers to the competition, having contested the Season 3 final against Al Ahly and finished runners-up. The team has kept the same staff with coach Pabi Gueye, who won best coach in Season 3.

Gueye brought in more or less the same squad, including Alkaly Ndour and Jean-Jacques Boissy, to name but a few. But Coach Gueye has gone one step further by recruiting Harouna Abdoulaye from Nigeria, a formidable three-point shooter, Mike Fofana, a colossus from Côte d'Ivoire, and Chris Obekpa from Nigeria, who played in the World Cup qualifiers. After playing in the final, AS Douanes has set its sights on winning the trophy. 

Tunisian club US Monastir have already won the trophy in Season 2 of the BAL. The team is made up of a host of internationals, including Mokhtar Ghayaza, who played in the 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2021 Afrobasket, Firas Lahiani, who took part in the 2021 Afrobasket and the World Cup qualifiers, and Ahmed Addami, Oussama Marnaoui and Lassa Chouwaya, both of whom took part in Afrobasket 2011, the World Cup and the Afrobasket qualifiers, and Achraf Ganouni, who played in the U18 World Cup qualifiers.

The team has also acquired the services of Ater Majok, the South Sudanese who was named best defender in BAL Season 2, as well as Sadio Doukoure from Mali and Marcus Crawford from the USA, who is also no stranger to the competition having played for various BAL teams, including AS Douanes. They are a formidable team with their sights set firmly on qualification for the final.

Rivers Hoopers is the club that will be representing Nigeria. This is the team's first appearance in the BAL. It will benefit from the contribution of an experienced player in Will Perry, an outstanding shooter who held the record for points in a BAL match with 41. Five-time Nigerian champions, Rivers Hoopers are the first Nigerian team to compete in the BAL. 

Finally, APR, who completes the Sahara Conference line-up, will be playing in their first BAL. As Rwandan champions in September 2023, their first since 2009, the team will be under pressure to reach the finals in front of their home fans. 

To achieve this, the club owned by the Rwandan Ministry of Defence will be a big underdog. Although APR lost 2022 MVP Mikahael Dixon, they were able to recruit center Abdul Ahmed Nasser and Noel Odadiah, who joined Jean Jacques Nsobo, Adonis Filer and others. The team has the means to carry out its policy and is going to play the spoilsport.

So, let’s just say it’s hard to predict the outcome of this conference and who will make it to the Final Phase.

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