What happened at the 2023 Sahara Conference?

Now that the 2023 Sahara Conference is done and dusted we look back at the highlights that saw four teams qualify for the BAL Playoffs in May in Kigali.

It’s fair to say that there was a bit of everything throughout the 15 games played over the course of 10 days in the Senegalese capital city of Dakar.

From home fans showing up at Dakar Arena in big numbers to cheer on their heroes; surprising results; suspense and the revelation of new talents, this year’s Sahara Conference was anything but dull.

Here are some of the key moments that marked the 2023 Sahara Conference:

FINAL STANDINGS

Unlike any other group phase of the BAL, the 2023 Sahara Conference saw five of the six teams finish with a 3-2 win-loss record each.

Abidjan Basket Club (ABC), AS Douanes, Stade Malien, Rwanda Energy Group (REG), and US Monastir, all recorded three wins and two losses each.

Eventually, a tie-break rule* eliminated the team with the worst point-differential while the other four advanced to the playoffs.

For more information about the tie-break rule, find details at the bottom of this article.

WINLESS FALCONS

It wasn’t this time that a Nigerian champion would advance to the next round of the BAL.

After Rivers Hoopers came up short to make it to the playoffs during the inaugural BAL season in 2021, Kwara Falcons arrived in Dakar looking to rewrite history.

But five losses in as many games prevented the Falcons from advancing further.

Nevertheless, the Falcons could have had a different ending in the conference.

After leading by nine with a minute left, the Nigerian champions allowed ABC a 10-0 run to lose 79-76.

SUCCESS OF DEBUTANT TEAMS

Against all odds, the two teams that qualified automatically for the regular season (Kwara Falcons and US Monastir) were eliminated in the regular season while the two teams who went through the qualifying round (ABC and Stade Malien) moved on to the next round.

CHAMPIONS COME UP SHORT

The Tunisian champions became the first BAL reigning champions to miss out on the playoffs.

After reaching the final day with a promising 3-1 mark, US Monastir were unable to stop a highly-motivated AS Douanes in a game that marked Monastir’s end of the season.

AS DOUANES EMERGE FROM THE ASHES

It’s never too easy to lose two straight games to start a competition and bounce back with three wins in a row.

But that’s what AS Douanes has achieved.

And, with the support of their tireless home fans cheering on, AS Douanes came up with a surprising 76-60 win against champions US Monastir on the last day of the competition.

The historic win not only saw AS Douanes finish second in the conference and make it to the BAL Playoffs for the second time, but it also ended Monastir’s title defense.

STADE MALIEN WIN 2023 SAHARA CONFERENCE

After finishing 6-2 in the FIBA Africa-run Road to the BAL qualifiers played from October to November 2022, Stade Malien never looked like a BAL debutant side.

The Malien champions stood up against all five opponents and closed its campaign with an emphatic 90-71 win over ABC, a team they lost twice to in the qualification round and lost a scrimmage against a week before the start of the competition.

In the end, Stade Malien took the top spot in the 2023 Sahara Conference.

DIARRA AND BERTHE

There was a number of countless talented players in the conference, but two players set themselves apart from the others.

Two young players unknown to the public outside of Mali made their names heard out loud after leading Stade Malien to the top spot in the Sahara Conference.

Diarra, a 6’9 center with an impressive athleticism and ability to read opponents’ moves, was one of the stars of the competition.

Alongside his teammate Souleymane Berthe, Diarra was consistent throughout, registering five double-doubles in the five games.

Surprisingly, neither Diarra nor Berthe – a wingman with an ability to run his team’s offense – have ever played internationally for Mali. Not for much longer though, it’s thought.

INCREASING PLAYING TIME FOR BAL ELEVATE PLAYERS

Six NBA Academy Africa players drafted to the Sahara Conference through the BAL Elevate Program seem to have won trust of their coaching staff, and this was reflected in the players’ playing time and productivity.

Khaman Maluach (AS Douanes), Modou Thiam (Kwara Falcons), Ulrich Chomche (REG) and Rueben Chinyelu (Stade Malien) played 14 or more minutes per game.

Thiam, who replaced Khadim Mboup in the Falcons squad, averaged 7.8 points – the highest figure among the Elevate program players.

The Senegalese, who played 4 of 5 games, recorded the highest field-goal percentage (50) among all Kwara Falcons players.

Meanwhile, with his 8.8 rebounds per game in five games, Chinyelu was one of the most productive Stade Malien players.

Chomche may have come off the bench in all five games, but the young Cameroonian contributed enormously for the Rwandan champions. The 17-year-old averaged 5.4 points, 7 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game.

And South Sudanese Khaman Maluach – the tallest player in the Sahara Conference – spent 13.7 minutes in four games while contributing 5.3 rebounds per game.

There was a five-way tie based on record (3-2).
There was a five-way tie among the teams with a 3-2 record when going head to head (2-2).
Based on total point aggregate differentials in the games between the five teams:
A - Stade Malien had the largest aggregate point differential (13)
B - AS Douanes had the second largest aggregate point differential (12).

Rwanda Energy Group and ABC had the same point differential (-4), and the tie was broken by the team with the higher number of points scored in the games between the two teams.