The second edition of the Basketball Africa League [BAL] is underway in Dakar, Senegal, on March 5, with the 12 competing teams, including defending champions Zamalek, confirmed to rub shoulders from two conferences, Sahara and Nile, ahead of the Kigali finals in May.
The group phase for the Sahara Conference which is underway in Dakar will be followed by the Nile Conference slated in Cairo from April 9-19 before the tournament moves to Kigali for the playoffs from May 21-28.
Last year, with the tournament taking place over two weeks in Rwanda due to COVID-19, Egypt's Zamalek beat Tunisia's US Monastir in the final, becoming the first NBA-affiliated African club champions.
This year, indications are that the level of performance is set to be even higher, with the tournament moving across three different countries, as initially intended before the COVID crisis.
Rwanda’s Rwanda Energy Group (REG) have been drawn against Tunisian powerhouse US-Monastir and four other teams in the Sahara Conference of the tournament’s regular season.
Besides the BAL 2021 finalists, the REG-powered team joined AS Sale (Morocco), Dakar Universite Club (Senegal), Seydou Legacy Athletique Club (Guinea), and Ferroviário da Beira (Mozambique).
Times Sport looks at each of REG’s opponents contesting for the four spots for the play offs during the ongoing Dakar regular season:
US Monastir (Tunisia)
Last year's runners-up qualified automatically once again by winning the 2020/21 Championnat National A.
The club was established in 1959 but did not rise to the top of Tunisian basketball until 1998, when they beat Ezzahra Sports in the league finals to win their first title. In 1999/2000, Monastir beat Club Africain in the league final and Ezzahra in the cup final to win the double.
After a third title win in 2005 and a maiden appearance at the FIBA Africa Club Championship in 2014, Monastir finished third in the Africa Champions Cup in 2017. They were defeated by ES Radès in the semi-final, but won the bronze playoff against Sport Libolo e Benfica.
If they needed revenge on local rivals ES Radès, Monastir claimed it by beating them to claim the league title not only in 2019, but again in 2020. In 2021, Monastir beat Ezzahra Sports to claim the crown yet again.
They were widely viewed as favourites for the inaugural BAL title, but, unfortunately lost to Zamalek in the final.
The presence of former NBA player Ty Lawson in the Monastir side makes them a team to beat this season and they will be hungry to avenge their unexpected defeat to Zamalek in last year's final.
With Zamalek having made a raft of star signings, Monastir are going to have to raise their game to keep up. Not everything is going their way at home, where they have recently been beaten by Ezzahra Sports.
Even more recently, Lawson is reported to have been arrested in Madrid over a fight which broke out in a restaurant and this may have implications for his BAL hopes.
DUC Dakar (Senegal)
In a nail-biting finale to the Senegalese basketball season, DUC Dakar beat 2021 BAL participants AS Douanes 66-65 to claim last year's Nationale 1 title.
Dakar Université Club Basketball (DUC) is the basketball team of the Cheikh Anta Diop University. Founded in 1956, they have won five Nationale 1 titles including their 2021 triumph. Their others were in 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2015. DUC were also runners-up in 1991, 1993 and 2012.
Founded as a basketball club, DUC went on to play other sports in addition, including athletics and football.
Senegalese basketball is in a strong position after a third-place finish at AfroBasket 2021. DUC Dakar guard and Senegalese League Finals MVP Thierno Niang has the ability to separate his team from others. Furthermore, DUC will have home advantage for some of the tournament.
AS Douanes, who represented Senegal at last year's BAL, were a disappointment -- scraping through to the quarter-finals before losing to Monastir. Overall, they had a 1-3 tournament record. DUC Dakar do not have a star-studded roster and have no BAL experience.
REG (Rwanda)
Avenging three successive final defeats to the Patriots, REG finally won back their crown by beating the 2021 BAL semifinalists 2-0 in the 2020/21 Rwandan National Basketball League (NBL) final.
Rwanda Energy Group BBC (REG) is owned and named after the Rwanda Energy Group Limited. Established in 2016, they quickly became a force to reckon with in the country's rapidly-developing basketball scene.
After winning the NBL in 2017, they played second fiddle to the Patriots for three years and eventually beat them again to clinch a second national title in 2021. REG have also won the Rwandan Heroes Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The playoffs and finals of the BAL will be held in Rwanda, giving REG a major advantage to play before their home fans. Countrymen, Patriots, used this well last year, making it all the way to the semi-finals of the inaugural BAL. Given that REG toppled them enroute to the league title, they will fancy their chances.
The Patriots came up well short when they took on the might of Monastir and Petro de Luanda. Looking at REG's roster, it is difficult to see how they will fare any better against the best teams, who are beefing up with seasoned NBA campaigners.
AS Salé (Morocco)
Moroccan champions Salé were invited to the BAL to replace Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers, who were disqualified due to their federation failing to effectively organise a league.
The basketball section of AS Salé was founded in 1928. Today, they are the pride of the organisation, as the football team competes in the second division. However, even the basketball side did not win the national title until 2010. Since then, they have been utterly dominant.
In 2017, they beat ES Radès 77-69 in Radès to win the FIBA Africa Champions Cup, becoming the first Moroccan side to lift the title since MAS Fez in 1998. In 2018/19, Salé were runners-up, losing the final 83-71 to Primeiro de Agosto.
The 2021 BAL season saw a Terrell Stoglin-inspired Salé reach the quarter-finals while playing some thoroughly entertaining basketball, but they were knocked out by Petro de Luanda.
The Moroccan champions have been boosted by the return of Stoglin to their ranks and will be fired up. They can count themselves unlucky to have been knocked out so early in the tournament last time, despite being one of the most exciting teams, and will be hungry to progress further this time.
Having been parachuted into the tournament despite missing the Elite 16 round of the qualifiers, Salé may be lacking in preparation. Their dominance at home is being threatened, particularly by FUS Rabat. Stoglin aside, it is difficult to see where they can bridge the gap to the best teams in the BAL.
SLAC (Guinea)
Seydou Legacy Athletic Club (SLAC) qualified by finishing as runners-up of the West Division in the qualifying tournament. They beat Mali's AS Police 81-78 in overtime in the semi-finals, but were hammered 81-34 by Forces Armées et Police (FAP) in the final.
SLAC have dominated Guinean basketball since winning a first Ligue 1 title in 2015. They have since added further triumphs in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Before the BAL came into existence, they played their first FIBA Africa Basketball League tournament in 2018/19, losing all three matches against AS Salé, JS Kairouan and Rivers Hoopers.
By beating 2021 BAL participants AS Police in order to qualify for this year's tournament, SLAC proved that they are capable of playing at the required level to compete in the tournament on their best days.
The 47-point West Division final defeat to FAP suggests SLAC still have some way to go before they can compete with the BAL big guns. Their squad is inexperienced at major basketball competitions relative to some of their competitors.
Ferroviário da Beira (Mozambique)
In their first appearance in the BAL qualifiers, Ferroviário da Beira won the East Division. They emulated fellow Mozambican team Ferroviário de Maputo the previous year by ensuring that Mozambique will have a representative at Africa's biggest club basketball showpiece.
Ferroviário da Beira's history dates back to 1924, but the basketball section of the club has enjoyed its golden years over the last decade. They won the Mozambique Division 1 in 2012, 2013 and 2014 before finally adding another title in 2021, earning their right to play in the BAL qualifiers, which they did with much success.
Beira peaked at the right time in qualifying and should go down as one of the dark horses for the tournament. Ferroviário de Maputo came very close to reaching the semi-finals last time and so Mozambican basketball teams know they can mix it with Africa's big guns when required.
There were moments over two titanic qualifying battles with the Cape Town Tigers when Beira's vulnerability showed. One of those matches ended in defeat and the other in victory. Although there are accomplished players in the squad, Beira lack bona fide stars to compete with the best teams