Sports
SIX Sahara Conference Teams Feature 78 Players from 13 Countries Across Africa, Europe and the U.S.; 2023 BAL Season Will Reach Fans in 214 Countries and Territories in 17 Languages; Season Opener Will Feature Senegal’s AS Douanes Taking on Côte d’Ivoire’s Abidjan Basketball Club at the Dakar Arena on Saturday, March 11 at 11 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. GMT; Tickets for Sahara Conference Games in Dakar from March 11-21 On Sale Now at www.BAL.NBA.com.
The Basketball Africa League (BAL) today announced the rosters of the six teams that will compete in the league’s Sahara Conference group phase from March 11-21 at the Dakar Arena in Senegal, as well as the league’s global broadcast distribution for the 2023 BAL season.
The six teams – defending BAL champion US Monastir (Tunisia), AS Douanes (Senegal), Abidjan Basketball Club (Côte d’Ivoire), Kwara Falcons (Nigeria), Rwanda Energy Group (Rwanda) and Stade Malien (Mali) – collectively feature 78 players from 13 countries across Africa, Europe and the U.S., including eight players with NBA G League experience, 18 former NCAA Division I players, six NBA Academy prospects and 11 former Basketball Without Borders (BWB) campers.
The 2023 BAL season will reach fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages through free-to-air and paid TV broadcast partnerships with the African Union of Broadcasting, American Forces Network (AFN), Canal+, ESPN (sub-Saharan Africa), NBA TV, Tencent, TV5 Monde, Visionary TV and Voice of America (VOA), and livestreaming on the NBA App, NBA.com and BAL.NBA.com.
In the season opener, AS Douanes will take on Abidjan Basketball Club at 11 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. GMT on Canal+, ESPN, NBA TV, TV5 Monde, VOA and select free-to-air channels across the continent. The game will also livestream on the NBA App, NBA.com and BAL.NBA.com. Fans can purchase tickets to the 15 Sahara Conference games at BAL.NBA.com.
Each BAL team will have up to 13 players, at least eight of whom are citizens of their respective team’s home country and up to four of whom are from other countries, with no more than two players per team from outside of Africa. As part of the second edition of the BAL Elevate program, one roster spot on each team is reserved for a prospect from NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal, for the top high school-age prospects from across Africa.
Below please find select BAL Sahara Conference player and coach storylines:
- Tunisia native and 2022 All-BAL First Team member Radhouane Slimane will lead US Monastir’s title defense.
- Former University of Maryland star Terrell Stoglin, the BAL’s leading scorer in each of the league’s first two seasons as a member of AS Salé (Morocco), will suit up for AS Douanes for the first time.
- Former University of California, Berkeley guard Jerome Randle, who was the 2009-10 Pac-10 Player of the Year and the 2016-17 MVP of Australia’s National Basketball League, will make his BAL debut for US Monastir.
- Nigeria native and former St. John’s University center Christopher Obekpa, who led NCAA Division I in blocks in the 2012-13 season, will play for Abidjan Basketball Club after representing Guinea’s Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (S.L.A.C) during the 2022 BAL season.
- Former University of Memphis guard Chris Crawford, who was the 2012-13 Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year, will compete for AS Douanes. Crawford played for S.L.A.C in 2022.
- Former University of Washington forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning, who was a 2010-11 All-Pac-10 selection and previously represented the Great Britain Men’s National Team, will make his BAL debut for AS Douanes.
- Texas Christian University all-time assists leader Don Alex Robinson Jr. will make his BAL debut for Abidjan Basketball Club.
- Abidjan Basketball Club head coach Liz Mills (Australia) returns to the BAL after leading AS Salé to the BAL Playoffs last year, when she became the first woman to coach a BAL team and the first to coach a Moroccan men’s team.
- The Sahara Conference features 11 players who previously participated in BWB, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program for top prospects from around the world that has seen nearly 100 former campers advance to the NBA.
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Tags: Basketball Africa League NBA
