Sahara Conference

Sahara Conference
LeagueBasketball Africa League
SportBasketball
Founded2022
First season2022
No. of teams4
(2024–present)
6
(2022–2023)
Venue(s)Dakar Arena
Most recent
champion(s)
Nigeria Rivers Hoopers (1st title)
(2024)
Current sports event 2024 BAL Sahara Conference

The Sahara Conference is one of the three conferences that make up the Basketball Africa League (BAL), the other two being the Nile Conference and the Kalahari Conference. All conferences currently consist of four teams.

The conference alignment began in the 2022 season, although plans to have conferences were already set up before the inaugural season. Named after the Sahara, the conference has been played at a single venue thus far, the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal for the past two seasons.

Venues

From 2022 to 2024, all games of the Sahara Conference were played at the Dakar Arena located in Dakar.[a]

Current standings

Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD PCT Qualification
1 Nigeria Rivers Hoopers 6 4 2 441 413 +28 .667 Advance to playoffs
2 Senegal AS Douanes (H) 6 3 3 409 385 +24 .500[b]
3 Tunisia US Monastir 6 3 3 437 450 −13 .500[b]
4 Rwanda APR 6 2 4 432 471 −39 .333
Source: BAL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Notes:
  1. ^ Officially, the Dakar Arena is located in the town of Diamniadio.
  2. ^ a b Head-to-head: AS Douanes 1–1 US Monastir, AS Douanes won on aggregrate point difference (+1).

Teams

Advertisement for the Sahara Conference in 2023

2024 teams

Team Location Conference

appearances

Senegal AS Douanes Dakar, Senegal 3
Rwanda APR Kigali, Rwanda 1
Tunisia US Monastir Monastir, Tunisia 3
Nigeria Rivers Hoopers Port Harcourt, Nigeria 1

Conference winners

Although no official trophy or title is awarded, the team ending at the top of the standings in the conference is lauded as "Conference winners" by the BAL.

Sahara Conference results
Season Winners Conference

record

Playoffs result Ref.
2022 (Details) Rwanda REG (RWA) 4–1 (.800) Lost in quarter-finals [1]
2023 (Details) Mali Stade Malien (MLI) 3–2 (.600) Won third place game [2]
2024 (Details) Nigeria Rivers Hoopers (NGR) 4–2 (.667) Won third place game

Titles by team

Team Titles Season(s) won
Rwanda REG 1 2022
Mali Stade Malien 1 2023
Nigeria Rivers Hoopers 1 2024

Standings

^ Denotes team that won the BAL championship
+ Denotes team that lost in the BAL finals
* Denotes team that qualified for the BAL playoffs
Season Positions (by team)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
2022 REG*
(4–1)
Monastir^
(4–1)
AS Salé* (3–2) SLAC*
(3–2)
Ferroviário
(1–4)
DUC
(1–4)
2023 Stade Malien*
(3–2)
AS Douanes+
(3–2)
REG* (3–2) ABC Fighters*
(3–2)
Monastir
(3–2)
Kwara Falcons
(0–5)
2024 Rivers Hoopers*
(4–2)
AS Douanes*
(3–3)
US Monastir*
(3–3)
APR
(2–4)

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Rwanda's REG win Sahara leg, AS Sale into BAL playoffs". ESPN.com. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  2. ^ "How Stade Malien became Kings of Basketball Africa League Sahara Conference". OJB SPORT. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.