LEEDS (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - The fourth edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) was arguably the most balanced and competitive since its inception in 2021.

And so, here are 10 things we've learned from the 2024 BAL season.

1. No one was safe. There was no better example of how evenly-matched the whole season was than the number of defeats each BAL team recorded at the end of the season.

Unlike previous season where the winning team would lift the baobab-inspired BAL trophy almost unscathed, this time it was different as top-seeded teams faced setbacks throughout the season and each team recorded at least three defeats each.

Egypt's Al Ahly SC won the Nile Conference with a 5-1 mark (the best record in regular season), but finished 0-2 in the postseason

2.It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish. Except for Rivers Hoopers, who clinched the 2024 Sahara Conference title and, eventually, finished third, the other Conference winners FUS Rabat (Kalahari Conference) and Al Ahly SC (Nile Conference) saw their seasons cut short in the Quarter-Finals. 

Libya's Al Ahly Ly reached the 2024 BAL Grande Final with a flawless Playoffs 3-0 mark and looked favourite to win it all, but in, a turn of events, Petro de Luanda came up with a performance for the ages, becoming the first sub-Saharan African team to win the BAL trophy.

3. No South Sudan future for Jo-Lual Acuil Jr,? It remains a mystery why Acuil Jr., who debuted for the high-flying South Sudanese national team during the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers in August 2022 in Monastir, hasn't featured for the Bright Stars again or even being pre-selected for the last World Cup or the 2024 Olympics.

Jo Lual Acuil Jr. became the second South Sudanese - since Nuni Omot - to win the BAL MVP award

The 30-year-old, who became the first player in BAL history to take home the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards and set a scoring record of 42 points in a game, declined to comment on his future with South Sudan. "No comment", he answered during a post-game press conference.

4. Kalahari Conference was a blast. The BAL continues to group its fanbase across the continent, and adding Pretoria as host city of the 2024 Kalahari Conference was a big win for the league.

⚔️🔥 Catch the highlights from Pretoria's Kalahari Conference final battle for a place in the Playoffs & Finals in Kigali 🇷🇼 #BAL4 pic.twitter.com/tlF2rpW3SI

— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) March 17, 2024

A state-of-the-art SunBet Arena filled in with enthusiastic fans for most of the six games was everything any BAL follower would dream of. "It's been amazing. We showed the BAL what South Africa is all about. Hopefully, they'll keep coming back," said Cape Town Tigers guard Dylan Whitbread when I asked him about the impact of South Africa cheering fans throughout the Conference.  

5. It's not over until it's over. Another example of how this season reached new heights was the way teams competed until the final buzzer and refused to lose.

Comparatively to the previous three BAL seasons, there were fewer blowout wins while five games went to overtime, with the Rivers Hoopers v APR becoming the first BAL game going into a double-overtime.

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Three buzzer-beater shots sent games into overtime, and another one saw AS Douanes beat Rivers Hoopers at the buzzer in the low-scoring game (56-54).

 6. Maluach signed off with a bang. City Oilers may have fell short of a postseason spot, but giving 17-year-old Khaman Maluach the exposure he lacked in his previous two seasons with Cobra Sports and AS Douanes was the Ugandan champions' biggest reward.

KHAMAN MALUACH! This kid is something else 😳 #BAL4 pic.twitter.com/bdfVBSlvX1

— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) April 26, 2024

Maluach, who committed to Duke University after averaging 17.8 points and led the league with 13.5 rebounds per game, while recording 2.8 blocks per game, was one of the season's revelations alongside Bangui Sporting Club's Thierry Darlan and Devine Eke (Rivers Hoopers).

7. Petro's (unsung) heroes.Petro de Luanda, the only team to have never missed a BAL Playoffs, returned to Kigali as a fifth-seeded team after finishing 2-2 in the Kalahari Conference, but returned home with the most sought-after BAL trophy. 

How did they do it? A number of factors contributed to the Angolan champions' success. From refusing to throw the towel in when they appeared to be on the ropes to believing they were good enough to stamp their name to the BAL's champions list, Petro de Luanda made the most of two (unsung) heroes in Nicholas Faust and Clesio (sometimes, misspelled Cleusio) Castro. 

Nicholas Faust is seen here scoring a game-winning basket against AS Douanes after Petro trailed by 20

While Faust, who only joined Petro during the Playoffs in Kigali, hit timely three-pointers and used his underrated defensive skills to lift the new champions when they needed him most, Castro, an athletically-gifted 2,03m (6ft 8in) forward who doesn't often gets the credit he deserves, shot 5-for-5 to finish with 10 points in the most important game of his career to help Petro beat Al Ahly Ly 107-94 in the 2024 BAL Final.

8. Rivers Hoopers prove doubters wrong. There've heated debates about Nigerian teams earning direct qualification to the BAL, especially because of the West African country's teams' poor record in the BAL as well as the FIBA Africa Champions Cup. But this time round, the Port Harcourt-based side proved doubters wrong. 

Kelvin Amayo

The Hoopers not only finished 4-2 and won the 2024 Sahara Conference, but they also claimed a third place that few saw it coming. It was a huge achievement for a team who finished 1-2 during the BAL inaugural season. 

9. Road to BAL teams continue to shine.Out of the 12 BAL teams, six earned their spots to the regular season through the Road to BAL, a FIBA-organised qualifying tournament that runs from October to Decembers and gathers more than 20 teams from all corners of the continent.

Samkelo Cele, who is seen here hitting one of the biggest shots of the season, helped Cape Town Tigers reach the BAL Semi-Finals for the first time

Those teams are often seen as outsiders, but for the first time in BAL history two Road to BAL teams reached the Semi-Finals (Al Ahly Ly and Cape Town Tigers), proving they can no longer be counted out.

10.  Spanish coaches' top the list.At the end of the 2024 BAL season, Petro de Luanda head coach Sergio Valdeomillos Moreno became to the second spaniard to win a BAL trophy. He seconds his countryman Agusti Julbe Bosch, the only coach with two titles in the history of the African basketball league. Serbian Modrag Perisic led US Monastir to the 2022 BAL title. 

Julio Chitunda
FIBA

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