ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - Less than a week before the start of the 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) playoffs in Kigali, a number of teams made significant adjustments to their squads, but there are more BAL stories marking the week.

In Egypt, for instance, a new Super League champions was crowned on Monday night.

Winners of the 2016 FIBA Africa Champions Cup, Al Ahly closed the 2022 Super League Finals series with an 88-75 win over Al Ettihad in game five of the best-of-five series.

Egyptian international player Ehab Amin was voted the 2022 Super League Finals Most Valuable Player.

And, if BAL regulations  remain intact for next season, Al Ahly earn automatic qualification for Season Three of the Basketball Africa League. They would replace, Zamalek who represented Egypt in the first two editions of the BAL.

Hosts of the 2022 BAL playoffs, Rwanda Energy Group (REG) are making sure to be at their best level for the opening of the playoffs on Saturday, May 21 when they take on FAP.

After holding a week-long training camp in Turkey where they won two games against national teams of Qatar and Kuwait and lost to Bahrein, REG returned to Kigali ready for the BAL playoffs.

Robert Pack's team added two new players to their squad: Kenneth Gasana and Senegalese Mamadou Ndiaye.

Gasana, who featured for Burundi's New Stars in the Road to BAL last December in Johannesburg, is now set to make his second BAL appearance.

Last year, the 37-year-old shooting propelled Patriots BB to the BAL semifinals, before they finished fourth.

Following other teams' adjustments trend, AS Sale added two valuable pieces to their puzzle: Ali Lahrichi and Ousmane Drame.

Drame is a 2.06m (6ft 9in) left-handed center who represents Guinea internationally, and Lahrichi is a 1.93m (6ft 3in) guard who plays for the Moroccan national team.

Ousmane Drame is seen in action while playing for Ventspils in the 2019 FIBA Champions League

After winning the 2022 edition of the Tunisian League early last week, US Monastir added more silverware to their trophy cabinet.

The runners-up of the inaugural BAL beat Club Africain 96-84  to win the 2022 Tunisian Cup. It was US Monastir's third straight Tunisia Cup title.

The Monastir-based team announced the signing of shooting guard Julius Coles for the BAL playoffs.

US Monastir will play Cape Town Tigers in the BAL Quarter-Finals.

Meanwhile, Petro de Luanda announced on Monday that Valdelicio Joaquim has been left out of the squad for the BAL playoffs for technical reasons.

The BAL Quarter-Finals fixtures are as follows:

Petro de Luanda v AS Sale (Saturday, May 21)
Rwanda Energy Group (REG) v Forces Armees e Police (FAP) (Saturday, May 21)
US Monastir v Cape Town Tigers (Sunday, May 22)
Zamalek v Seydou Legacy Athletique Club (SLAC) (Sunday, May 22)

FIBA