FIBA Basketball
WASL Power Rankings: Season 1, Volume III
BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The inaugural season of WASL continues and all of the teams are putting in their best efforts to finish as the best of the best in their respective leagues.
BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The inaugural season of WASL continues and all of the teams are putting in their best efforts to finish as the best of the best in their respective leagues.
There's been plenty of excitement. There's been plenty of emotions. Big players. Great players. Great games all around. We will continue to stack them up against each other in these WASL Power Rankings.
Reminder: These are not the official rankings. Power Rankings are just here to reflect on a team's current form and not based entirely on their records in WASL.
Team |
Movement |
|
16 Al-Ittihad Ahli |
Not much opportunity for Al-Ittihad Ahli to move up with no scheduled games this past week, but they'll have a huge opportunity as they go up against Beirut Club this Wednesday. | - |
15 Alkaramah |
Alkaramah looked like they were onto something coming off a not-so-bad loss to Gorgan and going up against an Al Riyadi team without Wael Arakji after a rough loss to Al Naft. They fought well... but were no match for the inside presence of Ater Majok. | 🔻1️⃣ |
14 Al Bashaer |
Al Bashaer are still winless, but at least their recent loss to Kazma wasn't a blowout this time. | 🔺1️⃣ |
13 Orthodox Amman |
In WASL, Orthodox Amman need to rebound from that bad loss to Beirut Club as they go up against ZobAhan this week. They are, however, doing very well in Jordan Premier League with a perfect 4-0 record with 2 wins this past week. | - |
12 Al Nasr Riyadh |
No action from Al Nasr Riyadh in WASL last week, but they did get a big win in the local Saudi Arabia league to maintain a 13-3 record - good for second in the table. | - |
11 Al Sadd |
Can Al Sadd make it two straight wins? This will be an important one as they will go up against the other team with an identical 1-1 record in their group... | 🔺1️⃣ |
10 Al Manama |
Al Manama didn't have a WASL game last week, but they did lose a game in the local Bahrain league. They are still on top of the standings and their loss was to Al Ittihad who are 4th with a 9-4 record, so it's not that bad. Still, it would have been better to have a bit more momentum heading into their important game vs Al Saad. | 🔺1️⃣ |
9 Kazma |
Kazma finally get into the win column and it was a well-deserved one. They could keep moving up if able to maintain their form, especially Kevin Murphy. | 🔺2️⃣ |
8 Al Naft |
The fall from the top tends to be sudden. For a second straight week in the WASL Power Ranking, the top team from the previous week takes a sharp dive. There really was no way around this as Al Naft took in the biggest loss so far in WASL. | 🔻7️⃣ |
7 ZobAhan |
ZobAhan were no in WASL action last week, but they did get another win in the Iran Basketball League which extended their winning streak to 9 games. They will face Orthodox Amman on Thursday. | 🔺1️⃣ |
6 Kuwait Club |
It's been smooth sailing so far for undefeated Kuwait Club. They fall two spots this week only because they didn't play any WASL or local league games, but will be back against AL Nassr Riyadh on Tuesday. | 🔻2️⃣ |
5 Al Hilal |
Al Hilal drops two spots after their loss to Shabab Al Ahli, but let's face it - that wasn't a bad loss. Both teams played hard, went back and forth, and it would have gone either way. They're still in good shape after winning a game in the local league, extending their win streak to three games. | 🔻2️⃣ |
4 Al Riyadi |
Bouncing back up a bit after an impressive performance against Alkaramah is Al Riyadi. Even without star talent Wael Arakji, Al Riyadi went on to claim a tough away win in Syria, looking more like that team that beat Gorgan in their opening game than the team that lost to Al Naft. | 🔺2️⃣ |
3 Beirut Club |
Beirut Club are down one spot, but that's more because they did not play a WASL game last week. Looking at their play in the Lebanese Basketball League from last week, however, with 2 wins (including one over Al Riyadi), Beirut Club could be in position to overtake the top spot for the first time soon. | 🔻1️⃣ |
2 Gorgan |
If anyone misread Gorgan's season opening loss to Al Riyadi as a slight to the Iranian club rather than a compliment to the Lebanese squad's strength, now they know. Gorgan has looked better and better as each game passes. By the time they get their rematch against Al Riyadi (18 January), it should be a whole new ball game. | 🔺3️⃣ |
1 Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai |
We slightly dismissed Shabab Al Ahli's wins in the previous weeks but now that they've stayed undefeated by displaying their guts in yet another close win, this time against a very good Al Hilal side, it's due time that they get some respect. Shabab Al Ahli are currently the only club in WASL - both West Asia and Gulf - that are undefeated after three rounds and we'll see if it stays that way at the end of this week. | 🔺6️⃣ |
*The power rankings are entirely subjective based on recent events/results/announcements and is in no way a true, accurate ranking systems. All comments are purely those of the author.
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