FIBA Basketball
WASL Power Rankings: Season 1, Volume VI
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 only did Al-Ittihad Ahli not win this week in WASL, but they can also no longer mathematically qualify for the Final Phase of the first WASL - West Asia season. They tried hard. They really did (peep Anthouny Bakar's 32 EFF outing), but it was just not meant to be this season. | - |
15 Al Bashaer |
Al Bashaer are still not out of the WASL - Gulf Final Phase picture like Al-Ittihad Ahli just yet... but they are certainly tiptoeing on the edge. | - |
14 Alkaramah |
Alkaramah are also in a similar position as Al Bashaer. They aren't out of contention just yet like their fellow Syrian club, but they'll need to make a gargantuan effort from here on out. | - |
13 Al Nasr Riyadh |
Al Nasr are winless just like the 3 teams below them in these Power Rankings, but it did feel a bit weird early on as they lost their first two games by a combined total of only 4 points. However, they lost by 23 points and, most recently against Al Manama, by 31 points... so it seems like the Saudi Arabian club is trending in the wrong direction. They can win these games (again 2 very close losses early on) but now they need to get some wins - close or not. | - |
12 Kazma |
Not having a WASL game this week relieves some of the stress of Kazma fans, giving them some room to breathe after experiencing close game after close game. But with some situations in the team being unclear, are they sure they can still conjure that "Kazma Spirit" in the next important stretch? There's time for them to figure things out, but the other teams in the group are already a step ahead. | 🔻2️⃣ |
11 Al Sadd |
Al Sadd pushed a strong Kuwait Club squad, riding off the spectacular play of Babacar Dieng, but still fell short. That was probably their toughest remaining game, so from now on, they just have to play up to the standard of facing Kuwait Club. | - |
10 Al Naft |
No WASL game this week for Al Naft. XXXXXXX | 🔻1️⃣ |
9 Orthodox Amman |
Orthodox Amman really needed to win in that particular fashion against Al-Ittihad Ahli. The team had not been particularly impressive in the first half of the Group Phase, but was firing all cylinders against Al-Ittihad Ahli. Teams have not knocked those mid-season acquisitions out of the ballpark so far, but Darrin Dorsey seems to be an answer to what the team needed after dropping a current WASL-high 14 assists. | 🔺3️⃣ |
8 Al Hilal |
Might seem a bit harsh for Al Hilal to get knocked down three spots in a week where they didn't play, but losing a local league game will do that to you when other teams in WASL are moving up fast. Losing to Al Wehda wasn't terrible, but it didn't help their case to stay in the Top 5 in this week's Power Rankings. | 🔻3️⃣ |
7 Al Riyadi |
Usual business in a week away from WASL for Al Riyadi as they got a local league win. | - |
6 Al Manama |
With a strong win against Al Nasr and another local league win to stay at the top of the league table, Al Manama are going all the right things right now. They're just outside the Top 5 and will be aiming to crack into that elite group when WASL returns to action after the national team break. | 🔺2️⃣ |
5 Beirut Club |
The streak finally came to an end. No shame in having the streak ended at the hands of the in-form ZobAhan side though (more on that below). | 🔻3️⃣ |
4 Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai |
No WASL action for the undefeated Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai, so - once again - moving down a spot in this week's update is more of just a formality. | 🔻1️⃣ |
3 Kuwait Club |
Al Sadd coach Vasileios Bratsiakos said that Kuwait Club might be the strongest team in the competition way back in the first week and that statement still stands true. Kuwait Club have had some close calls, but in general, they have been as solid as a team gets in WASL Gulf. | - |
2 Gorgan |
One local league win for Gorgan this week with no WASL West Asia action, so they just have to move down a spot and share the limelight with their fellow Iranian club... | 🔻1️⃣ |
1 ZobAhan |
ZobAhan were just clinical in the way they avenged their early season loss to Beirut Club. Sajjad Mashayekhi was absent in the first clash against the two teams and made his presence felt in this game, posting his best WASL West Asia outing so far. | 🔺5️⃣ |
*The power rankings are entirely subjective based on recent events/results/announcements and is in no way true, accurate ranking systems. All comments are purely those of the author.
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