2024 BAL season
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| 2024 BAL season | |
|---|---|
 | |
| League | Basketball Africa League |
| Season | 2024 |
| Dates | 9 March – 1 June 2024[A] |
| Number of games | 48 |
| Teams | 12 |
| Playoffs | |
| Champions |  Petro de Luanda (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Al Ahly Ly |
| Third place |  Rivers Hoopers |
| Fourth place |  Cape Town Tigers |
| Awards | |
| MVP | Jo Lual-Acuil (Al Ahly Ly) |
The 2024 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 4, was the 4th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 9 March 2024 and ended with the final on 1 June 2024, which was played in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda for a fourth consecutive season.[1]
This season the league was expanded to 48 games, and from two conferences to three conferences, as South Africa hosted the inaugural Kalahari Conference.[2]
Al Ahly were the defending champions, having won the previous edition, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Al Ahly Ly.[3] Petro de Luanda from Angola won their first BAL championship after defeating Al Ahly Ly from Libya in the final.[4] As winners, Petro de Luanda, earned the right to play in the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
On 19 June 2023, the BAL and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) announced they agreed on a multi-year extension to their collaboration. Under the extension, it was agreed that the BK Arena in Kigali was to host the playoffs and finals in the 2024, 2026 and 2028 seasons.[1]
On 5 January 2024, the host venues and schedule were announced. The SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa, was the fourth arena to host BAL games.[5]
Format changes
The BAL expanded the total games in the season from 38 to 48. In the group phase, there were three conferences as the Kalahari Conference was added to the already existing Nile Conference and Sahara Conference. The number of teams in the conferences was decreased to four, with all teams playing each other twice. The top two teams and the two best third-placed teams advanced to the playoffs. Before the playoffs, the eight teams played seeding teams to determine their opponents in the single-elimination playoffs. This was the second time the match-ups in the playoffs were determined by seeding, with teams ranked 1 to 8, as this was last done in the inaugural season.[2]
Qualification
Qualified teams
The six directly qualified teams were the champions of the national leagues of six pre-selected countries. The other six team qualified through the Road to BAL.
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Road to BAL
The Road to BAL began on 3 October and ended on 26 November 2023. On 21 September 2023, FIBA announced the 20 teams that had registered to play in the first round, which was played in five groups.[6] The final phase of the West Division was organised in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for a third time. Johannesburg, South Africa, hosted the East Division finals once again.[7][8]
Chad was represented for the first time in tournament history, by Lamantins, however, the team forfeited during halftime of their first game.[9]
Teams
Pre-season
For a second consecutive season, the BAL champions directly qualified for the FIBA Intercontinental Cup. At the 2023 Singapore edition, Al Ahly represented the league. Al Ahly finished in the fourth place, after previously beating the NBA G League Ignite to become the first African team to win a game in the competition's history.
The league hosted the third BAL Combine at the Ibn Yassine Omnisports Hall in Rabat, Morocco, between 5 January and 7 January 2024. It was the first combine to be held on the African continent, after the previous editions were hosted in Paris and New York.[5] A total of 30 players participated under combine director Robert Pack.[5]
Schedule
The schedule for the 2024 season was officially released on 5 January 2024.[5]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying rounds (Road to BAL) |
First Round | – | 3 – 23 October 2023 |
| Elite 16 | 23 October 2023 | 31 October – 26 November 2023 | |
| Regular season | Kalahari Conference | – | 9 – 17 March 2024 |
| Nile Conference | 19 – 27 April 2024 | ||
| Sahara Conference | 4 – 12 May 2024 | ||
| Seeding games | 24 May – 1 June 2024 | ||
| Playoffs | Quarter-finals | ||
| Semi-finals | |||
| Final and third place | |||
Conference phase
Playoffs
The playoffs and finals were held from 24 May to 1 June 2024 in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.[2] This was the first year in which seeding games are part of the playoffs.
Three out of four quarterfinal games were won by the lower seeded team. Petro de Luanda became the first team to reach four consecutive semi-finals, while the Al Ahly Ly, the Cape Town Tigers and the Rivers Hoopers made their semi-final debuts and became the first teams from Libya, South Africa and Nigeria, respectively, to qualify for the stage.[74]
Rankings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | PCT | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Al Ahly |
4 | 4 | 0 | 363 | 313 | +50 | 1.000 | Qualification to 1st-2nd seed game |
| 2 |  FUS Rabat |
4 | 3 | 1 | 363 | 295 | +68 | .750 | |
| 3 | Rivers Hoopers |
4 | 2 | 2 | 277 | 260 | +17 | .500 | Qualification to 3rd-4th seed game |
| 4 |  AS Douanes |
4 | 2 | 2 | 269 | 265 | +4 | .500 | |
| 5 | Petro de Luanda |
4 | 2 | 2 | 360 | 340 | +20 | .500 | Qualification to 5th-6th seed game |
| 6 |  US Monastir |
4 | 2 | 2 | 270 | 291 | −21 | .500 | |
| 7 | Al Ahly Ly |
4 | 1 | 3 | 348 | 352 | −4 | .250 | Qualification to 7th-8th seed game |
| 8 | Cape Town Tigers |
4 | 1 | 3 | 305 | 346 | −41 | .250 |
Rules for classification: Teams ranked on 1) Win-loss record; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Point differential in the games between the respective teams; 4) Number of points scored in the games between the respective teams; 5) Average point differential in all games against other teams in the Conference; 6) Average number of points scored in all games played against other teams in the Conference; 7) Drawing.
Seeding games
The seeding games between the eight teams that advanced from the group phase were played on 24 and 25 May.[2] The match-ups were determined based on an aggregate ranking of all teams, with four pairings to decide the final seeds.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Al Ahly |
78–89 | FUS Rabat |
| Rivers Hoopers |
57–63 | AS Douanes |
| Petro de Luanda |
67–70 | US Monastir |
| Al Ahly Ly |
87–67 | Cape Town Tigers |
Bracket
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | FUS Rabat
| 88 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Cape Town Tigers (OT)
| 91 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Cape Town Tigers
| 86 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Petro de Luanda (OT)
| 96 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | AS Douanes
| 65 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Petro de Luanda
| 66 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Petro de Luanda
| 107 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Al Ahly Ly
| 94 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Al Ahly
| 77 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Al Ahly Ly
| 86 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Al Ahly Ly (OT)
| 89 | Third place game | |||||||||||
| 4 | Rivers Hoopers
| 83 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Rivers Hoopers
| 92 | 4 | Rivers Hoopers
| 80 | |||||||||
| 5 | US Monastir
| 88 | 8 | Cape Town Tigers
| 57 | |||||||||
Individual awards
The winner of the Coach of the Year award was announced before the third-place game on 31 May. Following the final on 1 June, the remaining awards were announced.[75] Jo Lual-Acuil became the first player to win both the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards, as well as the first player on a losing team to be named MVP.[75]
- Most Valuable Player: Jo Lual-Acuil, Al Ahly Ly
- Defensive Player of the Year: Jo Lual-Acuil, Al Ahly Ly
- Coach of the Year: Ogoh Odaudu, Rivers Hoopers
- Sportsmanship Award: Will Perry, Rivers Hoopers
- Ubuntu Award: Alkaly Ndour, AS Douanes[76]
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