Digital Sports Desk

Online Destination for the Best in Boston Sports

Archives for March 4, 2022

HoopHall Names Abdul-Jabbar Finalists

by

SPRINGFIELD – (Staff Report from Official News Release0 – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame named the finalists for the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. Endowed after Class of 1995 Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor is in its eighth year.  The award recognizes the top centers in men’s college basketball.

The five finalists for the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award are Walker Kessler (Auburn), Adama Sanogo (UConn), Drew Timme (Gonzaga), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois), Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky).

“Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is widely regarded as the best college basketball player of all time,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame in a statement. “To be acknowledged as a finalist for an award that bears his name is a phenomenal achievement and these student athletes should be celebrated. As a player, person and talent evaluator, Kareem has always operated at an elite level and we are grateful for his continued involvement in the Naismith Starting Five.”

A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in November, which was narrowed to 10 candidates in late January and now just five finalists. This month, the finalists will be presented to Mr. Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame’s selection committee. Naismith Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on today, March 4 on hoophallawards.com.

“This is a tremendous crop of student-athletes that are each deserving of winning this award,” said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 1995. “It’ll be a lot of fun to watch these young men play their hardest when the stakes at their highest as we come into the home stretch of the season.”

The winner of the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Men’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award and the Karl Malone Power Forward Award, in addition to the Women’s Starting Five. Additional information about the award presentation, including date and time, will be released in the coming weeks.

Previous winners of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award include two-time winner Luka Garza, Iowa (2020-21), Ethan Happ, Wisconsin (2019), Angel Delgado, Seton Hall (2018), Przemek Karnowski, Gonzaga (2017), Jakob Poeltl, Utah (2016) and Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin (2015).

Basketball Africa Starts New Program

by

DAKAR, Senegal  — The Basketball Africa League will start “BAL Elevate,” a new program that will see one NBA Academy Africa prospect join each of the 12 BAL teams for the league’s 2022 season tipping off Saturday, March 5.

The inaugural BAL Elevate program will feature 12 prospects from six African countries who currently attend NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal for the top high-school age prospects from across Africa. The program will provide an opportunity for the next generation of African prospects to participate in the new professional league, showcase their talent on a global stage and help their respective teams compete for the 2022 BAL Championship.

“We believe BAL Elevate will be immensely valuable to the 12 BAL teams and to the young men from NBA Academy Africa who are ready to contribute at the professional level alongside the best players on the continent,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “There is a natural synergy between the BAL and NBA Academy Africa, and this program will provide another pathway for elite African prospects to reach their potential as players and people.”

The BAL Elevate selection process was conducted yesterday by BAL Team Presidents. BAL Elevate players from the same country as a BAL team were automatically appointed to that team. If there was more than one BAL Elevate player from the same country as a BAL team, the team selected one of the players while the remaining player(s) re-joined the player pool for the opportunity to be selected by a different team. BAL Elevate players will not share in the prize money awarded to the top BAL teams at the end of the season to preserve their amateur status.

The 12 BAL teams, which include defending BAL Champion Zamalek (Egypt), have been divided into two conferences – the Sahara Conference and the Nile Conference. Each conference will play a 15-game group phase during which each team will face the five other teams in its conference once. The Sahara Conference group phase will take place at the Dakar Arena from March 5-15, while the Nile Conference group phase will take place at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo from April 9-19. The top four teams from each conference will qualify for the BAL Playoffs, which will feature a single-elimination tournament and Finals at Kigali Arena from May 21-28.

Sahara Conference
AS Salé (Morocco) Nadir Bennis Morocco 19 6’2 PG/SG
CFV (Mozambique) Reuben Abuchi Chinyelu Nigeria 18 6’10 PF
DUC (Senegal) Babacar Sane Senegal 18 6’6 G
REG (Rwanda) Joy Ighovodja Nigeria 17 6’4 PG
S.L.A.C (Guinea) Serigne Saliou Mbaye Senegal 18 6’2 PG
US Monastir (Tunisia) Charles Loic Onana Awana Cameroon 18 6’7 G

Nile Conference
Cape Town Tigers (South Africa) Matar Diop Senegal 18 6’8 F
Cobra Sport (South Sudan) Khaman Madit Maluach South Sudan 15 7’0 F
Espoir Fukash (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Emmanuel Eberechukwu Okorafor Nigeria 17 6’9 F
F.A.P (Cameroon) Ulrich Kamka Chomche Cameroon 16 6’11 F
Petro de Luanda (Angola) Thierry Serge Darlan Central African Republic 18 6’6 SG
Zamalek (Egypt) Khadim Rassoul Mboup Senegal 15 6’7 G

In the season opener, Senegal’s Dakar Université Club (DUC) will take on Guinea’s Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (S.L.A.C) at 12:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. GMT in the first of 38 games taking place across three cities over the next three months.

NBA Academy is a year-round elite basketball development program that provides top high school-age prospects from outside the U.S. with a holistic approach to player development and a predictable pathway to maximize their potential. In 2018, NBA Academy Africa opened a new facility in Saly, Senegal, which features two indoor basketball courts, a multipurpose activity center, a weight room, conference rooms, dormitories and educational facilities. Since NBA Academy Africa opened in 2017, 19 male and female participants have committed to NCAA Division I schools in the U.S.