BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The holiday season has come to a close and it's all about buckling down to work once more for all the competing ball clubs as the 2024/2025 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) season rolls again this January 6.
A quick look at the league calendar shows that the Gulf League Group Phase has only seven game dates remaining, and so expect the action to shift into high gear soon as teams will be jockeying for position into the Sub-Zone League's Final Phase.
But before we look that far ahead into the competition, let's take just a quick review on how the present WASL landscape appears, particularly in the Gulf.
Who's hot?
And when you say Gulf League, Kuwait Club quickly come into mind. The team is the sub-zone's reigning two-time champions, and they've been showing how much they want to achieve a rare three-peat through their performances on the hardwood.
The charges of Coach Peter Schomers entered the break as the lone unbeaten team in the field with a pristine 4-0 record - a sweep of Al Ahli Club, along with victories over familiar foes Shabab Al Ahli and Al Bashaer - to sit atop Group A comfortably.
It's big thanks to how the defending Kuwaiti Division 1 champions have progressed chemistry-wise, with the troika of JaKarr Sampson, Augustine Rubit, and Briante Weber finding their niche in the squad bannered by star forward Hamad Hasan.
But they may even get better soon with the potential returns of key cogs such as Hamad's brother, Moh, from an injury. And that should bode well for a crew that's aiming to sweep the Group Phase by beating Shabab Al Ahli and Al Bashaer again.
If they do, Kuwait Club would clinch the no. 1 seed in the group, which merits another automatic trip to the Sub-Zone League's Semi-Finals. Can they do it?
Newcomers impressing
But as solid as Kuwait Club have been, some of the other teams in the Gulf League, particularly the newcomers, have been making quite a noise this season.
Those are Al Arabi SC of Qatar and another Kuwaiti side in Al Qadsia, both of which are sharing Group B leadership as they tote identical 2-1 records.
Another interesting common denominator between these sides, you wonder? They have pulled off major upsets against the inaugural WASL champions in Manama.
The Qadsia of Coach Joey Stiebing, who are building a reputation as one of the league's best three-point shooting teams, did it first right in their very first game of the tournament by way of a thrilling 90-84 decision on their home floor.
Al Arabi then followed suit, rallying from 21 points down to take the 85-84 victory in a comeback of epic proportions in Manama's own stomping grounds by riding the strong performances of Bahrain's very own Mosti Rashed and Moustafa Fouda.
Threatening again?
Those results left Manama reeling to a 0-2 start into the competition, marking the very first time that the club began a WASL season in such a manner.
Yet Coach Linos Gavriel and his men remained defiant, and that first victory finally came their way following a 67-66 escape from another newcomer in Ittihad Club in Jeddah - big thanks to the endgame heroics of league veteran Tony Carr.
Breaking through is surely a huge confidence booster for a team that initially struggled, and could just be what they need to turn their season around.
That win was hugely because of the reps they finally got under their legs, something that they didn't have entering this season. Prior to beating the Saudi Arabian squad, they competed and then conquered the Bahraini Super Cup at home.
Now, the Bahraini Premier League has begun, which should get Manama going - and help as well their WASL campaign. At third in Group B with a 1-2 card, they still have three games left, and eyes will be on them if they can still make a serious run.
Wait, when will the West Asia League be played?
For sure, most fans are waiting for the FIBA WASL-West Asia League to play and sooner, we'll all be able to watch it. It's set on March and April as the league veers away from the home-and-away setup and will instead be played in two rounds.
The First Round is scheduled on March 3-9 while the Second Round is on April 7-13, with the tournament locations and full sked to be announced at a later date.
A total of six teams - a change from the usual eight - will compete in a single-group round-robin format, with the team accumulating the most points across the two rounds to be crowned as the West Asia League 2024/2025 champion.
It is definitely going to be an interesting West Asia League contest ahead given the aforementioned changes. For more about the sub-zone, click here.
FIBA