Basketball stays afloat after COVID concerns
Amanda Kagiso | Friday May 27, 2022 18:02
Eight men's and six women's teams are expected to take part in the tournament. The BBA and BOTESSA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to allow university teams to take part in the league. The move is seen as a way to add more competitiveness to the league.
This will also bring about a different dynamic to the game and give insight into how well teams that already exist in the league will cope with the new development. In recent years, the league has been dominated by Police, Dolphins and BDF in both the men's and women's categories as a result it has become too predictable.
The MoU is expected to bring about the competitiveness and unpredictability in the league. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, BBA technical director, Shalosh Matsetse said the signing of the agreement would help with the retention of players. "The agreement between BBA and BOTESSA is seen as a win on our side because the game of basketball has been losing a lot of good players that play in the university leagues but get lost into society and become hard to track afterwards," Matsetse said. "This move will also improve the number of teams in the league, especially on the ladies' side since we currently have only six ladies' teams in the league," he added. Since the league has been on hold for over two years now, the BBA has slotted in tournaments, which included the just-ended preseason tournament 5on5 held at the Ba Isago courts.
Police men and women won both finals, cementing their years-long domination of the league. Police men beat Dolphins 70-50 to claim the title while the woman beat Dolphins ladies 59-57. The league will possibly resume in June 2022, and the tournaments and signing of the MoU are expected to bring about a positive change and have players that are active and ready to play.