Basketball in Africa

Before I even start writing about this game I need to declare my interests so that you know where the bias is coming from.

With the off-season acquisitions that Varsity Leopards men have done in getting Melvin Chitiyo 'I can fly' from Golden Spurs, Hamilton Mudawarima back home from JBC, Costa Chairman of the Boards Dinha who is off-season from rugby and Uri Maphosa back from a short stint in Gweru, I do not believe there is a team out there that can match them in terms of depth and versatility. Now they add that on Gideon Chikopa, Clement Chitura, Tafadzwa Bully Mudzimu, Xavier X-man Bwanya, Tendai Tindo Chiyangwa, my one and only favourite, that silly boy Tinashe Muchenje aka Voltron.

My worst fears were founded when I saw ultimate balance defeat ultimate skill and so convincingly.

That Voltron boy sent me a note and says 30 points if we are feeling generous otherwise 40 points.. and he was talking about the point margin. Varsity Leopards beat Kingdom Cavaliers 71-46. Tell that silly boy Voltron thats only 26 points. People we are talking about a 26 point margin against a team that came to play. Cavaliers duo of Tafi The Magician Soko and Thabani Matikiti came to play. Its just a shame the rest of the team especially the youngsters choked. But on recognising they were not playing well the Cavaliers youngsters deferred to The Magician and gave him the ball to do his thing. And did the Magician spin his web dropping 26 points on Varsity Leopards. 26 points people! No this is not 26 points against Stanchart or some team like that. This is 26 points on the most dreaded Varsity Leopards of all time. I put this Varsity team at the same level of dominance as the Kalyeish inspired team back in 96-97. Kalyeish a Kenyan player once joined the ranks of the Leopards team and caused mayhem in the then MBA now HBA. Total balance is the Leopards forte. The score between their guards and post players of the 71 points was 36-35. The guards are scoring half the points! Who do you guard when a team has so much balance?

Just to let you know why I really hate that Voltron boy. He sent me another note that said watchout Sigauke and suddenly I was very afraid!

In other games played over the weekend South Central almost brewed a shocker when they held their own to their more fancied opponents Sigauke narrowly losing 42-58. South C matched Sigauke in the first half but fatigue got the better of them and lost in the 2nd half. Sigaukes best man on show was none other than Sadrick Superman Kurambakuwa who top scored with 18 points. Sigaukes 7ft giant Simba Thimba Mhukahuru and 3 massive dunks on South C. Ephrage Ngorimba top-scored for South C with 14 points

In the battle of the minnows UZ Stars beat Gentlemens Association 74-69 to move out of the relegation zone. South Central and GA remained rooted to the bottom and maybe in the playoffs come end of season.
JBC overran an undermanned Golden Spurs 117-57 to stay top of the league. Pross beat Pistons 51-48 at Richwood. Pistons had beaten Pross twice in the league and cup but this time round Pross in the absence of Tonde Murimwa and the big boys Steve Mudawarima (-C) and Francis Muvevi did it with a solid post defence. Pistons coach Forward Mandizadza charges got it wrong as they elected to play at the more heavier slow pace of Pross. With their size in the post Pross overwhelmed Pistons. Nuggets beat Faith Wear Jammers 70-60 with Nuggets pulling away in OverTime (OT) as they were tied at 55-55 at the end of regulation time. The Raiderz-Stormers game was abandoned with Raiderz leading 28-19 due loss of electricity at Richwood.

by Roderick Takawira africabasket.com