Home|Sports|Men’s national team moves up three spotsSports
Simba FrenchSend an emailDecember 30, 2022 134 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The Bahamas senior men’s national basketball team is on the move up on a global scale after climbing three places to number 57 in the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Rankings presented by NIKE.
The Bahamas leapfrogged Switzerland, Romania and Denmark, and they are now one place behind regional rival, the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). The Bahamas has a score of 188.9 points while the USVI has a score of 192.5 points at number 56. Switzerland is just under The Bahamas with a score of 188.9. The Bahamas is ranked 13th out of 37 countries in the Americas zone.
Leading the rankings is Spain who moved up ahead of the United States of America (USA) with 758.6 points.
The national team rankings were based on the latest matches from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers November 2022 window.
The Bahamas made history in the summer when it qualified for the second round of the FIBA Americas world cup qualifiers for the first time. The team won convincingly, 97-80, over the USVI to earn that qualification.
The November window featured two nail-biting games that The Bahamas split but they were eliminated from qualifying for the FIBA World Cup.
They fell short 80-76 to the fourth-ranked Argentina team at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium. The previous game, which was also a home game for The Bahamas, ended in them winning 83-79 over Panama.
In the August window, The Bahamas fell to Argentina, 95-77, in an away game. In the first game, which was a home game against Venezuela, they fell, 86-81.
The Bahamas sport a 3-7 win/loss record and sit in fifth place in Group E of the qualifiers. Argentina leads the way with a 7-3 record. With two more games remaining, The Bahamas cannot finish higher than fifth place in the group. Only seven teams from the Americas will participate at the 2023 FIBA World Cup – the top three teams in each of the remaining two groups and the best fourth-place team.
The final window of qualifiers is set for February 24 and 27, 2023 – during the National Basketball Association (NBA) season which means Kai Jones, Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield and DeAndre Ayton will not be available to play. In the final round of qualifiers, The Bahamas will play Venezuela and Panama in away matchups.
Although they were not able to qualify for the FIBA World Cup, the upward movement of the program is a sign that Bahamas Basketball is on the move.