We are recalling all foreign players that have ever played in the League, telling about foreign championships and National teams of different countries in World basketball map project. Today we’re going to talk about basketball in Senegal.
Population: 16.7 mln
Players in the history of League: 3
Full list of players: Maurice Ndour, Bamba Fall, Mouhammad Faye.
Three Senegalese players have performed in VTB United League.
Bamba Fall happened to be the first one. The center spent four seasons in VTB League playing for Kalev (2011-14) and VEF (2014-15). His record is 76 games with an average of 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds. In 2012/13 season, Fall was the best rebounding player (7.4 per game).
Maurice Ndour is the most successful and well-known Senegalese player in the history of the League. In 2017-2019, the forward was one of the key players for UNICS averaging 10.4 points per game. In 2018/19 season, Ndour won the Best defending player award and helped the team win bronze medals.
Mouhammad Faye is the latest player from Senegal in VTB League. In Ferbruary and March 2020, 34 big man played 2 games for Avtodor.
Basketball in Senegal
League: Nationale 1 Masculin
Founded: 1971
Number of teams: 16
League’s web-site: https://www.basketsenegal.com/category/basket-local/national-1-masculin/
16 teams compete in the League of Senegal, with 8 of them located in Dakar, the capital and the largest city of the country. The clubs also play in the Cup of Senegal apart from Nationale 1 Masculin.
After single-round regular season, 4 top teams proceed to the playoffs. The semifinals are played in best-of-three format, and the final is single game.
AS Forces Armées, with 10 titles, is the most successful club of Senegal. Douanes, the reigning champions, and the most popular team of the last years, have 9.
Furthermore, Senegalese teams have been playing in FIBA Africa Basketball League – Africa’s main club event – for many years. AS Forces Armées won the title in 1975, 1979 and 1981. AS Police celebrated the victory in 1983 while Jeanne d’Arc won in 1991. Senegal is represented by reigning champions AS Douanes in the newly formed Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Country’s basketball federation posts highlights of Nationale 1 Masculin on a regular basis, and covers the best moments of the Senegalese in the NBA and European leagues. Senegal basketball federation’s official Instagram account has over 22K followers.
Interesting fact
Senegal is the most represented African country in the NBA. There have been 11 Senegalese players in the Association while Nigeria is ranked 2nd with 10 players.
Senegal National team
FIBA rank: 35
FIBA members: since 1962
Achievements: 5 Afrobasket titles (1968, 1972, 1978, 1980, 1997), 6 silver medals of Afrobasket (1970, 1974, 1975, 1992, 1995, 2005), 5 World Cup appearances, 3 Olympic Games appearances
Senegal national team is one of the most successful African teams. The Lions share the second place with Egypt by number of golden (5) and silver (6) medals of Afrobasket. Plus, they are ranked third (after Angola and Egypt) by overall amount of Afrobasket medals (16).
The main period of Senegalese glory is 12 years fromm 1968 to 1980: 7 Afrobasket finals in a row, 4 titles, 3 Olympic Games. In 21st century, Senegal has won only three medals: one silver and two bronze.
Moreover, Senegal has three World Cup appearances in the new millennium. In 2006 and 2019, the Africans had no wins at the group stage. In 2014, however, they reached Top 16 stage with one of the most sensational wins in their history (77:75 over Croatia).
As of the date, Senegal is ranked 35th by FIBA being no. 4 among African teams.
Most famous Senegalese players in history
Gorgui Dieng. NBA 2013 draft no. 21, NCAA champion. Top scorer (4058 points) and the best in NBA PPG (7.9) among Senegalese players. Won 2017 Afrobasket bronze medals with Senegal national team and made two (2015 and 2017) appearances in tournament’s team of the event.
DeSagana Diop. NBA 2001 draft 8th pick. Diop has the biggest number of NBA seasons (12) and games (601) played in the NBA among Senegalese players. Diop was included in 2009 Afrobasket All-Tournament Team. Started coaching career and currently works with Utah Jazz.
Maurice Ndour. His titles are Spanish league title, 2017 Afrobasket bronze, VTB United League All-Star Game participant, Best defending player of 2018/19 VTB United League. Ndour graduated from school in Japan, spent 4 years in NCAA and has NBA experience (32 games for New York Knicks in 2016/17 season).
Mouhamed Sene. NBA 2006 draft 10th pick, 3 NBA seasons with Seattle, Oklahoma and New York. 2013 Afrobasket bronze, Best defending player of D-League and French league All-Star Game participant.
Mathieu Faye. French league title and Korac Cup. In 1980, Faye won Afrobasket with Senegl national team and was named the MVP. Led his team at Moscow Olympics the same year.
Worth mentioning: Tacko Fall, Hamady N’Diaye, Mamadou N’Diaye, Pape Saw
Dmitriy Kolinov
