The Bahamas to play the US and Puerto Rico

The Bahamas’ senior men’s national basketball team will play on back-to-back days in the November window of the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers against the United States of America (USA) and Puerto Rico. Those games will be played at the end of November at a location that will be confirmed at a later date.

After some uncertainty about whether or not the second window would be played this year, FIBA made an announcement on the dates on Friday October 16.

After playing the USA on November 29, Team Bahamas will play Puerto Rico on November 30. According to Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) President Mario Bowleg, the coaching staff has already started to look at which players are available for that window.

“The coaching staff has already started discussing the possibility of who is available based on where these players are located around the world,” said Bowleg. “In the European league, because of COVID-19, they will not be able to be released and that is not only affecting us, it is also affecting Puerto Rico and the strength of their team. There are a lot of players who just finished college ball or pro ball who are still in the US. We have discovered that some, since the pandemic, did not go back and sign with their teams and there a few home also. We believe that we are able to put a team together to compete at a capacity that will allow us to sneak a win against the United States or Puerto Rico, get a split, or compete well enough to have an opportunity to get a win in those games.”

Some European leagues got underway as early as mid-September, meaning that players like Dominick Bridgewater, Zane Knowles, Travis Munnings and Willis Mackey Jr. will be unavailable to join the team for this window.

In about three weeks’ time, Bowleg said they will be able to provide the media with a list of 24 players. He expects a competitive team.

With the 2020-2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season being pushed back, The Bahamas may have a chance to utilize Sacramento Kings’ guard Chavano “Buddy” Hield and Phoenix Suns’ center DeAndre Ayton. Bowleg said that he cannot speak to that publicly, but the federation is speaking to both players.

The head coach for the team is Chris DeMarco who will be making his debut at the helm for The Bahamas for the first time in competition. He sat on the bench as an assistant coach previously. DeMarco was named the head coach back in June 2019. He is an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA.

DeMarco’s assistants will be Norris Bain, Perry Thompson Jr. and Moses Johnson. Eugena Patton will be the team’s trainer and Elvardo Kemp will be the manager.

The tournament has taken on a bubble format like the NBA did. Teams will be housed together under strict protocols and guidelines. There are four groups playing in the tournament and The Bahamas is in Group D. The location has not been confirmed as yet because FIBA has to choose between USA and Puerto Rico as the host of the bubble. However, Bowleg said that it looks like the bubble will be held in Washington, D.C. in the USA.

The Bahamas was sought to host Group D and C bubble play. Teams in those groups are from North and Central America and the Caribbean – Canada, the Dominican Republic, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba and Mexico, along with The Bahamas and their opponents. The BBF president said that plan fell through after he got no response from the Ministry of Tourism and the deadline passed last week Wednesday. He said he emailed them twice in September with the proposal.

The Dominican Republic city of Punta Cana will host Group C bubble play. Group A and Group B consist of South American teams. They are playing in a bubble in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from November 27-28.

Bowleg knows it will be a difficult job to get the funds to travel as they will have to be tested for COVID-19 three times prior and three times in the bubble. He estimated the cost for the trip to be around $80,000. That can drop depending on how many players in the USA are on the team, he said.

The major sponsor for the team is Baha Mar, but that resort has been closed for some time due to the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, revenue from the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament will not be realized this year because the 2020 edition has been canceled as Atlantis is closed as well. The federation receives a $20,000 grant from the government. Bowleg is hoping to get that and a little extra. He said it will be an uphill battle for the federation to make the trip. Bowleg said they will have to lean on corporate sponsors for financial assistance. He understands this is currently a tough times but added that this is the first step to qualifying for the 2024 Olympics and they cannot forfeit. In that vein, he said the federation will not sit idly by.

The following window is slated to be in February 2020 in The Bahamas where Team Bahamas is set to play home games against the USA and Puerto Rico. That window will also take a bubble format and the federation is looking forward to support from the government.

The Bahamas split their opening two games against Mexico back in the February window earlier this year. They lost their first game, 75-61, in Mexico, and then travelled back home to The Bahamas a few days later and took down Mexico, 76-59.

The Bahamas is in second place in Group D play with three points. The Americans sit above them with four points. Mexico has three points as well, but loses the tiebreaker to The Bahamas, and Puerto Rico rounds out the group with two points.

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