Dolphins were making their debut in the second edition of the competition also known as the BAL Qualifying Tournament. Six teams will make it to the BAL 2024 finals, where a continental champion will be crowned in Africa's premiere basketball inter-club competition.
Last weekend, Dolphins hosted the Group D of the Road to BAL in Gaborone. The team faced JBC (Zimbabwe), Munali Suns (Zambia) and UNAM Wolves (Namibia).
The home side was unlucky to miss out on progression to the next round of the qualifying series. Dolphins won two games against Munali Suns and UNAM Wolves but lost once to JBC, who are the Group D winners.
Dolphins finished level on points with JBC but were second due to a point difference. "The fixtures did not favour us; we know that it is generated by a computer and it is not like we are complaining.
But we were not lucky with the fixtures because, in our first game, we played JBC, who were favourites to win the tournament," Moyo said. "We went all out and managed to win the game but we lost our legs in that.
In the second game, we played Munali Suns we started slow but we managed to come back. When we were playing Munali, JBC were playing a weaker Namibian team and after working hard against the Zambian team, JBC played a tired Zambian team and went on to win the game by a large margin. Teams were tied on points and they went to goal difference to determine the winners." He further said his side has performed beyond expectations despite failing to progress to the second round.
Moyo also said the local league inactivity also hampered Dolphins' performance but believes the team performance is a testament that the local game has grown over the past few years. "The other teams were already in season so there was no need for conditioning. We had to start from scratch, conditioning and had to get the players in order.
You would find players getting minor injuries because of the muscles that we were not well conditioned. We were doing this (preparations) in a hurry because we had less than a month to prepare," he said.
"I think by judging our performances, the way we played in this tournament is how we should judge the league. We were representing the league so we have improved a bit, although we were affected by COVID-19 but we have improved," Moyo said. He will lead his side next weekend as the Botswana Basketball Association league starts.
