After finishing on top of their Group, defending champions Patriots have turned attention to preparing for the quarter-finals of the Basketball league. Due to Covid-induced inconveniences, this year’s league is being played in a tournament format, which involves group stage games, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. The group stage games were recently concluded, and Times Sport understands that the quarter-finals will get underway on October 16. The Patriots topped Group A and progressed to the quarters. Other teams that made it out of the group are IPRC-Kigali, UGB and Tigers. In Group B, REG, APR, IPRC-Huye and 30 Plus have also progressed to the quarters. In an interview, Bernard Oluoch, the head coach of Patriots Basketball Club said the team will embark on good preparations for the quarters, noting that they expect no small competition from the rivals. “We will be preparing well for the quarter-finals. Here every team has the ability to win this year’s title. We will do our best until the last game of the tournament.” Format of the tournament The league was played in a tournament-like format, with the 14 teams that make up the national basketball league having been placed in two groups, each comprising seven teams. The teams pooled in the same group played against each other, and the top four in each group advanced to the quarter-finals. After the quarters, there will be semi-finals and finals. In the women’s category after the round-robin group stage, the top four teams will advance to the playoffs, starting from the best-of-three semi-finals. In the men category, the league champions will represent the country at the qualifiers of basketball league, which is expected to start in November this year.
