From underdogs to top dogs: Hounds’ quick rise

Tinashe Kusema

BASKETBALL has consumed a large part of Tawanda Nemutambwe’s time and attention during the last month or so.

Nemutambwe, who coaches Basket Hounds in the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe National League, has been keeping a close eye on the NBA finals and, most importantly, the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving will be looking to write their piece of history as the duo seeks to win the Dallas Mavericks’ first NBA title since 2011 during the next week or so.

With his favourite team, the Golden State Warriors, not in contention this term, Nemutambwe is hoping for the Boston Celtics to win, but fears the Mavs enter the NBA Finals, which began on Friday, as stern favourites.

Closer to home, Petro Atletico were last weekend crowned the 2024 Basketball Africa League champions, with the Angolans seeing off Al Ahly 107-94 in the final.

“Yeah, it has been basketball, basketball and basketball for the last month or so,” said Nyamutambwe.

“I watched every game, especially the final last weekend.”

It has been roughly over a month since Basket Hounds were crowned national champions, and Nemutambwe still finds it hard to come up with the words that best articulate the feeling.

“To be honest, the feelings and emotions are a bit difficult to articulate,” he said. “The best thing I can come up with is ‘numb’.

“It’s been hardly two years since our formation and we are already national champions. We didn’t expect it to come this soon.”

Basket Hounds beat defending champions JBC 83-64 in the final of the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe National League held at Regina Mundi High School, Gweru, last month.

By winning the coveted title, the debutants earned the right to represent the country at the Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers later this year.

BAL is the premier men’s basketball league in Africa, founded in 2019, and the competition is a collaborative effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

The contest traditionally runs between March and May, and the current format consists of 12 teams.

Each of the teams qualifies through their performance in their domestic competition, a meritocratic system similar to the format of the UEFA Champions League. Since the competition’s inception back in 2021, North Africa has dominated the tournament, with Zamalek (2021), US Monastir (2022) and Al Ahly (2023) winning a title each.

Petro de Luanda became the first Southern African team to win last weekend, much to the joy of Nemutambwe.

The Basket Hounds coach was on hand with pen and paper, taking notes during the Angolan team’s journey to the final, and he has since called the experience an “eye-opener”.

“I did take a few notes during the games and saw that athleticism, fitness and execution are key factors to success at this level,” he said.

“We have a lot of work to do and I have already started developing a programme for the team when we return next month. I have also been scouting and we will go on the market.

“We definitely need some size as we don’t really have a big centre outside of Vitalis Chikoko in Zimbabwe. We will need about two foreign-based big men and maybe a guard or two.”

Coincidentally, the competition was
one of the main targets, if not the endgame, when Nemutambwe and Chikoko
first broached the idea to form Basket Hounds.

The two are the co-founders of the club, with Nemutambwe doubling as a coach, while France-based centre Chikoko operates largely as the club’s benefactor.

The club went through the motions, starting at the Harare Basketball Association (HBA) “A” League, where the team finished unbeaten and were promoted to the HBA Super Six League during the just-ended 2023-2024 season.

Hounds finished second on the log standings, behind two-time champions JBC, and earned the right to enter the national league.

“Our journey to this moment here has been very fruitful, is all I can say,” he said. “We have had some highs and lows, starting with our time in the ‘A’ League, where we finished the term undefeated.

“That then brought us into the HBA Super Six and our debut was a mixed bag. We lost some key players at the halfway stage of the season and that was our lowest point.

“Fortunately, we managed to regroup, after which we had a brilliant run-up and even went on an eight-game winning streak.”

In between all these key points in the season, Hounds proved their pedigree and collected more silverware in the form of the HBA pre-season and Lakers Invitational tournaments.

Nemutambwe has already started to strategise for the BAL qualifiers with the key objective, heading into the qualifiers later in the year, being to give his boys a little experience and exposure.

“I don’t see many changes, as far as the BAL qualifiers are concerned,” he said.

“The main goal will be to give my players some much-needed exposure and experience.

“We are trying to keep our feet on the ground as our debut will be all about learning, both from a players’ and coach’s perspective.

“We will indeed strengthen our squad and we will spend the next couple of weeks scouting for players.

“The main priority will be to get a
couple of foreign-based players, but there are a couple of spots for some local
talent.”