A Message to The Community and a Power Ranking

As the current retro season advances, CBL continues to mourn the loss of an orignal CBLer from the first day back in 2006, Gouhar.

Gouhar was an integral part of the CBL family, leaving an indelible mark on the league through his unwavering dedication, passion, and love for the game and every member he came across. When the idea for Retro was hatched Gouhar was at the top of the call list because of his leadership and love for the game and the community. CBL will continue to carry on his legacy of kindness and compassion throughout the CBL community, and he will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him. We look forward to have a special day for Gouhar soon.

Here are the latest power rankings- just the way Gouhar would want them.

1-Tower
They are the only remaining unbeaten team and up until now look to have the MVP of the season in Oliver who seems to at times be coasting and then can turn it on and blow teams away at the drop of a hat. Last game he went prime Kawhii and took the ball out of peoples hands on multiple occasions. He can score but he’s also great at setting others up, which greatly benefits big man Riz, who you can count on for a double double like clockwork. They will carry a heavy heart all season but will compete just like Gouhar would have wanted them to.

2-Legend Killers
Zia does it again. The boy who cried stacked has a team towards the top of the leaderboard but always takes the spotlight off his guys saying how disadvantaged he is. But all they do is go out and win. Down their top player they took down a good Knights team after trailing by ten points in the second half. It’s a huge team with Talha, Fahad and Humair on the floor. Bilal, Asim and big shot Faizan all take their turns having big games to help out every game. Say you want but Zia knows how to get it done.

3- Phantoms
It’s tough being at the top cause everyone’s gunning for you. Captain Qasim learned that taking his first L of the season facing hot shooting from the Brooklyn boys. They did fight though and we know the combo of Hugo and Zobi is dangerous. There were some defensive miscues that teams may learn from in that game though and the question is will that be a real flaw or something they can fix. They will be tough come playoffs for sure.

4-Primetime
The corrupt Commishes team continues to do well when everyone shows up. They can score a lot of points but they look their best when the defense is clicking. In the fast break the driving of Imran and Ali with the threat of Yahya on the outside is deadly. The attendance problem may be an issue down the line if it persists into the playoffs. AZ coming off the bench makes this team deep and experienced and this may finally be the team Moody gets over the hump with.

5-Panthers
Listen it’s a big move for this team and the record may be lower than some others but this team is scary. Let’s start with staying the obvious, Muzz is not anywhere near 100% and in the end that may be what stops this team from going all the way. But as he always does he has to it together a group of good role players who all other job and know where to be and what to do. New addition Yusuf has proven to be a good scorer and Haseeb hasn’t even gotten going yet. This is a team that could peak late and make a big run.

6-Knights
This team had a mid season shake up swapping the playmaking big Jabar for the shooting threat in Amjed and the early returns are just ok. Their last game against the legend killers was a brutal loss considering the opponent didn’t have a full squad and knights were leading by ten in the second half. The team has trouble finding the hot hand at times and doesn’t have a scoring presence down low with Jabar leaving so the Brooklyn boys will have to shoot the lights out every week to scare teams.

7-La Familia
Yusuf’s team is feisty. They scrap and find a way to never really be out of any game and then you look up and they are winning. They get contributions as a group instead of relying on one person to lead the way. Some days it’s Zaky some times tank top Yusuf shows up to do the damage, pick your poison. That’s a great way to operate but in the playoffs when it’s bucket time who steps up. That’s the biggest question we have.

8-A Team
It’s not a fluke anymore, it seems like the commissioner broke this team. Was AZ really what made this team run. They seem out of sorts. The offense consists of Faizan running up and taking threes half the time and the other half looking like no one knows what to do. They should get back to what works, give Dev the ball. This team is weird but has a lot of pieces. Time will tell.

9-All Day
This team is showing life after an impressive game last week that had captain Aqib coming to life getting a big block then a huge bucket on the other end to beat the tigers. Syed and Aqib have carried the offense this season and if at an and Ali can get going this team can score with anyone. They will have a tough time competing with anyone with size but their games are fast and fun which generally is the atmosphere upsets occur in the playoffs.

10-Bricklayers
This team is really about who’s showing up. When the whole team is there they have players who can produce. Atif Naveed Imran and Hyder have been keeping the Bricklayers running for years. Umer brings them some star power and Ferukh we hear is healthy again. This is a ten seed no one wants to see come playoff time.

11-Tigers
Another weird team. They have players who have won MVP and guys like Rahim and Ali Mian who put up good numbers. The only thing they can’t seem to do is close games. It’s been a constant problem for them and frankly we don’t know what to say about it. One thing that people haven’t talked about, Ruhel may be having his first bad season in Retro. If that continues they won’t go very far.