Mahdi Kamrany is the axle on which defending champions Mahram’s attack wheel revolves. The stocky point-guard, often making up with feline tenacity for what he lacks in height, has led the Iranian champions with customary craftiness and panache.

Zaid Abbaas came into this competition with his reputation enhanced with a stellar show in the Chinese professional league. And so far in this competition, Abbaas has led from the front scoring at 12.8 points per game, collecting rebounds at 5.6 boards per game and creating opportunities for this teammates at 2.2 assists per game, taking for Applied Science University to the semifinals.

Frederick Oniga is certainly not your quintessential basketball coach. On the bench of Jordanian league champions Applied Science University, the Nigerian is perhaps the calmest person, no matter what the situation in the game is – unlike the theatrics that we normally we associate with the Head coach of a top team. But lying under that calm and composure is a shrewd tactician whose eyes don’t ignore the most of trivial of details be it about a shooting guard in the opposition ranks or a missed pick-and-roll on his own side.

Al Jalaa coach Mansur Bajramovic’s task has been truly unenviable in the tournament so far. Al Jalaa landed here immediately after suffering a physically tiring and mentally draining defeat in the best-of-three Syrian league finals to archrivals Syrian Army Club. On arrival here, they ran into the might of fellow West Asian teams Al Riyadi Beirut of Lebanon and ASU of Jordan.

There are a few players in the basketball world, whose presence on the court goes beyond the routine of PPGs and RPGs. Al Rayyan spearhead for many years now, Yasseen Ismail Musa belongs to that rare breed of players, who exert their influence beyond the mere plays.