FIBA Africa Men’s Afrobasket W2Q: Mixed Reactions Greet Release of D’Tigers Roster, Preparation for Improbable Task In Libya
By: Chinedum Ohanusi
With a little over two weeks to the commencement of the second and final window, for the 2025 Afrobasket tournament; the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), on Monday, February 10th, 2025 released its roster for the tournament to be hosted by Libya, starting from February 23rd.
Even before then, stakeholders had started to press panic buttons given that virtually all serious minded nations, including those in the same group as Nigeria; Uganda, Cape Verde and Libya, with a functional culture in the slam and dunk game, had, prior to last Monday, named their teams.
Although some hold the view that Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket are slim, many others think it is not an impossible task; that’s after losing their first three games in the qualifiers, a run of underwhelming results that were occasioned by leadership problems in the NBBF, and organisational hiccups that has often undermined Nigeria’s participation in international and global championships.
With a 0-3 record, they face an uphill battle to secure one of the top three spots in Group B, which includes high flyers – the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde, the Silverbacks of Uganda, and Mediterranean Knights of Libya.
To have any chance of advancing, Nigeria must win their remaining games, starting with the crucial matchup against host Libya on February 23. Even at that, D’Tigers will also need to rely on other results going in their favor, particularly in the games involving Cape Verde and Uganda.
The team’s performance so far has been disappointing, especially considering their strong basketball tradition and past successes in the AfroBasket tournaments.
However, with the right mindset and strategy, many believe the D’Tigers can still turn their campaign around and make a push for qualification.
Regrettably, the Engr. Musa Kida led board of the NBBF is now fully focused on the upcoming elections to reconstitute the boards of sporting federations in Nigeria.
Talking about the elections, moves are on by some stakeholders who say they are bent on stopping Engr. Kida from securing an unprecedented third term in office, as NBBF President; although the man in the eye of the storm has yet to openly declare his intentions to seek another four year tenure in office, as NBBF boss.
Under the watch of the current NBBF Board, the development of the domestic component of the game, has been grossly undermined, in the past eight years.
Even the senior men’s national team, D’Tigers has lost its once dominant position of No.1 in Africa, and Top 30 in the FIBA World Rankings, falling behind South Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola and others. Within this period, Nigeria placed 12th out of 16 teams in the last Men’s Afrobasket Championship, held in Kigali, Rwanda in 2021.
Although, about eleven home-based players were named in the D’Tigers roster, experts are of the opinion that these players may be good enough, but lack the staying power to last the duration of fiercely contested games; as witnessed recently in an invitational tournament in Lagos, where the Republic of Benin side, proved too strong for the Nigerian Champions – Rivers Hoopers whose players dominate the list of local players invited for the Libya Qualifiers.
There are also questions of the outgoing NBBF leadership, not being able to secure binding agreements for the legion of foreign players; and at least two of those named on Monday have either retired from the game, or are unattached for a while.
There are also confirmed reports of three of the domestic players, earlier listed being replaced, as those earlier called are either busy with academic work in schools, or are not wowed by the invitation handed to them by the NBBF, which one of them said has done a lot of harm to their career progression.
While the odds are against D’Tigers, Afrobasket Champions in 2015 and finalists two years later, Nigeria can still pull off a remarkable comeback if they can have an ideal preparation in the upcoming camping in Abuja, and brave the odds to win their remaining games and get some favorable results from other teams.
Though it looks like a tall order, it is achievable! Angola, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Senegal, Tunisia are already through to the finals; whilst Cameroun, South Sudan, Egypt, and Libya have each got one foot in it.
