Again, the Worlds go on without Nigeria

The Americans are having fun in Turkey but the Nigerians are nowhere to be found
By Ifeanyi Ibeh


September 26, 2010 02:44AM




The 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship for women got underway on September 23 in the Czech Republic with th national women’s team conspicuously missing from the field of basketball’s elite nations.

This was as a result of the team’s inability to go beyond the quarter-finals of the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship, held last October in Madagascar. Nigeria has lost 89-45 to eventual champions Senegal in the championship, which served as the qualifying tournament for the ongoing world championship where, besides the Senegalese, Mali is also representing Africa.

It was also a similar scenario earlier in the month at the FIBA World Basketball Championship for men, which took place in Turkey with the Nigerian men’s team missing from the schedule after placing a disappointing 5th at the end of the 2009 African Championship in Libya.

Teamwork thrives

“The main lesson Nigeria can learn from the Championship is that you don’t need a team of superstars to do well at any tournament,” Bode Oguntuyi, one of Nigeria’s top basketball analysts said.

“The United States team that won the tournament was made up of key players and role players, all marshalled by a coach that understood both the players, and the playing format of the tournament.

“Nigeria always goes to African and world events with the best players; not necessarily the most suitable for the brand of basketball that will give Nigeria victory.

“Nigeria must realise that basketball is a team game. It is not an individual sport where you gather the best talents without settling what you want to achieve with the squad, and what role you want each individual to play.”

Maladministration

Mfon Udoka, the erstwhile captain of the women’s team, and Mobalaji Akiode, who now runs the Hope for Girls basketball programme, points to the poor administration of the sport by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).

“It basically comes down to developing a basketball culture, then money and planning by the federation, as well as government support,” Udoka said.

“There has to be an investment that is taken seriously or it doesn’t work, as witnessed now with the state of basketball in our country,” added Udoka.

Joyce Ekworomadu, a US-based star of Nigeria’s women’s national team weighs in noting that poor administration has kept a lot of quality Nigerians in the Diaspora out.

“There are so many Nigerian athletes that I know in the NBA, WNBA and Colleges that would love to play for their country, I mean who wouldn’t,” she said.

“However, they have either been a part of or have heard witnesses talk about such disorganisation that it discourages them to play for the country,” added Ekworomadu who by “disorganisation” was referring to the unavailability of standard indoor courts in Nigeria and the poor preparation of the national teams in the build-up to championships.

Oguntuyi called for greater cooperation among NBBF board members especially in the light of the internal bickering that has plagued the board.

“The basketball house must work together,” he said. “Just like the team, the board must set aside personal issues. This has been the case for a while now.

“Nigeria has enough men both within and outside the country, with enough experience to run a good African and World Championship campaign, but there are too many egos.” Oguntuyi also called for improvement in the Nigerian basketball league as a prerequisite for challenging Angola’s dominance in Africa. “So dominant are the Angolans in African basketball that they have won 10 of the last 11 African Championships for men even though their only success to date at the women’s version came as far back as 1983.

Grassroots

Former Nigerian league star, Samuel Odeh who now plays basketball in Germany is one of those hoping the NBBF can go back to the basics.

“Here in Germany it’s all about grassroots and I think that’s the lesson we should imbibe in Nigeria,” Odeh said via telephone from Hannover. “I play in a city of about 200,000 dwellers and in that small city we have over nine standard basketball gyms to play.

“What I am pushing at is that facilities must first be in place before we think about developing basketball,” added the former Dodan Warriors forward.

Going back to the grassroots is one way of guaranteeing long term success but maybe the problem also lies in the coaching department. Akiode, whose entire basketball career was played out in the United States, thinks so.

“We have to go back to grassroots programmes and combat age cheats but we cannot forget the coaches as the student will only be as good as the teacher,” Akiode said.

It is a view that is shared to some extent by former Union Bank of Lagos coach Okolo Emmanuel.

“Coaches are not represented in the national team. For example, only two to three coaches are attached to the national team so there is no room for the home based coaches to improve,” said Okolo, who now handles Lagos-based Chariots. The Chariots just gained promotion to the Premier League.

“Angola attend competitions with about five to seven coaches. Coaches are not being trained; they do not get enough representation on the national team,” added Okolo who also called on both the government and the NBBF to provide more indoor facilities to supplement the overstretched ones situated mostly in Lagos.

These facilities include those at the National Stadium, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Rowe Park, the University of Lagos and at the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base.

London 2012

Getting both the men’s and women’s teams to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 FIBA World Championships will however be the priority and Oguntuyi, who has covered several NBA finals games has an idea on how that can be achieved, even with perennial threat of the Angolans.

“First, we must get our scouting right, it must be spot on. Every player invited must be in camp for a particular purpose,” he said.

“Each time we played against, and lost to teams like Angola and Senegal, we lost because they brought something extra to the table.

“They brought big men who can shoot threes, forwards that can spread the floor, guards that can dictate play. And most times they have all these weapons, because of the excellent choices they make in selecting their team.

“Big names don’t play team ball; skill sets designed to play particular roles do.”