Tijani Umar, the President of the NBBF (Nigeria Basketball Federation) recently returned from Zurich, Switzerland after a meeting with FIBA World officials to chat about the FIBA wild cards for the 2010 World Championships.

However, Umar’s meeting with FIBA officials did not make him very positive on Nigeria’s chances.

While speaking with Ungar, FIBA hinted that they would be selecting the wild cards based on a country’s potential to make some impact on the world stage.

This “impact” factor is listed in FIBA’s wild card criteria, but for FIBA officials to emphasize that, fuels further speculation that the “quality and sporting results of the national teams of the country” is more heavily weighed than any other aspect.

After Nigeria finished fifth in the 2009 Afrobasket tournament, it would be difficult to justify their selection.

FIBA World Championships Wild Cards
With twenty teams having already clinched a spot to Turkey, there are still four slots remaining. These four spots are the wild cards and will be determined by FIBA.

(Chat more about the FIBA wild cards)

In order to qualify for a wild card, a team must have participated in their respective qualifying competition. From there, FIBA will take into consideration the sporting, economic, and governance aspects of that country.

Nigeria is on the short list of roughly ten teams vying for one of the four final spots.

Some of the top contenders for the spot include Cameroon, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Russia.

There are going to be six very disappointed teams come December when FIBA announces which four countries will receive the wild cards at the FIBA Central Board meeting in Geneva.

Canada has earned the fourth and final berth to the World Championships by downing the Dominican Republic 80-76 in the FIBA Americas quarterfinals.

(Discuss the Dominican Republic vs. Canada match)

The Canadians used ball movement and three-point shooting to slay the Dominican team, who was without their second leading scorer Francisco García.

Canada hit 10 of their 14 three-pointers in the second half, including two huge threes from Aaron Doornekamp in the final quarter, during a game when they couldn’t shoot well from inside the arc (37%).

Canada converted more than half of their three-point attempts (27), led by Jermaine Anderson’s 5-8 shooting from downtown.

Anderson exploded for an unexpected 21 points. Carl English added 13 points, Jesse Young 11 points, and Levon Kendall contributed a double-double, 10 points and 11 rebounds, for the Mapleleafs

The Dominicans on the other hand, clearly missed Garcia’s ability to stretch the offense. Though veteran guard Luis Flores shot 3-7 from three, they needed another threat from downtown, as the rest of the squad hit just 2-14.

Flores and Charlie Villanueva led the Dominicans with 17 points apiece.

Francisco García was a late scratch as his NBA team, the Sacramento Kings, released a statement saying that Garcia would no longer participate because of an injury to his right ring-finger.

The Dominican Republic’s only chance to go to the World Championships is to receive a Wild Card from FIBA.

With the win, Canada joins Argentina, Brazil, and Puerto Rico in the semi-finals and is guaranteed at least fourth place in the tournament.  They will will have to defeat Puerto Rico in order to reach the finals.

Francisco García suffered a minor finger injury in the Dominican Republic‘s loss to Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

The 6-7 shooting guard sat out the Dominican Republic’s next game, a 86-73 win over Mexico.

“Francisco has a cut in one of his fingers. He basically has a nail out of place,” said head coach Julio Toro said. “I was told (Thursday) that he wouldn’t be available and I haven’t been told if he will be available (Friday).”

Now the Sacramento Kings, Garcia’s NBA club, has reportedly forbidden Francisco to continue playing in the FIBA Americas tournament in fear that further participation could aggravate the injury.

A statement from the Sacramento Kings: Kings swingman Francisco Garcia fractured his right ring finger while playing for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship. He will not play in the remainder of the tournament and will return to Sacramento late next week, at which time the injury will be further evaluated.

NBA teams cannot forbid their players to play in international tournaments, as long as the the international teams pay the required insurance. However, if the player has an injury or is recovering, the NBA team has the right to end their participation.

Thus far, this clause has been invoked a couple times already on NBA players in the FIBA American Championship – once for Jose Juan Barea of Puerto Rico and Eduardo Najera of Mexico.

With a crucial game against Canada, Garcia’s loss is a blow to the Dominican Republic’s chance of moving on.  Garcia is the team’s second leading scorer at 15.8 points per game.

Now the team will have to rely the team’s other scorers, Charlie Villanueva (17.1), Luis Flores (14.4), and Al Horford (14).  Toro will replace the injured Garcia with veteran Franklin Western in the starting lineup.

Garcia was already expected to miss the Kings’ voluntary conditioning program, which begins on September 8th.

Udrih Out Too: This is the second Sacramento King to be pulled from a tournament because of injury. Slovenia‘s Beno Udrih injured himself and will miss three weeks, and all of the Eurobasket tournament.

Three of the four Americas teams have punched their tickets to the 2010 World Championships to be held next year in Turkey.

At an undefeated 7-0, Brazil has already earned a spot in the World Championships by dominating their competition, and are now looking for gold with a stacked

Argentina and Puerto Rico are the two other teams that have also qualified.

After starting the tournament with two losses,  Argentina (5-2) has now won five straight games, handing the Puerto Ricans (6-1) their first loss, 80-78, of the tournament yesterday.

Must Win Situations
The fourth and final spot will be determined today in the last day of the quarterfinals between three teams: Dominican Republic, Canada, and Uruguay.

If the Dominican Republic (4-3) can record their fifth win of the tournament by defeating Canada today, the race is over and the Dominicans will move on based on overall record.

But if Canada (3-4) can pull out a win against the Dominicans, and Uruguay loses, the North American country will qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.  This all-important game between DR and Canada is set for 6:30 local time (Puerto Rico).

The third scenario involves Uruguay (3-4) forcing a three way tie between the teams.

If Uruguay can win their last game over red hot Argentina, who may rest their key players against their neighbors to the east. Uruguay can clinch a spot with a win coupled with a Canadian win over the Dominicans.

I scoured some images from the FIBA Americas Championship and pulled out my favorite twenty photos featuring Carlos Arroyo, Esteban Batista, Francisco Garcia, Anderson Varejao, Omar Quintero, Luis Scola, Guillermo Diaz, and more.

[Show as slideshow]

Photos are all courtesy of FIBA – Thanks FIBA!

We should know by now never to underestimate Argentina.

Argentina started out the FIBA Americas tournament with two losses, looking completely out of character, losing badly to Brazil and Venezuela.

One of the favorites coming into the tournament, the Argentinians started 0-2 and were at risk of being eliminated in the preliminary rounds.

With their backs against the wall, Argentina rebounded and blew out Panama 80-55 in their third game, and then needed overtime to defeat a very strong Dominican Republic team last night. 89-87 in the argentina-vs-11043/” target=”_self”>best game of the tournament thus far.

Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets, finished with a game-high 30 points, the 6-8 power forward shot 10-19 from the field, added 8 rebounds and passed out 5 assists.

Paolo Quinteros had 14 and Pablo Prigioni 11 points with 5 assists for Argentina.

Al Horford led the Dominicans with 24 points and 11 rebounds and Francisco García scored 20 points. Luis Flores contributed 16 and Jack Michael Martinez had 13.

Charlie Villanueva pulled down 10 rebounds for the Dominicans, but finished with just 9 points on 3-13 from the field, including a miss on their final possession in regulation.

With last night’s thrilling win, Argentina finished with a 2-2 record, good for second place in Group B. Brazil finished atop the group, and Venezuela, who was 1-3, was officially eliminated after four round robin games.

The quarterfinals begin tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1st.  You can see the full schedule at FibaAmericas.com.

I know it’s only a preliminary game, but is anyone as excited about the first day match-up between Brazil and the Dominican Republic as I am?

Brazil just came off a dominating performance in the Tuto Marchand Cup. With veterans Leandro Barbosa, Marcelo Machado, and Tiago Splitter leading the way, Brazil comes into the Tournament of Americas as one of the favorites.

The squad fielded by the Dominican Republic is supposed to be the best team the tiny island has ever assembled.

Powered by three current NBA players Francisco García, Al Horford, and Charlie Villanueva, DR is poised to take one of the four spots to the 2010 World Championships.

The game is full of talented players with Barbosa, Luis Flores, García, Horford, Marcelinho, Splitter, Anderson Varejão, and Villanueva.

Brazil is the more experienced team but the Dominican Republic has the “We get no respect“ swagger.  This is a game to watch – how will one of the favorites Brazil do against the blackhorse of the tournament?

The game is the second match of the day, after the U.S. Virgin Islands play Uruguay, and set to start at 4pm local time.  Follow day one of the FIBA Americas Championship in our forum.

Event: 2009 Americas Championships
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Discuss: Americas Championships Thread
Info: The tournament will determine which four teams qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championships of Basketball.

The tournament will feature ten teams from Northern and Latin Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The favorites coming into the tournament is a solid Brazil team and the experienced Argentinians.

Brazil dominated the Tuto Marchand Cup with great efficiency with even contributions from Leandro Barbosa and Marcelo Machado in the backcourt, and Anderson Varejão and Tiago Splitter in the frontcourt.

Despite 2007 Americas MVP Luis Scola down low, Argentina didn’t fare as well in the Marchand Cup (0-3), but were without the services of Pablo Prigioni, who will join the team and run the point.

With Prigioni, Scola, as well as Federico Kammerichs and Leonardo Gutiérrez, team Argentina is still a power even without Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Carlos Delfino, and Fabricio Oberto.

The unproven Dominican Republic team have looked great in preparation games and is the dark horse of the tournament.  The team maybe the best team RD has ever assembled and features three current NBA players in Francisco García, Al Horford, and Charlie Villanueva.

The three top contenders for gold, Argentina, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, will all compete in a very difficult Group B.  The other two teams are Panama, who is no slouch either and Venezuela.

In Group A, look for Puerto Rico to give out a good fight, especially playing at home, with veteran mainstays Larry Ayuso, Carlos Arroyo, and Daniel Santiago.

Canada will compete with swingmen Carl English, Andy Rautins with NBA player Joel Anthony in the middle.  The other three teams are Uruguay, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Mexico without Eduardo Najera.

The United States will not send a team to the tournament after receiving an automatic bid to the World Championships by winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The United States won the 2007 Americas Championship held in Las Vegas by going undefeated in their ten games.  The USA was led by Carmelo Anthony’s 21.3 points and LeBron James‘ all-around game and blistering 76% from the field (73-96 FG). Argentina captured the silver medal, and Puerto Rico defeated Brazil for the bronze medal.

This year’s Championships will feature several other high profile players including Romel Beck (Mexico), Esteban Batista (Uruguay), Luis Flores (Dominican Republic), Levon Kendall (Canada), Héctor Romero (Venezuela), and Óscar Torres (Venezuela).

The Dominican Republic national team today cut Josh Asselin from their roster after a complaint was lodged with FIBA, the governing body of international basketball.

DR was forced to choose between Josh Asselin and NBA player Charlie Villanueva as both are American-born players claiming Dominican status. FIBA allows one naturalized player per roster.

The Dominicans are trying to have Villanueva play as a Dominican, if that move is approved by FIBA, then both players would be able to participate – with Asselin as their sole naturalized player.

Josh Asselin is a 30-year old 6-11 center that played has played for the BSN (Puerto Rico), ACB (Spain), NBDL, and attended the University of a Michigan. (related: RD: Charlie Villanueva’s status questioned)

The basketball federations of Argentina and Puerto Rico are presenting a claim against two Dominican players, Charlie Villanueva and Josh Asselin, questioning their eligibility for the upcoming FIBA Americas Championship.

The claim states that both Villanueva and Josh Asselin should not be allowed to play for DR because both should be considered naturalized players.

According to FIBA regulations, each national team is allowed one naturalized player per roster.

The claim states since both were born in the United States and acquired their Dominican nationality,  they both cannot be eligible.

Additionally, Villanueva may have lost his Dominican status by playing with under-21 U.S. National Team.

By being over the age of 18 and representing the United States in the 2004 FIBA Americas U20 Championship, the then 19-year old Villanueva declared his basketball nationality to FIBA.

According the the Sporting News, Villanueva was released by USA Basketball earlier in the year so he could play for the Dominican Republic.

“It has always been my dream” said Villanueva about playing for the homeland of his mother (Cabrera) and father (Villa Juana de Santo Domingo).

Villanueva is representing the Dominican Republic for the first time, joining current NBA players Al Horford and Francisco García as well as former Luis Flores.  The combination of these four players have the small island country excited about what may be their best national team ever assembled.

Dominican Republic‘s current national basketball team may be the best squad the small island nation has ever fielded.

With three current NBA players in Al Horford, Francisco García, naturalized Charlie Villanueva, and former NBA player Luis Flores, the Dominican Republic national team looks to improve on their third place finish in the 2008 Centrobasket and sixth place in the  2005 FIBA Americas Championship.

And because of expectations, they’re not just looking to improve; the Dominican Republic is targeting gold.

NBA Players place pressure, expectations
Charlie Villanueva was born in the United States to Dominican parents.

“I already have my dual citizenship. I am waiting for the passport. I am excited to play for the Dominican Republic, I am happy.” said Villanueva. “This will be the first year that Francisco García, Al Horford and I will play together.”

“I was born in the United States but my origins are here and I feel Dominican.” added Villanueva.

But DR veteran Luis Flores warned that just because the team has NBA-experienced players, it doesn’t equate to on-court success. “The fact that we have four NBA players… doesn’t guarantee any victories,” Flores said, “(finding the right) chemistry will give us the positive results.”

So far the chemistry has been great for the team from the Caribbean. The Dominicans have swept Puerto Rico in two warm up games; led by their NBA players. Garcia was the leading scorer in both games for DR with 20.5 points, followed by Villanueva (15.5) and Horford (14.5).

In addition to Flores, Garcia, Horford, and Villanueva, the roster includes Franklin Western, Kelvin Peña, Carlos Morbán, Jack Michael Martínez, and John García. The team is coached by Puerto Rican Julio Toro.

The Dominican Republic is in the very tough Group B of the FIBA Americas Championship.  Along with perennial powerhouse Argentina, the group also has a talented Brazil squad, Cuba and tough Venezuela.  Group A features teams from Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Uruguay.

“It is going to be a very competitive tournament.” said Horford, who was born in Puerto Plata and the son of former NBA player Tito Horford.  “I have all the desire in the World to represent (the Dominican Republic).”

The FIBA Americas Championship will be played from August 26th to September 6th, played at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico.