Non-Asian FIBA Games Megathread (NTs. Clubs, Etc)

[Dotch2]

Let me start with the ongoing AfroBasketball 2021.

• -Rwanda has a very shiny arena. I must admit after watching Hotel Rwanda, and hearing about the news about the ethnic cleansing there back in the 90s, I cant imagine they have an arena that can probably host NBA games.
• - North Africa Derby - Tunisia vs Egypt. The players are of Arab descent, with a mixture of African and European, so the game is slightly different from the uber athletic teams like Nigeria or Senegal or Mali ( or the Sub-Saharan African countries). They are more deliberate but efficient.
• - Yes, Angola is on the way down, they got beaten by Rwanda and Cape Verde. Angola is without their NBA big Bruno Fernando but you can see the quality is not there. Reports have it that FIBA is concerned about the 11 time African Champion because Angola didnt participate in the last U18 and the last 2 U16 tournaments.
• - Prince Ibeh, an NBA draftee and member of G-League Affiliate of the Nets plays for Rwanda. He is American-born
• - Cape Verde's 7'3 Edy Taveres is big and mobile. He shattered the backboard in the win vs Angola. He's an ex NBA player the currently plays for Real Madrid.

 

[reamily2]

Nigeria is a damn good team with a system allowing them to shoot unli three pointers.. with the natural talent and athleticism its a matter of time that their fine tune their new found trrngth and bamboozle not only africa but the world level as well..

 

[reamily2]

Angola has excellent big in no.8 (22 year old Bango) despite fernado and moreira(durant look alike) and guys like Bastos not playing.. the Morais apparent is certainly lacking(maybe can be compensated by naturalizing).. and lack of outside sniping is very evident..no wonder favorite ni yeng guiao tong team na to..

 

[Dotch2]

Nigeria is a damn good team with a system allowing them to shoot unli three pointers.. with the natural talent and athleticism its a matter of time that their fine tune their new found trrngth and bamboozle not only africa but the world level as well..

Since 2010, Nigeria is not in the medal table in the Afro U-18 Tournaments, but now, they are like THE top team in Africa. So what gives? It's either they are late to develop, or all their top players are hugots from all over ( USA and Europe mostly) - imagine if Hagop Rule is not in place, they can have the Anthetekoumpo brothers , Bam, Oladipo, Iguadala and other players of Nigerian ancestry to play for their NT.

 

[Dotch2]

Speaking of Youth Tournaments, Mali has clearly supplanted Angola in Africa. Mali has dominated the last 2 U18s beating Senegal both times ( and same margin of difference: 2 points)

 

[ja.he2]

Speaking of Youth Tournaments, Mali has clearly supplanted Angola in Africa. Mali has dominated the last 2 U18s beating Senegal both times ( and same margin of difference: 2 points)

Angola thrived in Africa before 2010's due to relatively lower competition. However, as soon as teams like Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Cameroon stepped up their game since 2010, the decline of Angola started.

 

[reamily2]

Angola is really playing well the last two games and now dismantling Egypt..Still the lack of pg and guard play is the weakness nigeria senegal and Angola do have which Tunisia is very solid at..

 

[Dotch2]

How about South Sudan? How they fare there in Afrobasket? This is the 1st time to play in Afrobasket after their gaining independence last 2011... I want to see how they will develop.. And Ben Mbala still playing for Cameroon?

Had a chance to watch South Sudan vs Uganda.

Lots of things to digest, here are few:

- I wouldn't say South Sudan and Uganda are poor countries, after all, they can afford to send teams here with foreign coaches. But compared to Asian nations like India, Indonesia and CT, the difference is night and day. But these African nations are blessed with citizens born to play basketball. They can handily beat the mid-tier teams of Asia. A good shooting, well-disciplined team can beat them tho.

- Former Chicago Bull Luol Deng is the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation and i just learned he wears many hats in the federation. He coached the team during the qualifiers. I say he is doing a great job in his work.

- South Sudan and the Ugandan team are basically copies of each other: A few players plying their trade in the NBL, US and Europe and both have American coaches. Uganda has George Galanapoulous from Indiana and South Sudan has former NBA journeyman, also Brooklyn Nets Asst Coach Royal Ivey.

- The level of skills and talents for both are comparable to a mid-major NCAA Div 1 basketball. In fact, Uganda has 19 y.o. Arthur KALUMA that plays for Creighton varsity and South Sudan has 4 NCAA Div 1 players on their roster. Their stye of play is predicated by their athleticism. Running and jumping. Imagine a fast-paced PBA game where players play like Ray Ray Parks and Japeth Aguilar.

- I was half expecting to see skinny, frail-looking players like the Angolan team that the 1992 Dream Team beat, but everybody looks like JRue Holiday's and Eric Bledsoe's body type. Them swoll! Both teams are blessed with 6'3 to 6'6 uber-athletic players who are interchangeable. Their bigmen are most mobile., but only 1 seven-footer tho unlike Senagal.

- The only skinny guy that i saw was South Sudan's starting center 6'11 Acouth who does nothing but jump, jump, dunk, dunk, and block shots. in one 90 second sequence, he has 3 consecutive dunks. He looks like the tribe prince that Kevin Bacon tried to recruit in the movie The Air Up There. The other big man Tako Wek, is a PF who is a copy of Lebanon's Ater Majok including the hair.

- South Sudan's best player is Dhieu ABWOK DEING, 20 y.o guard that plays for Univ. of Texas San Antonio. He's your typical high flying guard who drives and creates the most acrobatic shots. Also a good 3 point shooter.

- Uganda's best player is American born 6'5 Ishmail WAINRIGHT. He's a pro in the French League
- South Sudan won 68-66. But congrats to both teams, as it was an entertaining game.

 

[Dotch2]

Will Watch the rest of the games when i have free time

But a few others:


Kenya is the surprise team of the tournament. They beat Mali earlier and have qualified in the next round. They don't have basketball tradition as they were formerly under British Rule and their national sport is long-distance running!

That's not the most interesting story though. The best story is that their head coach is a woman, Liz Mills. She's an Aussie and she always wears boots on games.

 

[Dotch2]

Tried to stream the Cameroon game just to see if Ben Mbala is playing. Unfortunately no, i don't think he's in the lineup. Also, they are ravaged with Covid 19 and had to forfeit one of their earlier games. They managed to dress the minimum number of players allowed but the quality is not there.

I shut it off

 

[Dotch2]

I like cinderella type of stories in basketball.. I can sat Afrobasket are now as tough as Eurobasket.. Unpredictable.. While in Asia is not yet.. Australia still class of their own.. I would love Guam to qualify but they lose to Taiwan.. Imagine 170k populated country/state will play against million/billion populated countries likes of China, Japan, PHL, etc.. but i'm sure next time Guam will qualify...

Of the 16 that qualified, we can group them into 2

1st Tier - Tunisia (Defending champions), Nigeria (especially if their US-based players are around), Senegal ( Lots of Euro based players), Egypt (strong basketball tradition, but maybe a stretch when placed in this tier)

2nd Tier - Rest of the Teams, this is free for all , where a team can beat all the other teams.

and yes unlike Asia, where you can see many blowouts, where the difference between the top team (AUS) is super huge compared to the 3rd - 4th tier teams. Heck even 1 level down teams ( NZ, CHN or IRAN) will have a hard time beating AUS. ,AfroBasket is unpredicagable, there is no drop / or only a slight drop of quality from team 5 to 16th placed African team.

 

[reamily2]

For now, team C wont cut it for Nigeria, especially if you have a very raw guard play out there

 

[Dotch2]

South Sudan, Uganda are revelations.. They are new to Afrobasket, but already competitive... African basketball already improve leaps and bounds.. Thanks to NBA basketball w/o borders program in Africa.. I know they have potential in basketball.. Their physique and body frame are basketball match in heaven.. South Sudan are home of tallest people on earth.. They are basically suit for basketball...

The Dinka tribesmen of Sudan are indeed one of the tallest people on Earth. It up there with the Tutsis of Rwanda. But Senegal Basketball NT has got to be the tallest roster in the tourney with the average height of 6'8

 

[reamily2]

Still think elite asian teams can beat Tunisia and Senegal the top Afrobasket 2021 teams, as for Nigeria, far fetched if they send the best and experienced players available

The higher offensive usage the better for asians against african teams...

 

[Dotch2]

For now, team C wont cut it for Nigeria, especially if you have a very raw guard play out there

Uganda eliminated Nigeria in the knock out round 80-68

 

[Dotch2]

South Sudan eliminated Kenya 60-58

Kenya is one of the shortest teams in this tourney but South Sudan, long and tall, cannot put them away easily. Kenya battled from 20 points down at the half, to cut the deficit to 60-58 with about 2 and half minutes or so. Both teams went cold from thereon. Kenya has at least 4 possessions to tie or get the lead in the final 2 minutes. But they either missed or turned the ball over. Kenya even has the last possession but the last second 3 point attempt just won't drop.


Observations:
-Kenya is far from being the most talented squad but they offset that with their defense and hustle points. Credit head coach Liz Mills.
-Both teams don't shoot well from the outside, and from the stripe. The shooting mechanics of the big guys are, well, ugly. The most skilled players, like the Asians, are the guards and the smaller guys.

 

[reamily2]

South Sudan eliminated Kenya 60-58

Kenya is one of the shortest teams in this tourney but South Sudan, long and tall, cannot put them away easily. Kenya battled from 20 points down at the half, to cut the deficit to 60-58 with about 2 and half minutes or so. Both teams went cold from thereon. Kenya has at least 4 possessions to tie or get the lead in the final 2 minutes. But they either missed or turned the ball over. Kenya even has the last possession but the last second 3 point attempt just won't drop.


Observations:
-Kenya is far from being the most talented squad but they offset that with their defense and hustle points. Credit head coach Liz Mills.
-Both teams don't shoot well from the outside, and from the stripe. The shooting mechanics of the big guys are, well, ugly. The most skilled players, like the Asians, are the guards and the smaller guys.

Agree on this but they dont make much impact like their bigs, rwanda for instance, and evidently Nigeria and Angola(yup they will rely to Morais to create offense for them).. Cabo Verde has a 35 year old pg, that shows you how limited the guard pool is for african teams

 

[Dotch2]

Agree on this but they dont make much impact like their bigs, rwanda for instance, and evidently Nigeria and Angola(yup they will rely to Morais to create offense for them).. Cabo Verde has a 35 year old pg, that shows you how limited the guard pool is for african teams

Morais almost beat Senegal all by himself sa QF. Kaso kinapos. Down 12 in the 4th, Angola tied the game at 74 with 50 secs. but Morais' teardrop (vs 3 defenders) didint go in. Senegal eliminated Angola 79-74.

Few bullet points:

-Morais WAS an NBA level talent. Sayang I didnt see him in his prime. ( he's 35 y.o.) He came off the bench and scored a bunch ( at one point he has 4 3-pointers in a row)

- As usual, poker faced pa rin si Gorgui Dieng , i wonder if he stills remember RDO? They banged heads in WC last 2014. Sometimes he got caught in switches guarding Morias in the perimeter, but he showed why he plays in the NBA. He didnt get rattled. and played him straight up. Then susundot sa huli to wreck Morais' timing.

-NBA prohibits players from playing in FIBA if games are held 60 days before opening day. NBA starts Oct 19. So it is safe to say none of the players left in the SF round is NBA bound opening day, Gorgui Dieng included.

- The game was different in my perspective when the teams came from places with strong basketball culture. Angola was like Chot's Gilas, kinukuha sa puso at diskarte. Senegal too . Players on both sides use smarts more than physical skills, compared to other teams like Uganda and South Sudan, where they rely more on their raw talent.

-Senegal is scary good. I wonder if this is their A-Team. The average height alone would scare lots of teams, at 6'8. Dieng is their anchor on both sides of the floor, but they have other talents, like Ibrahim Faye (24 y.o.) who at 6'10 plays both forward positions and Pierra Henry, their starting 2 guard

QF is done:

Cape Verde beats Uganda 79 -71
Ivory Coast beats Guinae 98-50
Tunisia beats South Sudan 80-65


SF pairings:

Tunisia vs Cape Verde
Senegal vs Ivory Coast

 

[reamily2]

-Senegal is scary good. I wonder if this is their A-Team. The average height alone would scare lots of teams, at 6'8. Dieng is their anchor on both sides of the floor, but they have other talents, like Ibrahim Faye (24 y.o.) who at 6'10 plays both forward positions and Pierra Henry, their starting 2 guard

Always been, but somehow, suki sila ng Asian teams, this team were out of FIBA OQT because of covid protocols, who knows what might have happened if they joined..happy that they were able to redeem themselves this afrobasket..

 

[Dotch2]

So no Tunisia vs Senegal in the finals of the AfroBasket 2021.

Ivory Coast somehow managed to beat Senegal in the SF. A rare white player, Matt Costello, out rebounded and out muscled Senegal's big, athletic bigmen. Gorgui Dieng and Ibrahim Faye were sensational for Senegal but its Castello who has the more impact in the game. The normally chill emotionless Dieng lost his cool and hacked Costello in the final seconds and was thrown out. Lol.

American born Matt Costello, 6'10 naturalized player leads the tournament in +/- , and is the most efficient player. Ivory Coast needs to naturalized a player while one of their own was "mined" by an Asian team . Lol.

Meanwhile defending champion Tunisia expectedly beats Cape Verde 75-65 to reach the finals