2015 Afrobasket

[sixama23]

Tunisia qualify as hosts, Angola as holders, and then 14 places will be decided through 11 groups (one of which, Zone 7, has been cancelled, and Seychelles moved to Zone 6). So, 14 places from 10 groups means that 2 teams will have to qualify from 4 of these groups. One of these will be Zone 5 (which had 5 teams), but there are only 2 other groups with more than 2 teams (the current group in Bulawayo and the upcoming group in Central African Republic). This means that in at least one of the 2-team groups, both teams will qualify, meaning that that qualification group is actually pointless.

Zone 7 teams have been requested to play in Zone 6 qualifiers, even if the games between Madagascar and Seychelles had taken place the winner wouldn't have qualified to Afrobasket.

As far as I know, 2 teams from the Bulawayo Group will qualify to Tunisia, excluding Angola. The winner of the clash between Mozambique and Botswana will also qualify. Three teams in total from Zone VI will make it through. Only one team from every 2-team group will qualify.

Zone I --> 1 Team (Morocco)
Zone II --> 2 Teams (Cape Verde, TBD)
Zone III --> 2 Teams (Ivory Coast, TBD)
Zone IV --> 2 Teams (Cameroon, TBD)
Zone V --> 2 Teams (Egypt, Uganda)
Zone VI --> 3 Teams (TBD, TBD, TBD)
Zone VII -- > No Team
Host Country --> Tunisia
Reigning Champion --> Angola
Wildcards --> 2 Teams

IMO, Senegal and Algeria will get the wildcards.

[lemo]

They did this with many of the the zones (divided them into more than one group). There are 11 groups for 7 zones (4 zones are divided into 2).

It's not clear how qualification will be decided.

Tunisia qualify as hosts, Angola as holders, and then 14 places will be decided through 11 groups (one of which, Zone 7, has been cancelled, and Seychelles moved to Zone 6). So, 14 places from 10 groups means that 2 teams will have to qualify from 4 of these groups. One of these will be Zone 5 (which had 5 teams), but there are only 2 other groups with more than 2 teams (the current group in Bulawayo and the upcoming group in Central African Republic). This means that in at least one of the 2-team groups, both teams will qualify, meaning that that qualification group is actually pointless.

I expect Senegal will be invited as a wild card even if Mali knock them out.

The same thing happened at Afro basket 2013 qualification at Zone I (both teams ;Algeria and Morocco were qualified.)

[lemo]

Zone 7 teams have been requested to play in Zone 6 qualifiers, even if the games between Madagascar and Seychelles had taken place the winner wouldn't have qualified to Afro basket.


IMO, Senegal and Algeria will get the wildcards.

No game was held between Seychelles and Madagascar as Madagascar was withdrawn from the qualification.

I agree with you that Algeria and the loser of (Senegal X Mali ) clash with have the wild card to participate at the tournament.

[sixama23]

No game was held between Seychelles and Madagascar as Madagascar was withdrawn from the qualification.

I know that, I just said that even if these games had taken place, the winner wouldn't have qualified to Afrobasket. Both teams had to enter the Zone VI qualifiers in order to make it through. Due to lack of competitiveness, Zone VII doesn't enter any teams to Afrobasket.

Same thing happened in 2013, Seychelles participated in Zone VI qualifiers back then as well.

Algerian Federation has already expressed interest in getting a Wildcard. I would consider Congo too, only in case Mali won't qualify. However I can't see how Mali could stay out. On the other hand, we don't know what will happen at the Libreville group, if CAR fails to qualify they will probably push for a Wildcard as well.

[mcruic]

Zimbabwe 63-52 Seychelles today. Seychelles now out of contention for Afrobasket.

Yesterday's results:
Angola 122-65 South Africa
Zimbabwe 69-61 Seychelles

AFROBASKET qualifier STANDINGS
South Africa 2-0
Zimbabwe 2-1
Seychelles 0-3

Not sure what the decider is if Zimbabwe beat South Africa in the last game and both are tied on 3-1. Is it head-to-head or overall points difference?

ALL-AFRICA GAMES qualifier STANDINGS
Angola 3-0
South Africa 1-2
Zimbabwe 0-2

Angola have qualified for the All-Africa Games

[mcruic]

Zone 6 results:

21 Feb Zimbabwe 60-64 South Africa
22 Feb South Africa 60-52 Seychelles
22 Feb Zimbabwe 49-100 Angola
23 Feb Angola 117-55 Seychelles
24 Feb Angola 122-65 South Africa
24 Feb Zimbabwe 69-61 Seychelles
25 Feb Zimbabwe 63-52 Seychelles
25 Feb Angola 87-70 South Africa
26 Feb Angola 103-48 Seychelles (also reported 103-43 - confirmation required)
27 Feb Seychelles 72-55 South Africa
27 Feb Zimbabwe 50-98 Angola

Tomorrow (28 Feb) - the decider for Afrobasket - Zimbabwe v South Africa. The winner will qualify. Both teams have 2-1 records (not including Angola).

Really poor coverage by FIBA of this event - surely they have a FIBA Africa representative in Zimbabwe? How hard would it be to simply tweet the result at the end of each game?

[sixama23]

SEN-MLI 47-50
ZIM-RSA 66-64
BOT-MOZ 68-69

Mali, Zimbabwe, Mozambique have all qualified to Afrobasket, Senegal is expected to push for a wildcard.

[sixama23]

The rest of Zone IV qualifiers games are supposed to start today in Libreville, here's a photo of the Gabonese squad:

[mcruic]

First match in Libreville today: Gabon v Central African Republic. The matches are 3-8 March, so it looks like a double round-robin (Chad being the 3rd team). Gabon, DR Congo and Cameroon women will compete simultaneously for women's Afrobasket/AAG qualifiers.

[mcruic]

Gabon 79-75 Central African Republic, after overtime (65-65 at end of 4 periods)

Fixtures
4th March - Gabon - Chad
5th March - Central African Republic - Chad

6th-8th March, second round of fixtures (schedule not known yet - will be either the same as the first round or the reverse order of the first round)

[mcruic]

4th March - Gabon 65-61 Chad, after overtime.

Gabon looking good for Afrobasket.

5th March - Chad 61-54 Central African Republic

2nd round of fixtures
6th March - Gabon - Central African Republic
7th March - Gabon - Chad
8th March - Central African Republic - Chad

Standings:
Gabon 2-0
Chad 1-1
CAR 0-2

[soulis79]

Let's see the possible candidates for the 3 wildcards.

1. Senegal should be the first and most possible candidate.
2. Algeria is a good team for Africa Basketball, so i strongly believe that they are one step ahead for the second wildcard.
3. Central African Rep. is sudenly a candidate, unless they made a comeback to their zone qualifier.
4. Rwanda is another possible candidate for the wildcard but due to financial problems and some "rifts" between the american born players and the federation, i don't think they will get it.
   

[mcruic]

So, this is the current situation

AFROBASKET
Zone 1: Morocco
Zone 2: Cape Verde, Mali
Zone 3: Ivory Coast, Nigeria (probably)
Zone 4: Cameroon, Gabon
Zone 5; Egypt, Uganda
Zones 6/7: Zimbabwe, Mozambique

Holder: Angola
Host: Tunisia
Wildcards: (3) TBD

ALL-AFRICA GAMES
Zone 1: Morocco
Zone 2: Cape Verde, Mali
Zone 3: Ivory Coast, Nigeria (probably)
Zone 4: Cameroon, Gabon
Zone 5; Egypt
Zone 6: Angola, Mozambique
Zone 7: Seychelles

Host: Congo

Seems quite likely that Burkina Faso will withdraw against Nigeria in Zone 3 qualifying.

[mcruic]

Result today: Gabon 64-75 Central African Republic.

Gabon took the first period 20-8, but it was all downhill for them from there. Gabon still favourites, I think, but any of the 3 teams can still win the group. If Gabon beat Chad, the last match between CAR and Chad is meaningless. This would be only Gabon's 3rd Afrobasket if they qualify, while it would be Chad's 2nd if they qualify. Central African Republic has 17 previous appearances and 2 titles.

[mcruic]

Gabon 72-56 Chad today. Gabon qualify for Afrobasket and All-Africa Games. Central African Republic-Chad tomorrow is a dead rubber.