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Originally posted by ricodgame
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Include him in RP team Sea games we'll see which team will afraid of him
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isama mo sa SEA games yan tingnan lang natin kung sino di matatakot dyan
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Include him in RP team Sea games we'll see which team will afraid of himPRO DEO ET PATRIA
(in the service of God and Country) -
Sofoklis is not half-Nigerian, his mother is Cameroonian if memory serves me right.Originally posted by rycorpz
Emeka Okafor - though born in the U.S. - is of Nigerian stock. So was the runningback for the KC Chiefs back in the day, Christian Okoye the "Nigerian Nightmare."
Nigeria has great athletes, hopefully for them they can take advantage of it in the future, or just keep getting U.S. born Nigerian players that can't make the U.S. national team.
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Make him use skin whitener and he'll play for RP Team. heheheOriginally posted by ricodgame
SMART GILAS: all the wayComment
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Nigeria national team
Afrobasket '09: Nigeria is aiming high with its star-studded roster
When I've read the news that John Lucas would be the new head coach of the D'Tigers, I was baffled.
Now with such a well-known coach, the possibility of attracting the best players out of Nigeria should be no problem and the recently revealed list of pre-selected players for the national-team camp in the U.S. proves exactly this.
The guards:
Nigeria has no shortage on experienced guards unlike other countries like Senegal, Cameroon or the Ivory Coast. Thanks to the Nigerian Diaspora in the United States, they can choose from a deep pool of players with college and professional experience.
At point guard, previously used (World Championships in Japan) Josh Akognon should be a lock while shooting guard Ime Udoka of the San Antonio Spurs is set to represent Nigeria again after being instrumental in the D'Tigers' success story in Japan. After a rather disappointing season in Giessen (Germany) Michael Umeh should be considered as a back-up to Akognon while Tony Skinn and Ben Uzoh could be alternatives too.
Especially Skinn did a great job in Gravelines and is also a similar scoring threat like Akognon.
Champ Oguchi bounced back with a strong year in Illinois to prove his readiness to contribute on the two-spot. Ebi Ere is another big-time scorer on the list who was Australia's import of the year and is able to move also to small forward if needed. Nigerian-Jamaican rookie Weyinmi Efejuku may has small chance to make the team while Churchill Odia had another season to forget in Oregon and may lacks on-court experience although he was always productive when called up for Nigeria.
From the outside looking in are probably Kingsley Oguchi, Mike Efevberha, Jayson Obazuaye and Stanley Asumnu.
Stats:
Josh Akognon, PG, Fullerton, 23,9ppg, 3,2rpg, 1,6apg
Ben Uzoh, PG, Tulsa, 14ppg 4,9rpg, 3,6apg
Michael Umeh, PG, Giessen, 13,8ppg, 3,2rpg, 1,8apg
Anthony Skinn, PG, Gravelines, 16,0ppg, 2,5rpg, 3,5apg
Kingsley Oguchi, PG, South Carolina-Aiken, 9,0 ppg, 3,2rpg, 3,0apg
Ime Udoka, SG, San Antonio, 4,5ppg, 3,0rpg, 0,9apg
Stanley Asunmu, SG, Rio Grande Valley, 10,5ppg, 4,6rpg, 1,8apg
Churchill Odia, SG, Oregon, 3,2ppg, 2,3rpg
Jayson Obazuaye, PG, Milton Keynes (ENG)
Ebi Ere, SG/SF, Carolina (PUR), 20,7ppg, 5,9rpg, 2,3apg
Weyinmi Efejuku, SG, Providence, 15,7ppg, 4,0rpg, 2,3apg, 1,5spg
Chamberlain Oguchi, SG, Illinois State, 15,2ppg, 5,4rpg, 1,0spg
Mike Efevberha, SG, Wellington (NZL)
The forwards:
Touted veteran and premium blogger Gabe Muoneke should be making the team, as well as newcomer Ike Diogu from the Sacramento Kings.
Muoneke, who would love to erase the past season in China from his vita (Although being one of the top-scorers of the CBA), and who recently being released in Puerto Rico, is providing leadership and is a constant threat on offense while not being selfish with the ball in his hands. Diogu, who has represented the U.S. in the Pan-American Games in 2003, has been rarely used in the NBA until the Kings gave him a chance to prove he belongs to the league. The 9th pick of the NBA-Draft in 2005 scored 32 points on Denver and 28 points on Minnesota recording in both of the games double-doubles. Another cornerstone of the team will be Uche Nsonwu who already re-signed with Roanne where he put up solid numbers after arriving from the Ukraine.
Often used defensive specialist Aloysius Anagonye and World Championship-experienced Ekene Ibekwe could both be in, while Abdullahi Kuso, Uche Echefu and Ejike Ugboaja will be having a hard time to battle for the remaining spots on the team.
Stats:
Aloysius Anagonye, PF, Galil Gilboa (ISR), 5,5ppg, 4,3rpg
Uche Echefu, PF, Florida State, 8,1ppg, 5,2rpg
Gabe Mouneke, SF, Guaynabo (PUR), 20,8ppg, 6,2rpg
Ike Diogu, PF, Sacramento, 9,2ppg, 3,9rpg (only Sacramento)
Ekene Ibekwe, PF, Carolina (PUR), 11,2ppg, 8,2rpg, 1,7bpg
Ejike Ugboaja, PF, Azad Univ. (IRN)
Abdullahi Kuso, PF, Sumy (UKR), 11,6ppg, 7,6rpg, 1bpg
Uche Nsonwu, PF/C, Roanne, 11,4ppg, 8,0rpg
The centers:
Long-time friends Olumide Oyedeji and Ben Eze should be both dominant factors for Nigeria as both bring a lot of intensity and experience to the game. Oyedeji has proven in recent years that he can play tough on both sides of the court while Eze emerged as one of the best players in the Euro league.
It has to be seen if Eze is really going to represent Nigeria after years of abstinence. If so, Deji Akindele is more than ready to contribute. The Italy-bound center had a great year in Pesaro and proved to belong to the best centers in Italy if not in Europe. Benson Egemonye showed flashes in the past season while playing for the University of Niagara and Sani Ibrahim is a fierce competitor under the boards, but both will probably not going to Libya this year.
Stats:
Sani Ibrahim, C, Leuven (BEL), 6ppg, 5,2rpg
Deji Akindele, C, Pesaro, 11,1ppg, 6,7rpg, 1,6bpg, 2,1spg
Olumide Oyedeji, C, Shanxi (CHN), 20,3ppg, 19,8rpg, 1,8bpg
Ben Eze, PF/C , Siena, 8,8ppg, 8,2rpg, 1,4bpg
Benson Egemonye,C, Niagara, 12,7ppg, 7,1rpg, 1,6bpg
There will also be the best ten Nigeria-based players invited to the camp but I doubt that one of the called-up players will be able to crack the roster with such a high number of internationally-experienced players in the mix for Libya.
My ideal team for Libya would be looking as follows:
Guards: Akognon, Udoka, Skinn, Ere and C. Oguchi
Forwards: Muoneke, Diogu, Ibekwe and Nsonwu
Centers: Oyedeji, Eze and Akindele
With such a roster, Nigeria's chances to grab one of the medals in Libya should be high. Now it's up to the coach to form a team out of this crop of excellent players and build a team-chemistry as well a new hierarchy to put back Nigeria on the basketball map after its failure in 2007.Comment
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NGR – Afrobasket Libya 2009: Our team will dominate continental basketball
President, Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Tijani Umar, says the newly inaugurated board will ensure that the national teams win FIBA Africa competitions this year.
Umar said yesterday in Lagos that the competitions would involve the senior national male and the female teams as well as the Under-16 teams.
The senior male teams are to compete in the FIBA Africa Nations Championship in Libya and in Madagascar for the female teams, he said.
"The board, inaugurated on Tuesday, will work to see that the country takes part in all programmes on FIBA-Africa calendar for this year.
"This we have started by inviting foreign-based players to camp in Houston, U.S., while the home-based players will be camped preparatory to the selection of the final team," Umar said.
He said the first phase of the camping would hold from June 26 to July 1, while the final phase would hold from July 20 to July 31.
The male team is expected to depart the country on Aug. 2 for the Aug. 5 competition in Libya but a date for the female team has yet to be announced.
On the cadet teams, he said that their coaches had been directed to start preparations for the qualifiers for Africa Under-16 Championship in Maputo, Mozambique and in Dakar, Senegal in August.
The male U-16 championship is to hold from July 16 to July 25 in Maputo, while the female championship is scheduled for Aug. 22 to Aug. 30 in Dakar.
He said the qualification tournament for the U-16 boys and girl's championships had been slated for Cotonou, Benin Republic, from June 24 to 28.
"We are mapping out strategies to put things right and eventually actualise our proposed programmes for the year," he said.
Umar appealed to lovers of the game to rally support for the NBBF for the good of the sport and the players.Comment
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At least on paper, Nigeria has the most powerful team in Africa by far, and could very well compete with any elite team or even improve their 2006 success. I hope they can make it happen.
And i see this is the first time the NT has been able to attract most of the best Nigerians and Nigerian-Americans, if not all of them. Great news for them.Comment
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Whoaa, four players of Nigeria are or were playing this season in Puerto Rico, Ebi Ere(very very good player), Oyedeji, Ibekwe and Gabe Mouneke(long time playing here)8/29/2010...THE DAY WE GOT ROBBED!Originally Posted by -K2- View Post
16 free throws in the last 4 minutes...
Puerto Rico had 20 the whole game
Seriosuly... someone quote this whole post and signature me... Greek Loby RulzComment
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Rooting for Nigeria, as much as I love Angola in world tournaments it's about time someone knocked them off in Afrobasket.
btw How many spots does Africa get for the World Championships 2 or 3?Pistons: 2021-22 Let the Motorcade begin!!
Bronze medal 2013 Eurobasket prediction Game.Comment
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Afrobasket Libya 2009: World Championship ticket our target – Nigeria President
Newly sworn-in president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF Tijjani Umar is optimistic that the task of repositioning the nation’s basketball is achievable, in this brief chat with our correspondent, the NBBF boss spoke about various activities before the new board among other sundry issues. Excerpt:
What should Nigerians expect from this board in the next four years
Thanks, for me the inauguration is only formalities, you know we have being running the affairs of the game long before the election. I am sure you know that I have been heading the Task Force whose primary assignment was to prepare the country senior national team for the 25th edition of the FIBA Africa Championship billed for Libya in August this year and other local basketball programmes.
What is really important to us now is not just the Cup of Nations but other programmes as well. We are going to jump-start the Zenith Women Premier League by the end of this month, get involved in the U16 Boy’s and Girl’s qualifiers holding in Cotonuo, Republic of Benin and do everything possible to see that the Premier league for Men took off, so can see that our hands are full.
Funding the programmes
It true fund is very vital in the execution of these programmes, we shall appeal to all stake-holders in the game for support including corporate sponsors of our various programmes and with the support of everybody none of the programmes will be left unattended to.
Choice of American Coach for D’Tigers
It true Nigerian coaches, (Ayo Bakare and Sani Ahmed) qualified the country for the Libya 2009 Afrobasket the situation on ground presently demands us going for a foreign coach so the appointment of John Harding Lucas-II whom we believe can deliver at this crucial moment, though for me personally I would prefer a Nigerian coach who have greater stake than a foreigner.
D’Tigers USA Camp
Since bulk of the invited players lives in the United States which makes it easy for them to come together on a short notice and given the financial status of the board presently we realized it will be difficult getting the players to come down to Nigeria for camping but arrangement are in place to have the team come down to Nigeria before flying out to Tripoli, Libya for the Championship.
I can assure you that this will probably be the last time we will be camping any of our teams in the US except they want to embark on training tour but such camps must start from the home front.
Afrobasket goal
To be honest with Nigerians our target is to secure one of the three 2010 16th FIBA World Championship ticket.
Coach for D’Tigress
You know there still the zonal qualifiers to play which we are hosting, so in the next cope of days or weeks coach for the senior women national team will be announced and he will definitely be a Nigerian.Comment
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NGR - Only total commitment can see us through – Efevberha
Nigeria ended its campaign at the 25th edition of the FIBA Africa Championship for Men (Afrobasket 2009) in a not too impressive note finishing a distance fifth in a pool of sixteen teams with seven wins and two loses thus missing out on the roll call of teams that will be at the 2010 FIBA World Championship (World Cup) in Turkey.
The lose that was most painful among the two games the country senior men national team, D’Tigers lost was the quarter-final 84-80 points loss to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon who themselves were bundled out of the race for Turkey by Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-final and Tunisia in the third place game.
Basking in her impressive performance at the first round and Final-Eight-Round at the Benghazi centre of the Libya 2009 Afrobasket the Nigerian side coached by the trio of John Harding Lucas-II, Sani Ahmed and Masai Ujiri with great confidence.
The team flew out to Tripoli a day before its quarter-final outing against the Cameroon side who were runners-up in the 2007 edition held in Angola beaming with great confidence giving the Cameroonian little chances to stop D’Tigers from roaring while thinking of the better side between Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal it likely semi-final opponent but all that became history as the Cameroonian stood their ground and stopped the over-confidence Nigerian side.
One player who looked most disappointed in the Nigeria campaign was enterprising guard, Michael Efevberha who could not hide his disappointment of the team outing pleaded with the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and handlers of the senior team to always go for players who are ready to give their all at all time.
The Wellington Saints basketball club of New Zealand guard who was one of the most outstanding players on the Nigeria line-up fall short of naming some of his colleague he accused of not being fully committed to the course of the national team at the championship.
Efevberha born of a Nigerian father and an American mother have committed his future to his fatherland promising to always honour a national call-up.
The 25 year-old Nigerian was one of the leading scorer at the championship averaging 17.4 points per-game and was voted in the championship third best team of the championship, however, pleaded that the NBBF should not do away with the entire team but calls for integration of new players who will take the issue of national assignment as a task that must be given their total commitment as it is the only road to success.
Efevberha who might be joining a top French side in the 2009/2010 season thanked the NBBF and handlers of D’Tigers for offering him an opportunity to be part of the country’s campaign at Africa biggest basketball showpiece.
“I am happy to be called-up to represent my fatherland but I want to plead with the Nigeria basketball authority and handlers of the national team to always go for players who will be more committed and ready to give their hundred percent performances in all games at every championship the country entered.
“I feel okay with my performance and I know that my parents especially my dad are proud of me but I am sad that we will miss out in Turkey when the best teams and players converge for the world biggest basketball championship next year and I feel pained that our good run in the run-up to the quarter-final was truncated by Cameroon not because they are better than us, one thing I also know is that Nigeria will bounce back to take it rightful place in the comity of basketball playing nation of the world.Comment
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Great news from the field of basketball, I m with team to give them good wishes to win. & interested to know when women basketball team will be declared.HelloComment
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NGR – Nigeria’s Efevberha keeps fingers crossed on wild card
LUGANO (2010 FIBA World Championship) - A hot topic of conversation among basketball fans and players is which teams merit consideration for the 2010 FIBA World Championship wild cards.
Hoops enthusiasts in Africa are crossing their fingers that one of their national sides will receive a wild card.
One of the teams in the running is Nigeria.
Second in the FIBA Rankings among the African teams after No. 12 Angola, 22nd ranked Nigeria won seven of their nine games at the Afrobasket this summer in Libya but one of the defeats was very costly, a loss to Cameroon in the Quarter-Finals.
The 84-80 setback ended Nigeria’s hopes of qualifying for next year’s big event in Turkey.
The only chance for Nigeria to play in the big event now is to receive a wild card.
The national team captain, Mike Efevberha, says a Nigeria side would add a lot to the 24-team field at the FIBA World Championship.
“It is important to remember that Nigeria has provided many talented players throughout the world, and many others may come if we get a wild card,” Efevberha said to FIBA.com.
FIBA will be handing out four wild cards next month in Istanbul, Turkey.
When considering Nigeria, they do have a rich tradition in the sport.
Between 1995 and 2005, Nigeria claimed either bronze or silver in the FIBA African Championships.
They have come in fifth at the last two Afrobaskets, however.
No one will ever forget Nigeria’s performance at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan under former coach Sam Vincent, which started with an 82-75 upset of Serbia and Montenegro and ended in the Eight-Finals against Germany.
The Germans needed a superlative effort from their superhero, Dirk Nowitzki, to beat Nigeria 78-77. Nowitzki had 23 points in that victory.
The United States-born, Sacramento Kings small forward Ime Udoka led the Nigerians with an average of 14 points per game in Japan.
“I do hope we get a wild card,” said Efevberha, who plays professionally in Switzerland with the Lugano Tigers.
“We had pretty good results in the past.
“We did not play as well as we should have in Libya 2009, but we worked hard.”
Efevberha says if he and his teammates take up a place in Turkey, they are capable of playing at a very high level.
“We may have chances to succeed against better ranked teams as long as we put everything together, and get focused,” the 25-year-old said.
“I do not know what the problems were in the past, but we have talent.”
A different experience
Efevberha, who played collegiately at California State University, says it was interesting to compete at the Afrobasket in Libya.
The style of play, he says, was different to that found in the United States and in Europe.
“I found the African game very physical,” he said.
“In the last African Championship, I noticed everyone jumped around the rim. Guys are very athletic.”
Athleticism isn't the only ingredient needed for success.
Ten-time African champions Angola have athleticism, yet they are also much shorter than Nigeria.
The Angolans have a lot of experience and are also well organized.
“Everybody knows what their roles are within the Angola team,” Efevberha said.
Looking at Nigeria’s stars
Nigeria provided one of the finest centers ever to play the game in Hakeem Olajuwon.
Nicknamed “The Dream”, Olajuwon had a glittering career in college with the Houston Cougars and professionally with the Houston Rockets.
He eventually represented the United States at the 1996 Olympic Games, claiming the gold medal.
Efevberha isn’t a center, but rather a 6ft 5in guard who was born in Pomona, California, and obtained citizenship thanks to his father.
“I think Nigeria has many talented players,” he said. “There can never be another Olajuwon, but there is an Efevberha.”
Efevberha made his debut for the Nigeria national team last summer and was made captain by coach John Lucas, former NBA guard who also coached in the league.
He averaged 17 points per game and had 24 in the defeat to Cameroon.
There are other American-born Nigerians who have represented the country in the past who could bolster the squad.
“With the World Championship coming around, if we get a wild card, I am sure more Nigerians playing in the US and in Europe will be joining the team,” he said.
“Everyone will be interested to come because it is an event that everyone will be watching. I, personally, welcome them.”Comment
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does anybody know if FSU's Solomon Alabi already played for the Nigerian basketball squad?"How small ball works: Tall Skilled beats small skilled every time,but small skilled beats tall stiff every time" - Kevin McHaleComment
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