Basketball: Don’t Rely On Pros, SA Coach Warns Nigeria

Despite Nigeria’s qualification for the Olympics for the first time through the players based in the United States of America and Europe, a South African basketball coach, Patrick Engelbrecht, has warned Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, not to rely  on professionals in future campaigns.

The D’Tigers defeated Tunisia 60-56 in their first match in London but could not advance to the second round of the games having lost to Lithuania, France, Argentina and USA in their subsequent matches.

Speaking on D’Tigers’ performance at the 2012 Games in London, where they finished fifth in their group, Engelbrecht said the NBBF deserves commendation for assembling an entirely foreign-based team to win an Olympic ticket for the country in a short period of time.

“It is a dream comes to reality for Nigeria to be part of the 2012 Olympics, and all South Africans are happy to learn that Nigeria basketball team have at last been a part of the basketball event of the Games.

“Now that they’ve debuted at the Games, they would need to sustain their participation by concentrating on the development of the sport locally. I want Nigeria to look inward and develop the local players.

“Relying entirely on the players playing abroad will not help the development of the game on the home front,” he said.

—Bamidele Olowosagba