18th September, 2013
Unknowing to many basketball pundits, there were a lot of things that contributed to the poor outing of D’Tigers at the recently held Afrobasket for Men in Abidjan, Ivory coast where Nigeria placed distanced 7th position in the African Basketball Nations Cup.
Coach of the team, Ayo Bakare, said there was high hopes that Nigeria will surpass their previous outing at the previous edition of Afrobasket held in Senegal considering the fact that D’Tigers were at the last Olympic Games in London, but he was disappointed that things did not worked out as he planned.
“It was so sad tht we did not leave up to expectations in Ivory Coast despite the hopes we had before going for the competition. Many Nigerians won’t know what really went wrong, I believe that as a coach, I tried my best, but few things could not let my best take us anywhere.
“It is rather so sad that for the first time in the history of D’Tigers, we had a talented team, but the level of commitment of the players was very low, which affected our output in the African tournament.
“The most talented team at times may not be the most disciplined. This was what we found out in Abidjan that we had a crop of players who were good but not disciplined.
“Afrobasket this year came with a lot of challenges. When we were battling with indiscipline in the team, injuries of three of our key players was another bane that was responsible for the flop. Three of our best shooters were down with injuries in a swoop and we could not make amend to reinvent,” Bakare said.
The coach, however, noted that there was no excuse for the failure as a team. “We have learnt a lesson as a team and as a nation. The most important thing is how we look back at the tournament and take one or two things out of the Afrobasket to reshape our future. I want to say that the future of the team depends on how the Nigeria Basketball Federation wants to go about it,” he said.
—Taiwo Adelu