DAKAR (Senegal) - As Senegal last month secured their ticket to this year's FIBA AfroBasket, inevitable questions re-emerge about their chances of winning Africa's most important basketball trophy.

The Senegalese have become one of Africa's powerhouse on their own right, but why do they keep falling short of winning the FIBA AfroBasket?

"YOU CAN'T WIN A TOURNAMENT LIKE THE AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIP OR DO SOME GOOD THINGS AT THE [FIBA BASKETBALL] WORLD CUP IF YOU KEEP CHANGING THE STRUCTURE OF THE TEAM."- Thierno Niang

Since winning their last African title 23 years ago, the Lions went on to reach the AfroBasket Championship Game in 2005, but somehow, they fell short to Angola, a team they denied in Semi-Finals in 1997. 

With one of the most impressive selection options on the continent, and judging by what showed in the Qualifiers, Senegal are a team to watch out for as they can't go to Kigali in August to repeat errors from the past.

Thierno Niang was a seven-year-old in 1997 when his beloved Senegal last won the competition's title on home soil.

The 1.88m (6ft 1in) point guard, who has become one of Senegal's most prominent player in recent times, reaffirmed to FIBA.basketball that the Senegalese have the tools and means to change the course of history.

"That’s our goal, we want to be African champions this year," Niang noted.

Senegal finished third at FIBA AfroBasket 2017 thanks to a 73-62 win over Morocco

The 16-nation FIBA AfroBasket will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from August 24 to September 5, and the competition's draw is expected to be announced soon.

And, Niang went on to explain, how Senegal can turn their dream into reality.

"If you take teams like Angola, Nigeria, Tunisia, they don't have one group of players every year, they keep the same group of players, mostly eighty percent of the team.

"You can't win a tournament like the African championship or do some good things at the [FIBA] World Cup if you keep changing the structure of the team. You need to have a base to win, you need to build a team.

"There's always players that come in, but then, they never come back, when this happens it's really hard to build team chemistry. Only chemistry and team spirit can win titles, and for us, that's our only problem.

"For us to win the title, we really need to keep a group of players. We need players to know each other."

Thierno Niang featured for Senegal at FIBA Basketball World Cup 2015 in Spain where they upset Croatia 

As No.4 in Africa, according to the latest FIBA World Rankings, Senegal sealed through to the Kigali 2021 showdown on the back of a 5-1 in the Qualifiers.

How can teams like Tunisia, Nigeria and Angola threaten Senegal's continental ambition?

"Again, only good players isn't enough to win a tournament. Good teams win tournaments," he replied.

"If you look at the Tunisian team, I don't think they have a lot of foreign-based players. Half or more of the team play in Tunisia, they play against each other or play on the same team.

"If you look at a team like Senegal, most of players don't even play on the same country, they hardly see each other. That's one of Tunisia's biggest strength and they play the whole year together. That's something that's going to be hard to beat."

After spending the last two seasons of his college basketball career with the Milwaukee Panthers, Niang is currently on the books of of Dakar University Club (DUC) in the Senegalese Championship. He played the last two seasons with reigning champions AS Douanes. 

Prior to his return to Senegal, Niang played two seasons in Spain, he also played in Egypt's SuperLeague. 

"When it comes to my career goals, I just want to play at the highest level if the opportunity is presented to me," he said.

"I got the talent, I know I can play ball at the highest level, but it's just about finding the right channels to get you there."

Talking about the Senegalese championship, Niang admitted that "it's not a professional league economic wise as there is not a lot of money, but basketball wise, we have kids that really have talent. if we'd have people that could nurture their talent, we'd have one of the greatest basketball leagues in Africa," Niang underlined. 

FIBA