Road to BAL Elite 16 Round: Team Profile - City Oilers
The Oilers have become Uganda's flag bearer internationally, having represented the East African country in the last two editions of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup, before taking part in the Road to BAL.
KAMPALA (Uganda) - Uganda's City Oilers are a team expected to fulfil their potential at the Road to BAL Elite 16 qualifiers starting on Tuesday, November 22 until Sunday 27. in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Oilers, who finished second in Group C o f the Road to BAL last month in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, will have picked up some valuable lessons from that experience.
FIBA.basketball gives an analysis of the Oilers' profile of the Elite 16 Round.
TEAM: City Oilers
HISTORY IN FIBA AFRICA/BAL: The Ugandan champions are not newcomers to the continental stage. The Oilers have become Uganda's flag bearer internationally, having represented the East African country in the last two editions of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup tournament in 2016 and 2017 before taking part in the Road to BAL 2019 and 2020.
This is the Oilers' second appearance in the Elite 16 since 2020.
BEST RESULT IN FIBA AFRICA/BAL: After a disappointing ninth place in the ten-team 2016 edition of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup, the Oilers finished fifth in 2017 edition of the tournament held in Rades, Tunisia.
Jimmy Enabu is seen in action for City Oilers against Etoile Sportive Rades in December 2017
In that tournament, accrued to a 4-4 record thanks to wins over GSP (Algeria), Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique), Kano Pillars (Nigeria), and ASB New Generation (DR Congo), but losses to US Monastir (Tunisia), AS Sale (Morocco), Etoile Sportive Rades (Tunisia), Inter Clube (Angola), and US Monastir (Tunisia) prevented the Ugandan champions from moving beyond the Quarter-Finals.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED FOR THE ELITE 16: The City Oilers ended their preliminary qualifying campaign in Tanzania with a 2-1 record. They beat Matero Magic, lost to Urunani and defeated Army Basketball Club (ABC) to stamp their ticket to the Johannesburg showdown.
STRENGTHS/WEAKENESSES: City Oilers had a problem with depth in the squad. It almost saw their campaign in Tanzania fall apart, especially in the final game against ABC.
Hopefully, by the time their Elite 16 campaign starts, they will have resolved the issue.
KEY PLAYERS: Point guard Germaine Roebuck Jr and shooting guard Tonny Drileba will be the key players for the Oilers.
Roebuck Jr provides scoring at high volume, while Ugandan international player Drileba can show up in clutch moments.
HEAD COACH: Mandy Juruni is a successful coach with nine men's domestic league titles to his name. Juruni knows what it takes to be successful.
Juruny, a former point guard, has made his name for himself on the continent. He coached his country men's team at their first-ever FIBA AfroBasket appearance in 2015 in Tunisia. He has since alternated his Uganda head coach job with American George Galanopoulos.
But can he get his team over the BAL qualification hump?
OUTLOOK: City Oilers look like a solid team, but they will need additional quality players to get them to the promised land.
FIBA