A glimpse of AfroBasket 2013

SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - More than the three places available for African teams for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, a lot more was at stake at AfroBasket 2013 that finished last weekend, including the dominance of African basketball.

Most teams brought their finest players in order to draw a new African basketball image, but the bigger picture was that Angola regained the African crown, Egypt 'surprised', Nigeria disappointed, hosts Cote d'Ivoire failed, Senegal emerged and Tunisia underperformed.

It has been 24 years since Angola won their first AfroBasket title, and last Saturday they made it clear who rules basketball on the continent as they secured their 11th continental title following a comprehensive win over Egypt in the Final.

They were one of the top teams to beat in Cote d'Ivoire capital city of Abidjan, where this year's AfroBasket took place.

When Angola lost the tournament two years ago against Tunisia, there was disbelief and outcry in the country’s streets.

At the time, most critics blamed the former Angolan Basketball Federation chairmanship for the failure for hiring Frenchman Michel Gomez, a non-Portuguese speaking head coach, who was dismissed midway through the tournament, and replaced by Angolan Jaime Covilha - now serving as assistant coach - who took the team to the Final.

Despite some debate about Africa's best, Angolans believe they are the best on the continent and few can rival them.

And last week, they ended the tradition of West Africa teams winning the tournament as hosts.

Although Egypt have been dubbed a surprising AfroBasket finalist, I would not subscribe to such a suggestion because of their incredible determination and competitiveness shown in the Preliminary Round despite three consecutive defeats. There is no surprise about Egypt finishing second.

In their tournament opener, Senegal needed to wait until the very end to overcome a talented young Egyptian team paced by Assem Marei.

Egypt then lost to Algeria and hosts Cote d'Ivoire, but when the Knockout Round came, the Pharaohs stepped up their game to secure a place for Spain 2014.

North African rivals Algeria and Morocco showed some grit, and left an impressive showings too.

No other team showed more inconsistency in tournament than Senegal. No one knew what to expect from each game they played.

They began their AfroBasket campaign with a buzzer-beating win against Egypt, lost to Cote d'Ivoire, narrowly beat Algeria and caused the biggest upset of the tournament by ending Nigeria's hopes of winning their first African title.

They were left heartbroken following their Semi-Final loss to Egypt, but bounced back to secured a place at FIBA's flagship event with a revenge win over Cote d'Ivoire.

Cote d'Ivoire had everything they needed to win their third African title. They had a tireless sellout crowd chanting and supporting most of their games, they were playing great basketball that enabled them to beat Senegal in the Preliminary Round, Algeria, Egypt, Burkina Faso and eliminating AfroBasket title contenders Cameroon.

By the time they took on Angola in the Semis, their title dream collapsed with a 66-59 defeat. To make things worse, Natxo Lezkano's men failed to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup by finishing fourth.

When defending champions Tunisia survived a scare win against Morocco and needed overtime to beat Rwanda, there was only one thought: Adel Tlatli's men were not playing the high level they showed two years ago and at the London Olympics.

When they were stunned in the Eighth-Finals by Egypt, coach Tlatli was speechless for a few seconds when I asked him to explain what had just happened. Eventually he responded: "If you think you are the best team and you are unbeaten you are in the wrong tournament."

Tunisia went from being champions two years ago to finishing ninth this year. Coach Tlatli is due to address the media this midweek to discuss their AfroBasket run.

A lot has to be explained and done for the Nigerian basketball programme.

No one expected a team loaded with talented players plying their trade in top leagues around the world to finish seventh - their worst in the competition history in the past 26 years - when they were rated the strongest candidate to win the tournament.

Nigeria lined up their finest players of all times, but they could not make the most of it.

Of course they had only nine players available for the two-week competition due to injury and administrative reasons, but Nigerians – more than most teams - are experienced enough to know what a tournament like AfroBasket is made of.

For Nigeria to compete at AfroBasket 2015, they need to play an Africa zone 3 qualifier tournament against Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo, Liberia, Niger and Benin.

Nigeria head coach Ayodele Bakare shared his thoughts at a post-game presser: "The captain Ike Diogu just said there were no issues but l tell you there are serious issues that bother me on the team which affected its chemistry, and it was extremely bad. I am extremely displeased with the disintegration of the team. One or two players started it and it spread like cancer."

Angola, Egypt and Senegal rolled into the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

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