Alain Digbeu & Ivory Coast

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Bonjour!

French veteran-forward Alain Digbeu was probably surprised after he had been approached by the Ivorian basketball federation to play for them in the upcoming World Championships this summer.

It has been a while that Digbeu represented national-team colors.

Digbeu, who was born in France to Ivorian parents, was a regular fixture in the French national-team as he was called up to play in three European Championships, the last in 2003. Now, being 34 years old
and without a team (He left Strasbourg in late 2009), the seasoned NBA-Draftee (Atlanta Hawks got his rights in 1997 but he never played a regular season-game) might play finally in a World Championship...if the French federation lets him switch the national-teams as happened with Vasco Evtimov who lately suited up for Bulgaria after representing France earlier in his career. FIBA has also to give thumbs up to this, but if this can be done in time, then we might see Digbeu in Turkey this summer, giving the Ivorians some veteran leadership on and off the court.

Ivorian basketball president Kore Moise is also after Herve Lamizana, a post player with plenty of professional experience and who is currently averaging 26,5 points per game for TianJin in China's CBA. Lamizana would give the Ivorians height as he would pair up with center Mohamed Kone (Erdemirspor, Turkey), who has been the only true center on the roster so far.
Another possibility would be Alain Koffi's brother Francis, who plays currently in Spain for Ourense in the LEB Gold. Looks like the Ivorians are bulking up to compete with the best in Turkey.

The FIBB put out a complete list of the players that will be considered for a final-spot.

Head coach Ronald Dessarzin awaits his players in Switzerland for the first phase in Lausanne (1st - 13th of July) just to move to Beauvais in France (15th - 23rd of July). A short visit to FYROM (25th -27th of July) which includes some tests will be followed by another short stay in France (29th of July - 1st of August) and a lengthy preparation in Madrid, Spain (2nd - 13th of August) with more friendly matches lined up there. By then, the team should be known as they will be departing to Serbia for final preparation phase (15th -23rd of August) and from there, they will be heading to Ankara for the World Championships.

I guess the Ivorians won't be considered a one-hit-wonder anymore if they are able to prepare professionally and get all the players they are currently looking for into camp.
They had one of the best preparations last year for the African Championships and rightfully made it to the finals just to loose to continental-powerhouse Angola.

I'm out like amateurish national basketball federations in Africa.