LBA - Teams get a day off to re-strategise

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TRIPOLI (FIBA Africa Championship) - After three days of a non-stop basketball action in two Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi the boys have been separated from the men at the ongoing 25th edition of FIBA Africa Championship.

Twelve teams made into the next stage of the championship which gets underway Sunday in Tripoli and Benghazi while the remaining four teams will continue in the championship classification games for their final position in the sixteen nation’s championship.

In Group-A perennial championship, Angola topped the group without dropping a game alongside Mali and Egypt, Nigeria registered her presence once again in Africa basketball after dismal outing in 2007 amassing maximum points to stay top of group-B, Cote d’Ivoire and host Libya finished the group in second and third place at the Suleiman Al-Darat Hall in Benghazi.

In Tripoli where teams in group C and D had their first round games, Senegal with the presence of De Sagana Diop and Boniface Ndong wade off stiff opposition from 2007 runner-up, Cameroon to finish top of the  group while Central Africa Republic powered by Italy-based, Romain Sato picked the third ticket to move into the next round.

And in group-D Tunisia shakes off opening game lose to Cape Verde who has since being edge out of the championship to top group-D with five points from two wins and one lose for a every opposition 2-1 record the same record shared by  second placed morocco while Rwanda finish in third place.

Will FIBA ranking play any role as round of eight begins?

The question on the lips of basketball faithful in Africa is whether current FIBA ranking of teams especially those in the round of eight which gets underway in Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya on Sunday will make any significant difference among the twelve teams that made it to the stage.

Angola no doubt stands out among the teams campaigning for in the 25th FIBA Africa Championship, Libya 2009 Afribasket as it is the most ranked Africa nation.

The Palancras Negras are ranked 12th in the world and first in Africa while its first second round opponent, Libya is not ranked by the world basketball governing body, FIBA due to its none participation in top FIBA sanction competitions in the past.

The champion intimidating credentials will sure have a psychological effect on the host when they both filed out Sunday in Benghazi at 19.00 hours.

Nigeria the next most ranked African team behind Angola is ranked 21st in the world and second in Africa. D’Tigers as the Nigerian senior national team is known will battle group-A third place finisher, Egypt who is ranked 34 by FIBA and 4th in Africa.

And while the Pharaohs will bank on experience the Nigerian side will fall back on youthfulness mixed with experience which has seen dominating all other teams so far with Michael Efevberha remaining the country biggest asset here in Benghazi. The Nigeria versus Egypt game comes up at 21.30 hours.

Senegal is ranked fifth in Africa and 37th in the world will take on Rwanda who is ranked 71st in the world and joint 16th with Madagascar in Africa.

The Senegalese side has showed some who promises in the championship will need to be tactful at this stage with their two big names, De-Sagana Diop and Boniface Ndong playing an important role to be able to cage the Rwanda team who has showed that the era of big names in Africa basketball is over with the performance they put up in their group which saw them edging out 2007 third place team, Cape Verde.

Group-D leader, Tunisia is ranked 6th in Africa and 44th in the world, the FIBA Africa zone-1 strong team will confront Romain Sato inspired Central Africa Republic who is ranked 45th by FIBA and is ranked 7th in Africa which makes the last game of Sunday in Tripoli and interesting one to watch going by the two sides pedigree.

Tunisia who seems to have found its footing in the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship after being humbled by Cape Verde in her first game came into the reason why it came to Libya to top the group will have its hands full in a Central African side who waited until its last group game against Peoples Republic of Congo to advance to this stage.

Mali ranked 48th in the world and 8th in Africa will battle another second placed team, Cote d’Ivoire who finished second behind Nigeria in group-A and ranked 51st in the world and 11th in Africa.

Both equally matched sides will have a lot to give the fans to cheer when they engage each other in the opening game in Benghazi at 16.30 hours.

Another interesting pairing in the opening day of the round of eight games between Morocco and Cameroon who are ranked neck to neck on the FIBA hierarchy.

Morocco who finished second behind Tunisia in group-D is ranked 49th by FIBA while Cameroon is ranked 50th basketball playing nation in the world and 9th and 10th placing in Africa respectively.

Cameroon who lost group-C leadership narrowly to Senegal will attempt to play itself back to reckoning just Morocco will want to make some statement that it second place finishing in group-D was not a fluke.