SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - There are no more questions about who the new rulers of African basketball are.

Unlike the current FIBA World Ranking, which ranks Tunisia at No. 5 in Africa, the North Africans have reminded everyone why they became one of the most respected teams on the continent.

Over the past weekend, Tunisia and Nigeria - reigning and vice-champions of Africa, respectively - proved too much for their opponents, dismantling high-ranked teams like Angola and Senegal by as many as 20 points each.

Tunisia and Nigeria needed only nine of their twelve Africa Qualifiers games to qualify for next year's FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.

On the way to the China 2019 showdown, Tunisia beat Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Egypt, Angola, and Morocco while Nigeria got the better of Mali, Rwanda, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, and Senegal.

Therefore, both countries will play the next windows in November and February, respectively, as a mere formality although Nigeria coach Alex Nwora insists they haven't finished business.

Salah Mejri played for his country for the first time since 2015, and the outcome couldn't be any better.

Of course, hosting the last qualifying windows in two months has partially contributed to both countries' success, but this doesn't hinder Tunisia and Nigeria's achievements.

"Obviously, Tunisia is a really good team, credit to them," admitted Angola head coach Will Voigt in a post-match press conference. 

Meanwhile, Senegal play-caller Abdou Ndiaye followed suit, saying: "Tonight, they [Nigeria] were better than us, but we need one win to qualify for China."

With Tunisia and Nigeria dominating the World Cup African Qualifiers, so far, who else comes close to them?

Angola, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Egypt were impressive in the first leg of the Second Round of the World Cup Qualifiers and indicated they too can join Tunisia and Nigeria in China. 

Following Angola's' poor showings in recent years and months, the former African champions re-emerged stronger, composed and revitalized in Rades.

Coach Voigt may have thought they didn't play their best basketball in the first half against Tunisia (they trailed 39-36), but, that was Angola's best 20 minutes over the last three years.

"If we execute what we want to do, we can compete with anybody," Voigt noted.

There is hope for Angola though.

When I first met Egypt head coach Amr Aboul Kheir last week in Rades, the day before of the start of the Second Round of the Qualifiers, his first question to me was, "what kind of team has Cameroon brought here?"

 In the aftermath of Egypt's 62-58 win over Cameroon, who put themselves in a difficult position, Aboul Kheir revealed: "Our target was Cameroon. The key [to our victory] was our defense." 

Egypt returned home with an encouraging 5-4, and currently sit as the best third-place team in the African Qualifiers. 

As coach Ndiaye mentioned, Senegal - the current No. 2 team in Africa - had a bad against Nigeria, but this is, surely, a World Cup contender.

The real Cote d'Ivoire is back, and winning two of their three games in Lagos was a positive sign for a country trying to return to the World Cup for the first time since 2010.

But until the last window of the African Qualifiers in February 2019, African basketball will be all about rulers Nigeria and Tunisia.

Julio Chitunda
FIBA

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