Coach Odaudu optimistic as D’ Tigers face Uphill FIBA WC qualification task

The Nigerian National Basketball team faces an uphill task to qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup set to be hosted by Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

Nigeria is currently fifth in group E just 2 points above Uganda and a distant six points from Automatic qualification.

D’Tigers must win their remaining games and hope all other things fall into place.

In a chat with www.brila.net assistant Coach Ogoh Odaudu has stressed that the target is difficult but achievable.

“Well it is still within touching distance but first of all we have to go get our job done by winning all three games and hope other results go in our favour.” Odaudu noted.

“You know at this stage it all boils down to hard work we need to start work early, get a good roaster together, and then make sure that we first of all put the three games under our belts before we can now start hoping and trying to see if we can qualify as best loser or maybe come second in the group.”

Coach Ogoh Odaudu also emphasized on the need to have a strong roaster that can endure to the end, be ready to contribute and can be reliable to perform without compromise in quality.

He however assured that plans are already in place for a strong selection and they will fight to the end.

“Just like I am saying we need 12 solid players so that when the coach looks down the bench he knows that he can stretch down to number 10 and number 11 on the roaster and we don’t want a roaster that will just have 5 starters and then once they start making changes we start having scoring problems.

“So it have to be a compact roaster, a roaster that can go all the way to numbers 10, 11 maybe no 12 if the need arises; everybody can score but another thing we should also mention is, that we have to really go out there and play tough defense, so the roaster is the most critical part of the team right now.”

“Well of course it’s not going to be public knowledge, but there is plenty of work going on underground players are being contacted already and plans are being put in place I am sure before that window, Nigeria will be in a great position to fight for the last spot.”

D’Tigers face a three-day run of tough fixtures starting with an encounter with group leaders Ivory Coast, before taking on Guinea and Angola.

Nigeria only defeated Guinea in the first encounter and will have to defeat both Ivory coast and Angola, who sit 1st and 2nd on the group table to get a chance at automatic qualification.