March 03, (THEWILL)- Many long-time fans of basketball have closely followed the journey of D’Tigers over the past decade. Their remarkable play and victories on the continent have justifiably earned them the moniker ‘Giants of Africa’. However, the team’s dramatic collapse in the first qualifying window of the FIBA Afrobasket 2025 raises deeply troubling questions about the state of Nigerian basketball.
By critically evaluating what precipitated their implosion, hard truths emerge on how deficiencies in our basketball ecosystem handicapped D’Tigers’ proud pedigree. Fundamentally, administrative mismanagement and governance issues have long festered. Without urgently confronting this reality and embarking on far-reaching reforms, the danger is that our hopes for African dominance will unravel catastrophically.
With the benefit of hindsight, there was an ominous indication that all was not well long before the wheels fell off in Monastir, Tunisia. As far back as the 2020 Olympics, the absence of a full-strength squad due to administrative confusion over availability should have rang alarm bells. The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) faced significant issues related to coaching staffing and competition preparations heading into the Olympics. The musical chairs over appointing a substantive head coach further reinforced perceptions of a rudderless Federation failing to provide firm strategic leadership.
However, the postponement of the Olympics to 2021 due to COVID-19 presented an opportunity for the Federation to address some of these challenges. NBA coach, Mike Brown, was named as D’Tigers’ coach in early February 2020 and was given additional time to prepare the team, hire staff, and build a schedule for the Tokyo Games. This delay was seen as a silver lining, allowing for more time to understand the team’s talent level and direction. However, the coaching staffing and preparation issues were not solely due to the postponement.
During the lead-up to the Olympics, the NBBF faced internal challenges, including power struggles and disputes within the Federation and with the Sports Ministry. This leadership crisis had been ongoing since 2017, with factional leaders emerging in separate elections. This situation hampered preparations for international competitions and impacted the domestic leagues. For example, the salary of the Nigeria women’s head coach, Otis Hughley, was affected, despite leading the team to qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, multiple African titles, and qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Players from the D’Tigress team also faced disputes over non-payment of bonuses and organisational issues around the Olympics in Japan.
These internal conflicts, combined with the broader impact of the government’s withdrawal from international basketball, which affected both the men’s and women’s teams, posed significant challenges to the NBBF’s ability to effectively staff and prepare the team for competing on the continent and beyond. The withdrawal from international competition had long-term implications for Nigeria’s participation in future competitions and sanctions were pending before the counterproductive withdrawal decision was walked back. Despite these challenges, the NBBF and its overseas-born and diaspora players managed to achieve some level of success including wins at the African Basketball Championships.
That progress was expected to continue before the team initially withdrew from the 2025 Afrobasket qualifiers ostensibly on financial grounds. This compounded suspicions that incoherence was reigning behind the scenes. When the Sports Ministry belatedly intervened to reverse the pull out, it left barely any time for quality preparation beyond last-minute travel arrangements. Landing in Tunisia on their first match day itself was thus a recipe for the disaster that duly transpired at that competition.
In their opening match against Libya, D’Tigers demonstrated commendable heart in pushing the contest until the very end before narrowly losing 82-89. Despite the final scoreline, the game was marred by unforced errors demonstrating rapid fatigue setting in. After neutralising Libya’s early surge, the undercooked Nigerians gradually faded.
With the benefit of sports science, it is apparent that arriving just hours before competitive play denied athletes optimal sleep, nutrition and recovery time pre-match. Moreover, the lack of even one genuine practice session to enable the team to gel meant on-court chemistry was severely lacking. Nevertheless, D’Tigers refused to wave the white flag, battling gamely against mounting exhaustion. Yet, willpower alone could not overcome the unforgiving reality of not fielding a properly prepared team.
If the defeat by Libya could be rationalised away as an inevitable outcome under the circumstances, there was no hiding from harsh truths after the 72-62 reversal against Uganda. Fans on social media decried what many perceived as an unacceptable lack of effort and excess passivity. Clearly, the trauma of the Libya loss appeared to have drained D’Tigers of motivation so soon after.
Still, attributing blame solely on supposed psychological fragility misses the broader context. It bears remembering that disputes over player availability and resources had already severely disrupted earlier World Cup qualifying campaigns. Historic tensions between current athletes, past players and basketball administrators were also conveniently brushed aside pre-Afrobasket rather than purposefully addressed once and for all. It would be naïve imagining such unresolved issues magically disappearing without intervention.
The 78-62 thrashing by Cape Verde painfully stripped away all remaining pretensions that D’Tigers were functioning effectively as a cohesive unit. Despite a promising start to the match, claiming the first quarter 24-16, the Nigerians spectacularly capitulated thereafter. Defeated 23-9, 21-18 and 18-11 in the remaining quarters, the calamity provoked outrage across the broad spectrum of Nigeria’s basketball fan base.
Inquests into the defeat identified lack of fitness, depleted motivation and inadequate technical instruction during play as factors behind the trouncing. Yet attributing fault solely to the players lets administrators off the hook too lightly. Chronic confusion over financial responsibilities, roles and poor accountability created ideal conditions for disorder well before the squad arrived in Tunisia.
Taking a long hard look, basketball administrative bodies have displayed scant seriousness around strategic planning and performance management for national squads. The cost of this willful neglect has come back to haunt player development and tournament campaigns. Refusing to disburse agreed budgets, delaying paying allowances and abdicating leadership through coaching recruitment failures all set the rot.
Opaque decision making over squad selection, lack of respect shown by former star players and alienating the basketball community has ruptured relationships and trust. None can then be surprised when conversations around player availability transform into fraught affairs. Without fast tracking reforms, much vaunted basketball potential shall never transition from prospect into concrete achievement.
Having diagnosed the underlying ailments posing existential threats, plotting a roadmap for rehabilitation now beckons urgently. No doubt painful medicine and major surgery lie ahead, but skillful interventions can yet redeem dreams of Africa conquering global basketball.
The basketball Federation must prioritise strengthening governance practices and financial control systems. Embracing transparency, accountability and player/community consultations shall improve policy-making. Strict codes of conduct for office bearers and ethical accountability measures will enhance integrity and functionality.
In consultation with the Sports Ministry, funding disbursement procedures must be streamlined alongside better budget forecasting and expense monitoring. Timely payment of agreed funds, allowances and expenses should become non-negotiable. Creative revenue generation through merchandising, corporate sponsorships and public-private partnerships will provide budgetary breathing room to remove these issues around funding shortages that result in embarrassing situations like initially pulling out of the qualifying series.
As observed earlier, the absence of a competent coaching staff and continuity therein has severely hamstrung team building exercises since Mike Brown returned to the NBA after the previous Olympics. A panel of respected former players, coaches and analysts should screen candidates to recommend a high performance manager and coach on a full-time basis with some in-country background.
Furthermore, proactively meeting, listening and addressing player concerns rather than downplaying them should be prioritised. Special focus must go towards nurturing relationships with former stars given their talent spotting knowledge and youth mentoring potential. Broadening the talent pool via grassroots clinics, school competitions and club games will also build bench strength.
In addition to these, well organised camps, intra-squad selection tournaments and practice games against quality local opposition will assist in the recruitment of new talent. Embarking on mini-tours to regional basketball hotspots to acclimatise before intense competitions should become routine. Sports psychology modules can also foster motivation, mental toughness and contingency planning.
Having hit rock bottom in Tunisia, Nigerian basketball possesses immense scope for redemption. The trauma of defeat has generated an appetite for introspection on why administrative failings contributed to that sporting catastrophe. The necessary roadmap now exists for how resuscitating structures and processes can transform prospects.
In truth, revamping deeply embedded governance deficits and financial systems will require political courage and technical competence. Similarly creative tensions shall mark healing long festering player-administration relationships and building coaching leadership credentials. Still, the dream of recapturing Nigeria’s African dominance should be a powerful enough incentive to persevere.
With a coordinated strategy for developing talent, motivation and team cohesion on a sustainable basis, D’Tigers can recapture former glories. The existential rollercoaster should prod urgent revivalist steps while envisioning the giant strides required to forge ahead with the necessary motivation to recover from the disappointment of this qualifier window. Approached strategically, the rocky ride to Afrobasket 2025 will become a launch-pad to even more concurrent success.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
