D’Tigress could reach the final of the Women’s AfroBasket tournament in Rwanda, but the odds are stacked against the defending champions, Basketball Expert and Rivers Hoopers’ media Manager Queen John-Moseph has predicted.

Surrounded by controversies, D’Tigress go into the tournament hoping to secure a fourth consecutive trophy in what has been a thorough domination of the continent.

However, hopes of achieving the feat appear unrealistic solely based on the composition of the roster – with its stars.

With a month to the tournament, the NBBF called for an open camp, commissioning tryouts across three centers – in the US, Abuja and Lagos.

The Governing also only recently appointed a new head coach, Rena Wakama, following the resignation of Otis Hughley Otis Jr.

Queen, however, believes that the “Nigerian factor” could spur the team on even amidst the myriad of problems.

“If I want to be realistic, deep down I have this belief that they will get to the final,” she told BRL.

“There is this Nigerian factor that spurs us on to victory, even in 2017, we still had a new coach then. Yes, it was not an open trial and we had like 29 players in camp altogether reduced to 12, but at least we were able to build those 12 ahead of the AfroBasket and they grew in the tournament and even won that tournament.”