The Nigerian Men’s Basketball team, D’Tigers, are currently in a quest to navigate a tough last round of the FIBA World Cup qualification and have started the job on a winning note.
D’Tigers defeated group leaders Ivory Coast 72-63 with a team of mostly home based players, and they are looking set to repeat the same against Guinea, when they clash later today.
Reacting to the team’s chances of picking up a World Cup ticket, NBBF president Musa Kida believes D’Tigers are still in contention via a non-playing route to the FIBA World Cup.
However, Kwara Falcons PG Tolani Buhari is of the opinion that it will be unfair to the local talents if the team qualifies and many are dropped in favour of Foreign based players.
Buhari believes that if the team qualifies, then it’ll be just to ensure the roster is a mix of home and foreign based players.
“I believe it will be unfair if the team qualifies for the World Cup with the home based players, and they’re dropped from the final roster,” he told BRL.
“I’d understand if players are drafted to the roster; some Nigerians play in the NBA, but all players should be given their opportunity to rise. We should have a mixture of both home and foreign based players.”
“When I say mixture I don’t mean two or three, I’m talking about six-six; a solid mixture of both.
“We are in Nigeria, we have not been playing many games and getting enough experience. So, even if we lose this tournament I believe the experience means something to the players that represented us, and that will mean a lot to the growth of the game in Nigeria.”
