₦airaland Forum

carbonado:
Japan finding it hard to adjust to Malis physicality....

..wrong thread...

Half time: Mali 52 : Jpn 48...

Japan finding it hard to adjust to Malis physicality....

Mali Up to a good start against Japan..hope they can sustain it...

Danielnino00:
Starting 5 is likely going to be:
Amukamara
Kalu
Musa
Okonkwo
Pallas/Macaulay

...Yup...

PDPGuy:
Omo, it’s going to be a tall order to beat Germany or Japan, in order to qualify for the quarterfinals (if we don’t win the group).
Can we beat France? Yes, but D’Tigress would have to play their best game in 2 years to achieve that feat

..Real tall order, there is also Spain in that group..

Serious Wahala dey o.....it is Afrobasket format, where the top team in a group, goes to the quarter final and the 2nd and 3rd team in group B cross with group A 2nd and 3rd team(Teams in group A includes Japan, Germany, Spain and Mali). So you could win 2 games in your group and still not qualify for quarter finals, the last team in a group are eliminated and goes on to play classification games. It is about to be brutal...

PDPGuy:
D’Tigress 🇳🇬 could make history at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

Nigeria could become the first African nation to start five players who have played in the WNBA in a World Cup game.🏀🌍

🇳🇬 Ezinne Kalu
🇳🇬 Elizabeth Balogun
🇳🇬 Victoria Macaulay
🇳🇬 Amy Okonkwo
🇳🇬 Rita Igbokwe

.....i don't think the starting 5 will be like this though...although, Rita has size, would you start her over Pallas or Musa, especially being her first competitive cap...Maybe Rene will go that route, maybe not...I am guessing Rita and Elizabeth wont be in the starting 5..

lovewins:
This post from Stanford WBB page confirms Shay has indeed been replaced by Dauda. Curious as to what the Eligibility Technicality is.

...see how Stanford is updating peeps about what is going on,while N.B.B.F is dead silent, what a shame....a whole federation....

Redman44:
Shay Ijiwoye has been dropped then 😎. Looks like your sources are correct @ Carbonado.

..they have still not made an official statement about it, however, knowing.. NBBF, do not expect it, also, i am wondering how Shay would be feeling now, why the mix up, despite announcing the roster at the 11th hour....

Roster from FIBA website..

lovewins:
I know it's not confirmed but not mad at it if that's the case quite frankly. I loved her efforts on defense at our last game with China. She hasn't really had the opportunity play a lot of minutes since her move to South Carolina, but a big who trained under the dawn Stanley system is an addition in my book.

Also we significantly lack height on our roster and at 6'4 she'll help significantly on both ends of the floor. Like they say you can't teach height.

....we need size at the world stage....Maryam is decent, gives more depth and size at the post position, Pallas, Musa, Vicky Maryam, Rita.

Danielnino00:
🚨 BREAKING: D’TIGRESS ROSTER UPDATE 🇳🇬🏀

Here is the latest 12-player roster for Nigeria’s D’Tigress ahead of the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Germany.

🇳🇬 Promise Amukamara
🇳🇬 Jordan Obi
🇳🇬 Elizabeth Balogun
🇳🇬 Musa Murjanatu
🇳🇬 Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah
🇳🇬 Rita Igbokwe
🇳🇬 Victoria Macaulay
🇳🇬 Ezinne Kalu
🇳🇬 Shay Ijiwoye
🇳🇬 Nicole Enabosi
🇳🇬 Amy Okonkwo
🇳🇬 Grace Efosa

12 players. One mission. 🇳🇬🔥

#DTigress #NigeriaBasketball #fibawwc

...peeps are speculating that Shay has been dropped for Maryam Dauda...

Redman44:
Blessing Ejiofor and Ifunanya Okoro did not make the roster. I have not been impressed with Ejiofor 's game for a long time. So I am not surprised she did not make the cut. Okoro on the other hand is not a bad player. I did not really see her in camp. I have not watched the friendly games against China, Belgium, Spain , Puerto Rico. Did Ifunanya Okoro play in the games I have just mentioned ? @ lovewins, @ Carbonado, @ Danielnino, @ PDPGuy etc. Cheers 🏀🏀🏀.

..I have not been a fan of Blessing for the longest, she is suppose to be a big/power forward, however, i have not seen her do any post plays, let say because of her body type, she does not like to back down players, fine, then be a stretch 4/5 and play like Victoria Macaulay, as the game has evolved, giving more room for flexibility for bigs to be able to shoot and all...I think Rita took Blessings spot, i think Rita is decent, i have seen her show decent low post moves, and i think she is still young, so there should still be more upside. I do not remember seeing Ifunanaya in camp too...

PDPGuy:
Formidable roster right there, but I’m surprised by that Gabby White was dropped! She is one PG that I thought, based on her performances in the various friendlies, that would make the plane to Germany.

...Are you sure she was dropped, or she excused herself....she had a decent showing during the exhibition games

lovewins:
No. Cause the reverse implication is that lack of playing time is testament of how bad you are. I'm not in any way discounting Oluchi's accomplishment in college particularly in her first 2 years,, my point however is that last year was the differentiator for her.

......the reverse does not necessarily mean that the player is bad, it just mean, there are better players on your team, hence, why some transfer, you still cant compare their freshaman stats and sophomore stats....to Oluchi...hopefully they produce better this season, however Ezike has not passed the eye test for me..

lovewins:
Chai this man, how can you highlight a one stat as a retort? Averages are what matters as it gives a broader perspective about a player's performance throughout the season. Shay had double digits game last season but doesn't mean she had a fantastic season.

And yes, I meant Oluchi has never played below 20 minutes per game since her freshman year. As a matter of fact are average minutes over her first 3 years is 23.5 MPG

....okay, i get you now, however, is playing time not a testament to how good you are, maybe not always, but most of the time, even, if you do not start, you will still get significant time...i am rooting for them, i am just stating what i see now.

.apparently, we have been having baskeball discussion since like forever, see me telling you about Oluchi in her freshman year....

carbonado:
....I am including the old and new, i honestly believe part of the old set will get their callup now, i have been following Kiki and the Stanford squad all season long,however she will not get that call up yet, as qualifiers will clash with NCAA being on,i do believe if we qualify for Olympics proper, she will get her call up, there is another Nigeria in stanford, Nunu Ogara i thinks is her name, also stanford is also suppose to get another Nigerian freshman next season who is a guard. Kiki is really impressive, she plays like Nneka Ogwumike, also there is a freshman guard in Duke, Chioma Okanawan, she plays really really hard, my kind of high energy player. Anyway, as regards the leagues being on, Amy plays in France(Landerneu), Nicole in France too(Toulouse, i hope i got the spelling right), Lauren Ebo plays in Turkey(Balediyespor Tugutlu or sometime like that), Adeyeye also plays in france, Musa also is overseas at the moment, i think europe, could not get the name of the club, her highlights came into y feed a few days ago on instagram, Ezinne in Italy(Oxygen Roma or something like that), Promise and VIctoria play in Russia. Pallas is also in either italy of france, not too sure where, I also feel Micheala will get her call up this time, i think she plays her wnba off season basket in one turkish team.... i also wish they can release the squad list on time.

.....

lovewins:
You're making conclusions based on a small data set. First the reason we are taking about Oluchi like we are today is because she's had significantly more minutes than both players combined and her elevated role in her team last season. Oluchi has averaged 20+ minutes her entire college career and it wasn't until last year (her junior year) she really balled out. Nora Ezike is just entering her Sophomore year (averaged 4mins last season) while Shay is entering her junior year so it remains to be seen how they'll navigate this and the potential outcome from them this season.

Remember no one in their wildest imagination would have thought Kiki Iriafen will be the player she is today just based off her first 2 years in college. She wasn't even on any potential mock draft board by the end of her Sophomore year. She averaged 6 minutes in her first year and 12 in her second with an average of 5.5 PPG in her first 2 years. Everything however changed in her junior year when she got more playing time and a more pivotal role in Stanford.

..i dont understand this statement, do you mean 20mins per game or 20 mins in entirety of her college career? player that had a double double in her first college game.

lovewins:
You're making conclusions based on a small data set. First the reason we are taking about Oluchi like we are today is because she's had significantly more minutes than both players combined and her elevated role in her team last season. Oluchi has averaged 20+ minutes her entire college career and it wasn't until last year (her junior year) she really balled out. Nora Ezike is just entering her Sophomore year (averaged 4mins last season) while Shay is entering her junior year so it remains to be seen how they'll navigate this and the potential outcome from them this season.

Remember no one in their wildest imagination would have thought Kiki Iriafen will be the player she is today just based off her first 2 years in college. She wasn't even on any potential mock draft board by the end of her Sophomore year. She averaged 6 minutes in her first year and 12 in her second with an average of 5.5 PPG in her first 2 years. Everything however changed in her junior year when she got more playing time and a more pivotal role in Stanford.

...Oluchi has been balling out since her freshman Duke days, you probably did not know her, or follow her, i did, i followed her since then , she came from the bench to really did damage, it was like the case of fulwiley at south carolina....she was good enough as a starter but Kara prefered her as the leader of the second unit...

lovewins:
Again mute point. Half of the Spanish roster don't play in Spain. 5 play in the WNBA and 1 in Russia and all were just released days ago. Worthy of note is the fact that the 5 players in question are their best players so even if he hypothetically fan training with the other players he was still without his best players so what's the point?

Also the Kara point is also mute. Have you forgotten that Kara couldn't participate in the World cup qualifying series that held a few months ago in Puerto Rico? She only coached the first game I think and had to leave to face her college job with Duke. Her assistants had to take over her role as had coach throughout that tournament. Isn't that the same thing you're complaining about?

..how did you jump from coaches availability to players avalability....we were just talking about you saying the best teams use the same model, you jumped from coaches availabity to players availability, as regards Spain, the only time it wont matter if the coach had the remaining players in camp, is if they wont step on the hard wood...

lovewins:
USA: Kara Lawson, current coach of Duke WBB

Germany: Olaf Lange current assistant coach of the Toronto Tempo. Important to note that the host nation uses same arrangement.

Australia: Paul Gorris is coach of the Canberra Capitals in the WNBL.
Fun fact also is that Olaf's wife (Germany' coach) Sandy Brondello was until recently the coach of Australia for 5+ years and she held a WNBA head coaching job throughout this period.

Spain:: Miguel Méndez Martínez has been coach of Spain since 2021 and through that period has held coaching jobs with several teams including UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia, Virtus Bologna in Italy and Fenerbahçe in Turkey.

Nigeria: Rena Wakama assistant coach of the Chicago Sky

...nice one, remove the Spanish coach as my point is very specific to wnba , not other leagues, why?because it overlaps tournaments, which means, there is limited time to prepare your players, any other league, N.C.A.A is fine.....Even Kara is with Duke and not a Wnba team

lovewins:
How did you miss the important point I made I glossed over like an aside. Baba, I don't know you to read to respond but it appears that's what you're doing now. The US can afford to assemble 4 days to the competition because they've had at least 2 prior training camps where the players being considered already know the system of the coach and the plan they intend to execute. They had one in December 2025 and another April this year. The same head coach took a team of 100% college players to the last Americup. So no it's not just talent, they have a system that allows them execute this properly and Nigeria can take a que from the same.

...lets die this matter as everyone is stuck with his own opinion of it......you have you own opinion of how things should be, i have mine....

I repeat again, i am not a fan of such model, will never be....If the coach had another job, like a college team, fine and good, that will not clash with international window, but having to get to camp 4 days to go as a head coach is not good enough for me, what time do you have to teach you players how to execute the different plays you have before tournaments starts. Also note, college coaches earn well, if not more than the wnba coaches.

lovewins:
That's just one out of 6 names I mentioned. Every other name I listed was either very important to their team or a key part of their rotation at the material time.

...there is no player that you named that is a franchise player.....or even the second option..

lovewins:
Using the power ranking of the 2026 World cup at least 5 of the 10 top teams use this arrangement. That's 50%.

,,,which atleast 5 teams are those of the top 10, i want to learn.

As far as i am concerned, i do not like the model....how do you get to camp 4 days to start a serious competition and expect that it will be enough time to teach your players how best to execute plays e.t.c especially, when integrating younger players, it will work perfectly for the likes of the U.S because all their players play in the W and all their players knows the plays to run per time, and quite frankly, if they came to the world cup without a coach, they probably would still win the competition, cant say the same for us, you have to run some plays over and over and over again for players to get it. know where is the time to do that..

@lovewins ...you claim the best teams in the world use the same model, so, these are the best teams in the world, how many of these teams use that model...probable 3 or 4 ....

lovewins:
I think my overarching point is that having a great coach comes with the trade off of having one with a full time job. There's no great coach in basketball right now who doesn't already have a job. The names you highlighted are local coaches and Otis when he was basically building his profile. The Nigerian job was the pedestal he rides on now to get other jobs. So except you're advocating for local coach or a coach without pedigree, we'll have to make do with part time coaches as this comes with the territory.

You also claimed it's not the best, and didn't show proof for why that is. The facts says otherwise because the best teams in the world use the same model you seem to think isn't the best. Worthy of note also is that we all want our players to play with top teams at the top Leagues in the world. So there's an hypothetical situation where the vast majority of Nigerian players will be playing in the WNBA. If that were the case this wouldn't be an issue cause all of our players wouldn't even be available for those scrimmages talk less then coach. The problem isn't Coach Rena's side job, we just need to be better at effectively planning our camps. The US for examples have 3 training camps every year where they invite players being considered for their roster. These camps happen whether or not there is a competition. This helps players to learn the system of the coach and it is something I think we can adopt particularly because most if not all of our players will be coming mostly from the US College system moving forward

The alternative is to hire a coach and completely fund them and the NBBF quite frankly cannot afford that. An average WNBA assistant coach for instance earns in 6 figures, the NBBF cannot afford that.

On player availability, again I'll rather not speak to something we don't have full details on. You're making assumptions and making commentary based on your assumptions. Players leaving their WNBA teams to participate in continental events isn't unusual. As a matter of fact it's common place. Kamilla Cardoso and Dimaris Dantas left their WNBA teams in the midst of the season to participate in the 2025 Americup. Temi Fagbenle, Leonie Feibich and Luisa Geiselsöder also left their WNBA teams to participate in the 2025 Eurocup. Sika Kone has always participated in the Afrobasket despite consistently being on a WNBA team the last 5 years or so. The squad list for all teams isn't out yet, but I can guarantee you it will contain significant numbers of of players in the US college system.

My point is, this is fresh waters for some of these players. The World Cup is always a prestigious tournament and no professional will intentionally miss it. There could be extenuating circumstances that has informed some of the exclusions we are going to experience. Of course I'm not ruling out some college coaches requesting for some players to be excluded but I'm almost convinced that is the case for the vast majority. Nora Ezike, Shay Ijiwoye and Maryam Dauda all play for top programs in the US, programs bigger than any of the other players currently in college (Stanford and South Carolina) and they've been a part of the entire training camp and could potentially make the team. I believe there are other circumstances that has led to the absences we are experiencing and until we know more we should give the benefit of doubt.

....Sika Kone was not an integral part of her Wnba team......it is different being a key player and being a player.

lovewins:
I think my overarching point is that having a great coach comes with the trade off of having one with a full time job. There's no great coach in basketball right now who doesn't already have a job. The names you highlighted are local coaches and Otis when he was basically building his profile. The Nigerian job was the pedestal he rides on now to get other jobs. So except you're advocating for local coach or a coach without pedigree, we'll have to make do with part time coaches as this comes with the territory.

You also claimed it's not the best, and didn't show proof for why that is. The facts says otherwise because the best teams in the world use the same model you seem to think isn't the best. Worthy of note also is that we all want our players to play with top teams at the top Leagues in the world. So there's an hypothetical situation where the vast majority of Nigerian players will be playing in the WNBA. If that were the case this wouldn't be an issue cause all of our players wouldn't even be available for those scrimmages talk less then coach. The problem isn't Coach Rena's side job, we just need to be better at effectively planning our camps. The US for examples have 3 training camps every year where they invite players being considered for their roster. These camps happen whether or not there is a competition. This helps players to learn the system of the coach and it is something I think we can adopt particularly because most if not all of our players will be coming mostly from the US College system moving forward

The alternative is to hire a coach and completely fund them and the NBBF quite frankly cannot afford that. An average WNBA assistant coach for instance earns in 6 figures, the NBBF cannot afford that.

On player availability, again I'll rather not speak to something we don't have full details on. You're making assumptions and making commentary based on your assumptions. Players leaving their WNBA teams to participate in continental events isn't unusual. As a matter of fact it's common place. Kamilla Cardoso and Dimaris Dantas left their WNBA teams in the midst of the season to participate in the 2025 Americup. Temi Fagbenle, Leonie Feibich and Luisa Geiselsöder also left their WNBA teams to participate in the 2025 Eurocup. Sika Kone has always participated in the Afrobasket despite consistently being on a WNBA team the last 5 years or so. The squad list for all teams isn't out yet, but I can guarantee you it will contain significant numbers of of players in the US college system.

My point is, this is fresh waters for some of these players. The World Cup is always a prestigious tournament and no professional will intentionally miss it. There could be extenuating circumstances that has informed some of the exclusions we are going to experience. Of course I'm not ruling out some college coaches requesting for some players to be excluded but I'm almost convinced that is the case for the vast majority. Nora Ezike, Shay Ijiwoye and Maryam Dauda all play for top programs in the US, programs bigger than any of the other players currently in college (Stanford and South Carolina) and they've been a part of the entire training camp and could potentially make the team. I believe there are other circumstances that has led to the absences we are experiencing and until we know more we should give the benefit of doubt.

...Nora and Shaj are not in the same class as Oluchi, we talking of players that will potentially make Wnba, not just in a school team...

lovewins:
I think my overarching point is that having a great coach comes with the trade off of having one with a full time job. There's no great coach in basketball right now who doesn't already have a job. The names you highlighted are local coaches and Otis when he was basically building his profile. The Nigerian job was the pedestal he rides on now to get other jobs. So except you're advocating for local coach or a coach without pedigree, we'll have to make do with part time coaches as this comes with the territory.

You also claimed it's not the best, and didn't show proof for why that is. The facts says otherwise because the best teams in the world use the same model you seem to think isn't the best. Worthy of note also is that we all want our players to play with top teams at the top Leagues in the world. So there's an hypothetical situation where the vast majority of Nigerian players will be playing in the WNBA. If that were the case this wouldn't be an issue cause all of our players wouldn't even be available for those scrimmages talk less then coach. The problem isn't Coach Rena's side job, we just need to be better at effectively planning our camps. The US for examples have 3 training camps every year where they invite players being considered for their roster. These camps happen whether or not there is a competition. This helps players to learn the system of the coach and it is something I think we can adopt particularly because most if not all of our players will be coming mostly from the US College system moving forward

The alternative is to hire a coach and completely fund them and the NBBF quite frankly cannot afford that. An average WNBA assistant coach for instance earns in 6 figures, the NBBF cannot afford that.

On player availability, again I'll rather not speak to something we don't have full details on. You're making assumptions and making commentary based on your assumptions. Players leaving their WNBA teams to participate in continental events isn't unusual. As a matter of fact it's common place. Kamilla Cardoso and Dimaris Dantas left their WNBA teams in the midst of the season to participate in the 2025 Americup. Temi Fagbenle, Leonie Feibich and Luisa Geiselsöder also left their WNBA teams to participate in the 2025 Eurocup. Sika Kone has always participated in the Afrobasket despite consistently being on a WNBA team the last 5 years or so. The squad list for all teams isn't out yet, but I can guarantee you it will contain significant numbers of of players in the US college system.

My point is, this is fresh waters for some of these players. The World Cup is always a prestigious tournament and no professional will intentionally miss it. There could be extenuating circumstances that has informed some of the exclusions we are going to experience. Of course I'm not ruling out some college coaches requesting for some players to be excluded but I'm almost convinced that is the case for the vast majority. Nora Ezike, Shay Ijiwoye and Maryam Dauda all play for top programs in the US, programs bigger than any of the other players currently in college (Stanford and South Carolina) and they've been a part of the entire training camp and could potentially make the team. I believe there are other circumstances that has led to the absences we are experiencing and until we know more we should give the benefit of doubt.

Sam Vincent and Otis Hugley local coaches? you might have to google who Sam Vincent is, former NBA player, Of the 10 best teams in the world, count out how many us the model, let see....since you claim all the best teams in the world us this model.