₦airaland Forum

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...

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

No Uche and Gabby is very bad.

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

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.

BascoVanVeli:
No Uche and Gabby is very bad.

Hmn. I can't really explain why one of them did not make the final roster. Gabby White was outstanding during the friendly games with the WNBA teams. Personally, I believe Izoje has age on her side and should continue to develop in the Collegiate basketball system. Izoje is a future D'tigress player. Gabby should have made this roster to Berlin. More light should be thrown on why she did not make the team.

Redman44:
Hmn. I can't really explain why one of them did not make the final roster. Gabby White was outstanding during the friendly games with the WNBA teams. Personally, I believe Izoje has age on her side and should continue to develop in the Collegiate basketball system. Izoje is a future D'tigress player. Gabby should have made this roster to Berlin. More light should be thrown on why she did not make the team.

She left the camp a long time ago and was quite frankly unimpressive the few games she played before she left.

I think the reason for herself and Uche's absence is likely due to their college commitments.

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.

lovewins:
She left the camp a long time ago and was quite frankly unimpressive the few games she played before she left.

I think the reason for herself and Uche's absence is likely due to their college commitments.

She's still better than that Stanford chick any day of the week nah.

BascoVanVeli:
She's still better than that Stanford chick any day of the week nah.

I don't disagree o. My point is she was out of consideration weeks ago.

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 ? @ PDPGuy etc. Cheers 🏀🏀🏀.

Frankly, I’m not shocked by Ejiofor’s omission after she only got a combined 10 minutes of action at both the last Afrobasket and WC qualifying tournament. She has the potential to be a decent post player for the team, but still needs to refine her game

Roster from FIBA website..

carbonado:
Roster from FIBA website..

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

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....

carbonado:
Roster from FIBA website..

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

Tomorrow against Korea, I hope we dominate in the paint



We have the height advantage, although the Koreans are better shooters..

Danielnino00:
Tomorrow against Korea, I hope we dominate in the paint



We have the height advantage, although the Koreans are better shooters..

We should work hard to defeat Korea and Hungary. Against France, we will be playing against a very experienced team that is also stacked with ballers. Our opponents are not easy at all. Beating Korea and Hungary is very possible.

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

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....

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..

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...

If you’re in United States, here’s TNT’s (and family of networks) full women’s World Cup schedule..

[https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/tnt-sports/tnt-sports-present-exclusive-wall-wall-coverage-fiba-womens-basketball-world-cup-2026]

carbonado:
.....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..

I agree that Rita might likely not start. But her starting the game would lead to a historic moment

carbonado:
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...

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

The first two games of the women’s World Cup tip off, tomorrow, at 10:30am WAT, as Mali will square up against Japan, and Australia take on Puerto Rico🇵🇷
Later on the same day, defending champions, the 🇺🇸 take on China PR at 1:15pm WAT; whilst our beloved D’Tigress will face South Korea at 1:30pm WAT

carbonado:
...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....

🚨 BREAKING!

Shay Ijiwoye’s World Cup situation stems from administrative lapses that were avoidable, sources tell me.

Ijiwoye was initially unveiled as part of D’Tigress’ FIBA Women’s World Cup roster, but issues surrounding her eligibility documentation ultimately prevented her from being cleared.

Her school has since confirmed that the Stanford guard will miss the World Cup due to FIBA ineligibility. Ijiwoye is currently in Germany and will remain with the team in a support capacity.

Maryam Dauda was subsequently listed in her place on FIBA’s official roster.

#ballchatwithkenny

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..

Redman44:
We should work hard to defeat Korea and Hungary. Against France, we will be playing against a very experienced team that is also stacked with ballers. Our opponents are not easy at all. Beating Korea and Hungary is very possible.

France are favourites to win that group, so we definitely need to beat Korea and Hungary.. both sides are very beatable

carbonado:
.....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..

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

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

...Yup...

But FIBA didn’t try o. Why did they have to make the qualification route to the quarterfinals unnecessarily complicated? 🤷🏾‍♂️

It should have just been the top 2 in each group to automatically advance. Yes, FIBA Africa also need to ditch the format as well.

Nigeria has to be intentional concerning basketball going forward. It seems Northern and South West Nigeria does not realize their potentials when it comes to height and basketball. What are we doing with all these tall Fulani and Hausa girls in the North? There are also many tall girls from minority tribes in Northern Nigeria. Why is basketball not being introduced into their schools? If we are looking for tall D'tigress players, then we have to start from now by creating a pipeline that starts from our secondary schools basketball courts into many leagues created for youth basketball to the American collegiate basketball system ( where these tall girls can be refined ) and to the W or European Leagues.

There are many tall Yoruba girls in secondary schools in the Southwest who are not into any Sports at all. Is the NBBF taking basketball into Secondary schools in the deep south Western Nigeria 🏀🏀? I am talking about setting up basketball programs in places like Ikare Akoko ( Ondo State ), Oke Ogun ( Oyo State ), ikire ( Osun State ), Odosenlu, Odo Kalaba, ilu titun, Ago Iwoye ( Ogun State ) etc. We have tall agile girls and boys in these small towns and villages who are not engaged in any sports in a serious manner except in the normal inter-house sports athletics races. What are we doing about these talents ? Are we saying there are no Corporate bodies that can fund these basketball programs ? Cheers.

The Nigerian Basketball Federation ( NBBF ) should set up Children's and teenagers basketball development offices in every Nigerian State for starters. If planned well, secondary schools can house these NBBF development offices and facilities ( our public secondary schools have a lot of space and unused land ). Then, the NBBF can seek corporate sponsorships for Leagues and Mini Leagues in our inner towns and rural areas. If we don't embed basketball skills into children and teenagers in secondary schools and create several leagues for them to develop their talents, we cannot compete with the USA, Spain, France, Belgium, Japan etc internationally 🏀🏀🏀🇳🇬.