Rivers Hoopers head coach, Ogoh Odaudu says FIBA Africa Basketball League (FIBAABL) will be tough for his team following Saturday’s draw in Abidjan.
Hoopers were drawn against continental champions AS Sale of Morocco, Tunisia’s JKS Kairouan, and S.L.A.C of Guinea in Group A of the FIBA Africa Basketball League.
Speaking to ACLSports.com, Odaudu admitted his team would face a huge task in their quest to pick one of the two slots from their group.
“It’s not an easy group we have the defending champions, one of the teams that won it recently and another northern side from Tunisia in the group. It’s not easy playing against these northern sides. You know they are very difficult to play. The other team (SLAC) is their first time playing on the continent. We are going to put our act together and grab one of the slots from that group,” said Odaudu.
The games will be played in a round robin format from February 8 – March 10 across different African cities. Window 1 will be played between February 8-10, Window 2 (February 15-17), Window 3 (March 1-3) while Window 4 will hold from March 8-10.
Al Ahly of Egypt will host Group C games in the first window between February 8-10 while other venues are yet to be decided by FIBA Africa.
The D’Tigers assistant coach believes they have enough time to prepare for the big task ahead.
“We have a full month to prepare as games begin next month. We will start preparing from now and I don’t think it’s going to be too short for us . I think we would have ample time if we start now to get ready.”
Rivers Hoopers have to finish among the top two teams in Group A to advance to the Elite 8 of the maiden edition of the FIBA Africa Basketball League.
The Elite 8 will be further divided into 4 groups of 2 teams and games will be played in a home and away format. Winners from each group will go on to play the finals in May.
