by Olusegun Ikuesan)
Nigeria ended its campaign at the 25th edition of the FIBA Africa Championship for Men (Africa Cup of Nations) in a not too impressive note finishing a distance fifth in a pool of sixteen teams with seven wins and two loses thus missing out on the roll call of teams that will be at the 2010 FIBA World Championship (World Cup) in Turkey.
The lose that was most painful among the two games the country senior men national team, DTigers lost was the quarter-final 84-80 points loss to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon who themselves were bundled out of the race for Turkey by Cote dIvoire in the semi-final and Tunisia in the third place game.
Basking in her impressive performance at the first round and Final-Eight-Round at the Benghazi centre of the Libya 2009 Afrobasket the Nigerian side coached by the trio of John Harding Lucas-II, Sani Ahmed and Masai Ujiri with great confidence.
The team flew out to Tripoli a day before its quarter-final outing against the Cameroon side who were runners-up in the 2007 edition held in Angola beaming with great confidence giving the Cameroonian little chances to stop DTigers from roaring while thinking of the better side between Cote dIvoire and Senegal it likely semi-final opponent but all that became history as the Cameroonian stood their ground and stopped the over-confidence Nigerian side.
One player who looked most disappointed in the Nigeria campaign was enterprising guard, Michael Efevberha who could not hide his disappointment of the team outing pleaded with the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and handlers of the senior team to always go for players who are ready to give their all at all time.
The Wellington Saints basketball club of New Zealand guard who was one of the most outstanding players on the Nigeria line-up fall short of naming some of his colleague he accused of not being fully committed to the course of the national team at the championship.
Efevberha born of a Nigerian father and an American mother have committed his future to his fatherland promising to always honour a national call-up.
The 25 year-old Nigerian was one of the leading scorer at the championship averaging 17.4 points per-game and was voted in the championship third best team of the championship, however, pleaded that the NBBF should not do away with the entire team but calls for integration of new players who will take the issue of national assignment as a task that must be given their total commitment as it is the only road to success.
Efevberha who might be joining a top French side in the 2009/2010 season thanked the NBBF and handlers of DTigers for offering him an opportunity to be part of the countrys campaign at Africa biggest basketball showpiece.
I am happy to be called-up to represent my fatherland but I want to plead with the Nigeria basketball authority and handlers of the national team to always go for players who will be more committed and ready to give their hundred percent performances in all games at every championship the country entered.
I feel okay with my performance and I know that my parents especially my dad are proud of me but I am sad that we will miss out in Turkey when the best teams and players converge for the world biggest basketball championship next year and I feel pained that our good run in the run-up to the quarter-final was truncated by Cameroon not because they are better than us, one thing I also know is that Nigeria will bounce back to take it rightful place in the comity of basketball playing nation of the world.