Alan Major, an American tactician who coached Rwandan outfit Patriots Basketball Club during the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) in 2021 returns to the country as coach of the Nigerian national basketball team that will be participating in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. The Nigeria Basketball Federation on Tuesday released a 12-man roster for the showpiece that will take place in Kigali from July 1-3, and announced that the team will be coached by Alan Major, assisted by Ogoh Odaudu. The team is made up of Ikenna Ndugba (Greensboro Swarm, NBA G League), Uchenna Iroegbu, Michael Okiki (Gombe Bulls), Ben Emelogu (Rouen Metropolitan, France), Michael Oriakhi (Rivers Hoopers), Michael Gbinijie (Santa Cruz Warriors, NBA G League) and Ibe Agu (Customs, Abuja). Other players on the list are Chimezie Metu (Sacramento Kings), Victor Koko (Rivers Hoopers), Christian Mekowolu (Casademont Zaragoza, Spain), TK Edogi (Kolin, Czech Republic) and Emmanuel Omogbo (H.Izrael, Israel). Currently ranked first in Africa, Nigeria will open its campaign against Cape Verde on Friday, 1 July before taking on Mali on Saturday. The last game will be against Uganda on Sunday, 3 July at the BK arena. Nigeria sits atop group A with five points from three games. During this window, 16 teams will compete for the second leg of matches earlier decided in November 2021 and March 2022. The top three teams from each group will advance to the second round where each team will play six games. The two top teams in each group, along with the best third-placed team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
