The AfroBasket 2015 wild cards go to…

SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - At first glance, picking the three wild cards to round out the 16-team AfroBasket 2015, should be a simple and easy task.

But it is not, because of African basketball's own political, economic and cultural peculiarities.

FIBA Africa should have announced the countries that would receive the wild cards last month, but will only conclude the selection process in the coming days, before the end of April.

Seven national teams including Algeria, Central African Republic, Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa and Rwanda have applied for the three tickets on offer to Africa's most prestigious basketball, which will take place in Nabeul and Tunis, Tunisia from 19 to 30 August.

If I was given the chance to choose the three wild cards, I would have considered, primarily, the competitive level of the teams as well as the popularity and development of the game in those countries. Of course, none of this makes sense without funding.

From the competitive standpoint and based on their recent performances, I would select Senegal, Algeria and Rwanda.

From the development and popularity of the game standpoint, I would give my vote to Algeria (again), South Africa (for their impressive commitment to the game in recent years) and would love to see how much progress the Republic of Congo would make before hosting the 2015 All-African Games in September.

There is a reason I would not pick the Central African Republic (CAF) though.

Since CAF won the African Championship in 1987 with a fantastic generation of players, which included Fred Goporo, Anicet Lavodrama and Eugene Peleuma, they have never been the same again, and continue to struggle year after year. Two naturalised players Tony White (2013) and James Mays (2011) have not been enough to to spark CAF.

They have a number of talented players such as Michael Mokongo, Max Kouguere and Johan Grebongo, but perhaps at this time, they should regroup and restart again.

Guinea lost both Zone 2 qualifier games against Cape Verde in February, and may need to keep to re-work too.

But, as I mentioned earlier in this column, African basketball is complex, and I would only pick Senegal if they were able to bring at least half of the team that competed at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup to give AfroBasket 2015 something to look forward to.

Who would not like to see Senegalese Mouhammad Faye, Gorgui Dieng and Maleye Ndoye coming up against the likes of Tunisians Salah Mejri, Makrem Ben Romdhane and Rzig Amine?

It would be an excellent publicity for the basketball game on the African continent given the quality of players involved.

Then, some might argue that only talented foreign-based Senegalese players do not reflect the entire Senegal basketball, which also includes locally-based. That is a fair argument too. And that’s one of the reasons why Senegal basketball is as complex.

With so many talented players at their disposal, Senegal should not be bidding for a AfroBasket wild card for the second time since 2009.

Imagine Senegal get a wild card, then win the African Championship and qualify automatically for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

As much as I try to figure out what the future holds for Senegal basketball, I honestly can't. After all, it has been a few years now since Senegal youth national teams as well as local clubs withdrew from the continental tournaments and nothing new has happened.

I would select Algeria unconditionally. Regardless of their foreign-based players or not, Algeria can compete.

A couple of months ago, Algeria upset Morocco in the first-leg of the qualifier in front of their fans, but they came up short in the second-leg played on Morocco soil.

Nevertheless, it should be interesting to see how Rwanda evolved after breaking out with a number of naturalised players who represented the country in previous AfroBasket tournaments.

At AfroBasket 2013, Rwandans Olivier Shyaka, Patrice Twagirayezu and Cameron Bradley gave their fans hope of progression.

Since AfroBasket became a 16-team event in 2007, five countries, including Senegal (2009), Egypt (2011) South Africa (2009 and 2011), Mali and Rwanda (both 2013) received an invitation to join the AfroBasket elite.

Eventually my vote would go to Algeria, Senegal and the Republic of Congo.

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

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