RIGA (Latvia) - Just like Georgia, Montenegro, and Latvia, three of the total six national teams set to participate in this year's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Cameroon has been living one of the happiest moments in the country's history, basketball-wise. The Indomitable Lions are ready to “take over the world” this summer.
The Roster
Cameroon has been preparing for the most important event of the summer directly in the Baltic country, promisingly getting a first friendly game win over Egypt. However, the national federation announced a major absence in Latvia.
Pascal Siakam won't be able to join the team despite being included in the preliminary roster announced earlier. Without the Indiana Pacers' forward on board, the vast majority of the spotlight will go on Jeremiah Hill, protagonist of the Indomitable Lions' run last year in Lagos, Nigeria.
After joining the national team in the latest window of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers, he shone by almost averaging a double-double with 18.3 points and 9.3 assists per game in the Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament.
"We enjoyed every moment because we will not play together forever. We have grown from the World Cup qualifiers to the point that got us to where we are headed. So the looks on our faces in the end and all our joy... It was pure happiness", he said recalling his team's satisfaction after dropping 11 points and 14 assists in the decisive do-or-die encounter against Senegal.
Qualifying for the Olympic Games would be the icing on the cake for the 33-year-old captain Fabian Ateba, who showed against the Egyptian national team to be ready and clear for the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. His sharpshooting ability will be crucial.
The athletic duo composed of Paul Eboua and Jordan Bayehe will bring a mix of verticality and close familiarity between the two, who have been used to playing a similar kind of basketball getting tons of experience in Italy. Moreover, you can't forget Samir Gbektom, whose 19 points against Senegal were vital to extend Cameroon's dream for another year.
Representing the new promising wave of Cameroonian basketball, possibly entering an enriching era for this national team, the 2005-born NBA Draft projected pick Ulrich Chomche has been called up too. He's not the only young gun at the disposal of this side, with several other NCAA players available in the preliminary 26-man extended list.
Overall, proposing once again the 12-man roster that went all the way to reach the intended objective in the summer of 2023 could eventually work. At the end of the day, Alfred Aboya's team led the whole African competition in scoring with a resounding 88.5 points per game, while also sharing the ball pretty well with the 2nd-highest mark at 21.3 assists per night.
The Question
Seventeen years in the making after their first major international success, the silver medal at AfroBasket 2007, is this the eve of a new era for the Cameroonian national team?
After only sporadic appearances at FIBA AfroBasket towards the end of the century, ending in 4th position in 1974, concluding as the 8th-placed team exactly 20 years apart in 1972 and 1992, something changed midway through the 2000s.
Cameroon lived its best days in the 2007-09 biennium. First losing only to the Angolan hosts in AfroBasket 2007, then heading to the 2008 FIBA OQT in Athens, and finally ending just a step off the podium in AfroBasket 2009.
However, last summer marked the likely eve of a new chapter for the Indomitable Lions, winning their first-ever Continental level competition in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.
Proving to be hunting for more can make this generation dangerous.
The Hope
Let's face the elephant in the room: with or without Pascal Siakam, we're talking about two potentially different outcomes for the Cameroonian national team. And while it won't be possible to see him with that jersey in Latvia, it could still happen at the Olympics.
The 30-year-old forward, who's yet to take part in an official tournament with his country, is coming off his first changing-teams season, leaving Toronto after 8 years to join the Indiana Pacers, with whom he reached the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
He clearly won't participate in Riga, but a few years ago during the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in Chicago, he expressed the wish to represent Cameroon one day.
"It's something that I would always be happy to do. Playing for your country is something I really want to do and it's something beautiful. I am just waiting for the right opportunity".
Being inserted in Alfred Aboya's 26-player list ahead of Cameroon's second-ever FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament after Athens 2008, this could have been the right opportunity.
Unofficially, Pascal Siakam took place for his national team in 2012 Johannesburg's BWB Africa camp. 12 years in the making, if his countrymen pull off what looks like a miraculous achievement, this summer will always have a special place in his heart. Should we expect Cameroon to unleash a special boost to also see him play in Paris?
The Fear
One of Cameroon's hidden secrets relies upon the scheming of the unknown, considering how surprising could be sometimes for national teams out of Africa to find out their true weapons on the court.
It happened at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup with South Sudan, where out of nowhere even a better-equipped and more experienced side like Puerto Rico almost fell apart in the competition's opener for the Araneta Coliseum.
However, the turning side of the (hopefully golden) medal is that this condition is a double-edged sword. Unexperience is something you could ride, feeding your players' fearless attitude with nothing to lose, but it could also drag Cameroon down.
16 years after participating in their first FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where they lost the first two decisive encounters to Croatia and Puerto Rico itself, the Lions need to show their indomitability.
Approaching well the debut on July 3 against Montenegro could unleash a new lionhearted spirit for Jeremiah Hill and his teammates on only the second-ever basketball tournament played outside of Africa in the country's history.
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