First notes from AfroBasket 2015

SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - People in Rades, Tunisia and all over the social media continue to debate about the the highs and lows of AfroBasket 2015 as well the strongest contenders to be crowned champions of Africa on 30 August.

I took my own first notes, and as of Sunday 23 August I had watched and written about all 20 games, and I have now a clear idea who the strongest candidate is to lift the trophy come next Sunday.

I also noted the under-performers of this year's African elite basketball tournament.

A week into the tournament, Tunisia have shown the strongest potential to win it all. It's as simple as that.

In fairness, I was not impressed with their first two games against debutants Uganda and the Central African Republic as I felt they were inconsistent on the defensive end and were sloppy offensively at times.

However, by beating Nigeria - one of the teams that I picked to be title contenders - in such a convincing way, I can only assume that the Tunisians are closer than ever to winning their second continental title since 2011.

Boosted by an almost sellout crowd at Salle Omnisport de Rades on Sunday, Tunisia played their best game in the tournament so far, outplaying Nigeria.

It was the first time these two teams faced each other since the 2012 London Olympics, where Nigeria toped then African champions Tunisia 60-56.

But in the highly-anticipated Group A game, Tunisia dominated throughout.

They opened the contest with a 14-0 run, denied Nigeria in the painted area with a succession of blocked shots, led by as many as 22 points, and by half-time they were in total control of the game.

The host country of AfroBasket 2015 advanced to the Round of 16 undefeated in three games, and will face the team that finishes last in Group B, which could be either Morocco or Mozambique.

Tunisian fans show up in big numbers to support their national team

Nevertheless, the defeat does not diminish Nigeria's chances of reaching the Final.

In fact they are part of a group of teams in the running for a place in the showdown on 30 August.

The list of candidates is a lot wider with Senegal, Egypt, Angola, Morocco and Cape Verde all showing the abilities to battle and reach the title game.

If you ever wondered how the reigning champions Angola have done so far, the answer is not so good, although they remain tough to beat as they believe they are the best team in Africa.

They performed the biggest comeback in the tournament so far against Mozambique, after trailing by 15 points to secure a an 84-72 victory.

The question mark surrounding Senegal is about Gorgui Dieng's influence on the team.

He is currently the tournament's leading scorer, however, it is not clear why coach Cheikh Sarr uses such an important player for so long this early in the tournament.

As well as leading all players in scoring, Dieng is averaging 34.9 minutes per game.

How about Egypt, the team that stunned the African basketball a couple of years ago to reach the Final? Well, so far, they've displayed a lot of competitiveness and coach Ahmed Marei is fortunate to have functional options off the bench.

As for Cape Verde, the addition of Jeff Xavier, who only joined the team in the last week of preparations, boosted them tremendously.

If you want to be entertained, watch Xavier, Ivan Almeida and Dimitry Coronel.

However, they lack size and this might be detrimental later in the tournament.

Meanwhile, teams such as Gabon clearly need encouragement to internalise the game fundamentals.

For instance, on a number of occasions, Stephane Lasme set a screen for a potential pick-and-roll, but for some bizarre reason Aymar-Kabrel Boundou insisted on driving to the basket to end up blocked or giving the ball away.

Another case in point was Sunday's Group C game between Gabon and Cameroon, in which the teams combined for a shocking 51 turnovers. Something like this makes me wonder where were the bright basketball minds in that game.

Nevertheless, now that the Final Phase is just around the corner, take your seats as the real AfroBasket 2015 is just about to begin.

Julio Chitunda 

FIBA

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