Great team these Nigerians, amamzing talent and work bloody hard together.

The good news is we dont have them in our group in the Olympics. The bad news is we got Russia who I honestly think could medal.

Well the two African teams were 3-2 against Europeans in this tourny, that tells a story. I dont think there are a bunch of other African teams waiting to pounce though. Angola and Nigeria are the clear standouts.

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DQ38tczeI8

I was rooting for the Nigerians all tournament, such a great thing that they can play in the olympics.

Might even get a win in there first game of the olympics aswell against Tunisia.

Baller, dont be surprised if these guys make the top four! If they play like they did this week they will definitely make the top eight - they are for real.

They are looong, almost all their guys have/do play as imports in top European leagues, and the coach has them playing as a genuine team and playing defence. Few teams will be able to handle their athleticism.

Apparently the Nigerians also have millions in a bank account and need your help to get it out, if you're interested...

Ebi Ere could be playing?
He was in the Nigerian National team wasn't he?

ditto ! Well done Cat in the Hat

See what happens when you do work and don't spend your entire day on Hoops!

The Nigerians height, length and athleticism will cause teams problems.

If you look at their team they have 6"4/6"5 PGs, 6"7 SGs and their swingman are 6"9-6'10.

Then they have 3-4 6"11 dudes.

Thing is all these players are extremely mobile and can run the floor.

Probably similar to the US team. Long, tall and athletic.

And they are not scrubs:
Ike Diogu: played 8 seasons in NBA..best season 9.2ppg and 4rpg

Al-Farouq Aminu: Athletic as hell. Avg 6ppg for Clippers last season

Derrick Obasohan : Avg 19.8 in France Pro A. 12ppg in Turkey, and recently 9.2ppg in Spanish ACB for Joventut.

Then you have 3 other dudes..2 playing in Germany Bundesliga putting up good numbers, and Alade Aminu putting up good numbers in France Pro A.

Question:
If Nigeria start to do well on the international level do you think more NBA 'african-americans' with Nigerian heritage will be keen to play for the team? Emaka Okafor and Ime Udoka may want to join in in future? (2 NBA players who could play for Nigeria)

NB: 11 Nigerians have played in NBA or currently do play.

Aminu was American born with Nigerian heritage, as was his brother Alade and Ike Diogu was born in NY.
Oguchi born in Houston.
Ibekwe born in LA.

They could really put together some talented teams if NBA players with close heritage ties would be interested.
Hell the trend could be to play for an African team whom that player has heritage with. Problem would be resources. I would say these countries wouldn't have the financial resources to enter teams.

Dem Rep of Congo has 2 current NBA players (Biyombo and Eyenga) plus DJ M'benga

Cameroon has Luc Mbah a Moute + 3 France Pro A players and 4 players at d1 colleges

Senegal has 8 NBA players : 3 that currently play (Diop,N'Diaye and Sow), but another 5 have played in the NBA in the last 5 years.

Tanzania: Hasheem Thabeet and Kelenna Azibuike could play for Tanzania by heritage/descent.
Thabeet was born there, and Azibuike has strong heritage there--He even attended a Tanzania political summit there last year. Kelenna can play for Nigeria or Tanzania i believe

I know what i am saying might sound stupid, but I truly believe in a few years time, Africa will be the new hunting ground for NBA prospects (I suppose it already is becoming like that).

With this, I reckon African nations are going to become stronger as the game grows even more and African nations receive greater funding and hence facilities and systems to improve players.

Its funny because I am a Kiwi and we go alright internationally and we have had just 2 NBA players (although Penney didn't exactly stay long).

Then you look at the likes of Senegal, who are a pretty unknown team internationally yet they have had 8 NBA players and all of which were recent.

Once it rains in Africa, it will pour. Meaning once Basketball takes off over there, it really is going to explode.
The game truly is becoming Global.

Your right about Aminu at Hornets. Sow doesnt play NBA, but N'Diaye played the 11-12 season with Washington, so I don't know what he is up to now.

Diogu has definently played 8:

2005-06 Golden State
2006–07 Golden State
2006–07 Indiana
2007–08 Indiana
2008–09 Portland
2008–09 Sacramento
2010–11 L.A. Clippers
2011–12 San Antonio

Ah MACDUB, you've listed six there, not eight.

Yep 6 NBA seasons, two of which were for dual clubs...

Great achievement by the Nigerians! Big failure for the Dominican Republic...

The only reason they qualified was because of how much help they got from the refs. It was obvious that FIBA wanted an all black team from Africa in the Olympics for marketing reasons.