The governing body of basketball, FIBA, has released the power rankings indicating where each team stands ahead of the final window in February 2023. Window 4 of the African Qualifiers for the 2023 FIBA World Cup ended just over a week ago.
Nigeria was in a vulnerable situation during their recent 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers in Abidjan after suffering two losses from three games.
In three games, the D’Tigers only managed one victory, falling to the Ivory Coast 78-66 on Friday at the 3,500-seat Palais des Sports Treichville, therefore ending their chances of making the World Cup the following year.
In order to avenge their earlier loss to the Ivoirians, stand-in coach Mfon Udoh led the team to an 89-70 victory over Guinea in their second game. However, they were brought back to earth when they lost 70-67 to Angola in the series finale.
Following the publication of the FIBA power rankings, Nigeria dropped four spots and is now in ninth place, endangering their chances of making the World Cup.
Nigeria has a 9-0 record at this point in the 2019 World Cup African Qualifiers and was one of the two teams, along with Tunisia, to advance to the China match.
However, Nigeria’s current 3-4 record appears to have been influenced by the fact that they have had three different head coaches (Julius Nwosu, Alan Major, and Mfon Udofia) during the last nine games, as well as a lot of new players and an apparent lack of team cohesion.
Nigeria had to deal with two devastating defeats last week in Abidjan against Angola and the Ivory Coast.
For D’Tigers, getting to the Indonesia-Japan-Philippines extravaganza has become a challenge, but it is still doable.
Ivory Coast, the only side from Africa to qualify for the World Cup, is currently in top place.
With three games remaining, the Ivorians have reached the apex of their basketball over the past ten years by winning all of their African Qualifiers games thus far and becoming the first team on the continent to qualify for next year’s World Cup.
The World Cup is Ivory Coast’s second consecutive appearance.
The following countries are in that order: South Sudan, Egypt, Egypt, and Angola.
The teams in sixth, seventh, and eighth place, respectively, are Cape Verde, Tunisia, and Dr. Congo.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers feature sixteen African teams and take place across five tournament windows over a 15-month period.
Five African national teams will qualify from November 2021 to February 2023 for the FIBA Basketball World Cup, which will be held in Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines from August 25 to September 10, 2023.
