Japan '06: Rob Meur blasts Oyedeji, Vincent

To Meur, the behaviour of the leading actors in the latest soap opera in the game, negatively affected Nigeria’s performance in Japan.

“I don’t care about personal egos,” said Meur, who is in Nigeria as the leading instructor for the 2006 Olumide Oyedeji Clinic, which ended at the University of Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday. “All I care about is the game. Vincent did not manage the situation well. It is stupid of Vincent and stupid of Olumide.

“I don’t care about the captaincy issue. That does not come into who plays well on the court. It is all about Olumide being the best centre Nigeria has today, the best centre in Africa and one of the five best in the world. He’s Nigeria’s best centre ever after Hakeem Olajuwon, and that kind of player did not play in the World Championship.

“Olumide was at fault too. He should have played first before making an issue of the captaincy.”

Oyedeji and Vincent fell out a week to the start of Japan 2006 when the Samsung Thunders 6ft 11in big man hit the Nigerian camp in Dallas, only to discover that the American coach had stripped Tunji Awojobi of the captain’s armband. In his place, Julius Nwosu was installed, to be assisted by Ime Udoka.

Feeling gutted, Oyedeji told the coach that it was not right. An exchange of words followed but the issue was later resolved although Oyedeji had asked for his passport as a prelude to leaving the team.

At this stage, a member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation intervened through the phone from Nigeria, but apparently, the deed had been done.

Three days later, Vincent, apparently at the prompting of some players, inexplicably cut Oyedeji from Nigeria’s final squad, installing Ekene Ibekwe, a power forward, in the slot.

That decision would later cost Nigeria dear in Japan. The Tigers went into the championship without a centre that could contest on the boards.

Ikenna Nwankwo, who was the only natural centre in the squad, was a nonstarter. In Nigeria’s win over Serbia and Montenegro, Nwankwo played only three minutes and in the Venezuela loss, he was on four only four minutes; he had four straight free throws and missed them all.

Other slots in the team gave Vincent out as to the manner of players he selected for Nigeria’s biggest assignment in eight years.

There was no authentic point guard in the team – when a clutch of players from the Premier League could have done well in the position.

This made the excellent Udoka to turn the team’s point guard. This affected his offensive duties and the team suffered from poor execution, including the second round 78-77 loss to Germany. Had Udoka not been the point guard, he would have buried Germany with his lay up if the ball had found him in the paint with six seconds left.

An official alleged that Vincent did not want to bring D'Tigers to Nigeria so that the media and the basketball community would make inputs to his obviously-now flawed selection that saw his cronies making the squad.

And in actual fact, Vincent is said to be getting back at Awojobi and Oyedeji for their roles in ensuring that D'Tigers prepared in Abuja for the 2005 FIBA African Championship. Vincent has consistently campaigned against D'Tigers coming to Nigeria and in spite of the NBBF hierarchy asking him to bring the team to Lagos en route Abidjan before journeying to Japan, he found a way of taking the team straight from Dallas to Sendai.

At least five of the players in the squad to Japan were role players, who had little to offer (except for Ibekwe, who rescued his reputation with a massive performance against Germany with 22 points and eight rebounds).

Apart from that, Nwosu and Awojobi have aged for the stellar roles Vincent assigned them.

“Vincent only gave us some Nigerian players staying in the United States and added the outside game to our offence,” said Abimbola Faniran, president of the Hoopers, the basketball supporters’ club. “But he took away our inside game.

“We had no centre, no point guard. The effects of the World Championship are not trickling down on the Premier League back home which is not good for our basketball development onlike Angola who paraded ten players from its local league".

“At least two of our coaches should have been in Japan to gain experience.”

Although Vincent claimed that Ejike Ugboaja could not join the squad in preparing for Japan 2006 in the US over visa denial, the problem could have been easily solved if the team had come home to prepare.

“There is absolutely no reason why Ugboaja and (Stanley) Gumut should not have been in the team,” said Rotimi Savage, the Union Bank team manager. “It is time the NBBF took a firm control of its affairs. Leaving everything to a foreign coach like Vincent will not work for us.”

Nigeria indeed made a late pitch in the second round against Germany, losing by one point, but it was apparent that the team was living on borrowed time against a team that was waiting to be knocked off its perch.

For the record, Nigeria beat Serbia 82-75 in its opening Group-A game, and then fell to 0-3 against Venezuela at 84-77, France at 64-53 and Argentina at 98-64, but came back to snatch one of the tickets to the second round by beating Lebanon 95-72, qualifying third in the group.

Nigeria then headed home when the Dirk Nowitzky and Ademola Okulaja-led Germany beat Nigeria by one point; Nigeria had a chance to beat Germany when it in-bounded the ball with six seconds to go and Udoka dribbled to the frontcourt only to miss a simple lay up at the post.

Nigeria can console itself since it won two group games there, unlike its debut in 1998 when it went out in the first round before placing 13th.

Courtesy The Punch