Discipline can take D’ Tigers far in Japan '06

National men’s basketball team captain, Tunji Awojobi, who played last in Jerusalem in the concluded season said the only thing that could take D’ Tigers to the next level was total discipline and the will to succeed.

Awojobi, who spoke with Freethrow shortly before returning back to his base, also took a look into the camping exercise for the forthcoming Basketball World Championship in Japan. He noted that there were lots of gray areas to be sorted out before the real action. Excerpts.

Camp in Dallas
I’m looking forward to joining camp later. Hopefully, I look hope that we get a better preparation. The first phase of camping in Dallas is for the coaches to give room for other players to showcase themselves. The like of Oyedeji and some others are still busy and cannot be there presently. Remember that this is a world championship that we’re preparing for. And we need the best assemblage of players.

Timing for new players
To be honest with you, we should forget my being captain of the team, I feel it was not fair to the players that were in Algeria for the qualification. All those coming in now had the opportunity of playing with the rest of the squad, but they chickened out because it was an African championship.

However, it is no wrong to give others a chance because if I had not been given, I won’t be where I’m today. As it is now, the camp will just be like another new beginning, which to some extent could be very good for us in the long run, but certainly not for Japan. For me personally, I don’t intend to go to the world championship as just a participant. I want to go out there and win some games and get into the next round.

Instead of calling just everybody to come to camp, I believe that the home based players deserve more spaces in the camp for them to prove their worth too.

Nigeria is the best team in Africa as far as basketball is concerned, but we have not gotten to our full potentialities because our players are not dedicated. However, I won’t put the problem at the doorstep of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) even though they have their own fault, but the players have a bigger role to play.

First, I will start with myself as captain. Most of the time, we fail to do things the right way it should be done. We hardly respond to calls the way we should and even go the extra miles to talk back at the coaches. It is high time we do things properly because the glory comes first to us before the country. We should show some level of patriotism to national call up.

Nigeria’s inability to win the Nations Cup
I feel sad. It is a terrible thing to remember all the time, but come to think of it, our best preparation have never been up to a month together. Most times, when a ticket is sent to us, we come home and the first thing we do before reporting to camp is go and spend some time with our families. In actual fact, that is not why we came home, lack of discipline has spoilt so many things for us. That is why I support this camp not being in Nigeria but outside. Perhaps with some seriousness, we’ll be able to take our game to the next level.

Not winning the Nations Cup is not being able to achieve as a team. As far as I am concerned, I don’t care about my personal achieves at different levels, but basketball is a team game and for us to win the Nations Cup means that we all have to be more dedicated and disciplined. To be sincere, the Nations Cup has remained one big gorilla on our back, so for us to win, we need to have a set of players that have the right attitude and make the country proud.

Japan 2006 is very critical for us as a country, especially given the fact that Nigeria is not at the Germany 2006 FIFA world Cup. With our men and women in two World Cups, we have a big task at hand to make the difference and put smiles on the faces of Nigerians.

Why Sam Vincent as Coach
I would rather say no comments for now, but being a straightforward person, I would say that the country is bigger than any single person is. Technically and game wise, Vincent is very sound. He knows the game, but the problem is that he does not know Nigerian basketball, the way the management plan things and most importantly, the players. And knowing all of these, I feel very sorry for him given the pressure he faces.

Like I said earlier, the biggest problem is that of lack discipline in the team, and particularly coming to camp late, he has been able to cub that.

Coach Ayo Bakare, who was there before is not a bad coach either. But most of the foreign players don’t respect him and often talk back to him on how to do it during training sessions. I may have been guilty of the same offence, but the truth is that we all have to respect the coach, no matter who he is. We’ve seen these players play abroad and they don’t ever talk back at their coaches.

Japan 2006
The task at the FIBA world championship is a herculean one. What we are looking forward to is to ensure that we go beyond our last outing in Greece back in 1998.

Playing against Argentina, France won’t be an easy ride at all, however, what we have at the back of our minds is to ensure that we win some games and move into the second round.

Concluded Season
I returned to Jerusalem to play Ramat Gan in the league and must say I had a splendid time there. I feel great playing the way I did and hope to carry the form to the World Championship in Japan.

Adapted from the Sun Newspaper