Nigeria’s men’s basketball national team, D’Tigers’ former captain, Olumide Oyedeji, has promised to expand his innovative collegiate competition into a full-fledged national championship next year.
Sports247 reports that the former Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic of the USA star is now thinking big after testing the terrain with the maiden edition of Olumide Oyedeji 3×3 Intercollegiate Championship, which recently came to a climax in Lagos.
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In the wake of the competition that was won by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the six-foot-10 Oyedeji, who is now the president of Nigerian Olympians Association (NOA) and vice-president of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), said he was glad with what he saw on display by all the competing higher institutions.
The soft-spoken star, who was produced by Ebun Comets of Akure (before they relocated to Lagos), added, “I am happy to put smiles on their faces. We’ve seen a lot of talent, but we’ve not seen a collegiate basketball league in Nigeria.
“This competition has shown that we have a lot of college talent in Nigerian basketball. This is where I was made, and I played collegiate basketball during my time. So, I am happy to contribute to developing this sector, and I’ll continue to do that.”
The ex-international, who is also now a board member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), then spoke about the competition that caught the attention of undergraduates in major universities across the country’s six geo-political regions.
Oyedeji disclosed, “We started this journey in March, when we had the eliminations across the six geo-political zones, and we had the best three teams come out … making 18 teams for the main phase. We wanted to see them play the best basketball, and I am happy we achieved that.”
The former slam-dunk ace, who also played actively for 21 different clubs, including teams in China, Greece, Korea and Russia, concluded by looking towards the future, as he enthused that the competition would soon evolve into a major league-based championship through which more talents will emerge.
“Hopefully, we will continue to do this, and then we can capitalize on the large array of talents available. We are happy to give these young talents hope and give them confidence.
“We hope to expand into a full-scale collegiate basketball league. Hopefully, we can go back to where our basketball was.
“We’ll continue grinding, and, hopefully, we’ll get there. Next season, it’s going to be a lot more than this,” the 44-year-old Oyedeji projected.
