Rivers Hoopers Basketball Club of Port Harcourt coach, Ogoh Odaudu has stated that he is happy with the time he has to prepare for the 2019 FIBA Africa Basketball League, as he believes a month will be good enough.
Although Odaudu admitted that the competition will be tough, following their placement against AS Sale of Morocco, JKS Kairouan of Tunisia and SLAC of Guinea in Group A during Saturday’s draw, he is staying upbeat.
Sports247.ng learnt that, in the wake of the draw in Abidjan, Odaudu has already set plans in motion to ensure The Hoopers hold their own against champions of the FIBA Africa Basketball League.
Odaudu admitted his team face a huge task to pick one of two slots from their group into the Elite 8, which will be further divided into 4 groups of 2 teams and games will be played in a home and away format.
The first stage of games, though, will follow a round robin format from February 8 to March 10 across four windows, with the winners from each group going on to play the finals in May.
Al Ahly of Egypt will host Group C games in the first window between February 8-10 while other venues are yet to be decided by FIBA Africa, ahead of which Odaudu, who is also an assistant coach in the Nigerian national team, D’Tigers, said Hoopers have enough time to prepare.
Odaudu stressed: “We have a full month to prepare as games begin next month. We will start preparing from now.
“I don’t think it’s going to be too short for us . I think we would have ample time if we start now to get ready.”
