Rivers Hoopers coach Ogoh Odaudu has said the team\u2019s ambition at next year\u2019s Basketball Africa League is to go one better by reaching the final or even win the coveted trophy.
\nThe Nigerian champions finished third at the last edition, setting a Nigerian record.
\nHaving won their sixth national championship, beating Lagos-based Hoops and Read 71-54 to claim the 2024 NBBF Final 8 title, they have qualified for the 2025 BAL and also extended their unbeaten streak in the domestic league to 25 games.
\nAside from their push at the club level, Odaudu revealed that BAL president, Amadou Gallo Fall, was impressed by the team\u2019s outing at the 2024 tournament, charging them to build on it.
\n\u201cAmadou Gallo Fall personally approached me and said, hey, you guys have to go and build on all of this that you just did, otherwise, it will all be a waste,\u201d Hoopers coach Ogoh Odaudu told Tidesports source.
\n\u201cThis is why it is such a great feeling for us to know that we are going back. It means a lot to me because we didn\u2019t want to miss out on qualifying. After all, then it would mean that whatever it is that we achieved the previous BAL was just a fluke. So we really wanted to go back and build on it.\u201d
\nOdaudu also said the team are poised to keep their influential players like Kelvin Amayo, who won the NBBF Finals MVP, Will Perry, Peter Olisemeka and Devine Eke, now playing in the G-League.
\n\u201cOne of the things we are going to stick with is continuity. You find out that every BAL season, teams come with entirely different teams than they had the previous one.
\n\u201cWe are going to try and limit that as much as possible and come back with almost the same set of people that we used to prosecute the last campaign. It\u2019s not guaranteed that we are sure of them, but we are in talks with them already,\u201d Odaudu said. The only people we are sure of right now are Peter and Kelvin who came to help us qualify.
\n\u201cWill, of course, was instrumental to our success, but he has a new contract with a team in Dubai, we don\u2019t know what his season is going to end. But then I\u2019m sure that if he is free, he will come and play for us.\u201d
\nGoing into the inaugural BAL tournament in 2020, Hoopers were favoured to do well but ended up eliminated in the group phase. The team now wants to be considered a force on the continent, not just a side that goes to make up the numbers.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be seen as the usual thing that every time we go to the continent it\u2019s just to come to participate and not to compete,\u201d Odaudu said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rivers Hoopers coach Ogoh Odaudu has said the team\u2019s ambition at next year\u2019s Basketball Africa League is to go one better by reaching the final or even win the coveted trophy. The Nigerian champions finished third at the last edition, setting a Nigerian record. Having won their sixth national championship, beating Lagos-based Hoops and Read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n