Rivers Hoopers coach Ogoh Odaudu has set his sights on the 2025 Basketball Africa League (BAL) final, after the team qualified for the tournament by winning the 2024 NBBF Final 8 title.
Odaudu revealed that BAL president, Amadou Gallo Fall, was impressed by the team’s outing at the 2024 tournament and has charged them to build on their success.
“Amadou 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,” Odaudu told ESPN.
The coach expressed his delight at qualifying for the 2025 BAL, saying it was a great feeling to know that the team is going back to the tournament.
“It means a lot to me because we didn’t 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.”
Odaudu also revealed that the team is poised to keep its influential players, including Kelvin Amayo, Will Perry, Peter Olisemeka, and Devine Eke, who is currently playing in the G-League.
“One 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. We 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.”
The coach acknowledged that it’s not guaranteed that all the players will be available, but the team is in talks with them already. “The only people we are sure of right now are Peter and Kelvin who came to help us qualify. Will, of course, was instrumental to our success, but he has a new contract with a team in Dubai, we don’t know what his season is going to end. But then I’m sure that if he is free, he will come and play for us.”
Odaudu emphasized that the team wants to be considered a force on the continent, not just a side that goes to make up the numbers.
“We don’t want to be seen as the usual thing that every time we go to the continent it’s just to come to participate and not to compete. We tried to do something different last year and we achieved that. If not for a few mistakes, we would have been in the final. We want to go there now and make sure that what we do is entirely different. That we are here to stay and it is not just a fluke thing, one season in, one season out.”
