After finishing third at the last Basketball Africa League tournament in 2024, Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers want to go at least one better and reach the Final of next year's tournament... perhaps even win it.
To get to the 2025 edition, the Kingsmen swept past all opposition to claim their sixth national championship, topping Hoops and Read 71-54 to claim the 2024 NBBF Final 8 title. The win also meant they extended their unbeaten streak in the domestic league to 25 games.
The last time the team lost was in November 2022, against Nigeria Customs in the semifinal of that year's Final 8 tournament. That loss cost them a place at the BAL that year.
The success they enjoyed during the fourth BAL edition this year is the catalyst for what they hope will be an improvement in fortunes. Soon after their third place finish at this year's tournament, BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall told the Hoopers to make sure they return for a third bite at the cherry.
"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," Hoopers coach Ogoh Odaudu told ESPN.
"This 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't want to miss out on qualifying because 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."
That request spurred the Hoopers on and made them very intentional about their ambitions. They were the only team to assemble players at the beginning of the year, and keep them all year round, even out of competition. Barring the import players, their domestic tournament roster was essentially the same as that which competed at BAL.
Odaudu expects them to carry that same strategy into the next season: "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."
One of those players is Kelvin Amayo, who returned to help carry them over the line in their national title chase. Amayo, who was born in Canada to Nigerian parents, scored a game high 29 points in the nationals final, then named Finals MVP, and said the title was special for him.
"It feels amazing to be a Nigeria champion," he said to ESPN. "With my parents being from Nigeria, to be able to come back to Nigeria and win a championship with Rivers Hoopers, after we did so much last season in the BAL, it's one of the best things to have happened to me.
"This is my first professional championship so it is very big for me. It's kinda special, and it was at home too. So it means the most to me."
According to Odaudu, in their quest to go the whole way, the team from Rivers State are looking to bring back the same set of import players they had the last time. That includes not just Amayo, but Will Perry, Peter Olisemeka and Devine Eke, now playing in the G-League. They will miss John Wilkins, who has retired and transitioned into coaching.
"It's not guaranteed that we are sure of them, but we are in talks with them already," Odaudu said. "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."
Even with the import players, Ogoh says part of the lessons he took from their last two appearances at the BAL was to trust his local players more: "I'm thinking this year don't let all the load fall on the import players.
"The local players, just from being at the last BAL have stepped up a lot and will hopefully see a lot of playing time in the next BAL too."
It is a sentiment shared by Amayo, who says the local players Have improved and could be the key to winning the championship: "All the local players have gotten better. They are sure of themselves, they have a good understanding of what their roles are.
"Nobody is worried about one person scoring 20 or making 10 blocks per game. Everybody is playing hard.
"I feel like last year we weren't using the locals as much as we probably could have but I think it was great for them just to see the competition. Now coming to play with them again this year, I'm like these guys are much better. Now, we can get the local guys in and they could bring a spark.
"I feel like that's how you go third place or win a Championship, with the locals. I could do amazing, Will Perry can do amazing, Peter can do amazing but we got to figure out a couple of locals that will come in and bring a spark, whether it's 3 steals, 7 assists, or those little intangibles, that's how you win a competition."
Going into the inaugural BAL tournament in 2020, Hoopers were favoured to do well, but ended up eliminated in the group phase with a 1-2 record. The team now 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 participate and not to compete," Odaudu said.
"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 now go there and make sure that what we do is entirely different. That we are here to stay and it not just a fluke thing, one season in, one season out."