As the Basketball Africa League (BAL) playoffs tip off in Pretoria, Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers are entering the final phase of this year's competition with renewed belief -- and a mission to make history by reaching their first final.
The Port Harcourt-based franchise, making its third BAL appearance, finished third last time out, their best performance so far in this competition. But this year, head coach Ogoh Odaudu says the outlook feels even more promising.
"We are all very confident," Odaudu told ESPN. "All the players have that feeling. Management has that feeling, coaches have that feeling. So I think this is the year that we finally make that statement."
Hoopers punched their ticket to Pretoria through the Kalahari Conference, hosted in Morocco in April, where they finished with a 4-2 record, but the margins of those two defeats, to BAL debutants Al Ittihad Alexandria were a sobering experience. Hoopers were outclassed by 20 points in their first meeting and 17 in the second.
"We had two very bad games in Morocco," Odaudu acknowledged. "But then all the things that happened there are things that could be fixed because Al Ittihad Egypt are one of the best teams. And I've seen that if we had put our acts together, we wouldn't have lost to them with that kind of margins."
The heavy losses forced the Nigerian champions to re-evaluate and make the personnel and tactical adjustments needed to compete with the best and match their own high ambitions.
Odadu explained: "First of all, we didn't take care of our transition defense well, and most of the baskets that they scored against us was off transitions.
"We were deficient on man on man defense and we were always beaten to the paint. They would pick us apart on the rotation, move the ball well, and then they ended up getting wide open three-pointers.
"Also on the boards, we had a problem because we had Peter Olisemeka, who was playing major minutes and was one of our highest rebounders, so we got someone who could also rebound and strong enough to bang in the paint to help him out."
That someone is Chingka Garba, a Nigerian who joins from Rwandan club Orion but has also played for Gboko City Chiefs in Nigeria. At 6'8" Garba brings size, mobility, on-court intelligence, and an aggressive style of play that's expected to give the KingsMen a new dynamic in both offense and defense.
Hoopers also added French-Guinean guard Ahmed Doumbia to their roster for Pretoria. Doumbia, 35, brings extensive experience playing in France's Pro B league, most recently with Union Basket Chartres Metropole.
The Frenchman has represented Guinea internationally, featuring in the 2025 AfroBasket qualifiers in February, where he averaged 10 points across three games, contributing to two wins. He also participated in the FIBA AfroBasket Championship qualifiers in 2021, averaging 13 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game.
The 6'5" combo guard's club career includes stints with several French teams, such as Angers BC, JSA Bordeaux, Gries Oberhoffen, ADA Blois, Union Tours Metropole, and CEP Lorient.
Odaudu is confident that these additions will be the final pieces of the puzzle to get the KingsMen over the line: "Based on the recruitment we did, I think, as a team, that we can match the best teams now.
"And watching all the other teams that played in the conference, we all have a very, very good feeling about Pretoria."
This time, they have had a little more time to integrate their new players into the roster with a two-week training camp in Abuja before heading off to South Africa.
With the new players in training, Hoopers have focused heavily on strengthening those deficiencies and cutting out the errors.
"We are not going to give up dribble penetration that easily anymore," Odaudu emphasised. "We're going to work hard playing that half-court defense and taking away transition scoring."
Hoopers open their campaign on Saturday June 7 against US Monastir in a seeding classification game ahead of the quarterfinals.
In the BAL, seeding games are played before the playoffs to determine the playoff bracket matchups and seeding for the single-elimination playoffs.
The placement ties will feature the following matchups:
1st - 2nd seed: Al Ahli vs Al Ittihad
3rd - 4th seed: US Monastir vs Rivers Hoopers
5th - 6th seed: Petro de Luanda vs APR
7th - 8th seed: Kriol Star vs FUS Rabat
The outcome of these matches will determine the final seeding for the quarter-finals.
Saturday's contest will be the fifth meeting between Hoopers and US Monastir in BAL history, with the previous four meetings evenly split at two wins apiece.