Rivers Hoopers Intensify Preparations for Basketball Africa League

Nigerian champions Rivers Hoopers have arrived in Lagos to continue their preparations for the fifth season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), which tips off with Conference Playoffs on April 5.

The team, who finished third in the 2024 BAL season, will play in the Kalahari Conference against FUS Rabat of Morocco, Egypt’s Al Ittihad, and Stade Malien of Mali in Rabat, Morocco.

As part of their final preparations, Rivers Hoopers will engage in friendly games in Lagos before departing for Morocco on Wednesday. The team has also bolstered its roster with the signing of five new players, including Canada-born Nigerian combo guard Kelvin Amayo and Peter Olisemeka, who were instrumental in the team’s historic third-place finish last season.

Rivers Hoopers have been charged by the Permanent Secretary of the Rivers State Ministry of Sports, Kelvin Nweke, to surpass their third-place finish in last season’s BAL. “We are expecting you to go a step forward from last year’s result. Success is not easy. It is easy to get to the top but staying at the top is more difficult,” Nweke said.

Coach Ogoh Odaudu has expressed his team’s ambition to reach the final or even win the coveted trophy, building on their record-breaking performance last season. “We really wanted to go back and build on it. It means a lot to me because we didn’t want to miss out on qualifying,” Odaudu said.

Rivers Hoopers will make their third appearance at the BAL, having featured in the inaugural season in 2021 and last season’s edition.