 You're welcome back to the Breakfast on Plots TV Africa. We're wrapping it up this morning with a bit of sports and seems like a bit of good news all the way for Nigeria and her male basketball team. That's the Tigers. What is called good morning? Thank you for joining us. So let's begin with the good news, right? Team Nigeria is the only men's basketball team representing Africa in the Tokyo Olympics. How much of a big deal is this? This is a big deal. You ask yourself a question. Basketball, you know, Nigerians are known for football. We're known for we're a football nation, you know, but after a while basketball started creeping in gradually and it's taking over and we know for one that the only sports league in Nigeria today sponsored by a financial institution is actually basketball. Yes, there's problem with the male counterparts and courts right now, you know, but the female league is going on and it's been sponsored by a major bank and I think that's how much basketball actually sunk into the Nigerian concept at this point. Now that you've brought up the issue about the banks, you know, Axis Guarantee and what's the other one, three banks and Senate banks, they contributed $200,000 and $100,000 to the Tigers, $100,000 to the Tigers. Do you think this is great because I want to tie this with the GoFundMe account set up to celebrate and support, you know, friends of Nigerian basketball. Is this a good thing? Or would you say it just shows the failure on the part of the Nigerian government her sports ministry to fund and sponsor her basketball team to the Olympics? Good is a good word, but massive would be the best word for this because in this past, the sponsors always wanted to be identified with footballers. You know, now you realize that football is not bringing us as much joy as basketball is bringing towards them, so they're actually leaning more towards basketball. And let me note that the reason why basketball is doing so well, male and female, don't forget that we are ranked number one in Africa, male and female. 22 in the world for the men. Yeah, and because we have to say thank you to a former basketballer, his name is Polumide Oye Deji, and some other basketballers who actually took their time to go abroad to the U.S. and tell these guys, you can't make the dream team, no matter how good you are, you can't make America's dream team come and play for your country. And so a lot of them took it hook, line and sinker, came back to Nigeria, and we can conveniently boast today that every Nigerian basketball male and female play their trades abroad. That's a good thing. For me, there's a bad spot in all of that. If we have to do what we are doing in football, bring exports, all the talents to come and play for us, the league in Nigeria suffers. You realize that only one player actually got placed in the Nigerian league and got into the Tigris, for example. Tigris or the Tigris? The Tigris, a lady. And now she's been suspended by Fibre for some different things, Doping and all that, and people ask her questions, how come the only person in our league is one of them? I want to say let's stick with the good news. It should be said, now that we have foreign-based players, let's get to the heights of the good news, the euphoria of this. The Tigris played two exhibition matches, USA world champions, defending champions, we beat them. And then we play Argentina, and then we beat them. And some people are saying, an exhibition match, when the Olympic proper starts, we can't beat USA. Let's enjoy this playoff first. But is it wrong to hold on to this euphoria, or should we just believe that we can actually go far with the Olympics? Yeah, please don't forget that a large amount of the guys who played against the USA, the dream team, in this exhibition match, played together with them in the same team, they're in the same country in the same team, so they know each other really. So I think we can work on the fact that these guys are not new to each other, they know each other, so we might beat them. Do you think that we can actually, yeah, you just said we can beat them, or we might beat them at the Olympics. There's lots of support right now for the Nigerian men basketball team, even though maybe we didn't have all that support, all that eye on them. The fact that they've beat the US, they've beaten Argentina, it has put a lot of eye on them right now. So we know that the CEO of AFA Sports, Africa for Africa, his name is Ugo, he basically has been putting all his support through and hold his weight behind the Tigers. What do you think the likelihood might be? Do you think we can replicate this very soon? I think so, yes, because everybody's placing their bets on them, everybody wants to place their bets on the winner. Look for example, the Tigris, for example, Ogumike is a female basketballer and Elizabeth Williams are both basketball players, but FIBA has banned different play for the Tigris now because they say they've played for the USA for too long. But USA basketball has said, listen, go and play for your country, if play for them will help their basketball grow. So this is how big Nigeria has become in world basketball, not African basketball now, it's become that big and FIBA is getting involved, people are getting scared, there's this Anglophone, Francophone issue and I say now, Nigeria is doing so well, Francophone countries still do well, so let's frustrate them, you know what? It doesn't matter. We've got massive talent in our basketball teams, male and female. And the Tigers like you said, everybody's placing their bets on them right now, banks are coming together and donating money for them to make them do well, people want to brand them, basketball is taking over, the truth be said, I'm sorry to say this and we have depended on football as our opium, our high for too long and they have not done anything fantastic really. When last doing Nation's Cup, well, can we ever really walk up in my generation? I don't know, I don't think so, but basketball is doing quite well. But is it they have not done well enough or it is evidence of mismanagement here in the country because like you mentioned, most of these basketball players aren't fully based here in Nigeria, they play for teams in the NBA and so they would come together, they would train, they would put themselves together outside Nigeria. How well can the students do Osarugi if the teacher is not sound technically? Our coaches, our football coaches, I feel are not as technically sound as these basketball coaches. Let me give you an example. The Tigers basketball coach, the male team, used to be an NBA coach. When I'm an NBA coach, he is a household name in America, Brown. Everybody knows him in America, he was a popular NBA coach, we brought in here, somehow. He's coaching the Tigers, the female team, he'll be, the guy is a household name in America. He has coached in the NBA, technically they are sound. So you think Liverpool's coach would make the Super Bowls when they have gone and maybe the World Cup young club? If a club with its technical abilities comes to coach the Super Bowls, we wouldn't walk up in my lifetime, in my lifetime. I still see, it depends on, see how many people really, really see potentials in the Super Bowls and would want to come and coach the Super Bowls. So you say it's the teacher that makes the students? No doubts, because truth be said, I have seen big coaches see the technical abilities in the Saudi Arabian team and offer to coach them. Let's talk about Mike Brown for a moment. I'm aware he's even coaching for free. Do you have that on? That is not possible. Like you just said a few minutes ago, yes, we may not have his contract in public for the nobody does that. Don't forget that, like you said earlier, banks have rallied around to donate money for the basketball players. I don't call names of banks here, but there's a particular bank on the ground that were involved in ensuring Mike Brown came here in the first place. Interesting. So I want to ask you before we quickly wrap up about their kits. We know it's been stuck at a papa pot for a long time. The Minister of Sports Sunday Dairy had to pitch in, speak to the Ministry of Finance before that was released. Really, do you think there's really going to be an end to all this seeming embarrassment, you know, regarding our sports, you know, how we are funded, how we're clothed and things like that? I don't think it's going to happen because it's sad that it's the players are doing well, trying to play for their contract. I said earlier on the show a few weeks ago, it's only the guys who grew up abroad who were born abroad, who come here and fight with so much passion when they're playing for Nigeria. The ones who grew up here don't have that passion. And the people who manage our sports here don't have that passion. I have been to a competition, a female competition in Mozambique, where our female players didn't get their jerseys early enough, so they cut their tracksuit to shorts and used to play. We want that much though, but that's how embarrassing things can get. And that's why I didn't think that Yoga Club was the answer. I think that the system, the sports system here, the whole of the space. Don't forget that if the system does not frustrate club and the boys still play their trades abroad and still have that abroad mentality, who still do well, as long as the system is not allowed to frustrate club. Yeah, but the system has frustrated every coach. Don't forget, Sunday only said walked away. Same thing we're saying. So it's not just the coach, because you blame the coach. And I don't think it's the coach. I think it is, you know, the whole of the Nigerian sports and system here. Athletics, do you think we don't have good coaches in athletics? I think we do. Okay, so why aren't we, you know, gold medal contenders in any gold? I could lean with you on that one, that maybe the structure, the structure just might be a major, major problem. Because you can imagine players abroad, they are expected back in Nigeria. Some have only been here once or twice, some never. And then they get here and then after training, it's time to go and they say, your kids are stuck at the post. All right, we need to go. All right, Scott, thank you so much. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, I appreciate that. And this is where we wrap up for this week. Actually, it's a Friday morning, so we wish you a great weekend ahead. If you missed out on any of the conversations we've had all through the week, catch up on our social media platforms at Plus TV Africa on Facebook and Instagram. Same with our YouTube channel. Yes, and we'll also add Plus TV Africa lifestyle. That's our new YouTube channel. You can also find us at Plus TV Africa lifestyle on all social media platforms. I am Aneta Felix, saying have a beautiful weekend.