There’s that old basketball saying that Coaches lose games and players win them. Guess it’s the same way generals lose battles and wars and never soldiers. It’s always a notion of accountability. Looking back at the recently completed Round 1 of the AfroBasket2021 Qualifiers where the Uganda Silverbacks –the men’s basketball team set Uganda on course for qualification pending Round two in Kigali next February, with a 2-1 record in Alexandria, Egypt.
Without any shred of doubt, this success can be attributed to the Coaching staff with Head Coach George Galanopoulos at the helm. A lot of buzz especially locally ramps up every time a team to represent Uganda is selected. There’s been reservations and criticism especially about who gets selected and for some reason, which team they come from. It’s my opinion though that when it comes to national team duty, we should be more concerned with what a player can bring to the table rather than which team they play for. Which brings me to the point that usually these conversations are void of – The coach’s philosophy.
I’ve always believed that success of any sporting team starts with the selection of the coach. Once you pinpoint the coach, you submit yourself to his or her coaching philosophy and then you put together the pieces that are a fit within that philosophy. As a fan, the next time you query your team selection, ask yourself what the coach’s philosophy is.
In the Ugandan context, we’ve not been coherently blessed with much sized players but we have consistently been blessed with special guards, I can name every guard that’s been on the Silverbacks. From observation and indeed from his comments, Galanopoulos loves to play quick offense. And he loves a much spaced game – we saw a lot of the 5-Out sets, a lot of run and gun and many sets that were quick hitters. The Silverbacks put up a spirited fight in the Round opening game against Egypt but they’d lose in the fourth quarter with the game ending 96-77. In a post-game interview, Galanopoulos hinted that he preferred the Silverbacks ‘to play quick but not in a rush’. Indeed the Galanopoulos offence yielded a 94-90 victory against Morocco and a 101-98 victory against Cape Verde. Of course in each of those games and like in any basketball game, you can always refer to some individual player brilliance. Jimmy Enabu was nightly notable against Egypt with 20 points, Robinson Opong took over the game against Morocco with the game high 29 points on some incredible shooting and against Cape Verde, Ishmail Wainright had an insane game of 36 points, 12 boards and 7 assists.
Deng Geu was that consistent player providing the much needed support in buckets and adding that extra layer of protection at the glass and getting boards. I’d think that Galanopoulos and his technical team don’t need Deng to top score in a game but to do just what he’s doing while they run the offense around Wainright and Opong. Let me say I love watching a basketball game that keeps me on the edge of my seat, but not so much when it’s the Silverbacks because I’m extremely emotionally invested – and imagine all closings to all the games were nerve wrecking. The common denominator was that we swallowed an average of 96 points per game in Alexandria, a figure Galanopoulos will be seeking to change in Kigali come February 2021.
Based on the rankings after Round one of AfroBasket 2021 qualifications – rankings drawn by Coach Elizabeth Mills, Uganda Silverbacks are ranked number 3 on offensive ranking. Egypt is the top offensive team with Cape Verde in number 4 and Morocco in 7th position. I think it’s just right to say that Group E has the teams with the best offense in these qualifiers and we ought keep our offense top notch for any realistic chances of AfroBasket 2021. Overall, Uganda ranks number 12 among the 20 teams that are seeking to play at the AfroBasket 2021.
Interestingly and quite rightly so, the local based players have been called into nonresidential camp a lot earlier and I’m hoping they’re working on their conversion rate of shots more than anything so they can be the perfect complement to our key pieces.
By Cucu Brian | Twitter @Cucubrian
Must See
