Despite missing out on the FIBA World Cup, Nigeria’s men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, retained their position as the number one team on the continent and 19th in the world in the latest FIBA World rankings.
At the recently concluded window of the African qualifiers for the World Cup in Luanda, D’Tigers won two games, defeating Guinea and Ivory Coast, before losing the final game to Angola, to lost the qualifying position to Cape Verde.
According to the latest ranking published on FIBA website, D’Tigers are the top-playing basketball country in Africa and 19th in the World with 461.4 points.
Tunisia are placed second on the continent and 21 in the world with 448.6 points, while Senegal are ranked third in Africa but placed 37th in the world. Angola are the fourth best nation in Africa but 41 at the global level.
Ivory Coast, who also qualified for the World Cup, occupy the fifth position in Africa and 42 in the world.
Meanwhile, Spain are rated the best basketball playing nation in the world with 758 points ahead of the US, who sit second. Australia, Argentina and France are third, fourth and fifth respectively on the globe.