They reached the quarter-finals of Afrobasket not to mention they beat African giants Nigeria in the group phase, so are Democratic Republic Congo targeting the upcoming FIBA World Cup qualifiers as a platform to be powerhouses in their own right?
The national team’s star point guard Lukusa Myck Kabongo thinks so.
But, the Congolese’s qualifying campaign is a very tricky one to start, as two recognised African nations in Angola and Egypt along with Morocco await them in Group C. However, Kabongo believes that his side have the talent to possibly secure a monumental first ever World Cup spot.
Why can’t they believe?
“We are going to try to get there,”Kabongo told FIBA.basketball.
“We have the talent to do it, we have the right coaching staff. We have the right amount of guys that can do it. We have a couple of NBA guys who weren’t even [at FIBA Afrobasket 2017]. When you add those guys into the mix, what we can do as a team is very special and we know that. We are just trying to start up a new page in history for [Democratic Republic] Congo basketball and our nation is pretty excited for us.”
For a team that had last competed at FIBA Africa’s most important competition in 2007, beating Nigeria has understandably been described as their biggest win in the history of the competition.
However, Kabango, who averaged 14.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and a team-high 4.8 assists per game insists that this is just the beginning of something special.
“I am forever here,” he says. “I am born here and it means a lot more to play for this country, and I am giving hope for kids. I know there is a lot of kids out there that never imagined basketball being this big of a deal.
“[Africa] as one of the biggest continents, we have so many jewels that people just don’t notice. it’s that time for the world to notice that Africa has basketball.”
