SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - It's been a month since the release of the latest FIBA World Ranking Men, but the debate about the new positioning for African teams has raised more questions than answers. 

Although some have applauded new African champions Nigeria as the No.1 team in men's basketball on the continent, others have questioned the criteria used.

Nigeria won their first-ever AfroBasket title in 2015

While FIBA AfroBasket 2015 winners Nigeria and third-place team Tunisia climbed eight and two places respectively to become the top ranked and second-placed teams in Africa, former champions Angola, who finished runners-up, dropped eight places, ranking third.

The FIBA ranking is calculated within the scope of a 2 Olympic Games cycle (including qualifying competitions at FIBA Zone level), therefore by the time it was revealed last month, continental powerhouses like Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia would automatically see their positioning affected one way or the other.

Over the past few days and weeks, I discussed the current FIBA World Ranking Men (Africa) with a number of people - particularly players and officials - and none seemed more opposed to it than Paulo Madeira, the chairman of Angolan Basketball Federation (FAB).

Angola have missed qualification to the Olympic Games for the second time in a row but he argues that his country shouldn't have dropped so many places considering that they have participated in the last two editions of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

"If the FIBA World Ranking Men are calculated based on Olympic participation only, then it makes no sense to qualify for the World Cup," Madeira told me.

"We won AfroBasket 2013 while Nigeria and Tunisia didn’t make it to the Semi-Finals. We finished second at last year's AfroBasket and we beat Tunisia in the semis. We played at the [Belgrade] Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) and we lose eight places? Something is not right. The criteria used must be clarified because we have a commitment to basketball in our country and Africa."

Angola last won the continental championship in 2013 

I get where Madeira is coming from. After all, his country had dominated African basketball for over two decades, winning 11 of the last 13 African championships.  But from a competitiveness standpoint, I still believe that Nigeria are currently the strongest and best team in Africa and deserve credit for their recent accomplishment.

However, when it comes to a broader picture of African basketball, the top two places belong to Angola and Egypt with Tunisia and Mali coming close.

There is no recent history of Egyptian and Angolans teams pulling out of continental competitions. And this makes these two countries the heart and soul of African basketball over the past few years.

Joining the FIBA World Ranking Men conversation, here is my Top 5 teams in Africa based on what I witnessed first-hand over the past few years.

1. Nigeria
Despite the hardships at the Rio Olympics, the Western Africans couldn’t have made a bolder statement of their competitiveness by beating Croatia and forcing Spain and Lithuania to step up. Hopefully, the Nigerian Basketball Federation can persuade the core of the team to try to defend their title at AfroBasket 2017 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

2. Angola and Senegal (in no particular order)
These two teams are so similar that the last time they faced off during the AfroBasket 2015 Group Phase, the result was determined in the final second by a tip-in from Senegal’s Antoine Mendy.

The Angolans are currently experiencing a transition process between generations, and judging by their latest FIBA Africa U18 title, some of their young players looked good enough to continue the tradition of competing on the big stage.

No Africa team is as athletic as Senegal. Had they brought in Gorgui Dieng and Mouhammad Faye to the Manila OQT things could have been a lot better for them.

4. Egypt
With so many players enrolling in the USA's collegiate basketball programmes, Egypt's basketball future is brighter than ever, and last summer, they looked exciting to watch but were unfortunate to take on Angola in the Quarter-Finals.

5. Tunisia

Losing to Angola at AfroBasket 2015's Semi-Final stage in front of a sellout 15,000 home crowd says a lot a lot about the team. And, last week Tunisian shooting guard Maroud El Mabrouk revealed that they struggled to deal with the pressure of playing at home. As well as Omar Abada continues running the team's offense, Tunisia desperately needs improvement at the point guard.

Note: I hope to discuss the FIBA World Ranking Women in the next few weeks.

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

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