BY SEGUN OLANREWAJU
As Nigeria prepares to host basketball Pre- qualifiers ahead of France 2024 Olympic Games, one player that will be a torn on the flesh of D’Tigers opponents is Turk Telekom of Turkey playmaker, Michael Oluwaseun Erico. Michael is the son of ex international and former Super Eagles coach Joe Erico.
Nigeria will from August 12-20, 2023, in Lagos host seven other countries namely, Senegal, Mali, Uganda, Congo Democrat Republic, Cameroon, Guinea and Tunisia in the qualifiers that will determine Africa’s representative at the Olympics.
In order to ensure that the country pick one of the tickets, D’Tigers Coach, Mike Brown who also doubles as Head Coach of Sacramento Kings and NBA coach of the year invited 23 players with 18 of them playing in the NBA with Eric as one of the invited players.
His invitation into the team did not come as a surprise to basketball stakeholders in the country considering his pedigree in the dunk and slam game where he has recorded tremendous successes both at the NBA and in Europe.
A very close look at his intimidating records shows that he has played for some of the best teams abroad and his inclusion into the Nigerian team will add flavour to the team and go a long way in helping D’Tigers book a ticket to France.
Eric since he started his professional career when he got signed to Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA has not looked back in the game and has gone along to play for most of the successful and house hold names in both the United States and Europe such as; Canton Charge and Texas Legends both in the NBA before moving to Greek side, Penelefsimakos, AEK Athens, Enel Brindisi, Bilbao Basketball Club of Spain, Darussafaka, Baskona, CSKA, Moscow, Unicaja Malaga and his present club, Turk Telecom in the Turkish League.
Apart from this, the three time Most Valuable player (MVP) award winner which he achieved at the 2017-2018 Euro Cup semi- final game, 2018-2019 Euro League round of 27 matches and 2019 FIBA World championship is no stranger to high profile matches or titles as he participated in the 2016 NBA D’ League All Stars Game and won the 2018 Euro Cup with Darussafaka, Istanbul, Turkey.
He was also part of the Baskonia Victoria Gestuz team that won the Spanish National Championship in 2019-2020 season as well as won the 2020-2021 OTB League with CSKA Moscow.
With all these experiences, Eric is coming to not only participate in the qualifiers but to help his fatherland pick a ticket to France 2024 Olympics.
Speaking from his Turkish base on his invitation to the qualifiers, the three-points specialist noted that he’s looking forward to having a good tournament with his teammates; positing that the invitation is a call to service and the team will not disappoint Nigerians as they’re poised to hoist the country’s flag in the biggest sports competition in the world.
It’s equally worthy to note that Coach Brown having recognized his playing style, leadership qualities and respect he commands amongst his team mates appointed him captain of the team which goes with a lot of responsibilities. And as the captain, it’s expected that his leadership qualities will be on display throughout the duration of the qualifiers.
Eric, while admitting that the qualifiers will be tough was quick to add that the calibre of players in the D’Tigers team are capable of not only posting a good performance but taking other teams to the cleaners when hostilities begins on August 12.
” It’s a thing of joy for me to be invited to the national team for the Olympic qualifiers and I thank the NBBF and Coach Mike Brown for finding me worthy to be part of the team.
” I want to tell you that’s not going to be an easy qualifiers because every country wants to be at the Olympics but the good news is that we have quality and experienced players in our team with a world class coach and we shall not take anything for granted as we want to hoist the country’s flag at the Olympics and be part of the greatest sporting event in the World”, he sounded confidently.
An easy-going person who cannot be intimidated on and off the Courts, Eric is one of the few players that believes in teamwork, determination and hard work which he believes any team needs to succeed and he has followed this principle religiously to a very great advantage.
However, as Nigerians awaits the arrival of these stars from all over America and Europe, kudos must go to Coach Mike Brown, an NBA Coach of the year for unearthing Eric and other Nigerian Disapora players who are making waves all over the world as their experience is going to count when they take to the courts against some of the best basketball playing nations in the continent come August 22-20 in Lagos.
