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Head coach Mandy Juruni acknowledged that the current league competition is not giving them the test they need to be competitive at BAL.
City Oilers head coach Mandy Juruni is adamant that the current National Basketball League (NBL) needs to be more robust to help prepare his charges for the upcoming Basketball for Africa League (BAL) tournament in Egypt next month.
The Oilers have been ruthless in their first three league games played thus far.
An 18-point win against KIU Titans on day one was followed by a 106-49 demolition of Dmark Power before their latest 18-point win against KCCA Panthers.
Head coach Mandy Juruni acknowledged that the current league competition is not giving them the test they need to be competitive at BAL.
"BAL is for the best in Africa, but, unfortunately, our league (NBL) is not strong enough to prepare us," Juruni told Pulse Sports before adding.
"We must gauge ourselves with stronger opponents as we concentrate on building confidence."
"We plan to play friendlies because we shall also have a slightly different team for BAL."
However, Juruni believes that the teams in the league will improve as the season goes on, although the goal remains winning the title, a record-extending ninth.
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20:28 - 26.03.2023
NBL City Oilers cruise to third straight win In NBL
City Oilers put on a fourth quarter clinic to defeat KCCA Panthers, 72-54 in the National Basketball League on Sunday.
"Teams will get better; you can't judge them now, but again on our side, the goal remains to win the championship at the end of the season, no matter how prepared other teams are."
City Oilers begin their debut BAL campaign from the Nile conference group, which includes Al Ahly (Egypt), Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), Club Ferroviario de Beira-CFV Beira (Mozambique), Club Atletico Petroleos de Luanda (Angola) and Seydou Legacy Athletic Club- SLAC (Guinea).
The tournament, which will be hosted in Cairo, Egypt, from April 26th – May 6th, will see the top four teams progress to the playoff tournament, which will be held in Kigali, Rwanda.
The 2023 BAL tournament will have a new champion after Tunisia's US Monastir was eliminated in the Sahara conference group tournament, which Senegal hosted in Dakar.
The four teams that progressed from the Sahara Conference include the AS Douanes (Senegal), ABC Fighters (Ivory Coast), Stade Malien (Mali) and REG (Rwanda).
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