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PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria—Rivers Hoopers coach Ogoh Odaudu has revealed that a sharp mental reset and high intensity will guide the KingsMen as they prepare to launch their bid for the 2026 Nigeria Premier Basketball League (NPBL) crown.
The season-ending Final Four begins Sept. 20 at the Old Port Harcourt Township basketball stadium. The three-day round-robin sees the Hoopers compete alongside defending champions Maktown Flyers, Gboko City Chiefs and Aso Sky Hawks for the 2026 NPBL title and Nigeria’s only ticket to the 2027 Basketball Africa League (BAL) season.
For Odaudu, the preparation leading up to the final stretch focused less on physical conditioning and more on psychological readiness after last season’s heartbreak, when the Hoopers surrendered the 2025 title in a final 74-72 loss to the Lagos Legends.
“Most of the things we didn’t do well before weren’t a matter of basketball skill, it was mental,” Odaudu said after a practice session. “I spent a lot more time talking to the players, getting into their heads instead of having them run up and down the pitch. The physical work is important, but the main thing is up there in their heads. You have to prepare them mentally and psychologically, and we’ve done a lot of that.”
The Hoopers cruised through the playoffs with a 6-1 record, taking the top seed on points differential ahead of the Maktown Flyers. With the league final just days away, Odaudu reflected on and praised his team’s evolution at every stage of the season.
“If you saw phase one and phase two, you could say that in the playoff phase we were a completely different team,” Odaudu noted. “And from what I saw in practice, this won’t even be the same team that played in the playoffs. There’s a lot more intensity, a lot more hunger and a lot more determination.”
The veteran strategist, however, dismissed suggestions of an easy run for any team in the Final Four, insisting that every team has the ability to win and must be respected.
“It’s not going to be a two-horse or three-horse race. It’s a four-horse race because every Final Four team is capable of winning it,” Odaudu said. “It just depends on which team is most hungry for it.”
With the stakes higher than ever and just three matchdays to decide the championship from September 20-22, Odaudu has warned his team there will be no margin for error.
“Every match is crucial. We have to take it one match at a time and treat each match with total seriousness,” Odaudu said. “This isn’t like the playoff stage where you have seven games to make up. This is the Final Four: we can’t afford to abandon a game at any point.
