BRIGHT Akhuetie won't be the only familiar face for Filipino fans in the Nigerian national pool.
Julius Nwosu has been tasked to handle D'Tigers in the first window of the 2023 Fiba World Cup African qualifiers with head coach Mike Brown still working with the Golden State Warriors.
Nwosu, 50, played as an import for Batang Red Bull in the 2002 PBA Commissioner's Cup where he teamed up with Tony Lang, and later NBA veteran Sean Lampley, to steer the Thunder to the championship in seven games against the Jerald Honeycutt-led Talk 'N Text Phone Pals.
It was the quintessential squad for coach Yeng Guiao, which had Nwosu playing solid at the center position side-by-side with Davonn Harp while eventual Finals MVP Willie Miller orchestrated the offense.
That Red Bull squad was also filled with quality players, from feisty guard Jimwell Torion nailing the game-sealing trey in the final two minutes of Game Seven, to superb performances from upstarts Lordy Tugade, Junthy Valenzuela, and Mick Pennisi as well as the veterans Vince Hizon, Noli Locsin, and Nelson Asaytono.
Nigeria head coach Mike Brown is still with the Golden State Warriors.
Nwosu, who also played for the San Antonio Spurs and the Boston Celtics, retired in 2010, last suiting up for San Carlos in the Dominican Republic.
The job means Nwosu has now gone full circile in his Nigerian career. He was part of the Nigeria team in the 1998 Fiba World Championship in Athens but failed to finish the tournament for doping stemming from a bad medication he bought in Lagos.
He will be tasked to guide Nigeria in these first sets of games set at Benguela, Angola as it plays in Group A against Cape Verde, Mali, and Uganda from Nov. 26 to 28.
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