Over the last week, both Al-Farouq Aminu and Jusuf Nurkiu0107 competed for their respective national teams in regional qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, which is scheduled to be held a little under a year from now in China. For Aminu, it was a chance to help continue Nigeria's run as the team to beat in Africa. As for Nurkiu0107, it was a reintroduction to playing for a Bosnia and Herzegovina team in the fledgling stage of building a program capable of competing among the elite in Europe. Here's how it went for both players...
• While Nigeria probably could have managed to qualify for the 2019 FIBA World Cup without Al-Farouq Aminu's services in the latest round of qualifiers -- they entered last weekend's games with a 6-0 record in group play -- the combination of playing three games in three days in Nigeria's capital of Lagos likely tipped the scales in favor of the 6-9 forward joining up with the national team last week.