Cobra Sports is one of three debutant teams taking part in the Basketball Africa League’s Nile Conference in Cairo this month, but point guard Jared Harrington has warned that established sides better not sleep on the South Sudanese team.
Washington DC’s Harrington, who joined up with the Cobras just a few weeks ago, is one of the more established players on this very young side, which has an average age of 23, but said they’d gelled together quicker than he expected.
Harrington, who moved from fellow debutants Cape Town Tigers earlier this year, told ESPN: “We have lots of key guys. Our one through five have played somewhere before, so I really think that you should keep an eye on our whole team.
“Cobra Sport in general is going to come out and shock a lot of people.”
In typical BAL fashion, with players coming in from around the world just weeks before the tournament, Harrington only arrived in South Sudan just over two weeks ago, and then quickly travelled to Cairo for the tournament.
But he said they had welcomed him easily, and adapted to him being named as captain without issue despite the core of the team playing together for years.
The Albany State alum added: “One thing that did surprise me was the camaraderie of the team. I wasn’t expecting them to welcome me with open arms. I’ve only been there for two and a half weeks and the chemistry is really tight together already.
“Some guys have been playing together for years. With me being the new guy, the import, it’s been amazing because they’ve allowed me to come in as a leader, and the chemistry has just been ongoing and flowing, so I’m just happy.”
Aside from success at the BAL, which would start with a top four finish in Cairo to advance to the playoffs in Kigali in May, Harrington still has NBA ambitions.
At 24, he feels the tournament could provide him with a platform to reach the world’s biggest basketball stage.
The Cobra Sports organisation knows of his ambitions, he said: “They know I have NBA goals and they’re trying to help me get to the next step.
“[But] I think success for me would be, first of all, having every one of my guys healthy. We don’t really take any days for granted over here. I emphasise that as a leader — taking things day by day. We don’t take it for granted.
“Of course, making the playoffs is what we want to do and what we strive for every day. At the end of the day, as long as we make those playoffs, I would say that would be the epitome of success for me.”
The Cobras tip off the tournament against hosts, and defending champions, Zamalek on Saturday April 9, and while they’re certainly the underdogs, Harrington said his team were looking forward to the significant challenge.
He concluded: “Me and the guys are very excited to compete. We know it’s going to be a nice game, a very high quality basketball game.
“My job as a leader is just to keep everybody composed. This is a very highly competitive tournament, so we’re just taking it day by day… We just have to never get too high up or too low down.”
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