KCITI
WILDCATS..... LOST GLORY! By theWATCHER!!
 Back
in the day...if you talked about or even mentioned KCITI (Kenya
Christian Industrial Training Institute)....everyone within
the Kenya 's college basketball scene would turn there heads..
if not dive to take cover. Today.. no one really cares..because
KCITI basketball teams have since lost their admiration.
KCITI
men's team.the Wildcats was a force to reckon with back in
the day for more than a decade..around the mid 1990's to 2004,
producing some of the country's finest basketball talent along
the years. The wildcats dominated the Universities and Colleges
Basketball League- UCBL league under American Head Coach Tony
Mauldin, always blowing away their opponents by huge margins.
like in the 2000 finals against KU Pirates where the score-line
was 125-75 ...in games that featured numerous
3-pointers, countless blocks and breathtaking dunks. Basically...the
Wildcats were unstoppable...then!
And
just like the greatest of the empires..Rome, or the fiercest
of the leaders.Napoleon, the Wildcats reign begun to crumble...first
in 2001 after a vicious attack from the Tigers of USIU in
regular season, ending their UNBEATEN run,
but recovered fast enough to defeat them in the finals. They
then survived for two years..but the Tigers had exposed them
and it was known they were beatable..and in the 2004 season,
the Tigers were at it again...defeating them 2-1 in the best-of-three
finals series that included a 110-78 whipping
in game-3. Since then, the Wildcats have never been the same
again.
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Peter
Kiganya |
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Cliff
Ochieng |
However,
you have to agree with me..and lets give credit where it's
due.and KCITI deserve exactly that for their human resource
contribution to the basketball fraternity in the country.
Just take a good look around the Kenyan leagues..and you'll
notice that most of the key players once played for
the WILDCATS...and if that's not enough...consider
the country's International players roaster ..almost all once
wore the KCITI jersey! From Catwright ( USA ), Peter
Kiganya ( Argentina , Chile , USA ..etc), David Mugoye (Oman,
Rwanda, Seychelles), John "otwal" Baraza (Oman,
Dubai), Aringo (Dubai), to Patrick Odhiambo (Oman, Rwanda),
Steve Olweny (Dubai), Nelson Njau (Oman), Mike Olaka (Oman),
Collins Wande (USA) and Martin Ombok (USA).among others.....
.then move to the local league at home..big names like Cliff
Ochieng (Co-op Bank), Mike Tanui (Ulinzi), Dan Okwiri (USIU),
John Waruru (Co-op Bank), and the latest duo off the KCITI
ballin courts in 2003/4 Richard Osano (Ulinzi), and Martin
Okwako (Co-op Bank).among others... all grace the "Wildcats
Hall of Fame"..and they all posses the nurtured
talent that comes with explosive plays, ankle breaking crossovers
(check this
one by Cliff..offTHArchives), and nasty dunks that is
synonymous with KCITI Wildcats style of playing basketball.
And you can't leave out the coaches.Cliff Owuor (Now APR Rwanda)
and Charles Saleh (Former USIU Coach).and their keen attention
to basics in basketball!
The
bigQUESTION we are all asking is what Happened?????
or Where did Things Go Wrong??? Lots of theories
and explanations have comeUP.but the truth is yet to be said...at
least openly. Even the Sniper couldnt get his finger on the
issue after he went on deepCOVER.and behind the scenes...
Word is 1. The change of guard (principal)
at KCITI had a hand in all this..with focus shifting more
to books than extra curricular, 2. Tony
Mauldin's exit as head Coach, 3. The Tony
Mauldin factor.. Him heading home..and b'ball scholarships
grinding to a halt.. ETC . But whatever it
is...it ripped the country of its best basketball-talent-nurturing-institution.
The
Wildcats regrouped in 2005, terrorised teams in the Division
Two League, and proceeded to battle it out with rising UCBL
Forces: Tigers (USIU) and Pirates (Kenyatta University) in
the 2006 UCBL season ..hitting the Tigers in the semis.but
falling short of reclaiming the title after going down 69-78
in overtime to Pirates after a 65-65 tie in regular
time at the Finals. They were heartBROKEN....but at least
they were back in familiar territory-the finals.
Now
what's left to be seen is if they'll once again regroup in
the 2007 season.and this time go for the silver-WARE that
once brought life to their trophy cabinet and prestige to
the institution for years.
Until
then.theirs is a story of.......the LOST GLORY!!!!
theWATCHER!
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