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Al-Farouq Aminu, Nigeria — LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 02: Al-Faroug Aminu #7 of Nigeria looks dejected after the Men’s Basketball Preliminary Round match against the United States on Day 6 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Basketball Arena on August 2, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Al-Farouq Aminu and Nigeria

When Nigeria tips off the FIBA World Cup on Saturday morning (on the East Coast), they will do so in perhaps the biggest game of their tournament.

Group B is a strange mix of teams with a clear blue-blood favorite in Argentina and a plucky Russia team.

But Nigeria is no pushover. This is a team that plays hard and has a lot of solid defenders. Al-Farouq Aminu chief (pun!) among them.

If Nigeria is going to get to the next round — the top two teams from each of the preliminary groups advance to the second group stage — they will have to defeat Russia in the very first game. A loss there will force them to defeat Argentina on Sept. 2 (the team’s second game) to advance.

Nigeria will know very early if they are moving on.

Al-Farouq Aminu is the veteran of this Nigeria team. It would be easy to expect him to have to take on more of a scoring role. I thought so when I first looked at this roster.

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That has not been how this team has played out.

In their exhibition games, they relied a lot on Minnesota Timberwolves guard Josh Okogie, former NBAer Ben Uzoh and Louisville Cardinals forward Jordan Nwora for their offense. That helped them pick up some come-from-behind wins over Poland and Montenegro this week.

That will allow Aminu to settle into a comfortable role where he is the team’s top defender on the perimeter. Aminu will look like the player he will with the Magic, in other words.

I would not suspect Aminu will score a ton of points. But he should still look to be active where he can and focus on his defensive presence. Nigeria will still want him to be around 10 points and seven or eight rebounds.

But ultimately, for Nigeria to advance, the team has to win games. Aminu helps with that with the way he fills in gaps and does the dirty work. If those young players can hold the scoring load down, Nigeria is a sneaky pick to advance.

But it is a big ask for this team. It would be nice to see Nigeria get more from Aminu.

Group B Prediction

1. Argentina
2. Russia
3. Nigeria
4. Korea

Group A Prediction

1. Poland
2. Venezuela
3. China
4. Cote d’Ivoire

Group I Prediction (Second Round)

1. Argentina
2. Russia
3. Poland
4. Venezuela