Angola collected three straight victories against Panama, Japan and New Zealand before giving Spain and Germany all they could handle in the final two games of the first round.

And in their eight-final encounter against France, Angola recovered from a three of 17 shooting performance at the start of the game to close within four points with four seconds left to play before eventually bowing out of the tournament with a 68-62 loss.

The Nigerians - making their second appearance at the FIBA World Championship - showed straight away that they cannot be over-looked, knocking off the defending world champions Serbia & Montenegro in their first group stage game. Nigeria then struggled in consecutive losses to Venezuela, France and Argentina, but came back for a sound beating of Lebanon to reach the final 16 where they went up against Germany, the runners up at last year's EuroBasket.

Sam Vincent's team recovered from a double-digit first half deficit and only lost when Dirk Nowitzki blocked Ime Udoka's driving layup attempt as Germany clinched a 78-77 victory.

"I thought we played really well as a team. Even when we were down, we stuck together and it came down to the last play. Everyone thought that was a foul, but the referee thought otherwise. I guess some people get special calls," said Tunji Awojobi, who missed a free throw in the waning moments which would have tied the game at 78-78.

"We came out, played hard and I'm really proud of my team-mates. It's been a good year for us, and for Africa."

Nigeria's Julius Nwosu stressed: "It's huge for all the African kids growing up and playing basketball to see two African countries making it to the second round. it shows how much basketball has improved on the continent in recent years."

Prior to Angola's loss to France, Joaquim Gomes said the team's performance had been a dream come true, adding: "It means a lot to me. It's been a great experience playing over here, especially for an African team because not many people give that much credit to African basketball."

"For us coming over here and being able to beat some teams is a great achievement. And now the Angolan people have something to talk about. I'm really proud of being here and really proud of doing this for the Angolan people."

While Angola and Nigeria won over plenty of fans throughout the world, Senegal struggled with five straight losses.

The Senegalese had a tough preparation to the tournament, changing coaches through a dismissal in mid-July and then watching as their three NBA big men Desagana Diop, Boniface N'Dong and Pape Saw all pulled out of the FIBA World Championship.

Still, there were plenty of young African players who shined brightly in Japan, including Ekene Ibekwe, Josh Akognon and Ebi Ere from Nigeria; Angolans Joaquim Gomes, Olimpio Cipriano and Eduardo Mingas; and Senegal's Jules Aw, Malick Badiane and El Kebir Pene.

The Africans' excellent play also drew plenty of praise from other nations at the competition.

"To see two teams likes Nigera and Angola in the last 16 just shows how much African basketball in general has imporoved," said French all-arounder Boris Diaw, who went head-to-head with Nigeria in the preliminary round.

"It's not only the national teams but just the level of competition on the continent itself. As far as national teams are concerned, they will be among the tough teams to beat in the coming years."

Spain's star center Pau Gasol, who faced Angola in Group B, added: "Players are getting better and better. The more they see basketball on TV when they're little, the more they want to play it to become great players and make their dream come true. So African basketball is improving. The teams are not easy to beat or play against any more. So it's interesting."

After coaching against Angola in the Hiroshima group, Japanese coach Zeljko Pavlicevic said: "Angola, Senegal and Nigeria and the rest of African basketball, like in football, have a big future. The success will be bigger and bigger. You see a lot of NBA players from Africa. They're really athletic and have a really good feeling for the ball."

Even though he didn't face an African team in the tournament, Greek coach Panagiotis Yannakis praised the continent's improvements.

"The level has gone up. No team is easy to play against. And that's very nice for us and everybody else who loves basketball," he said.

"African teams have played so well. They fought very hard in all of their games. They nearly made it to the final eight. Nigeria lost on a layup. And Angola fought until the last second. If any of the strong traditional teams lack concentration and don't respect an African opponent, they're going to lose in the future."

Despite loads of talent oozing from African nations, one of the main problems the continent has faced over the years is organisation. But the players' success in Japan has helped them to get the word out in hopes things can improve.

"If Angola, Nigeria and Senegal could organise their national championships we could be great," Angolan coach Alberto Carvalho said. "If we could get some of our players to go to Spain and France and Italy we could get better."

Angolan guard Luis Costa said African nations must do more to get their players to represent their homelands instead of taking another passport to suit up for that nation's national team.

"Almost all the European teams have players from Africa or with African heritage. And there are a lot of NBA guys from Africa. If more of them would play for their national teams in Africa, we would all get better," he said.

Even though he is the only member of the Angolan team playing professionally abroad, Gomes said there's plenty of talent in his native land - and on the continent.

"I think they can play anywhere. We can compete at the same level. Our main problem is that we don't have enough scouts coming to Angola. They concentrate on Nigeria and Senegal," he said.

"You see the talent of a guy like (Carlos) Morais. We have a lot more guys like him."

When asked if an African team could some day win an international competition, Gomes said: "We definitely can. There is a lot of talent here. Also Algeria and Mali and the Central African Republic are loaded. All of them are improving. They just haven't had the chance to be seen. It all comes down to being seen."

Future showings like Angola's and Nigeria's this summer could change that. Or more teams.

After years of two representatives, Africa received three berths for this FIBA World Championship - which featured eight more teams than 2002 in Indianapolis. And the impressive performances could give the Africans additional fodder in their fight for a fourth team.

"It would be nice," Yannakis said of the idea of having a fourth African nation at the competition. "We need to motivate the Africans for sure because we want everybody to play basketball. We need to make them understand and learn more about international basketball because they have talent and desire."