By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
William Howard was removed from the list of available players for the French senior national team, the French Federation of Basketball announced Friday.
Howard, 28, was cut following the last prep game ahead of next week’s 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers and September’s EuroBasket. The Blues defeating Belgium rounded up their record in recent friendly games to 4-0.
National team selector Vincent Collet currently has 12 players at his disposal. Despite FIBA rules permitting 12-man rosters in major international tournaments, the remaining players are yet to have guaranteed a spot in the final squad as Moustapha Fall and Andrew Albicy can recover in time to play in the upcoming official contests, as noted by FFBB.
“The France national team or not, there is a team also waiting for them,” mentioned Collet regarding the injured players, Fall and Albicy, “Their recovery is in progress. Neither has been medically cleared. And it is not entirely up to us.”
France’s remaining selections:
Isaia Cordinier (Virtus Segafredo Bologna)
Evan Fournier (New York Knicks)
Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Thomas Heurtel
Mouhammadou Jaiteh (Virtus Segafredo Bologna)
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (Atlanta Hawks)
Theo Maledon (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Amath M’Baye (Anadolu Efes)
Elie Okobo (AS Monaco)
Vincent Poirier (Real Madrid)
Terry Tarpey (Le Mans)
Guerschon Yabusele (Real Madrid)
Carrying a 5-1 record from the previous round, France will take on the Czech Republic Wednesday and Bosnia-Herzegovina next Saturday to start FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers Group K. In a quick turnaround to EuroBasket, the next challenge is Group B of the preliminary round in Cologne.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL