Βy Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The four Olympic Qualifying tournaments are on the books, no host nations managed to qualify and there’s an ongoing debate, especially in countries like Canada, Serbia, Lithuania, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia about the national teams’ programs.
Of course, it goes without saying that factors like COVID, injuries, and having your best players – mainly from the NBA – available plays a big part in qualifying for the Olympics. However, those factors on most occasions are out of the hands of the national federations and are issues that more or less every national team is bound to encounter from time to time.
The big issue is how national federations can approach their national teams’ programs to always present a unit capable of getting the job done. Practically, it boils down to one word: Continuity. Building a pool of players that will be willing to play for the national team, if they are available, is a must. And that extends much more into having a coach that has a long-term presence on the bench and the time to build.
It’s not a coincidence that out of the four teams qualified, only one had a coach with less than a four-year presence on the team. And even in this case, Alexander Sekulic was an assistant coach in Slovenia since 2016, so he was also part of the program.
And while it’s obvious that having Luka Doncic, Tomas Satoransky or Nicolo Melli certainly helps, it’s also very important to take advantage of what the FIBA “Windows” can give you. It’s written many times that the windows by default since no NBA and EuroLeague players are usually available, extend the pool of players who have to be part of each countries national team. So, while you can argue that windows experience is not the main factor in qualifying for the Olympics, in the roster of all four teams qualified, just five players in total have never participated in any game of the “Windows”.
So if you have a battle-tested team, then you are ready to cope with any absence, as it happened with Germany qualifying without having Dennis Schroder on the court, or to make history when you can add a generational talent like Doncic.
ITALIA: WORLD CUP WINDOWS: 8-4 EUROBASKET WINDOWS: 4-2
TOTAL GAMES: 18
Spissu: 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Mannion: 1 Windows game before the World Cup
Tonut: 5 Windows games before the World Cup
Meli: 2 Windows games before the World Cup
Fontecchio: 3 Windows games before the World Cup – 2 Windows games before Eurobasket
Tessitori: 2 Windows games before the World Cup – 5 Windows games before Eurobasket
Ricci: 3 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Abass: 12 Windows games before the World Cup
Moraschini: 1 Windows game before the World Cup
M.Vitali: 7 Windows games before the World Cup – 7 Windows games before Eurobasket
Polonara: 6 Windows games before the World Cup
Pajola: 1 Windows game before Eurobasket
* Italy, qualified for Eurobasket as host
Meo Sacchetti is the coach of the team since 2017
GERMANY: WORLD CUP WINDOWS: 9-3 EUROBASKET WINDOWS: 1-5
TOTAL GAMES: 18
Bonga: 2 Windows games before the World Cup
Saibou: 8 Windows games before the World Cup – 2 Windows games before Eurobasket
Lo: 1 Windows game before the World Cup
Giffey: 7 Windows games before the World Cup
Wimberg: 3 Windows games before Eurobasket
Voigtmann: 4 Windows games before the World Cup
Benzing: 8 Windows games before the World Cup – 7 Windows games before Eurobasket
Wagner: –
Wank: –
Barthel: 9 Windows games before the World Cup
Thiemann: 10 Windows games before the World Cup
Obst: 5 Windows games before Eurobasket
* Germany, qualified for Eurobasket as host
Henrik Rodl is the coach of the team since 2017
CZECH REP: WORLD CUP WINDOWS: 8-4 EUROBASKET WINDOWS: 5-1
TOTAL GAMES: 18
Auda: 10 Windows games before the World Cup –
Vyoral: 10 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Samoura: –
Satoranski: 2 Windows games before the World Cup
Schilb: 10 Windows games before the World Cup
Balvin: 8 Windows games before the World Cup – 1 Windows game before Eurobasket
Sirina: 10 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Peterka: 10 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Bohacik: 12 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Sehnal: 1 Windows game before the World Cup – 4 Windows games before Eurobasket
Palyza: 7 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Vesely: 2 Windows games before the World Cup
* Czech rep., qualified for Eurobasket as host
Ronen Ginzburg is the coach of the team since 2013
SLOVENIA: WORLD CUP WINDOWS= 3-8 EUROBASKET WINDOWS= 4-2
TOTAL GAMES: 18
Rupnik: 10 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Nikolic: 2 Windows games before the World Cup – 2 Windows games before Eurobasket
Prepelic: 6 Windows games before the World Cup – 2 Windows games before Eurobasket
Muric: 10 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Tobey: –
Blazic: 6 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Hrovat: 7 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Dimec: 7 Windows games before the World Cup – 6 Windows games before Eurobasket
Z. Dragic: 2 Windows games before the World Cup –
Cancar: 10 Windows games before the World Cup –
Cebasek: 4 Windows games before the World Cup –
Doncic:-
Alexander Sekulic is the coach of the team since 2020