Josip Vranković has said he will be using the tournament for rebuilding and trying new things so it's also possible we bomb out in the preliminary stage.

I sure hope so because the future looks much better than the present... but I wouldn't write off the present either - there might be enough talent and cohesion - perhaps capable of upsetting any country other than a loaded US squad.

 

When the coach starts preparing excuses I always worry...:smileani: But he is right, we need to introduce some young players and get them into the system so we can start the rebuilding process...of the guys we have now only 2-3 aren't just role players with their European clubs...it's hard to expect success on the int'l stage with that kind of playing stock.

 

Roko, Zoran, Marko and Marko have played enough together... hoping on good chemistry. It's our bigs I'm more worried about. Vujcic and Prkacin were studs... nobody of that quality to step in. Good chance for Tomic to lead the bigs but not sure if he is ready to take on the high expectations and huge load of minutes that will be required. Ante might still be a year or two away from that.

These guys had a respectable Olympic tournament and a Euro tournament last year... but bottom line - time to rebuild.

 

Consensus among the fans is that Beijing was a success but last year's Eurobasket was a failure. No one denies Repeša is a great coach but his constant rotation and preference for certain players became a sore point.

IMO Prka shouldn't have played last year while Vujo has spent most of this season as nothing more than a spectator at Olympiakos.

Maybe Tomić is not ready but Vranković will not be afraid to overburden him, he rates him very highly and provided he stays in the job for a few years will build around him.

I think Tomić, Banić and Lončar are certainties. Depending on changing circumstances Kasun and Barać would also be certainties. As things stand Vujčić will probably make it but he won't play big minutes.

Someone from the domestic clubs like Žorić, Vukušić and Andrić could also sneak in. I think Markota is way out of form while Delaš and Radošević are probably too young even for this early stage of rebuilding.

Žorić and Tomić played together at Zagreb and he was the best Croatian big man in the NLB this season (outside of the NT-retired Žižić) so he's probably got a bigger chance than the others.


2009 Eurobasket roster and averages:

4.Roko Ukić PG, 1.96, 1984, Split (Toronto Raptors)
13.6 pts, 2.3 rebs, 3.8 asts, 1.5 stls, 1.1 tovs, 27.4 mins (8 games)

5.Davor Kus PG/SG, 1.91, 1978, Rijeka (Cibona Zagreb)
5.8 pts, 1.7 rebs, 1.8 asts, 0.3 stls, 1.1 tovs, 22.1 mins (9 games)

6.Marko Popović PG, 1.85, 1982, Zadar (Unics Kazan)
10.2 pts, 2.1 rebs, 2.4 asts, 0.4 stls, 2.0 tovs, 22.2 mins (9 games)

7.Nikola Vujčić C, 2.11, 1978, Vrgorac (Olympiakos)
6.6 pts, 2.1 rebs, 0.7 asts, 0.3 stls, 1.1 tovs, 0.3 blks, 13.4 mins (9 games)

8.Nikola Prkačin PF, 2.08, 1975, Dubrovnik (Cibona Zagreb)
2.3 pts, 1.4 rebs, 0.6 asts, 0.6 tovs, 0.1 blks, 7.3 mins (8 games)

9.Marin Rozić SF, 2.03, 1983, Mostar (Cibona Zagreb)
5.3 pts, 2.6 rebs, 0.2 asts, 1.0 stls, 0.4 tovs, 0.3 blks, 22.0 mins (9 games)

10.Zoran Planinić PG/SF, 2.01, 1982, Mostar (CSKA Moscow)
8.5 pts, 3.8 rebs, 3.5 asts, 0.5 stls, 2.3 tovs, 0.1 blks, 23.8 mins (8 games)

11.Mario Stojić SG/SF, 1.98, 1980, Mannheim (Menorca)
1.7 pts, 2.3 rebs, 0.9 asts, 0.3 stls, 0.1 blks, 10.6 mins (7 games)

12.Krešimir Lončar PF/C, 2.10, 1983, Split (Unics Kazan)
3.0 pts, 1.8 rebs, 0.5 asts, 0.5 stls, 0.6 tovs, 0.5 blks, 12.9 mins (8 games)

13.Marko Banić PF, 2.05, 1984, Zadar (Bilbao Berri)
5.9 pts, 3.9 rebs, 0.3 asts, 0.3 stls, 0.8 tovs, 0.1 blks, 20.8 mins (9 games)

14.Sandro Nicević PF/C, 2.10, 1976, Pula (Benetton Treviso)
6.3 pts, 3.0 rebs, 0.4 asts, 0.7 stls, 1.1 tovs, 16.1 mins (9 games)

15.Mario Kasun C, 2.13, 1980, Vinkovci (Efes Pilsen)
6.8 pts, 4.4 rebs, 0.1 asts, 0.8 stls, 1.5 tovs, 0.5 blks, 13.3 mins (8 games)

2008 Olympics roster and averages:

4.Roko Ukić PG, 1.96, 1984, Split (Lottomatica Roma)
7.5 pts, 3.5 rebs, 2.8 asts, 1.3 stls, 1.2 tovs, 26.2 mins (6 games)

5.Davor Kus PG/SG, 1.91, 1978, Rijeka (Unicaja Malaga)
5.3 pts, 1.8 rebs, 2.3 asts, 0.8 stls, 2.0 tovs, 24.7 mins (6 games)

6.Marko Popović PG, 1.85, 1982, Zadar (Zalgiris Kaunas)
10.0 pts, 1.0 rebs, 2.7 asts, 0.3 stls, 1.7 tovs, 22.0 mins (3 games)

7.Marin Rozić SF, 2.03, 1983, Mostar (Cibona Zagreb)
6.2 pts, 2.8 rebs, 0.7 asts, 0.7 stls, 0.8 tovs, 0.2 blks, 16.8 mins (6 games)

8.Nikola Prkačin PF, 2.08, 1975, Dubrovnik (Dinamo Moscow)
7.0 pts, 1.7 rebs, 0.2 asts, 0.8 stls, 0.7 tovs, 13.5 mins (6 games)

9.Marko Tomas SG/SF, 2.01, 1985, Koprivnica (Fuenlabrada)
9.3 pts, 3.7 rebs, 1.0 asts, 1.3 stls, 2.2 tovs, 24.2 mins (6 games)

10.Zoran Planinić PG/SF, 2.01, 1982, Mostar (TAU Ceramica)
11.8 pts, 3.0 rebs, 1.0 asts, 0.4 stls, 2.2 tovs, 0.2 blks, 19.2 mins (5 games)

11.Sandro Nicević PF/C, 2.10, 1976, Pula (Besiktas)
3.7 pts, 2.8 rebs, 1.2 asts, 0.3 stls, 0.8 tovs, 0.5 blks, 12.0 mins (6 games)

12.Damjan Rudež SF, 2.06, 1986, Zagreb (KK Split)
6.5 pts, 2.0 rebs, 0.5 asts, 0.5 blks, 11.0 mins (2 games)

13.Marko Banić PF, 2.05, 1984, Zadar (Bilbao Berri)
9.7 pts, 3.8 rebs, 0.7 asts, 0.8 stls, 1.5 tovs, 0.2 blks, 21.8 mins (6 games)

14.Krešimir Lončar PF/C, 2.10, 1983, Split (Lokomotiv Rostov)
6.0 pts, 5.3 rebs, 0.8 asts, 0.3 stls, 1.3 tovs, 0.5 blks, 17.8 mins (6 games)

15.Stanko Barać C, 2.17, 1986, Mostar (Valencia)
4.7 pts, 4.2 rebs, 0.3 asts, 1.3 tovs, 0.3 blks, 12.0 mins (6 games)

 

Petro...J-Rock, Jermain Anderson, played with KK Cedevita this past season. He might be coming back next season.

 

Yes... he was the starting PG and had a really good year. Hope he goes back.

 

Vranković announced his 17-man squad today:

Marko Banić PF, 2.04/6'8", 1984, Zadar (Bilbao Berri)
Stanko Barać C, 2.17/7'2", 1986, Mostar (Caja Laboral)
Bojan Bogdanović SG/SF, 2.02/6'7", 1989, Mostar (Cibona Zagreb)
Mario Delaš PF, 2.08/6'10", 1990, Split (Zalgiris Kaunas)
Davor Kus PG/SG, 1.91/6/3", 1978, Rijeka (Benetton Treviso)
Krešimir Lončar PF/C, 2.10/6'11", 1983, Split (Unics Kazan)
Hrvoje Perić SF, 2.03/6'8", 1985, Dubrovnik (KK Zadar)
Zoran Planinić PG/SF, 2.01/6'7", 1982, Mostar (Khimki)
Marko Popović PG, 1.85/6'1", 1982, Zadar (Unics Kazan)
Leon Radošević PF/C, 2.09/6'10", 1990, Sisak (Cibona Zagreb)
Krunoslav Simon, SG, 1.97/6'6", 1985, Zagreb (KK Zagreb)
Rok Stipčević PG, 1.86/6'1", 1986, Maribor (KK Zadar)
Marko Tomas SG/SF, 2.01/6'7", 1985, Koprivnica (Fenerbahce)
Ante Tomić C, 2.18/7'2", 1987, Dubrovnik (Real Madrid)
Roko Ukić PG, 1.96/6'5", 1984, Split (Fenerbahce)
Vedran Vukušić SF/PF, 2.06/6'9", 1982, Split (Cibona Zagreb)
Luka Žorić PF/C, 2.10/6'11", 1984, Zadar (KK Zagreb)

Vranković basically signalled the end of Vujčić's international career...would have been good if he did the same with Kus but I suppose there's still a chance he doesn't make the cut...good news that Barać is on the list which means they're expecting him to be fit for the tournament...

 

Vranković announced his 17-man squad today:




Vranković basically signalled the end of Vujčić's international career...would have been good if he did the same with Kus but I suppose there's still a chance he doesn't make the cut...good news that Barać is on the list which means they're expecting him to be fit for the tournament...

Interesting enough that he took 7 players from the B squad. In Zoric, Vukusic, Stipcevic, Simon, Peric and Bogdanovic. And Radosevic who was on the U20 team. I guess Rudez did not impress enough, thus not invited.

 

The seniors will be getting together on the 15th of July. The full schedule:

15. – 28.07.2010 Training in Poreč
24.07. Croatia – Italy in Poreč
25.07. Croatia – Italy in Pula

28. – 30.07.2010 Free time

30.07. – 05.08.2010 Training in Crikvenica

05.08.2010 Departure for Cyprus
06. – 08.08.2010 Tournament in Cyprus (Croatia, Greece, Russia, Germany)
09. – 12.08.2010 Training in Cyprus

12.08.2010 Departure for Germany
13. – 15.08.2010 Tournament in Germany, Supercup (Croatia, Germany, Turkey, Lithuania)

16. – 19.08.2010 Free time

19. – 26.08.2010 Training in Zadar
20.-22.08. Tournament in Zadar, World Cup (Croatia, New Zealand, Russia, Jordan)

26.08.2010 Departure for Turkey

28.8.2010 World Championship opener v USA

 

Btw, it's worth mentioning that Toni Kukoč will for the first time since 1999 have some involvement with the NT - he's accepted Vranković's invite to act as an advisor - and is expected to be with the team for the prep games against Italy in Istra.

Good to see him back.

 

Rudež was always going to have a tough time making the NT this time around. First off, Marko Tomas is back after missing last year's Eurobasket and then there's been the emergence of Bojan Bogdanović. Another guy who has jumped ahead of him is Hrvoje Perić who is more of a complete player (at this stage anyway).

Rudež's problem is that if he isn't shooting well he is pretty much of no use to the team. He's got great height and at club level can play at PF but for the NT he really needs to pick up his rebounding and defence if he wants to offer that versatility. We're much better off going with a conventional PF than picking a guy who can only really play SF. Anyway, he had a pretty average season with Cedevita so on pure form he was always going to struggle getting picked.

Vranković says he had 15 names in his squad but added Delaš and Radošević because of injury concerns with Barać and Vukušić.

 

The U20's have started their last prep tourney in Makarska with a convincing win against last year's U19 WC runner's up, Greece. Radošević has been in great form and last week was top scorer at a tournament in Turkey. Most impressive is the fact they won with little contribution from Toni Prostran and to a lesser extent Mario Delaš.

Hrvatska - Grčka 77:61 (20:17, 16:14, 23:14, 18:16)

Hrvatska: Došen 2 (28min), Radošević 19 (26min, 2sk, 3ukr.l), Bilinovac (12min), Delaš 9 (23min, 6sk), Olivari 3 (21min, 6sk, 2as), Ramljak 12 (22min, 6sk, 2as), Prostran (6min, 2sk, 2as), Batur 16 (30min, 2as), Planinić 3 (2sk), Zubčić 13 (19 min, 6sk, 2as), Juričić, Bubalo

Grčka: Katsivelis 1, Mourtos, Georgakis 3, Manzaris 7, Karathanasis, Papantoniou, Papanikolaou 10, Sloukas 15, Janković 4, Pappas 12, Kaselakis 2 (8sk), Sankopoulos 7 (8sk)

 

The U20's had another good win, this time against Italy. Prostran didn't play at all this time.

Hrvatska - Italija 77:60 (23:18, 16:11, 22:9, 16:22)

Hrvatska: Došen (16min, 2as), Radošević 19 (16min, 3sk, 3ukr.l, 5izg.l.), Bilinovac 2 (9min), Delaš 14 (23min, 4sk), Olivari 4 (20min, 2as), Ramljak 3 (32min, šut 0/5, 9sk, 3as), Juričić 2 (14min, 2sk, 2as), Batur 5 (28min, 4sk, 5izg.l), Planinić 10 (15min, 6sk), Rikić 4 (6min), Zubčić 14 (20min, 7sk, 3as), Bubalo

Italija: Giampaoli 10, Sanguinetti 2, Pascolo, Cournooh 6, Polonara 4, Loschi 5, Borra 2, Iannuzzi 5, Sandri 7, Vitali 5, Crotta 8, Gentile 6

 

The Italy game was from Saturday. On Sunday the U20's beat Turkey in what I think was our last prep game before the Eurobasket.

Hrvatska - Turska 82:70 (21:12, 14:23, 28:17, 19:18)

Hrvatska: Došen 5 (21min, 4sk, 5as), Radošević 23 (25min, šut 9/11), Bilinovac 2 (7min), Delaš 23 (25min, šut 8/13, 6sk), Olivari 4 (34min, 2sk, 2as), Ramljak 2 (23min), Prostran 4 (12min, 4as), Batur 5 (24min, 2sk, 2as), Planinić 7 (15min, 3sk), Rikić, Zubčić 7 (15 min, 3sk), Juričić, Bubalo

Turska: Koksal 2, Kilicli 4, Mahmutoglu 12 (6sk), Mutaf 2, Birkan 9, Karaman 13 (6sk), Yildirim 11, Volkan 3, Turkyilmaz, Sanli, Furkan 10 (12sk), Cantekin 7

 

The U20 Eurobasket tips off in less than 24 hours...

Duge i naporne pripreme došle su kraju, a hrvatska se U20 reprezentacija može pohvaliti odličnim rezultatima na dva posljednja turnira - drugim mjestom u Turskoj i prvim u Makarskoj.

"Rezultati tih utakmica su lijepi, dobro je da se dobiju te utakmice", kaže Boris Kurtović.

"No puno je važnije da se uoče nedostaci, da se broj grešaka svede na minimum i da se uigra čitava momčad, da se naviknu na ovu lijepu dvoranu u Makarskoj. Isprobali smo sve igrače, neke poput Tomislava Zubčića htjeli razigrati što više možemo, a neke pokušati malo i odmoriti."

Među onima koji su se odmarali u posljednjem tjednu bio je Toni Prostran, ponajbolji europski razigravač u svojoj generaciji. Zadranin je igrao malo na turniru u Makarskoj zbog zatezanja koje je osjetio u listu, ali Kurtović kaže kako ozljeda nije ozbiljnije prirode.

"To je sada u redu. Vjerojatno je do boli došlo jer se i umor nakupio, pa smo računali da je bolje da ga poštedimo, da ne riskiramo neku težu povredu", rekao je trener U20 reprezentacije.

Sa spremnim Prostranom u sastavu i s prednošću domaćeg parketa, od Hrvatske se očekuju najviši dometi na Europskom prvenstvu. "To se stalno priča i osjeća se u zraku, a nitko ni ne bježi od toga", reći će Kurtović.

"Pripreme su bile odlične, ali pripreme su ipak samo pripreme. Ovo je sada nešto sasvim drugo, jedna bitka za bodove, a već u prvom kolu imamo jednog nezgodnog protivnika. Važno je zato da ne poletimo previsoko. Samo moramo vjerovati u sebe i bit će sve u redu."

 

thanx for the updates suho.

 

Yes Suho... thanks for these updates... I've been away on vac and just got back and feel that I got all caught up in 3 minutes.

 

x3 Suho, keep up the basketball postings

 

No probs boys, it's a pleasure...:smileani:

Coach Boris Kurtović announced the final squad last night:

Nikola Došen, PG, 1.87, 1991, Šibenik (KK Šibenik)
Toni Prostran, PG, 1.81, 1991, Zadar (KK Zagreb)
Josip Bilinovac, SG, 1.95, 1990, Mostar (KK Međimurje)
Dino Butorac, SG, 1.92, 1990, Požega (KK Cedevita)
Šime Olivari, SG/SF, 1.97, 1990, Zadar, (KK Borik-Puntamika)
Ivan Batur, SG/SF, 2.03, 1991, Zadar (KK Zadar)
Ivan Ramljak, SF, 2.03, 1990, Posušje (HKK Široki)
Tomislav Zubčić, PF, 2.10, 1990, Zadar (KK Cibona)
Mario Delaš, PF/C, 2.08, 1990, Split (BC Žalgiris)
Leon Radošević, PF/C, 2.09, 1990, Sisak (KK Cibona)
Darko Planinić, C, 2.11, 1990, Mostar (HKK Široki)
Robert Rikić, C, 2.19, 1990 Mostar (KK Zagreb)

Bubalo should have been in instead of Rikić IMO...he's also around 212/213cm so it's not as if we needed Rikić's extra height in the squad...Butorac made the cut despite missing the last few weeks with a borken hand and Ramljak is also back after skipping the WC last year...I have a feeling he's going to play a big role in this tournament...

A rough depth chart:

Prostran - Došen
Olivari - Bilinovac - Butorac
Batur - Ramljak
Delaš - Zubčić
Radošević - Planinić - Rikić

I'll post some links later if I find any...hopefully I can get something on one of the other forums...HRT let us down again as they were supposed to show all of our games...now they'll only be showing games from the 1/4 stage...

 

http://live.fibaeurope.com/netcasting/default.asp?game_number=7341-B-1&microsite_scope=undefined

Only livescore available, no streams.

 

Croatia 34 - Slovenia 30 at HT

Olivari 8 pts, 6 rebs
Radošević 6 pts, 4 rebs
Ramljak 5 pts, 3 rebs, 1 ast
Prostran 5 pts, 2 rebs, 2 asts

It's funny how we're shooting better from 3pt range (3/8) than the FT line (5/16)...

 

5/16 is shocking!

 

Croatia 72 def Slovenia 65

Delaš 13 pts, 10 rebs, 3 asts, 3 blks, 3 tovs
Ramljak 13 pts, 5 rebs, 2 asts, 1 stl
Radošević 12 pts, 7 rebs, 1 stl, 3 blks, 3 tovs
Zubčić 10 pts, 3 rebs, 1 blk

We didn't have things all our own way in this game, the Slovenes looked like they could win it when they took the lead deep in the 3rd/early in the last but the team held firm with first Zubčić and then Delaš picking up the slack...going on pure stats Prostran looks to be struggling...his contribution in the second half was 2 points and 3 assists...



At least they picked it up in the second half...:howler:

20/35 (57.1%) 2PT
7/19 (36.8%) 3PT
11/26 (42.3%) FT

 

Some bad news for the senior repka, Stanko Barać has withdrawn from the team due to continuing back problems and Cibona's Lukša Andrić (PF/C, 2.08/6'10", 1985, Dubrovnik) has been called up as a replacement.

Also, Zoran Planinić has had some knee surgery and will miss the first 1-2 weeks of preparations. He's expected to be fully fit for the tournament.

Some transfer news involving NT players:

Krešimir Lončar left UNICS Kazan for another Russian club, BC Khimki.

Bojan Bogdanović is leaving crisis club Cibona for Lottomatica Roma.

Vedran Vukušić is also leaving Cibona for crosstown rivals KK Cedevita.

 

Hrvatska krenula pobjedom

http://www.sportnet.hr/vijesti/400172/kosarka-reprezentacija/hrvatska-krenula-pobjedom

 

Lucky the free throws didn't cost us the game...

 

SLOVENIJA...............................HRVATSKA
50,0% (7/14) Slobodna bacanja 42,3% (11/26)

42% is very poor and will cost us games if it's not corrected.

 

Lucky the free throws didn't cost us the game...

I don't know if it was the pressure of the opening game or home crowd but if they can't start hitting at least 70% it's going to be a big problem...

Tonight we play Germany who had an upset, buzzer-beater win over Spain in their opener yesterday. It's still unclear whether Prostran will play (or how much he'll play) since he picked up a knock on his calf late against Slovenia. He already had calf problems going into the tourney and also missed most of the regular season with injury. His numbers in the game suggested he was well below his best so this has to be a concern for the team.

 

Opening group game results:

A
Ukraine 91 - 70 Latvia
Czech Rep 67 - 92 Greece
B
Turkey 67 - 82 Serbia
Montenegro 63 - 72 Lithuania
C
Italy 68 - 73 Russia
Netherlands 54 - 66 France
D
Germany 63 - 61 Spain
Slovenia 65 - 72 Croatia

 

Bojan's move to Roma is a good one - HOPEFULLY!

 

I think he would have been better off with at least one more season at Cibona but with the club in such a bad state it probably isn't possible. My understanding is that there's still a small chance he will stay at the club but only if they pay him out by the 21st of this month (the club owes wages to its players).

Anyway, if he ends up at Roma he won't get the same minutes he would have got at Cibona and that can only be a bad thing. Of course, if he does play decent minutes the move will be great, especially since he'll be working with some good coaches (including Roma's technical director Bogdan Tanjević).