ANTWERP (EuroBasket 2015) - Belgium head coach Eddy Casteels has announced his preliminary squad for EuroBasket 2015 and also reminded everyone of just how far his Lions have come in the past decade.

The Belgians were not a major factor for a long time because after playing in the Final Round in 1993, they experienced a drought that saw them fail to take part in the tournament until 2011.

Times have changed because Belgium will compete at a third straight EuroBasket this summer.

One indicator of how much rosier the picture is these days for Belgium is that European heavyweights want to scrimmage them in the build-up to the EuroBasket.

"We're getting calls from former world champions Spain and European champions France to contest friendly games with them," Casteels said.

"Yes, that is our reward for hard work.

The past 10 years have been magnificent. - Casteels

"But the story does not stop. We need to take the next step and thus continue both on this level and also be competitive in order to keep advancing in the European ranking."

Casteels must now begin the process of choosing the right players that will give Belgium a chance to meet their aims.

He has 27 players in the preliminary squad for EuroBasket 2015 and among them is Oostende's Pierre Antoine-Gillett, who was recently named the MVP of the domestic league.

Gillett helped the Belgians qualify for EuroBasket 2013 but did not make the roster for the Final Round.

He also played last summer when Belgium made it through the qualifying round for this summer's event and looks to be a near certainty to compete in Riga, where Belgium will battle in Group D against Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

Gillett, a power forward, spoke to FIBA.com back in March.

Certainties to make the final squad, fitness allowing, will be Axel Hervelle of Dominion Bilbao and Sam Van Rossom of Valencia Basket.

Another will be Matt Lojeski of Olympiacos, a naturalized guard from the United States who helped Belgium in qualifying.

Lojeski, who played at the Euroleague Final Four last month in Madrid, has seen his career take off since moving to Belgium several years ago.

In last year's successful qualifying campaign, he had some big games, including a 28-point explosion in Belgium's 99-73 triumph at Belarus.

Playmaker Jonathan Tabu, who began the year with Alba Berlin but missed a lot of games through injury and then joined Olimpia EA7 Armani Milano at the end of April, is in the squad, as are Acea Roma's Maxime De Zeeuw, Proxima Spirou duo Wen Mukubu and Sacha Massot and Jean-Marc Mwema of Antwerp Giants.

All five players were in the EuroBasket 2013 team.

Players from that side who have retired from the national team include guard Roel Moors and big man Christophe Beghin.

Moors is going to work as an assistant coach for the Belgium team that competes this summer at the U20 European Championship Division A.

Yannick Driesen, a 2.15m center who has been hobbled by injuries that have led to three operations, began the EuroBasket a couple of years ago as the starting center but was then benched.

He is hoping to resuscitate his career but will not be with Belgium at the EuroBasket.

Another player in the squad who has a big future with Belgium is Manu Lecomte, a member of the All-Star Five at the last two U20 European Championship Division B tournaments.

The 1.80m guard led Belgium to promotion last year, averaging 20 points per contest.

Lecomte has two years of American college basketball under his belt with the Miami Hurricanes and decided several weeks ago to transfer to Baylor University in Texas.

He will have to sit out a year before playing for the Bears as a junior transfer in the 2016-17 season.

Belgium EuroBasket 2015 preliminary squad: Thomas Akyazili, Lionel Bosco, Khalid Boukichou, Yannick Desiron, Maxime De Zeeuw, Senne Geukens, Pierre-Antoine Gillet, Amaury Gorgemans, Axel Hervelle, Ioann Iarochevitch, Vincent Kesteloot, Idris Lasisi, Manu Lecomte, Alexandre Libert, Matt Lojeski, Niels Marnegrave, Sacha Massot, Wen Mukubu, Guy Muya, Jean-Marc Mwema, Jean Salumu, Loic Schwartz, Quentin Serron, Jonathan Tabu, Olivier Troisfontaines, Kevin Tumba, Sam Van Rossom.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for full coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA