VILNIUS (2016 Rio Olympics) - Lithuania's men serve up reminders on an annual basis that they are among the true heavyweights in international basketball.

If this were a program that had cause to doubt itself, it would have done so this year at the EuroBasket when it competed without some big-name players.

In the end, though, the result was the same. Lithuania challenged for the title and met their aim of clinching a spot in the Olympics.

So how do they do it time and time again? For starters, Lithuania teams are never overly reliant on individuals.

"We play like a team always," head coach Jonas Kazlauskas said. "It doesn't matter who is on the team."

Lithuania remain true to their style of playing modern, attacking basketball. They are also mentally tough and won close game after close game at EuroBasket 2015.

In the Group Phase, there was the 69-68 opening day triumph over Ukraine, the 64-62 victory over Estonia and the 85-81 win over the Czech Republic.

In the knockout stages, Lithuania were late-game specialists. They edged Georgia in the Round of 16, 85-81, and then went to overtime against Italy before prevailing, 95-85. Next, against one of the pre-tournament favorites, Serbia, Lithuania held on for a 67-64 triumph to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Games.

The Baltic giants reached the podium for the fifth time in the last 11 EuroBaskets and qualified for a seventh consecutive Olympic Games.

"We showed that Lithuanian basketball is great even without (Linas) Kleiza, (Donatas) Motiejunas, great players," forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas said. "We were still able to reach something. It shows the strength of Lithuania basketball."

Reinaldus Seibutis (LTU)

Kazlauskas made it clear after the EuroBasket that for Lithuania to keep getting great results, there has to be adherence to the game plan.

As long as they do that, the chances are pretty good that one of the 12 players in the team will have a big night.

"This is the Lithuania mentality, that's all," Kazlauskas said. "We have rules on the team. It doesn't matter if you are a big star, a role player - everyone has to follow those rules."

There are going to be plenty of teams with big reputations that show up at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Here is a word to the wise: don't bet against Lithuania having another strong Summer Games.

They just know how to get it done.

FIBA