CROATIA - BACK TO THE WINNING DAYS?
With their victory over Germany in the semi-finals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Croatia reached the Beijing Games. Coach Jasmin Repesa will now be looking for his players, including the excellent Zoran Planinic and Marko Tomas, to make an impact in China.
The Croatia National Team last appeared in a major intercontinental competition in 1996 at the Atlanta Games and finished seventh, despite the presence of greats like Dino Radja and Toni Kukoc. It marked the end of a golden era for Croatian basketball. After breaking away from Yugoslavia, Croatia captured the silver medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and bronze at the EuroBasket 1993 in Germany, the 1994 FIBA World Championship in Toronto and the EuroBasket in Greece in 1995.
In 1992, Croatia lost in the final against the USA Dream Team led by Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Looking back, that Croatian side was quite a dream team in its own right. Nicknamed Mozart, Drazen Petrovic was the leader, a charismatic player who inspired many. Petrovic dominated Europe and then took his game to the NBA where he played for the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey Nets. He was one of the league's best long-range marksmen. Barcelona would prove to be his last appearance with the Croatia National Team in a major competition. After helping his team qualify for EuroBasket 1993 with a performance that included 46 points against Estonia, he was killed in an automobile accident just a few months shy of his 29th birthday. The death of Petrovic left not only Croatia, but the entire basketball world in mourning.
Before last summer in Madrid, the Croatia National Team had not finished higher than seventh at a EuroBasket for 12 years. The Croatians managed to clinch sixth place in Spain, earning the opportunity to play at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament this year in Athens where they claimed one of the three remaining spots for the Beijing Games.
Croatia has been struggling in recent years and the mood was especially low after their EuroBasket 2005 setback, when they lost in a controversial quarter-final to Spain and then slipped up against Slovenia to miss out on the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Coach Neven Spahija stepped down but he was replaced by Jasmin Repesa, one of the leading coaches in Europe. By attracting Repesa, who led Fortitudo Bologna to an Italian title and has been at the helm of Lottomatica Roma for the past two years, Croatia had made their most significant move. Repesa has turned Lottomatica Roma into one of the best sides in Italy and even twice led them to the Euroleague Top 16.
Repesa first guided them through a successful EuroBasket 2007 qualifying campaign and once in Spain, not only did they upset the tournament hosts and world champions Spain, they finished sixth - good enough to reach Greece. At the qualifying event from July 14-20, Repesa and his team thrived.
They easily beat Cameroon, though lost forward Damir Markota for the summer to a meniscus injury, and came back from a double-digit deficit to defeat Puerto Rico. Once in the quarter-finals, Croatia hammered Canada before defeating Dirk Nowitzki and Germany in the semi-finals to clinch a place in Beijing.
Croatia have a very strong backcourt that includes Zoran Planinic, Marko Popovic, Davor Kus and Roko-Leni Ukic, The four have been prominent players in the Euroleague with their respective clubs. Ukic, in fact, played under Repesa at Roma this season and has signed a contract with the NBA's Toronto Raptors for 2008-09 while Planinic was Tau Ceramica's main man and even led them to the Spanish title. Planinic was so prolific this season that Euroleague champions CSKA Moscow signed him to a lucrative contract in the summer.
On the wings, Marko Tomas is now one of the best small forwards in the game. He caused a stir at EuroBasket 2007 in the group stages when burying a long three-pointer in the waning moments to stun Spain, and after a strong campaign on loan at Fuenlabrada in Spain's ACB, he will return to Real Madrid for 2008-09. Tomas excelled at the qualifying event in Athens. His 11 first-quarter points, including three three-pointers, set the tone for Croatia in the semi-final win over Germany that catapulted the team into the Olympics. He was the fifth leading scorer at the event at 17 points per game.
Several players in the Croatia team can hit three-pointers. One of those is Stanko Barac, who is returning to Tau Ceramica this season after a good year on loan at Pamesa Valencia. He played big minutes in Athens but veteran Nikola Prkacin and Kresimir Loncar were the most important low post players for Repesa in Greece. Croatia also got solid play, particularly on defense, from Marko Banic while Marin Rozic and Sandro Nicevic were strong when given the chance to play. Croatia did suffer the loss of Damir Markota to a meniscus injury in the first game against Cameroon at the qualifying event in Athens. Markota returned to Zagreb to have the injury examined and it was unclear if he would make it to Beijing.
How did they qualify?
EuroBasket 2007, Final Round
6th place (3 W - 6 L)
Results
Preliminary Round
Sept-3rd 2007 Latvia b. Croatia 85-77
Sept-4th 2007 Croatia b. Portugal 90-68
Sept-5th 2007 Croatia b. Spain 85-84
Quarter-final round
Sept-7th 2007 Israel b. Croatia 80-75
Sept-9th 2007 Greece b. Croatia 81-78
Sept-11th 2007 Russia b. Croatia 83-70
Quarter-Final
Sept-14th 2007 Lithuania b. Croatia 74-72
Qualification round 5th to 8th place
Sept-15th 2007 Croatia b. France 86-69
5th place final
Sept-16th 2007 Germany b. Croatia 80-71
