2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament

[Stardusted]

Russia will get in without a doubt.

Lithuania as long as they dont play like they just did in this tournament.

Greece and Macedonia are the questions. Greece cause they where very inconsistent while Macedonia still surprises me how they even got that far.

Besides Puerto Rico(if they have a complete team), Id be wary of Venezuela, they df. got the offense to make it, they just have to get a better defense.

As for Dominican Republic, well, if they can play as a team they have a better chance of making it, but without a bench it will be tough.

Angola shouldnt be counted out, they been to every Olympics so no matter how bad things look for them, they understand the game better than any team out there. Nigeria has poor chance of making it though.

I know nothing of New Zealand, and 2 games against Australia won tell me much of how good or bad they are.

Last repechage had this as top four teams

Greece
Croatia
Germany
Puerto Rico

And every european country finished first in their respective group (including Slovenia) so every non european country has to step their game up.

Greece will not be the same team in the 2012 OQ games mate. Our main players will return (spanoulis, schortsianitis, mavrokefalidis and who knows about diamantidis, I wouldnt consider it a surprise to be honest).

Greece and Lithuania will fight for first place, and you can quote me on that in the future. To be honest I consider purely based on the players we will have, Greece to take the first place almost certain, but I don't want to sound like I don't respect the other teams. Because I do.

[Ciscorlie Horford]

Sammy mejia said he wants to play, if he does, start running for your life

[sixama23]

Sammy mejia said he wants to play, if he does, start running for your life

That would be a great addition for the Dominicans!
Is this the first time that he is going to play for your NT or not?
I have a lot of respect for your players Ciscorlie and i think that you have good chances for the Olympics, especially if the tournament takes place in Puerto Rico.

Greek NT will have Spanoulis and Perperoglou back next year. Mavrokefalides won't be in the team for sure. "Baby Shaq's" case is different. The federation wants him back but coach Zouros doesn't. I don't want him too...

FYR of Macedonia National Federation expressed interest on hosting the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. According to general secretary Dejan Lekic and president Daniel Dimevski, FIBA is asking 3 million euros for the rights of the tournament. They will ask from their central government to help them funding the event.

http://www.ekipa.mk/News.aspx?newsId=792

[Straight forward]

Lithuania, Greece and Russia should be in Olympics in my account.

Since 1992 Lithuania reached top 4 in all Olympic games, tradition must go on

[Dtown]

If the tournament is in Europe I tend to think Russia, and Lithuania qualify. With fyr of Macedonia and Greece fighting it out for the last spot.

If it's in Puerto Rico it becomes a three horse race for the last spot. They definitely get a boost from that home crowd.

[efap]

Hope Lithuania will meet FYROM... Revenge

[Panathinaikos bc]

Hope Lithuania will meet FYROM... Revenge

Well get to the line.
We want revenge first.

[Robimkd]

Macedonian basketball federation with the help from our goverment will bring home the Q-torney to Skopje. This will of course be an huge advantage.

Over the last 12 years we have only lost 1 match in Skopje. Dejan Lekic say no one can beat us in our church.

Our goverment is in no pssitions since our basketball team has become an icon. They simply has to bring home this torney and pay the 5 mili if they want to stay in power . Our gover allready told they will help.

This is our church:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haaLFotRatM

Oficial 8.000 for basketball but last years against Great Britian 10.000. People on forbiden places.

[sagenas]

Macedonian basketball federation with the help from our goverment will bring home the Q-torney to Skopje. This will of course be an huge advantage.

Over the last 12 years we have only lost 1 match in Skopje. Dejan Lekic say no one can beat us in our church.

Our goverment is in no pssitions since our basketball team has become an icon. They simply has to bring home this torney and pay the 5 mili if they want to stay in power . Our gover allready told they will help.

This is our church:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haaLFotRatM

Oficial 8.000 for basketball but last years against Great Britian 10.000. People on forbiden places.

As our one guy from Lithuanian basketball federation told: "root for China because we can't compete with them".

If China wouldn't qualify directly to the Olympics, then probably no other countries have a chance.

And the list of candidates is long...so...too soon to say.

[Ciscorlie Horford]

This is how NBA analyst John Schuhmann rank the teams in this World Olympic qualifying repechage tournamnet.

1. Russia
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 EuroBasket third place
Russia gave the U.S. it’s toughest challenge in elimination play at last year’s World Championship. And at EuroBasket, they were the only team other than Spain to win 10 games, doing it with a stifling defense that only allowed 95 points per 100 possessions. David Blatt‘s squad doesn’t have an offensive star, but they share the ball as well as any team in the world.



2. Lithuania
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 EuroBasket fifth place
A year ago, a young group of Lithuanians surprised everyone by capturing bronze at the World Championship, with their only loss coming to the U.S. in the semifinal. This year, with EuroBasket in their home country, they were a disappointment, losing to Spain, France, and then FYR Macedonia in the quarterfinals.


3. Greece
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 EuroBasket sixth place
With Theo Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis retired from the National Team, Greece’s strength is now on the interior. They proved at EuroBasket that they’re still a strong squad, and they’ve certainly got a shot to capture one of the last three spots at the Olympics. But they just don’t have the firepower to compete with the world’s top teams anymore.



4. Dominican Republic
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 FIBA Americas third place
It took several games for John Calipari‘s squad to find some consistency, but they looked pretty strong in their last few games at Mar del Plata. At next year’s qualifying tournament, they’ll be playing for their first ever Olympic berth in men’s basketball and lacking the international experience of the other contenders for the top three spots.



5. Puerto Rico
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 FIBA Americas fourth place
Puerto Rico fell to the Dominican Republic in the bronze medal game. More disappointing was their performance at last year’s World Championship, losing to the Ivory Coast in their final pool-play game and failing to qualify for the 16-team knockout round.



6. Macedonia
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 Eurobasket fourth place
Behind a strong defense and the play of Bo McCalebb, FYR Macedonia was the Cinderella story of EuroBasket. They’re certainly a candidate for grabbing one of the last three Olympic berths at next year’s qualifying tournament, but you have to wonder if they can repeat what they did in Lithuania



7. Venezuela
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 FIBA Americas fifth place
Venezuela took a step forward with their fifth-place finish in Mar del Plata, but it’s hard to imagine them fitting in the top three at next year’s qualifying tournament. Eric Musselman‘s offense was the most efficient (121 points scored per 100 possessions) at the FIBA Americas tournament, but his team’s defense was pretty awful.



8. New Zealand
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 FIBA Oceania second place
New Zealand got swept by Australia, but this is a team that won three games at last year’s World Championship behind the scoring of Kirk Penney. That included a win over France.



9. Angola
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 FIBA Africa second place
Angola won two games (over Jordan and Germany) at last year’s World Championship before getting crushed by the U.S. in the round of 16. They lost by 11 to Tunisia in the FIBA Africa final.



10. Nigeria
In qualifying tournament field – 2011 FIBA Africa second place
Nigeria looked pretty strong until losing to Angola in the semifinals.



11. Korea
Korea is looking like the third best team in Asia.

[Dtown]

umm why is Brazil listed? They won't be at the tournament.

[Mindozas]

umm why is Brazil listed? They won't be at the tournament.

The same goes for Tunisia...

[Robimkd]

If the tournament is in Europe I tend to think Russia, and Lithuania qualify. With fyr of Macedonia and Greece fighting it out for the last spot.

If it's in Puerto Rico it becomes a three horse race for the last spot. They definitely get a boost from that home crowd.

I can not understand why everybady thinks that Russia is that good ?!?.

Remove Kirilenko and the team is a joke.

Their back court players is a pure joke, this is rock hard defence team and the succces is based on that. If we speak about individual talent a part from Kirilenko it is almost noon existing in the Russian team. This is a bunch of antitalented basketball players that knows how to play good defence and thats it.

I think that Macedonia is a faster and better team. Only reason that Russia beat us is pure luck, but also no chances that Russia will our reb Macedonia 43-25 (22 offensive) if Gecevski would have playd or if Predrag didint get 3 fouls that quickly (2 fouls with out contact) ,

It is likely that Gecevski injury did stop us from playing in the final by beating France.

[Ciscorlie Horford]

umm why is Brazil listed? They won't be at the tournament.

my bad. I fixed it. They actaully have a ranking of all the teams that are in contention for a medal in the olympics so they have both the already qualified teams and those that are going to this tournamnet, so I just copied the ones that were in this tournamnet, (or at least that's what I thought ) becuase those are teh ones relevant to this thead's topic

[Robimkd]

Macedonian team will hardly get any worse next year.

Todor Gecevski will be back (210) has been voted as the top 3 NLB center of all team.

Kiril Nikolovski will be back (213) got an infection just before the EC. Our best center during the prepretayions and is the most talented in Macedonia. Predrag (215) and Kiril (213) combinations works very well.

Riste Stefanov will be back, injured against Poland. Winger and the bask 3 points shooter in our country. If Riste get his bombs from the arc to drop, well. Playd with Lukoil, AEK, Besiktas and Union Ljubljana.

Vladimi Micov. Back court player. Talented Macedonina diaspora player that all of a sudden shows interest to play with us. Will give Bo and Vlado importent resting time on the bench. Experience with Buducnost, Partizan and Caja Laboral.