Coming into the Olympic World Qualifying Tournament, the national teams from Cameroon and Korea weren’t exactly viewed as basketball powerhouses, nor were they considered serious threats to medal.  And if you looked at FIBA’s latest world rankings and compared that to the teams participating, you would probably come to the same conclusion.

Host country and favorites Greece, is #6 on FIBA’s rankings.  Not far behind was Germany whom is ranked 9th overall, Puerto Rico is12th, with New Zealand at number 13.  Continuing down the list, we found Canada (17), Brazil (18), Slovenia (19), Croatia (20) all bunched together, but were all similarly ranked higher than both Cameroon and Korea.  As was Lebanon (#23). In fact, the only the team in the tournament that was from ranked lower on the list of potential threats was Cape Verde at #56.

Even so, and despite Cameroon and Korea’s winless records through pool play (both went 0-2), their inspired play and aggressive comebacks against stronger European and Americas counterparts were definite eye-openers from the normally less-competitive African and Asian nations.

Cameroon National Team
The team from Cameroon fought not only opponents on the court, but had to deal with distractions off it as the team threatened to boycott the tournament because of broken promises from their basketball federation back home.

Despite those distractions, led by their 6-8 power forward Harding Nana, the small African nation displayed awesome athleticism and the never-say-die approach as they outworked and out-rebounded the favorited Croatians 39-26.  Though they eventually fell to the fast-breaking Croats 93-79, the Cameroonians made it known that night that there was more than Angola when it came to African basketball.

“They wanted to show to the entire world that Cameroon can be a force for years to come, not just in Africa, but the whole world. They wanted to show what this could have been if everything could have been in place.” said head coach Lazare Adingono.

The next night against Puerto Rico, Cameroon once again decided to go on with the game in spite of their government.  And once again Cameroon fell behind by 22 points. But in the same vein as the previous night, they frantically make a comeback in the fourth quarter.

With 1:40 remaining, a shot by Nana pulled the Cameroon team within three points, 70-67.  But Puerto Rican guard Larry Ayuso would hit a three-pointer on the next possession, ending the comeback.  The game eventually went to Puerto Rico 81-72, but not before making another statement for African basketball as well as pushing Nana Harding into the limelight with an exceptional 22 points and 14 rebounds in the game.

South Korea National Team
Korea had a very similar experience as Cameroon.  Coming into the tournament rated 10th out of 12 participating national teams wasn’t exactly a confidence booster, but teams from Asia, even perennial Asian champion and Olympic host China, are used to coming into these international tournaments without much respect.

In their first game against Slovenia, the Koreans found themselves in a huge 21-point hole in the third quarter.  However, the Koreans remained calm and controlled, continually cutting the lead down until it reached only five points.  The Slovenians answered with key plays from Jaka Lakovic and Goran Dragic, pushing the lead back up to nine with a little under four minutes to play.  Team Korea, led by Kim Joo Sung’s 21 points, would not get any closer than six points and Slovenia would end up winning the match 88-76.

Korea have a very good team,” Slovenian guard and NBA draftee Dragic said. “We didn’t know too much about them and they came back.”

In their second pool game, the Korean’s actually found themselves ahead by a large margin before finally falling to Canada 79-77.  Taking advantage of the Samuel Dalembert drama, the Koreans opened up an 18 point lead in the third quarter, 51-33, thanks in large part to Chun Jungkyu’s 19 first-half points and 5-8 shooting behind the arc.

After a three-point play from Jung Young Sam, the Koreans were up 12 points with with about three minutes remaining in the game, but the Canadiens would end the game on a 14-0 run.

After Levon Kendall tipped in a missed shot for the Canadians, things really began to fall apart for the Korean team; in a matter of 45 seconds, the Canadians would score eight unanswered points and cut the lead down to three before eventually taking the game away from Korea’s grasp.

Jermaine Anderson would start and end the comeback.  Anderson’s started it with a steal off of Korea’s Oh Sekeun for an uncontested layup.  Carl English followed that up with his own three-point play as the Koreans turned the ball over again as they failed to inbound the ball in time.  After two missed free throws by Jung, Rowan Barrett would hits a a buzzer-beating three for Canada, making the score 77-75.

A 24-second violation on Korea would set up an Anderson’s three-pointer with 34 seconds remaining, making the score 78-77 in favor of the Canadians.  An Anderson free-throw would make the final margin.

“We lost a lot of battles for the rebound, we missed some shots, and these two were essential factors, the fact that we lost today makes me really sad,” said Kim Nam-gi, Korea’s coach. “This is a game I will remember until the day I die.”

An Issue of Priorities
Winning games and medals are important, so are Olympic berths, but for teams like Cameroon, Korea, and Cape Verde, qualification for such these type of tournaments are accomplishments within themselves.  And though they’ll head home without an Olympic berth, or even so much as a single victory, the fact that they competed on the international stage is something they can continually build on and gauge their progress with.

Greatness just doesn’t happen, it has to start somewhere.  Some countries have great basketball programs and history, professional leagues, financial backing, and other resources, while other countries place priorities and resources elsewhere.  And because of this they begin their basketball journey later and spend the next 30 years playing catch up to the world.

Teams like Croatia, Puerto Rico, and Slovenia may not remember these games as well, as their player play in  stronger domestic and neighboring leagues, but for teams like Cameroon, Cape Verde, Lebanon and South Korea, the chance to play, compete, and eventually win against international competition is key not only to their respective nations, but to their entire continent’s progress.

Links and Resources: FIBA World Rankings for Men (FIBA),  Without Support, Cameroon plays for Family, Pride (Interbasket), Croatia win as Cameroon play only for pride (Fiba), Olympic Qualifying Tournament Forum (Interbasket Forum), Cameroon National Team Discussion (Interbasket), Puerto Rico edge Cameroon to reach last eight (FIBA), 2008 Korea NT for Olympics Qualifier (Interbasket), Slovenia avoid upset against determined Korea (FIBA), Rock-solid Canada strike back to stun Korea and reach quarter-final (FIBA)