Draw for the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament has been announced, and Slovenia had no luck. They have been drawn to the Greece tournament that looks like this:
##Group A:
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- New Zealand
##Group B:
- Greece
- Dominicana
- Egypt
Winners of both groups will advance to the finals where they will face each other. Only the winner of the tournament gets a ticket to the Paris Olympics.
It’s never really possible to predict anything until the July comes around the corner and we get an idea what the rosters will look like, but on paper this was really tough draw for Slovenia. They are expected to advance from their group but it’s far from given because if Croatia shows up with their full team they will be very difficult team to beat. And yet, even if they do they will still have to beat Greece in Athens. If Slovenian team look like they did in the past two tournaments they would struggle mightily against full Croatia team and even Giannis-less Greece, and if Giannis plays (as he is expected) it’s basically gg…
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Group winners don’t directly advance to the final, they still have to play against the 2nd-place team of the other group. The group stage only eliminates the last-place teams.
When again did Slovenia struggle vs Croatia? They won all of their last 5 games vs them. Plus their team is nothing special. Its bogdanovic, zubac and hezonja. The rest is quite bad in comparison to like 10 years ago. Okay, Greece would be a challenge, but definitely not something that is unbeatable. Okay the last two games Slovenia lost vs Greece. But those were just friendlies, where the team is just learning to know each other better. Giannis would definitely be a challenge… but he can’t win it all by himself. Plus he was never that good in euro rules basketball.
its such a waste of miles on his body. they will never have a shot at winning anything, luka or no luka
“no luck” ?
What is luck?
Spain in your group? Having to go through vengeance-seeking JV and Sabonis in Lithuania again? Latvia with Porzingis? Perennial contender Italy?
Relatively speaking, I think Slovenia got lucky not having to face a perennial powerhouse just coming off a Top 8 World Championships finish. There are no other World Championships Top 8 teams in their draw.
Playing Giannis in Athens is a nightmare, but Luka is bult for games like these tbh, I still remember how he destroyed Lithuania on their home floor to qualify for the Olympics last time.
A part of me believes that him playing some more basketball in the Summer is not a bad thing, it keeps him in good condition, but on the other hand, it’s just more miles on his body. Idk.