VALENCIA (Spain) - At FIBA EuroBasket 2022, Spain didn't miss a beat despite the international retirements of the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc, and point guard Sergio Rodriguez, after the Tokyo Olympics. Spain won that EuroBasket crown also without 2019 World Cup MVP Ricky Rubio.
"MAYBE THEY DON'T HAVE MANY PLAYERS, BUT THEY HAVE 10 OR 12 TO BEAT ANYONE"
- Scariolo on Spain's OQT opponents
Yet minus Rubio at last year's FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in Jakarta, and without Lorenzo Brown, the All-Star Five point guard from EuroBasket 2022, Spain came up short of the Quarter-Finals.
As they were not one of the two European teams with the highest finishes at the event in which Germany beat Serbia in the Final, Spain must now, for the first time, win one of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to clinch a spot in the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024.
"There was a very recent time in which we took it (qualification for Olympics) for granted, but these are different times and we are not afraid of a much more complicated challenge," Scariolo said, as reported in El Mundo Deportivo.
"We will have to occupy ourselves in a more intense way and with more creativity, trying to get all the resources we have."
Scariolo was speaking at a presentation in Valencia on Wednesday, for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament they are hosting in the city from July 2-7. Spain are in Group A with Angola and Lebanon, while the Bahamas, Finland and Poland are in Group B. Only the winner in Valencia will go to France. The teams that finish top of the groups square off against the second-place teams from the other group and the winners of those games will meet in a winner-take-all Final.
The Bahamas, led by stars Eric Gordon, Deandre Ayton and Buddy Hield, shocked hosts Argentina in the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament to claim a spot in the Valencia OQT. They will be dangerous. Poland won the Pre-OQT they hosted. They, too, have possibilities of reaching France.
Finland, especially with forward Lauri Markkanen, could ultimately be the toughest opponents, yet a lot of pundits see the Bahamas as the most dangerous team. Even without their NBA players in the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers Window 1, they traveled to San Juan and upset Puerto Rico.
"The classification has become a title, because only 12 teams are going to the Games," Scariolo said, before praising the other teams that have reached the OQT. "Being there is already a great result. Maybe they don't have many players, but they have 10 or 12 to beat anyone."
Spain, No. 2 in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, will be the clear favorites. The country has played at every Olympics since Sydney 2000, and claimed silver medals in 2008 and 2012, and bronze in 2016.
Those teams had multiple players from the golden generation of Spain, players that won the 2006 world title, and EuroBaskets 2009, 2011 and 2015. The current generation has champions, too, from the 2019 World Cup and EuroBasket 2022. Yet the current crop of players will be the first that has to win a FIBA OQT just to play at the Games.
"I hope it will be a sporting success, I have no doubt that it will be a success in terms of organization and I hope it will be very nice for a city that has given so much to basketball," Scariolo said.
Will playing at home make it easier for Spain to qualify, or might it bring additional pressure?
Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Canada hosted OQTs for the Tokyo Games in 2021 and none won to reach Japan.
In 2016, Serbia hosted and won the OQT to reach Rio, yet Italy and the Philippines also staged tournaments and did not win. Italy had an awesome array of talent and a legendary coach in Ettore Messina yet lost to an excellent Croatia in the Final.
"Statistically it almost seems like a disadvantage due to the sense of responsibility that comes with overcoming the support, warmth and passion that the fans can transmit," Scariolo said.
"I think that the contribution of the Valencia fans will be very decisive. We hope that in difficult moments, these very expert and passionate fans will be able to be the sixth man to give us that push when the machine is not working as fluidly as it normally does, which is always desired.
"We trust that being able to play in Valencia, far from being an added pressure, will be a form of support."
FIBA