DOM - Sosa: “We’re not just happy to be there”

ULM (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The Dominican Republic may be playing on the world stage for the first time since 1978 but point guard Edgar Sosa says the team will not be happy just being at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup but want to advance.

The team's mind frame has changed since clinching a spot at the World Cup by finishing fourth at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship.

"At first after qualifying, we said to ourselves, all right, we have accomplished something. We're happy to just say we're going to be in Spain in 2014," Sosa said.

"Now we look at ourselves in the mirror and say, 'We have more than enough talent here to win some balls games, so why don't we bring it altogether on offense and defense and take this thing serious and try to advance."

The Dominicans last appeared at the World Championship in 1978, when they took last place in their group with losses to the USA, Australia and Czechoslovakia. At Spain 2014, Orlando Antigua’s team was drawn into Group C in Bilbao along with Ukraine, New Zealand, Finland, the United States and Turkey.

The Ratiopharm Ulm playmaker admitted that he didn't know much yet about his up-coming opponents.

"I have heard some of the teams are on the rise and those teams cannot be taken lightly," said Sosa.

The former Louisville guard said a big help for the Dominicans' chances in Spain would be the return of NBA big man Al Horford, who missed the FIBA Americas last summer with an injury and is currently out of action with the Atlanta Hawks with a pectoral muscle injury.

"I'm hoping that he can be with us in Spain. He's such a great player. He's one of the best players in the world in my eyes," said Sosa.

"But with injuries, it's hard to tell. He had that injury before. But he gave us his word last summer that he would be with us at the World Cup. Being injured can change some things but hopefully from here to August he's recovered and he gets the okay from the Atlanta Hawks that he can join us. That would be great.”

The fact that the Dominicans reached Spain 2014 without the country's best player is huge for the other players' confidence.

"Last year was a great experience. It really became special because after people saw that Al wasn't going to be able to compete with us everybody counted us out, even people in the Dominican Republic. They said: Oh these guys aren't going to qualify. They were having a hard time to qualify with Al being there.So they're not going to qualify when he's not with them. For us to come and qualify was so huge for us," said Sosa.

Most of the team also went through the difficult situation of being one game from the 2012 Olympics but failing to qualify as the Dominicans lost to Nigeria with a berth at the London Games going to the winner.

"For us to come up one game short was tough, there were a lot of tears and hearts broken in that locker room. We knew that we were getting closer. And now we qualified for Spain, so we know we're stepping in the right direction," added Sosa.

FIBA