Team Profile: Bosnia and Herzegovina trying to stay focused on the court

 

SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Bosnia and Herzegovina have zero issues when it comes to their on-court performances. They have been a fun team to watch, the stands in Sarajevo are usually packed to the rafters and louder than most places, and there is so much potential for future success, with the likes of Dzanan Musa and Jusuf Nurkic entering the primes of their careers.

But it all could be irrelevant. The Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced earlier in the summer that lack of funds could prevent the nation from playing at FIBA EuroBasket 2022, as the Federation could not bear all necessary costs as things stood at the time.

Portland's Jusuf Nurkic has reported again for national team duty and is ready to take a big load on his giant shoulders

One could say the signs were there off the court, with former head coach Vedran Bosnic resigning his post in June.  The Federation was quick to react and brought in Adis Beciragic, a legendary player from the 1990s, a man who sat next to Bogdan Tanjevic for six years as his assistant coach, a man whose dream was to one day become the senior national team head coach.

Beciragic put together a respectable roster, with the first two cuts coming even before the team started their training camp for FIBA EuroBasket 2022. The rules allow only one naturalized player, which is why John Roberson is on the list, and also why Luka Garza and Amar Alibegovic were taken off the list.

Garza and Alibegovic were both born in the United States, and while they hail from Bosnia and Herzegovina they could not represent the nation because of their US passports. To make it even more of a family matter, Garza and Alibegovic are cousins.

But even without them, Bosnia and Herzegovina still have a deep frontcourt, with Nurkic, Miralem Halilovic and Emir Sulejmanovic.

Roberson will do his part on and off the ball, since the team has a primary creator and facilitator in Musa, the reigning MVP of the season in the strongest domestic league in all of Europe, the Spanish Liga Endesa.

There will be no lack of athleticism whichever way coach Beciragic goes, and don't be surprised to see lineups with all five players taller than 2.00m. This is similar to what Bosnia and Herzegovina did in 1993, when they achieved their best result in FIBA EuroBasket history, by reaching the Quarter-Finals in Germany.

Beciragic was a member of that team, while Sabahudin Dino Bilalovic ended up as the top scorer of the entire event with 24.6 points per game.

However, Bosnia and Herzegovina have not been able to achieve another top-ten finish at the continental summit since then. Maybe their dominant FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers campaign, their safe passage to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers Second Round, and the fact they have a pair of superstars in Nurkic and Musa sends them back to the Quarter-Finals once more, in spite of all the off-court woes.

 IN THE LAST 10 FIBA EVENTS

YEAR	EVENT	LOCATION	ACHIEVEMENT
2021	Olympics	Tokyo (JPN)	Did not qualify
2019	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Beijing (CHN)	Did not qualify
2017	FIBA EuroBasket	Istanbul (TUR)	19th
2016	Olympics	Rio de Janeiro (BRA)	Did not qualify
2015	FIBA EuroBasket	Lille (FRA)	23rd
2014	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Madrid (ESP)	Did not qualify
2013	FIBA EuroBasket	Ljubljana (SLO)	12th
2012	Olympics	London (GBR)	Did not qualify
2011	FIBA EuroBasket	Kaunas (LTU)	19th
2010	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Istanbul (TUR)	Did not qualify

   

HOW DID  QUALIFY: FIBA EUROBASKET 2022 QUALIFIERS - 1st IN GROUP H (5W - 1L)

DATE	GAME	RESULT
21/02/2020	Latvia v Bosnia and Herzegovina	61-62
24/02/2020	Bosnia and Herzegovina v Greece	65-70
27/11/2020	Bosnia and Herzegovina v Bulgaria	88-49
29/11/2020	Bosnia and Herzegovina v Latvia	79-73
20/02/2021	Greece v Bosnia and Herzegovina	69-84
22/02/2021	Bulgaria v Bosnia and Herzegovina	61-80

 

FIBA