MIES (Switzerland) - It's a dream of every basketball player to compete for his country at the Summer Games.
At the conclusion of FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs) in Greece, Latvia, Puerto Rico and Spain, four national teams celebrated before making their way to Paris.
Here are the top 10 stories from those ultra competitive six-team OQTs.
10. Spain earn trip to seventh straight Olympics
The Golden Generation was all but gone, with Rudy Fernandez the final ember in the Spain team. Yet a country that has done nothing but win for the past two decades was not about to let its string of Olympic appearances go poof! With a new talisman in Santi Aldama (awarded TISSOT MVP) and arguably the finest coach in international basketball since FIBA EuroBasket 2009, when Sergio Scariolo was "handed the keys to the Ferrari", Spain went unbeaten and made it to France.
9. Gilas Turn Over a New Leaf with Cone
The Philippines didn't make it to France, but they did impress at the OQT in Riga, stunning hosts Latvia, 89-80, on the opening day. Since the arrival of Tim Cone as head coach and the installation of Justin Brownlee as the country's naturalized player, Gilas have been a beast. Brownlee averaged 23.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game as Cone and Co began writing a new chapter in the country's rich basketball history. For the most part, the Filipinos executed on offense and toughened up on defense, going down fighting against eventual OQT winners Brazil in the Semi-Finals, 91-80.
8 - A new star begins to shine for Susijengi
Imagine how Lassi Tuovi and everyone in the Finland camp must have felt when they learned Lauri Markkanen would not be available for the OQT in Valencia. The Finns didn't fret and still put a strong team on the floor. That included the 17-year-old Miikka Muurinen, all 2.09M (6'10") of him! He raised eyebrows with sparkling play and others also did well. The experience has made Muurinen, whose mother and father were basketball players, better and it also showed Finland fans there is plenty of talent in the pipeline.
7 - The Boricuas are back!
Not since 2004, when they shocked the world by blowing out the USA on the opening day of the Athens Olympics, had Puerto Rico played at the Summer Games. They made the most as hosts in San Juan, though, knocking off Bahrain, Italy (for the first time since 1963!), Mexico and Lithuania to win the OQT and advance to France. With "Grand Theft Alvarado" at the controls, Tremont Waters, Jordan Howard and Christopher Ortiz pouring in the points, Puerto Rico prevailed to firmly put their island nation back on the international basketball map.
6 - The Spanoulis Factor
Fresh off his Basketball Champions League Coach of the Year performance with Peristeri, Vassilis Spanoulis worked his magic with Greece on home soil and engineered a run to the title. The Greeks, with many of Spanoulis' legendary teammates in attendance, defeated Egypt, the Dominican Republic, Slovenia and Croatia to grab OQT glory. Among the right strings that Spanoulis pulled was to get veteran point guard Nick Calathes on the floor because he was the ultimate passing machine, averaging a tournament best 10.5 assists per game. Another move that paid dividends was the selection of Vasileios Toliopoulos, whose terrific perimeter play was essential to win the OQT.
5 - It's Brazil, not Latvia
After their fantastic fifth-place showing at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, Latvia were favorites to win the OQT in Riga yet they ended up being the only host not to prevail. Instead, that honor went to Brazil, who first got Aco Petrovic to come back and coach (the man that led Croatia to OQT Turin glory in 2016), and then had an S.O.S. answered by Marcelinho Huertas, the veteran point guard who was ready to take the summer off. Marcelinho was the conductor of the orchestra and finished the OQT with averages of 11.5 points and 5.3 assists per game. Even more impressive was the play of Bruno Caboclo, who was named MVP of the event after averaging 17.8 points and 2.0 blocks per game.
4 - The Bahamas were oh so close!
Imagine what might have happened had the Bahamas defeated Spain in the OQT Valencia Final. South Sudan would have had a rival to the honor of being the No. 1 feel-good story of the Olympics. Buddy Hield lived up to the hype and DeAndre Ayton did, too. But no one saw Valdez Edgecombe Jr coming. Edgecombe, who was 18 years old when the OQT was being staged and is now playing for the Baylor Bears, made a huge splash in international basketball, especially when scoring 20 points against Finland and 21 against Poland.
3 - They played like Lions
Cameroon arrived at the OQT Riga as rank outsiders yet put on a show. After almost beating Montenegro, they rebounded by handing eventual champions Brazil their only defeat, 77-74. Jeremiah Hill contributed 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and Cameroon went on a 21-0 run that left Brazilian heads spinning. Cameroon even threw a scare into hosts Latvia in the Semi-Finals when they were tied midway through the third quarter. Latvia playmaker Arturs Zagars, one of the darlings of the 2023 World Cup, put it best when he said: "I think basketball around the world is getting better, there's not such a difference like there was maybe 10-15 years ago ... You've got to give it all."
2 - Imperial Zubac
Piraeus was supposed to be Luka's world, and we were just going to live in it. So what happened? Ivica Zubac happened. The towering Croatia center showed off his world class game, making everyone from Los Angeles to Zagreb sit up and take notice. Luka Doncic did have a triple-double when he played Zubac, yet Croatia won that battle for Group A supremacy, 108-92, thanks in large part to the giant center's 18 points (8 of 11 FG, 2 of 2 FT), 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block. Croatia didn't beat Greece in the Final and in the end, it was Giannis' world that we lived in, yet the big Croatian scored 19 points and corralled 12 rebounds. No wonder the Clippers offered him a staggering new contract.
1 - Giannis leads Greece back to the Promised Land
What's an Olympics without Greece, which is where the first edition was held a long, long time ago - 776 B.C. to be exact, in Olympia! So after 16 years in the Olympic wilderness, the Greeks made it back due in large part to their hero, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time NBA MVP, coming off a long injury layoff, had his proudest moment with the national team, scoring 32 points against the Dominican Republic, 13 against Slovenia and 23 against Croatia as his team rolled to the OQT crown. Antetokounmpo was named MVP of the event in Piraeus.
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