Team Profile: Ukraine have high hopes and the roster to back them up

KYIV (Ukraine) - Ukraine, who are returning to a major tournament after a five-year absence, made it to the Round of 16 at  FIBA EuroBasket 2017, only to be knocked out by eventual champions Slovenia in Istanbul.

Historically, the EuroBasket has been the competition where the Ukrainian national team has experienced the most success. In 2013, they made an impressive run in Slovenia by reaching the Quarter-Finals and finishing in sixth place, their highest-ever in a FIBA competition.

The yellow-blues failed to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China and then brought in experienced Ainars Bagatskis as their new head coach. Under the Latvian tactician, Ukraine completed the task of qualifying to FIBA EuroBasket 2022 by winning Group F and beating defending champions Slovenia in the process. It wasn’t plain sailing for Ukraine during this qualifying campaign though as they suffered a painful home loss to Hungary at home.

Experienced Latvian coach Ainars Bagatskis has been very successful at the start of his  tenure as Ukraine playcaller

In Milan - and possibly Berlin - Bagatskis can rely on a quite experienced and versatile roster.  This will be the first time Ukraine can rely on two current NBA players in a major tournament, as both Svi Mykhailiuk and Alex Len have committed to their national team. And Ukrainian fans have surely been missing seeing this duo in national team jerseys, as the last time this happened was in 2018 when they helped their team to defeat Spain in a FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifier at home.

At 33 years of age, Denys Lukashov is the most reliable point guard on the Ukrainian roster – coaches love his ability to organize his team’s half-court offense and there’s never a question mark next to his name when it comes to playing for the national team when he’s healthy. Bagatskis can also give a go to Ukraine’s most improved player of late, Illya Sidorov, who was an important piece in last season’s Basketball Champions League splendid run by the national champions Prometey.

At the wings Ukraine does have some explosiveness. Mykhailiuk is still only 25 but it’s been eight years since his debut with the national team and he always responds to a call-up with a huge desire. FIBA EuroBasket 2022 will be another chance for Mykhailiuk to put the shortcomings of his NBA career behind him.

And there’s an exciting task ahead for Bagatskis – to integrate Mykhailiuk in a team that includes an explosive young gun in Issuf Sanon. Sanon has been NBA bound since 2018 when he was drafted by the Washington Wizards, and this year’s national team campaign is a great chance for him to showcase his skills.

NBA veteran Len is also back to the national team, and Bagatskis’ creativity will also be put to the test by this tournament’s Ukrainian frontcourt. Len and Artem Pustovyi. Who will be the starting center? Can they play together? And if you figure out all this, it doesn’t become any easier. How much time can you give to another potential star of this team in Volodymyr Gerun?

There’s a decent chance that the Latvian and his coaching staff will come up with some special answers to those questions, which means Ukrainian fans will be in for a treat and enjoy some good-looking team basketball. 
 

 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)	15th
2016	Olympics	Rio de Janeiro (BRA)	Did not qualify
2015	FIBA EuroBasket	Lille (FRA)	22nd
2014	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Madrid (ESP)	18th
2013	FIBA EuroBasket	Ljubljana (SLO)	6th
2012	Olympics	London (GBR)	Did not qualify
2011	FIBA EuroBasket	Kaunas (LTU)	17th
2010	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Istanbul (TUR)	Did not qualify

   

HOW DID  QUALIFY: FIBA EUROBASKET 2022 QUALIFIERS - 1st IN GROUP F (4W - 2L)

DATE	GAME	RESULT
20/02/2020	Austria v Ukraine	73-88
23/02/2020	Ukraine v Hungary	60-62
28/11/2020	Slovenia v Ukraine	84-73
30/11/2020	Ukraine v Austria	70-67
20/02/2021	Ukraine v Slovenia	70-65
22/02/2021	Hungary v Ukraine	63-97

 

FIBA