blogsketball

Slovenia? Really?

How many times are we going to go through this? It seems like we’re stuck in a fruitless rut* with Canadian basketball. How many times has this happened?

- Canada misses out on Olympic qualifying at the tournament of the Americas.

- …but qualifies for a last-chance tournament in an exotic location, in a pool that looks beatable.

-…but we lose to a country that has one or less mediocre pro player right off the bat.

- the national media criticizes the program when it officially fails to qualify for the Olympics, gets it out of its system a week later and gears up to do the same thing to the soccer program next year, when it misses the World Cup.

Anyway, about the game. Full props to The Score (assist to Basketball Canada’s Fred Nykamp) for going above and beyond to get this thing televised. Without their help I wouldn’t have the following points to…uh, point out:

- Leo Rautins looked like he was suffocating on the sidelines as his team got its backs in a comfortable spot against the wall for tomorrow’s game against Korea. We’ve all heard the criticism over the last few years over Rautins’ lack of coaching experience (only in Canada, right?). Will it start to come into play should Canada not qualify?

- The audio on the game was brutal. I know they’re doing us a favour with this thing (did anyone else even go after these games?), but man, that sounded like two guys talking into a cardboard box. I watched most of the game on mute.

Note that in the title, I used we. Generally, I avoid this term at all costs. We are not the Raptors. We are not the Lakers, Celtics, Oilers, or Cleveland Indians (unless you’re an Indian living in Cleveland, I suppose). Only in international play does the we not irk me. It’s got to be country-appropriate though. If I heard some guy from New Brunswick saying we lost to the Greeks and the we in question was the US, I’d call shananagans.

I love this quote from Leo Rautins:

We all screwed this one up,” Canadian head coach Leo Rautins told reporters in a conference call from Greece after the game. “Every coach, every trainer, every player on the floor . . . it’s a team game, one person isn’t going to win or lose a game.

I’ll leave you with that.

*as opposed to a fruitful rut, which I’d welcome any day of the week.