With less than 4 days until the beginning of EuroBasket 2015, one cannot help but wonder if this large European championship is indeed being played in Croatia. There’s no hype, ads are more or less sporadic and almost entirely related to major sponsors and not the city of Zagreb.
What is the reason behind this? Basketball used to be the second most watched sport, right after football. But that was back in the days when we still had legends such as Dražen Petrović, Toni Kukoč and Dino Rađa playing. Even though this new generation of players is on its way to achieve great things, as shown in their preparatory games (they won every single game), media spotlight just doesn’t seem to turn to them. So, we will give them, and the competition, the attention they deserve.
This year’s EuroBasket starts on September 5th (this Friday) it will be played in 5 different cities simultaneously – Lille, Montpellier, Riga, Berlin and Zagreb. All basketball lovers will be able to see teams Georgia, Netherlands, Slovenia, Macedonia, Greece and of course Croatia battle it out for the top spots in their group.
All games are played in Arena Zagreb, and for ticket info visit www.eventim.hr
Now, back to team Croatia. Our team wrapped up all summer friendlies with a ninth consecutive victory on August 28th as they prevailed 86-76 over Israel to win the EuroBasket 2015 warm-up tournament in Zagreb ahead of the Israelis, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Estonia. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and wish them all the best on EuroBasket 2015. And here is the complete roster, remember their names!
NAME POS. HEIGHT BIRTH DATE PLACE OF BIRTH
Marko Arapovic PF 2.06 20.07.1996 Zagreb (CRO)
Miro Bilan C 2.15 21.07.1989 Sibenik (CRO)
Bojan Bogdanovic SG 2.00 18.04.1989 Mostar (BIH)
Ivan Buva C 2.05 06.05.1991 Zagreb (CRO)
Dontaye Draper PG 1.80 10.08.1984 Baltimore (USA)
Mario Hezonja SF 2.01 25.02.1995 Dubrovnik (CRO)
Fran Pilepic SG 1.93 05.05.1989 Rijeka (CRO)
Darko Planinic C 2.11 22.11.1990 Mostar (BIH)
Leon Radosevic C 2.06 26.02.1990 Sisak (CRO)
Ivan Ramljak SF 2.03 09.08.1990 Mostar (BIH)
Marko Ramljak PF 2.02 14.03.1993 Posusje (BIH)
Damjan Rudez PF 2.08 17.06.1986 Zagreb (CRO)
Zeljko Sakic F 2.00 14.04.1988 Zagreb (CRO)
Dario Saric PF 2.08 08.04.1994 Sibenik (CRO)
Krunoslav Simon SG 1.97 24.06.1985 Zagreb (CRO)
Ivan Siriscevic F 1.97 30.04.1987 Split (CRO)
Josip Sobin F 1.95 31.08.1989 Split (CRO)
Rok Stipcevic PG 1.85 20.05.1986 Maribor (SLO)
Marko Tomas SG 2.06 03.01.1985 Koprivnica (CRO)
Ante Tomic C 2.17 17.02.1987 Dubrovnik (CRO)
Roko Leni Ukic PG 1.96 05.12.1984 Split (CRO)
Zoran Vrkic SF 2.00 16.08.1987 Rijeka (CRO)
Luka Zoric C 2.11 05.11.1984 Zadar (CRO)
Tomislav Zubcic PF 2.12 17.01.1990 Zadar (CRO)
