LUOL HAS BRITAIN ON THE RISE

 

(Image taken from FIBA Europe)

Fast forward to the 2012 London Olympics. There will be a basketball tournament in those Games. Slight problem, Great Britain sends a united team to the Olympics and untill recently there was no such thing as a Great Britain national basketball team. So with the express aim of providing a home presence at 2012, a GB side was created. It still needs to earn a spot at the Olympics though. First stop, the European Championships of 2009 which will take place in Spain. Starting in '06 GB had to first get promotion to the top division of European qualifying.

The first half of that campaign started in '06. GB were drawn in Division B, Group B and had to face four games with a mixture of Briits playing in the British Basketball League and other players playing elsewhere in Europe. Things didn't start well with a 73-62 defeat to Slovakia at the Spisska Nova Ves. However we looked to turn things round well enough, hammering the Netherlands 63-39 in Glasgow before beating Albania 72-69 in the Albanian town of Durres. A 69-68 loss to Belarus in Sheffield gave us a minor reality check though. A 2-2 record and third place in the group wasn't going to get us very far - we needed to either win the group or have the best second place record in the tier to make the promotion playoffs!

A year is a long time though. Long enough for Sudan-born Luol Deng to confirm eligability for GB. Which made Luol the star man for the '07 part of the qualifying campaign. Added to that was the return of the likes of Robert Archibald, Scottish former Grizzlies player now playing for Spanish side Badalona where he plays alongside fellow Brit Andrew Sullivan. Chris Haslam, who plays for BBL side London United and Roger Huggins, 40 year old currently playing for Belgian side Liege.

So what can this lot do? First up was Slovenia in Birmingham. Well the visitors match GB's opener to tie the game at 2 but they were trailing from there on in and weren't even competitive after the first quarter. The game was played with FIBA rules which means that the games are only 10 minutes per quarter which partly accounts for the relatively low scoreline but as far as Luol is concerned, a basketball court is a basketball court. 21 points and 10 rebounds says the Bulls star made his presence felt despite having little bench time. A 77-52 GB win says that we were in business.

Next up, the Netherlands at a place called La Almere. The Dutch proved to be completly useless in the first quarter and were traliling from GB's first bucket, it wasn't untill three minutes into the game that they even got on the scoreboard. Once again by half time, GB had a rock solid double digits lead though the Dutch did threaten a comeback late on in the 2nd but this was GB's show with Deng again running the show but getting solid backup from Seville player Andrew Betts who came up with 13 points and 6 rebounds. The Dutch had a solid 4th quarter but it was too little too late. GB won 83-64.

Next up, we hosted Albania in Edinburgh. Well it was the visitors that opened the scoring 3-0 but that didn't take long to turn round and the game was over by the end of the first quarter. It was a 20 point lead by half time and the match became further evidence that the Deng effect means that we're too good for this current level. This time round it was Archibald who led the way in front of his fellow Scots with 21 points and 7 rebounds and even NBA fans would be impressed with the final score, despite the scortened game time. GB won 110-78.

All that wouldn't count for anything if GB didn't come up with the goods against Belerus, the toughest team in the group, in Minsk. This match would decide who went through to the playoffs. Belerus had a 3-2 lead early on but GB still managed to win that duel and went on another early hot streak. The home side had the better of the second quarter but GB still had a solid lead going into the 3rd and won the game in the latter stages of that quarter before saying what should be goodbye to Division B with a final quarter avalanche. Final score 81-53. No one could touch Deng, Betts was solid and Sullivan deserves credit with 11 points and 5 rebounds.

So a 6-2 record and top of Group B puts us into the division playoffs! Two ties, the winners of which get promoted to the main qualifying division for next year. GB's task? Switzerland. They won Group C and now we have to face them in what looks like a football style two legged tie. First leg's in Birmingham, second leg is in Geneva. Credit to the Swiss, they include one of Luol's Bulls teammates, Thabo Sefelosha but he's only a minor part of the Chicago scene. The team as a whole might give us some issues down town but I'd still pick GB to win smoothly.

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