Croatia national basketball team

Croatia Hrvatska
FIBA Ranking	19th
Joined FIBA	1992
FIBA Zone	FIBA Europe
National Federation	Croatian Basketball Federation
Coach	Josip Vranković
Olympic Games
Appearances	3
Medals	Silver: 1992
World Championships
Appearances	2
Medals	Bronze: 1994
Eurobasket
Appearances	10
Medals	Bronze: 1993, 1995
Uniforms
Light Dark

The Croatian national basketball team represents Croatia at international tournaments^[1]. It is organized by the Croatian Basketball Federation ^[2]. The biggest success Croatia achieved at 1992 Barcelona Olympics when the team reached finals against Dream Team and won the silver.

Earlier history

Main article: Yugoslavia national basketball team

Because Croatia was part of Yugoslavia until 1991, the Croatian players played for the Yugoslavian national basketball team. Notable players from this period included Krešimir Ćosić, Petar Skansi, Željko Jerkov, Andro Knego, Zdravko Radulović. Yugoslavia made its European championship debut in Eurobasket 1947, the fifth edition of the tournament. The team placed 13th out of 14 teams in the competition, losing to the Soviet Union and Hungary in the preliminary round, beating the Netherlands but losing to Italy in the semifinal round (placing third in the three-way tie between the teams), and defeating Albania in the 13th/14th classification match.

Yugoslavia's appearance at the Eurobasket 1957 tournament in Sofia resulted in a 2–1 record for the preliminary round and advancement to the final round robin. There, they proved capable of two wins, defeating Poland and France to finish at 2–5 for 6th place in the tournament. Yugoslavia had many successes at the World Championships. The team captured 3 titles in 1970, 1978, and 1990. The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s featured what was perhaps the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Americans invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such future NBA players as Dražen Petrović, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Vlade Divac, Predrag Danilović and Žarko Paspalj, has pioneered the wave of international NBA players well before the early 21st century, when the concept began to gain true global momentum. Many of the former Yugoslav stars mentioned above were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the USA both in pool play and in the final.

A number of famous players played for the Yugoslav team in the late 80s and for the Croatian team in the 90s.

World championships

• 1994 – 3rd
• 1998 – Did not qualify
• 2002 – Did not qualify
• 2006 – Did not qualify
• 2010 – 14th

European Championships

• 1993 – 3rd
• 1995 – 3rd
• 1997 – 11th
• 1999 – 11th
• 2001 – 7th
• 2003 – 11th
• 2005 – 7th
• 2007 – 6th
• 2009 – 6th
• 2011 – 13th

Olympic Games

• 1992: 2nd
• 1996: 7th
• 2000: Did not qualify
• 2004: Did not qualify
• 2008: 6th

Current roster

This is the roster for Eurobasket 2011. As of August 28, 2011.

Croatian National Basketball Team rosterC		4	Tomić, Ante	&1000000000000002400000024 - February 7, 1987(1987-02-07)	2.18 m (7 ft 2 in)	Real Madrid Baloncesto	Spain !
4.5 !F/C	5	Andrić, Lukša	&1000000000000002600000026 - May 29, 1985(1985-05-29)	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	Galatasaray Café Crown	Turkey !
1.5 !G	6	Popović, Marko	&1000000000000002900000029 - June 12, 1982(1982-06-12)	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	BC Žalgiris	Lithuania !
2.5 !G/F	7	Bogdanović, Bojan	&1000000000000002200000022 - April 18, 1989(1989-04-18)	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)	Fenerbahçe Ülker	Turkey !
1.5 !G	8	Stipčević, Rok	&1000000000000002500000025 - May 25, 1986(1986-05-25)	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)	Pallacanestro Varese	Italy !
2.5 !G/F	9	Tomas, Marko	&1000000000000002600000026 - January 3, 1985(1985-01-03)	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	Fenerbahçe Ülker	Turkey !
1.5 !G	10	Draper, Dontaye	&1000000000000002700000027 - August 10, 1984(1984-08-10)	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	KK Cedevita	Croatia !
1.5 !G	11	Simon, Krunoslav	&1000000000000002600000026 - June 24, 1985(1985-06-24)	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)	KK Zagreb	Croatia !
3.5 !F	12	Markota, Damir	&1000000000000002500000025 - December 26, 1985(1985-12-26)	2.09 m (6 ft 10 in)	KK Union Olimpija	Slovenia !
3.5 !F	13	Rudež, Damjan	&1000000000000002500000025 - June 17, 1986(1986-06-17)	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	KK Cibona	Croatia !
5.0 !C	14	Žorić, Luka	&1000000000000002600000026 - November 5, 1984(1984-11-05)	2.10 m (6 ft 11 in)	CB Málaga	Spain !
5.0 !C	15	Barać, Stanko	&1000000000000002500000025 - April 13, 1986(1986-04-13)	2.17 m (7 ft 1 in)	Anadolu Efes S.K.	Turkey !

Head coach

• Josip Vranković

Assistant coaches

• Mladen Erjavec
• Tomislav Mijatović
• Luka Milanović

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Legend

• Age field is age on August 28, 2011

Notable players

Players who played for Yugoslavia:

• Petar Skansi
• Rato Tvrdić
• Nikola Plećaš
• Vinko Jelovac
• Zoran Čutura
• Branko Skroče
• Mihovil Nakić
• Andro Knego
• Damir Šolman
• Krešimir Ćosić
• Željko Jerkov
• Giuseppe Gjergja
• Aleksandar "Aco" Petrović

Players who played for both Yugoslavia and Croatia:

• Dražen Petrović
• Toni Kukoč
• Dino Rađa
• Stojko Vranković
• Velimir Perasović
• Arijan Komazec
• Franjo Arapović
• Žan Tabak
• Danko Cvjetičanin

Players who played for Croatia:

• Gordan Giriček
• Nikola Vujčić

Past rosters

1992 Olympic Games: finished 2nd among 12 teams

Dražen Petrović, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Stojan Vranković, Žan Tabak, Arijan Komazec, Velimir Perasović, Danko Cvjetičanin, Franjo Arapović, Aramis Naglić, Vladan Alanović, Alan Gregov (Coach: Petar Skansi)

1993 EuroBasket: finished 3rd among 16 teams

Dino Rađa, Stojan Vranković, Žan Tabak, Arijan Komazec, Velimir Perasović, Danko Cvjetičanin, Franjo Arapović, Vladan Alanović, Emilio Kovačić, Veljko Mršić, Ivica Žurić, Alan Gregov (Coach: Mirko Novosel)

1994 World Championship: finished 3rd among 16 teams

Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Stojan Vranković, Arijan Komazec, Danko Cvjetičanin, Veljko Mršić, Vladan Alanović, Davor Pejčinović, Josip Vranković, Alan Gregov, Ivica Žurić, Miro Jurić (Coach: Giuseppe Gjergja)

1995 EuroBasket: finished 3rd among 14 teams

Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Stojan Vranković, Arijan Komazec, Velimir Perasović, Vladan Alanović, Veljko Mršić, Ivica Žurić, Alan Gregov, Davor Pejčinović, Josip Vranković, Ivica Marić (Coach: Aleksandar Petrović)

1996 Olympic Games: finished 7th among 12 teams

Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Arijan Komazec, Stojan Vranković, Žan Tabak, Velimir Perasović, Slaven Rimac, Damir Mulaomerović, Veljko Mršić, Vladan Alanović, Josip Vranković, Davor Marcelić (Coach: Petar Skansi)

1997 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 16 teams

Damir Mulaomerović, Gordan Giriček, Slaven Rimac, Josip Sesar, Nikola Prkačin, Vladan Alanović, Emilio Kovačić, Davor Pejčinović, Ivan Grgat, Davor Marcelić, Siniša Kelečević, Damir Milačić (Coach: Petar Skansi)

1998 World Championship: did not qualify

1999 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 16 teams

Toni Kukoč, Damir Mulaomerović, Gordan Giriček, Nikola Prkačin, Veljko Mršić, Nikola Vujčić, Vladimir Krstić, Gordan Zadravec, Joško Poljak, Jurica Ružić, Ivan Tomeljak, Hrvoje Henjak (Coach: Boško Božić)

2000 Olympic Games: did not qualify

2001 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 16 teams

Damir Mulaomerović, Žan Tabak, Nikola Vujčić, Gordan Giriček, Nikola Prkačin, Josip Sesar, Veljko Mršić, Matej Mamić, Emilio Kovačić, Mate Skelin, Vladimir Krstić, Josip Vranković (Coach: Aleksandar Petrović)

2002 World Championship: did not qualify

2003 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 16 teams

Damir Mulaomerović, Gordan Giriček, Zoran Planinić, Nikola Prkačin, Mate Skelin, Marko Popović, Andrija Žižić, Dalibor Bagarić, Matej Mamić, Sandro Nicević, Marino Baždarić, Hrvoje Perinčić (Coach: Neven Spahija)

2004 Olympic Games: did not qualify

2005 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 16 teams

Nikola Vujčić, Gordan Giriček, Zoran Planinić, Marko Popović, Roko Leni Ukić, Mario Kasun, Nikola Prkačin, Andrija Žižić, Dalibor Bagarić, Matej Mamić, Marko Tomas, Damir Rančić (Coach: Neven Spahija)

2006 World Championship: did not qualify

2007 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 16 teams

Zoran Planinić, Roko Leni Ukić, Marko Popović, Mario Kasun, Nikola Prkačin, Damir Markota, Marko Tomas, Mario Stojić, Davor Kus, Stanko Barać, Marin Rozić, Marko Banić (Coach: Jasmin Repeša)

2008 Olympic Games: finished 6th among 12 teams

Roko Ukić, Davor Kus, Marko Popović, Marin Rozić, Nikola Prkačin, Marko Tomas, Zoran Planinić, Sandro Nicević, Damjan Rudež, Marko Banić, Krešimir Lončar, Stanko Barać (Coach: Jasmin Repeša)

2009 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 16 teams

Roko Ukić, Davor Kus, Marko Popović, Nikola Vujčić, Nikola Prkačin, Marin Rozić, Zoran Planinić, Mario Stojić, Krešimir Lončar, Marko Banić, Sandro Nicević, Mario Kasun (Coach: Jasmin Repeša)

2010 World Championship: finished 14th among 24 teams

Roko Ukić, Davor Kus, Marko Popović, Marko Tomas, Zoran Planinić, Krešimir Lončar, Marko Banić, Ante Tomić, Bojan Bogdanović, Rok Stipčević, Luka Žorić, Lukša Andrić (Coach:Josip Vranković)

See also

• Croatia women's national basketball team

References

1. ^ http://www.eurobasket.com/Croatia/basketball.asp
2. ^ http://www.hks-cbf.hr

External links

• Basketball Federation of Croatia