The Slovenians have always had potential, but it has never materialized into a medal at an international competition. It will be the same in Belgrade – they are talented enough to climb on the podium. But as always, it will take more than talent, so the Slovenians went to work real early…

		Primos Brezec

At least, they will feel like at home: Slovenian fans have purchased up to 2,000 tickets to support their team at EuroBasket in September. The “Slovenian Pub” in downtown Belgrade will surely be packed; it was the case during most of this year, with tens of thousands of Slovenian tourists visiting the capital of Serbia-Montenegro on their little “nostalgia tours”. This time, they hope they will have a genuine reason to celebrate – the Slovenian basketball team taking the first international medal in the country’s short history.

Sounds like a far-fetched dream? Check the roster above. Two starting NBA centers. Two solid NBA backups. One of the best point guards in Europe. For starters, that should be enough to dissuade all doubters. This coupled with the remainder of a team made of genuine European-level starters makes Slovenia a legitimate contender for a medal in a tournament on which there are traditionally no rock-solid favorites. Primoz Brezec, Rasho Nesterovic, Bostjan Nachbar, Beno Udrih, Jaka Lakovic… A coach’s dream, for sure. Nevertheless, Ales Pipan is cautious: “We have to have good team chemistry, in order for every player to be happy. And I will be happy if we qualify for the World Championship.”
Pipan know what he is talking about: opponents far from underestimate his team. But the problem is that the Slovenian players themselves often fail to take their own chances seriously. For a country with a population of less than two million, Slovenia has always produced noteworthy results in international basketball. Since gaining independence in 1991, the national team qualified for seven consecutive European Championships. However, success in the final round has been more difficult to come by and the best finish Slovenia have achieved was the tenth place in France, in 1999. At the 2001 EuroBasket in Turkey, despite beating the eventual silver medalist home team in the preliminary round, they finished in a pitiful fifteenth place. In 2003 in Sweden, they had a solid outing in the preliminary round, with two wins and one loss. But in the quarterfinals, they lost by two points to Israel and finished 11th. Nothing to be proud of, that’s for sure.

		Rasho Nesterovic

The Slovenian team at EuroBasket 2003 was more or less the same, with two notable absences – Rasho Nesterovic and Matjaz Smodis. The latter will again be absent. On the other hand, the Slovenians have a new head coach – former assistant coach Ales Pipan who hopes that after two years, his players are more mature, better, and most important, more confident about their own qualities. In the previous tournaments, the problem was also establishing a hierarchy: despite having quality players, Slovenia never had a clear leader. The venerable Juri Zdovc hasn’t been around with the national team since 1999, and he retired from basketball altogether last spring. With no clear generational gaps, it’s up to Pipan to enthrone new bosses, although creating an adequate chemistry will not be easy.

		Jaka Lakovic

The gap that might emerge is a cultural one: NBA players have never been decisive in FIBA competitions, with the exception of Spain’s Gasol and Germany’s Nowitzki. Slovenia’s Brezec and Nesterovic are surely every NBA team’s wet dream; Nachbar and Udrih are the type of players that will never have to worry about finding a job in the toughest league in the world. However, facing the cream of the crop of European basketball is a whole new ball game. At the last EuroBasket in Sweden, the most successful team was the one without NBA players in its roster – Lithuania. That is the reason Ales Pipan might want to turn to his European stars to take the leadership roles. In that respect, one name stands out of the crowd: Jaka Lakovic. Many in Slovenia think that leadership is the key ingredient they miss, certainly not talent. Who better than the Panathinaikos playmaker to take their team to the Promised Land?

Finally, what about the opponents? In order to advance to the 1/8 finals, Slovenia will have to outplay France, Greece and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Not your typical “terror group” some would say, but it doesn’t make the Slovenians’ job easier. With all the usual favorites on the championship missing their key players, there is no squad at the tournament that can be labeled as better than Pipan’s team. On the flip side, can he guarantee that playing the French, the Greeks or even the Bosnians will be a walk in the park? There will be no such thing as an easy game at this EuroBasket. That is why Slovenia will have to send a message right from the start and aim at the very top of Group C, if they want a less thorny road to the medal games. Not if it’s like “it’s now or never”, but their compatriots at home have been waiting for a medal the last 14 years. Jaka Lakovic and company better bring them one.