VICTORIA – The memories are still fresh.
It’s been just over a year since Canada’s National Men’s Team camped out on Vancouver Island with a big game to defeat a quality international opponent.
It provided one of the most thrilling and ultimately infuriating sequences of events in recent Canadian hoop history.
In the semifinals of the Last Chance Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Canada regained nine points with 44 seconds left in a must-win semifinal against the Czech Republic. A three from Andrew Wiggins at the buzzer sent the game into overtime and at the start of the five-minute overtime, Canada was leading by five.
But things unraveled from there and Canada was eventually eliminated by a hotly contested, cashed jumper that Tomas Satoransky knocked over the outstretched fingers of Lu Dort. A jumper from Trey Lyles at the buzzer to strap in and out, and Canada’s Olympic dreams were once again put on the ice.
But hope is reborn.
The national team return to Victoria for a big summer game, in this case hosting Argentina at the Save Foods Center on Thursday. The competition marks the start of the second qualifying round for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, which is in itself an important qualification for the 2024 Olympics, a stage on which Canadian men have only participated once. once since 1988.
But disappointment against the Czechs and other near misses before that fueled the men’s program, with head coach Nick Nurse and general manager Rowan Barrett securing three-year commitments from the 14-man ‘summer core’ with an eye on building chemistry and continuity. on the way – I hope – to the Paris Olympics in two years.
Yet, as far as the men’s program is concerned, we remain in the “exorcise the demons” phase.
“The first thing that comes to mind [about last summer] it wasn’t the result we wanted,” said national team veteran Dwight Powell. “And also apart from not being able to fully enjoy the city on this trip. We were completely isolated [FIBA mandated a ‘bubble’ format to minimize COVID risks leading into the Olympics]. So it’s good to be back in this position and I hope we can get a better result.
There is good reason to be optimistic, not only will Canada be playing in front of some fans – due to COVID restrictions only friends and family were allowed to watch the match live last year – but Canada has finished the first stage of qualifying as the only team in the Americas with a perfect 6-0 record and their +198 point differential led the 16 competitors.
Testing gets tougher from here, with the remaining 12 teams split into groups of six. The top three from each group advance to the World Cup, along with the fourth-place team with the best record.
With their play to date, Canada is almost guaranteed to advance. They could even secure their place in the window this week, provided they win their game against Argentina on Thursday and against Panama in Panama City on Monday, and the Dominican Republic lose their games against Panama and Venezuela, respectively. .
Anyway, the program is close to booking its place at the World Cup.
But Canada – currently ranked 18th in the world – has more ambitious goals. Getting to the Olympics requires a strong World Cup result, and that process is greatly aided by stronger seeding positions, so every win counts.
Because the world rankings reflect results going back eight years, they don’t always reflect the quality of current rosters. For example, seventh-ranked Argentina is not the same team as former Raptor Luis Scola, then 39, who won a silver medal at the 2019 World Cup or a seventh-place finish. at the Olympics in Japan last summer at age 41.
But even looking to a younger group, Argentina are 5-1 in qualifying so far and look to be Canada’s toughest game yet.
It’s moments like this that encouraged Canada to name a “summer heart” in the first place.
Internally, it is believed that some of their efforts are starting to pay off. After two blowout wins over the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands in early July, Nurse returns with his five starters from those games: NBA regulars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Powell and Kelly Olynyk are all in camp with professional longtime European Melvin Ejim.
All seven members of the 14-man “summer core” are expected to play, with big man Zach Edey and veteran guard Kevin Pangos also on hand. Cory Joseph’s status is uncertain – he is in Victoria but was suspended from training on Monday as a precaution. Also, top sniper Kyle Wiltjer, who had originally accepted an invitation to the camp, did not make the trip.
Most of the other July window players are also in Victoria.
After two practices at the University of Victoria on Monday, the continuity is evident.
“You notice they’re ahead of what they were, I think that’s really noticeable,” Nurse said. “They know, all of our terms, all of our sets, all of our covers, well, they might not remember all of them exactly, but just a little reminder and then it comes back. And the majority do. guys – not all of them – but for the majority of them. So it’s been fine. This [was] been a quick day for sure.
It’s a level of cohesion not always in place for the national team.
“The continuity is huge,” says Powell. “I mean, we can skip a whole bunch of time picking up sets and learning how we play with each other and each other’s tendencies. We’re already in the mix, running. We know our attack, we know our defense. There are things to freshen up and refresh, but at the end of the day we have an idea of what we’re doing so we get right into the action and get ready for the competition, which I think , is a huge advantage that I think a lot of countries have had, has that continuity year after year, so not only being able to have that continuity over the last two years, but over this summer, it’s huge .
The hope is that all of this will help Canada take a long-awaited big step forward on the international stage, starting by picking up where it left off in Victoria a summer ago.
“I think it was a crazy match, right?” said Nurse, thinking back to the last game he coached here. “And I think we hung on and gave ourselves a chance to win and probably a few possessions in overtime, we could have gotten that thing down to maybe six, seven or eight points, which might have been enough. , but we didn’t, and we also had chances to get a save and a score at the end, and we didn’t.
“[But] that’s pretty much history to me,” says Nurse. “I’m pretty happy with the progress we’ve made. It’s the biggest game possible in this competition, and we have to play, we have to play better than we did last summer.
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