Reply With Quote
Some photos for you, Angel: http://www.kzs-zveza.si/kzs/index.php?x=11&galerija=301
quest for the quarter-finals
Some photos for you, Angel: http://www.kzs-zveza.si/kzs/index.php?x=11&galerija=301
Sweet, we got Messi! Would like him in our football team more though.
Well, we're ed.
Smodis is questionable due to foot injury.
Why am I not surprised?
Smodiš missed a lot of NT games with injuries and "injuries". Which one is this?
We might as well tank now and hope to win the next year's lottery.
23/06/2008
SLO – New foot agony may knock Smodis out of qualifying event
ZRECE (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) – A new foot problem could prevent Slovenia superstar Matjaz Smodis from playing in July’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens.
The CSKA Moscow forward had an operation on his left foot back in December but recovered in time to help fire the Russian giants to glory in both the Euroleague and the Superleague.
He has been with the Slovenia squad at their base in Zrece yet hasn’t been training with the team, but on his own.
"My participation in Athens is under a big question mark,” Smodis has revealed.
“For three weeks, since the end of the Russian championship, I have had pain in my right foot.
“As you may know, I had surgery on my left (foot) and this may be one of the reasons for my trouble.
“It is possible that I put too much pressure on my healthy foot at the time.”
Doctors have been looking at the problem, Smodis said.
“The final decision about my participation will be made by my doctor from San Francisco, in the United States, who has done some tests and will let me know about the results as soon as possible,” the player said.
“I hope the answer will be positive for me and the Slovenian national team. Otherwise, I will have to end my national team preparation and start working on my rehabilitation."
Smodis has had a brilliant career but one that has had its share of injuries, with back problems forcing him to miss several national team campaigns before last summer.
Slovenia can ill afford to lose Smodis with big man Erazem Lorbek having decided to rest instead of playing this summer.
"The pain is quite big and annoying - I feel it all the time,” Smodis said.
“Every time I put pressure on my right foot, it hurts.
“The doctor hasn't found any damaged ligaments or bones. He says the problem may be the blood flow in my bones. The final decision will be known soon, at the latest on Wednesday."
Slovenia are in Group C of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament with Canada and Korea.
FIBA
I hope and pray Smodis heals quickly and completely and I hope he plays.
But even if he doesn't play, I am still optimistic for our team and about their chances.
This is the year that no one stops us. I am calling it.
Well, it's official - Smodis is out.
Sorry Smodis.
I really wanted him to play.
The rest of the team will step it up and make him proud.
I am so excited. Bring on the compe ion!!!!
Vidmar is also out. Broke his hand or wrist, something like that.
It's getting better each day, we're almost out of big men now.
Small ball!
How are the boys doing?
Any articles or pictures?
They're playing against Croatia today and tomorrow. Maybe I'll go check out tomorrow's game.
Have fun. Root hard for me.
Dajmo Slovenija.
Kranjska Gora:
SLOVENIA - CROATIA
66:70 (22:22, 19:16, 15:14, 10:18)
D. Lorbek 13 Kus 13
Slokar 9 Popović 10
Bečirovič 7 Barač 10
Drobnjak 7 Markota 9
Zagorac 6 Banić 8
Lakovič 6 Ukić 5
Nesterovič 4 Longin 4
Preldžič 4 Nicević 4
Joksimovič 4 Rozić 3
Dragič 3 Lončar 2
Čapin 2 Bagarić 2
Klobučar 1
FT: 19/28 10/14
2pts: 16/39 21/39
3pts: 5/16 6/19
Reb: 27 33
second game:
Šenčur pri Kranju:
SLOVENIA - CROATIA
73:70 (18:19, 20:17, 16:23, 19:11)
Nesterovič 21 Markota 11
Bečirovič 14 Prkaćin 10
Slokar 8 Popović 9
Drobnjak 8 Kus 8
Joksimovič 5 Lončar 8
Lakovič 4 Ukić 7
D. Lorbek 4 Barač 6
Čapin 3 Banić 4
Zagorac 2 Rozić 2
Preldžič 2 Nicević 2
Dragič 2 Tomas 2
Longin 1
FT: 11/19 15/17
2pts: 25/43 20/35
3pts: 4/16 5/17
Reb: 27 26
Slokar with a three pointer in the last second of the game for the win.
Nice win but not impressed at all with our squad. We have maybe 5 decent players, the rest is crap and shouldn't be anywhere near the national team.
It was a fun game though, it's nice to win with a last second trey.
Here's Rasho shooting FTs. I took this with my mobile, so no ing about the quality of the pic.
In such small venue no seat is a bad seat. It's all courtside.
Hvala velik and Kobayagi
Oh my goosh.
Sho with 21 point woooosh.
And he is so cute in this picture...
Dajmo Slovenija
Hvala velik and Kobayagi
Oh my goosh.
Sho with 21 point woooosh.
And he is so cute in this picture...
OK Angel, stop pretending!
o guys and Angel
Im back
I love this Slovenian thread but i can't say the same for coach Pipan.
What I'm reading about Brezec in his interview. OMG
Im sorry but this summer won't be happy for our NT.
See you around
Angle write to me if you can
CRO – Repesa and Croatia tuning up in Slovenia
KRANJSKA GORA (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) – The way Croatia coach Jasmin Repesa talks about Slovenia, one understands immediately the two countries are on good terms with each other – at least on the basketball court.
Repesa is in Slovenia with his national squad, with each workout and friendly (Croatia will play Slovenia twice in the coming days) extremely valuable for the players as they get ready for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens.
“It’s great, being here in Slovenia,” Repesa says to FIBA.Com.
“Slovenia has a well-organized basketball association, a great coach (Ales Pipan) and great players.”
Repesa and Pipan share the same frustrations, though.
Neither is able to have the country’s most talented players in their teams, with Repesa going for a second straight summer without center Nikola Vujcic, wing Gordan Giricek and big man Andrija Zizic.
“I haven’t spoken with them in person, but people from the basketball association have,” Repesa says.
“Because their answer was negative, I didn’t even try calling them.”
Mario Kasun, the center on Croatia’s EuroBasket 2007 squad, suffered from a heart arrhythmia this year.
Though he resumed playing for Barcelona, he went into the close season needing medical check-ups and isn’t available.
For Slovenia, Erazem Lorbek, one of Repesa’s star players at the Lottomatica Roma this season in Italy’s Lega A and the Euroleague, has decided to rest a sore back while former NBA center Primoz Brezec doesn’t want to play.
Injuries have knocked out players like CSKA Moscow power forward Matjaz Smodis as well. Others like Bostjan Nachbar and Beno Udrih are free agents in the NBA and weren’t available.
“If all of Slovenia’s best players could be formed into one team, I am sure that it would be the strongest team in Europe,” Repesa said.
“Sadly, Slovenia has the same problem as Croatia – it’s practically impossible to get all the best players into one team. It looks like a ‘Balkans syndrome’ which even the Slovenians can’t run away from, although they never wanted to be a part of the Balkans.”
Croatia will take on Slovenia in Kranjska Gora on Friday and in Sencur on Saturday.
“Both teams have the same goal – make it to the Olympics – and I hope both reach it,” Repesa said.
“We came to Kranjska Gora to use these two games as good as possible. We must go to Athens well prepared. Up to now, everything is looking good.”
Also missing from Croatia’s group have been Ante Tomic and Damjan Rudez.
Both were in the United States trying to impress NBA teams and Tomic, who played for the under-20s last year, was selected in the second round by Utah.
“I am aware that players have their own interests so I didn’t stop them, although I think Tomic went a year too soon,” Repesa said.
“He could go one year later but anyway, he had my full support.”
“Any way, both players will return to the national team,” said Repesa, who has also been without Zoran Planinic.
The tall point guard is finalizing his transfer to CSKA Moscow from Spanish ACB champions Tau Ceramica.
Guard Jakov Vladovic has been omitted from the squad because of injury.
Croatia will be in Group D with Puerto Rico and Cameroon, and he expects some hard games.
“I don’t know much about Cameroon, while it’s obvious Puerto Rico will be very dangerous,” Repesa said.
“They are capable of positive and negative surprises. They beat the USA in 2004 (Athens Olympics) which tells you a lot.
“They have a few very good individuals and I think they are surely the team we will compete with for first place in the group stage.”
And if they finish in the top two of Group D, a quarter-final against Slovenia could await them. If that were to happen, only one of the teams would progress to the Beijing Games.
FIBA
SLO – Rasho sounds call to battle for depleted Slovenia
KRANJSKA GORA (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) - Slovenia captain Rasho Nesterovic is rallying the troops ahead of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament following the loss of several key players for a variety of reasons.
Immediately after superstar power forward Matjaz Smodis was ruled out with a foot injury this week, big man Gasper Vidmar broke his hand.
National team coach Ales Pipan appealed to Erazem Lorbek to reconsider his decision to skip Athens because of a back injury, only for the big center to say no again.
Even big NBA center Primoz Brezec’s name has been mentioned, but there is no interest to help out coming from the seven-footer with the Slovenians in dire need of strengthening on the frontline.
“We talk too much about the players who are not with us,” Nesterovic said at the team’s press conference.
“Those who wanted to play are here. We all know that Gasper and especially Matjaz will be hard to replace, but we were in a similar position before the EuroBasket in Spain.
“We had very few guards then, now we are short of power forwards and centers. But why wouldn’t we surprise once again, like we did in Spain when everybody predicted for us a terrible outcome?”
Slovenia, who will take on Canada and Korea in Group C at the qualifying tournament in Greece, shocked everyone in Spain last year.
They reached the quarter-finals with just one defeat to Lithuania but then blew a big lead against Greece to miss out on the last four.
Pipan’s team rebounded by finishing seventh - good enough for a place in the qualifying tournament.
The coach is clearly frustrated and spoke of his futile attempts to get Lorbek to join the team.
“After Matjaz Smodis announced that he will not be able to play, I once again called Erazem Lorbek in and asked him if there was any possibility of reconsidering and joining the national team,” Pipan said.
“He said no once again. He said it’s because of his back problems.”
Pipan has moved quickly to call up Dragisa Drobnjak, who is without a club at the moment, and Zeljko Zagorac of Helios Domzale.
“At this moment, they are the two players that can contribute most,” Pipan said.
“They were willing to join us right away.”
Pipan, meanwhile, denied rumors that he has not answered Brezec’s calls but did admit Brezec had called him.
“I’ve seen that he called me a few times, but two days later I saw that he quickly decided not to play for the national team,” Pipan said.
“He asked the team director not to send him any more invitations and that is where this story ended for me.
“I don’t want to force anybody to play for the national team.
“This national team is made out of players who are willing to be here and to play, to sacrifice their spare time and put the national team first.”
There is good news on the recovery of Goran Jagodnik, the forward who suffered a bad knee injury a few months ago while playing for Hemofarm.
“He doesn’t feel pain any more, and he will shortly start the full training,” Pipan said.
“He will travel along if we will see that he is ready enough. Otherwise, we will have to choose another player.”
Big man Miha Zupan of Olimpija Ljubljana is also not training at the moment as he is with the Slovenian side that has reached the semi-finals of the European Championship of the Deaf in Bamberg, Germany.
“This was Miha’s big wish and I granted it,” Pipan said.
“He will return after the two games with Slovenia and continue to train like all other players.”
FIBA
That was an awesomely accurate impression of me! If I didn't know better, I would have thought I typed it myself.
Bravo, Bruno!
I am glad Slovenia won their second game. I can't wait to have my computer fixed so I can follow the compe ion more closely.
I sent my boyfriend in the thread today to check the scores for me.
I do have the computer at work but I am training a new recruit this week and so have to set a good example in regards to internet usuage.
Awesome battle call article.
Dajmo Slovenija: cheer
)
o guys and Angel
Im back
I love this Slovenian thread but i can't say the same for coach Pipan.
What I'm reading about Brezec in his interview. OMG
Im sorry but this summer won't be happy for our NT.
See you around
Angle write to me if you can
Check your messages on here.
I don't have myspace access currently.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
