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Slovakia are in the process of putting together a new basketball team. After unsuccessful qualifications for the European Championship two years ago, they decided to rejuvenate the team, and they set Croat Ivan Rudez as selector. Tournament in Prievidza is starting today, they registered 12 players, eight of which play in Poland, 3 are at American universities, and their best player, and the only point guard left from the last qualification cycle, Milosevic, is still unsigned. They played only one friendly game so far, against Austria and lost 57-92, but they played 4x12 minutes. After that game, Rudez gave a statement that tells us a lot: - That was a game in which we could have seen and test a lot of things. I have to say that 8 of our 12 players faced such quality and strong players for the first time. It was a lesson for us.
This is the sixth friendly for Ukraine this Summer. In Germany they played 2 games, won the open one (conceded 77), lost the closed one (conceded 62, without Fesenko and Kravcov). After that they went to a tournament in Georgia where they defeated Netherlands (conceded 68, Fesenko resting), they couldn't parry the Russians (82), but they did parry Georgia and dropped in the finish (73). Ukraine are not a mega-team, but when we compare rosters, the quality and experience are on their side, they have a lot of players who played at the Eurobasket last year, they are all in quality clubs. As far as motivation is concerned, selector Murzin's statement is important, he indicated that all the players who are on the list have a chance to earn a spot in the EC qualifications. Slovakia are clearly a limited team, and in the 48 minutes against Austria they scored 57 points. Ukraine's win in the handicap is a great option for me, but team under on the home team is a bit better.