Reinforced by the likes of Sarunas Jasikevicius, 2003 EuroBasket champions Lithuania look on course to challenge fortheir fourth title.

But they must contend with a motivated Turkey side - welcoming the return of NBA stars Mehmet Okur and Hidayet Turkoglu - who stand in their way in their Group C opener in Palma de Mallorca.

Both nations are ready to put behind them poor showings in the last EuroBasket - with Lithuania having to settle for fifth place (they were after all the defending champions) and Turkey finishing among the 9th-12th sides.

However, both nations enter this tournament having been boosted by big stars making their much-anticipated comebacks to the national team.

Last Time Out: Lithuania and Turkey both qualified for the 2007 EuroBasket by playing at the 2006 FIBA World Championship inJapan.

		Mehmet Okur could be a tough matchup for Lithuania

Key Match-up: Lithuanian power forward Darius Songaila could have a huge game. Turkey's NBA star center Okur often drifts outside and, without excellent rebounder Mirsad Turkcan down low, the Turks are a bit weak in the blocks as Turkoglu, who may be a solid rebounder, is more of an outside player. That leaves a combination of Kaya Peker and Kerem Gonlum in the post to take care of the rebounding duties. Songalia may, however, find himself helping Lithuanian centers defensively to step out and guard Okur, who has excellent shooting range.

Statistics: Nine ... that's the highest number of rebounds any Turkish player has grabbed in their last four warm-up matches for the EuroBasket. Turkcan averaged 9.2 rebounds during the 2006-07 Euroleague campaign for Fenerbahce and 10.2 in theTurkish league.

X-Factor: It's been three summers since Lithuanian fans have seen Jasikevicius don the national team colours. "Saras" faces plenty of expectations after so many great performances during the first half of this decade. But he has struggled to get much playing time in the NBA and will have to rediscover his role in a team forced to play without him for the past three years. How will the team react in tight situations with a new face in the mix? And will that "newcomer" still be calling for the ball for the big shots after so much time away from such situations?

What It Means: The winners can feel very good about their chances of advancing to the qualifying round while the losers mustbattle back from a major letdown quickly as neither Germany and Czech Republic will hesitate to take advantage of weakened opponents.