Success for Croatia is only a matter of time, according to national team forward Marko Banic.

The 23-year-old was a member of the Croatia team that won the European Championship for Junior Men in 2002 and that same group of players, he says, is about to start paying rich dividends for the senior team.

"It´s a generation that has a lot of character," he said.

"There´s a very good connection between all the players, which is why we were able to win the gold medal back then."

Alongside Banic were Roko-Leni Ukic and Marko Tomas, and all three will be in Athens this summer when Croatia take part in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament where three places are still up for grabs for the Beijing Games.

"Now I hope to repeat that success with the senior national team," Banic said.

"It has been many years since we won something important and now we have the chance to qualify for the Olympics. I am certain Croatia will be able to do something great in the near future."

Banic's confidence is soaring.

Last year, he plodded through the season but since last summer, he has been playing much better.

At the weekend, he erupted for a season-high 28 points to lead Bilbao to an 88-73 win over Valladolid.

"My first year was very hard because things didn´t go as planned and I wasn´t happy with the job I was doing," he said.

"But now, with a lot of effort and help from my team-mates and coaching staff, I have improved a lot and I am really happy.

"Now I don´t want to stop, I want to improve much more.

"I know full well where I have to improve, especially in my long-range shooting as well as on defense.

"I feel very comfortable underneath the basket. I have improved on my perimeter shooting but I just need to improve on three-point shooting in order to be a complete player."