Biggest EuroBasket Success

After eight long years in the European basketball basement, there is nothing to lose for the Czech National Team as they return to EuroBasket for the first time since 1999. This tournament should become the first step to regular qualification for EuroBasket.
The Czech National Team has qualified for EuroBasket only once in it’s independent history, eight years ago in France. At the time, just making the field was a major success, so wins over Greece and a Sabonis-led Lithuanian team in the first round were considered a bit of a miracle. In the end, an 11th place finish was welcomed by Czech fans and experts alike. That team offered "teenagers" Jiri Welsch and Lubos Barton (both 19 at the time) a chance to show their promising talent.  Eight years later, it's the same dynamic duo that leads this underdog Czech team again.

		Jiri Welsch

The biggest success of the modern era for the Czechoslovakian national basketball was at EuroBasket 1985 in Stuttgart. That team was built around Kamil Brabenec and Stanislav Kropilak.  With the oldest starting five of any team in the tournament at an average age of 29.8 years, they shocked Yugoslavia in the Quarterfinals (102-91) and Spain in semifinals (98-95), before being beaten by the Soviet Union (120-89).
But there is a history of success that extends back even farther than that. In 1946, the Czechoslovakians became European champions in the first EuroBasket played after World War II.

Biggest EuroBasket Disaster

As you would expect of a team with a short history as an independent nation you don’t have to go very far back to find a disaster.  The Czech’s were agonizingly close to qualification for EuroBasket 2005 in Serbia & Montenegro, but a late collapse would seal their fate. After losing out to France and Slovenia in the Qualifying Round - far from an embarrassment - the Czech’s managed to edge out Poland and Estonia to advance to the Additional Qualifying Tournament where they lost a pair of close contests to Hungary (84-79) and Israel (83-78) in the final battle for the last free spot in EuroBasket 2005.  Jiri Welsch, the Czech leader and former NBA player, seemed to be fighting a lonely battle and with the team sent home in disappointment, Coach Michal Jezdik was fired.

Best Individual Performance / Best Player of All-Time

The best Czechoslovakian player of the 20th century was Jiri Zidek Sr., who was one of the dominant players of the 60s and one of the best centers in Europe. Only the iron curtain separated him from an NBA contract. The 2.06 m big-man started his career at the age of 16, but for the first six months he played barefoot because there were no shoes large enough to fit him (size 50). Two years after he first touched a basketball, he played in the European Junior Championship where he scored the game winning basket and was named MVP of the tournament.
He was well-known as a "pioneer" for his highly-effective sky hook shot, later made famous by NBA Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Playing for VS Prague, Zidek won the Czechoslovakian league title seven times. In 1966, his club lost in the final of the European Club Championship to Simenthal Milano, in Bologna, by a margin of just five points. After the final game, he met scouts from the legendary Boston Celtics, who had already booked a flight for him. He went to the airport with them but finally changed his mind because he didn’t want the communist regime to pursue his family. He never made it to the NBA but his son, Jiri Zidek Jr., became the first Czech player to break the barrier in 1995 when he suited up for the Charlotte Hornets.
The senior Zidek played 420 games for Czechoslovakia and was the top scorer at the 1970 World Championship (18.6 ppg). He won a silver medal at EuroBasket 1967 and a bronze in 1969.

Scouting report

Jiri Welsch wants to show what he can do at the top level. After four seasons in the NBA, he returned to Europe where he played a central role in helping Unicaja Malaga reach their first Euroleague Final Four.
Jiri wants to follow with a good performance in EuroBasket: “I think we had quite a good draw, since we won't play against the top teams like Spain or Greece,” he said. “It would be nice to surprise everyone like eight years ago in France.”
The second star of the team, Lubos Barton, also plays in Liga ACB and in the Euroleague with Joventut Badalona. He should become part of a dynamic duo with Welsch. The other brave Czech “soldiers”, such as giant Ondrej Starosta of Zaragoza, should wake up under the command of these two generals. 
The playing style of the Czech team should be based on aggressive defense, controlled pace and patience.
“We will face three elite teams but we but our goal is to confirm the improvement of Czech men's basketball," said Coach Zdenek Hummel.

Likely Squad

This Czech team won’t have the same worries as other teams in EuroBasket as the coaches don’t have to concern themselves with who will or will not come back from the NBA.
Five players seem to have secured starting spots:  Pavel Benes, Jiri Welsch, Ladislav Sokolovsky, Lubos Barton and Petr Benda. 
The biggest weakness for coach Hummel is the point guard position, where the experienced Benes has no clear back-up. 30-year-old Stepan Vrubl is almost a rookie at this level and Jan Pavlik has suffered various injuries through the last couple of months. The coach has used US-born Maurice Whitfield who postponed his arrival at last year’s training camp so long that he has landed in the coach’s dog house.
Another Czech weakness is under the basket where the longtime leader at this position, Ondrej Starosta, didn't play well in Zaragoza and other candidates for the spot, like Dousa, Houska, Steffel, Chan, are too young or too inexperienced. 
The strength of the team lies at the forward position where coach Hummel will have a wide and talented group of players.
He also has the advantage of a group of players eager to make an impression.  After years on the outside looking in at EuroBasket and player’s frequent excuses not to represent their country, there is big interest from the entire team to show Europe what they can do.

Prediction

This Czech team needs a little magic to get out of a very tough group that features teams that placed sixth (Turkey), seventh (Lithuania) and eighth (Germany) in the last World championship in Japan. The task of the Czech team appears difficult. An extraordinary performance would have to be put forth not only from the stars Jiri Welsch and Lubos Barton, but from the rest of the team to qualify for the qualifying round.

Last 10 FIBA events

2006-World Championship, Saitama, Did not qualify
2005-EuroBasket, Belgrade, Did not qualify
2004-Olympics, Athens, Did not qualify
2003-EuroBasket, Stockholm, Did not qualify
2002-World championship, Indianapolis, Did not qualify
2001-EuroBasket, Istanbul, Did not qualify
2000-Olympics, Sydney, Did not qualify
1999-EuroBasket, Paris, 11th
1998-World Championship, Athens, Did not qualify
1997-EuroBasket, Barcelona, Did not qualify