Ante Žižić, Dragan Bender dropped from the Croatian team for EuroBasket / News
The Croatian Basketball Association hosted a press conference in Zagreb, where they presented an updated list of 16 players before the next national team commitments.
Ante Žižić
Position: | C |
age: | 25 |
Height: | 211 cm |
Weight: | 113 kg |
Place of birth: | Split, Croatia |
Big men Ante Žižić and Dragan Bender were not included, but coach Damir Mulaomerović explained this.
“Žižić is a great player and a great guy, but he and Zubec have the same player profile. My decision is to give priority to Zubec at this moment. We will have three player profiles in the ‘5’ position; there is also Matkovič, who is the future of our national team, whether I am a selector or someone else.
And of course there is Dario Šarić at 5, where we can attack in different ways, but also defend.”
Regarding the absence of Dragan Bender, Mulaomerović said that the player “did the June preparations very correctly, he is also a great boy who will definitely join us in the future. He was coming off a long-term injury and I am sure that the period he trained with us was very good for him.”
Dario Saric, on the other hand, is expected to return to action for the first time since tearing his ACL in Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals.
The new roster of 16 players who will prepare for EuroBasket 2022 and the qualifiers for the 2025 tournament includes the following:
- Roko Rogić
- Lovro Gnjidič
- Ivan Ramljak
- Goran Filipovič
- Roko Prkačin
- Mario Hezonja
- Toni Perkovič
- Karlo Matkovič
- Mateo Drežnjak
- Krunoslav Simon
- Dominik Mavra
- Pavle Marčinkovič
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- Ivica Zubac
- Dario Saric
- Jaleen Smith*
*the player is in the process of acquiring citizenship
“These are the 16 guys that I decided and that I stand behind and now is the right time to show character. My only wish is that my players are well prepared so that we don’t have any unwanted injuries,” said coach Mulaomerović.
Croatia starts preparations tomorrow, August 3 in Opatija, and NBA players Bojan Bogdanović and Ivica Zubac can only join on August 8.
The team’s schedule, as announced by the federation, includes four warm-up games and two official away games.
FRIENDLY MATCHES
• August 13 Bulgaria – Croatia (Pardubice, Czech Republic)
• 14 August Czech Republic – Croatia (Pardubice, Czech Republic)
• August 18 Croatia – Hungary (Opatija, Croatia)
• 20 August Slovenia – Croatia (Celje, Slovenia)
QUALIFICATIONS FOR EUROBASKET 2025
• August 25, 2022 Poland – Croatia
• August 28, 2022 Croatia – Switzerland
Croatia is in Group C of the EuroBasket. In Milan, from September 2 to 8, she will face Greece, Great Britain, Estonia, Italy and Ukraine. The top four teams will advance to the next round and compete in the knockout stage, which will take place from September 10 to 18 in Berlin.