Team Canada in Disarray After Olympic Elimination
The dream ended today for Tyler Kepkay and his fellow Canadians.
Team Canada lost badly to Croatia at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens, falling 83-62 in the quarterfinals and assuring they won't qualify for the Beijing Games in China.
It was an embarrassing loss for a team that now has failed to qualify for the last three major international competitions -- the 2004 Athens Games, the 2006 World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Games -- and isn't sure about the future of coach Leo Rautins. It still will play Team USA in an exhibition in Las Vegas next week, though, where perhaps Kepkay will get a little more work.
"I got the USA minus-50," journalist Doug Smith of the Toronto Star wrote.
Kepkay scored his first basket of the qualifying tournament in his five minutes against Croatia, but played just 15 minutes in three games and did little to stand out. The Canadians "still don't have a back-up point guard," Smith wrote on his blog, "and as much as Tyler Kepkay and Andy Rautins might think they are, they are not good enough against even mid-level international teams at the moment."
It didn't help that center Samuel Dalembert was thrown off the team in the middle of the tournament, depriving Team Canada of one of its precious few NBA players. Evidently, coach Rautins dismissed Dalembert "as the team bus was about to leave for the arena" for its second game against South Korea, which the Canadians ultimately won with a riveting second-half comeback.
Team Canada lost badly to Croatia at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens, falling 83-62 in the quarterfinals and assuring they won't qualify for the Beijing Games in China.
It was an embarrassing loss for a team that now has failed to qualify for the last three major international competitions -- the 2004 Athens Games, the 2006 World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Games -- and isn't sure about the future of coach Leo Rautins. It still will play Team USA in an exhibition in Las Vegas next week, though, where perhaps Kepkay will get a little more work.
"I got the USA minus-50," journalist Doug Smith of the Toronto Star wrote.
Kepkay scored his first basket of the qualifying tournament in his five minutes against Croatia, but played just 15 minutes in three games and did little to stand out. The Canadians "still don't have a back-up point guard," Smith wrote on his blog, "and as much as Tyler Kepkay and Andy Rautins might think they are, they are not good enough against even mid-level international teams at the moment."
It didn't help that center Samuel Dalembert was thrown off the team in the middle of the tournament, depriving Team Canada of one of its precious few NBA players. Evidently, coach Rautins dismissed Dalembert "as the team bus was about to leave for the arena" for its second game against South Korea, which the Canadians ultimately won with a riveting second-half comeback.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 11:34 AM |
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