Croatia national basketball team: Croatian national team comes from state named Croatia: touristic paradise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia The Croatian national basketball team represents Croatia at international tournaments. It is organized by the Croatian Basketball Federation. Croatian Basketball Federation: The Croatian Basketball Federation (Croatian: Hrvatski košarkaški savez, HKS) is the governing body of basketball in Croatia. It was founded in 19 December 1948. as a member of the larger Yugoslav Basketball Federation (See also: Yugoslavia national basketball team: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_in_Yugoslavia In 19 January 1992 the HKS joined the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on its own. Croatia competes in the European region of FIBA. It organizes the A1 Liga, the Krešimir Ćosić Cup for men, and the Ružica Meglaj-Rimac Cup for women. It also runs the Croatian national basketball team (men's) and the Croatian national women's basketball team. Because Croatia was part of Yugoslavia until 1991, the Croatian players played for the Yugoslavian national basketball team. Notable players from this period included Krešimir Ćosić, Petar Skansi, Željko Jerkov, Andro Knego, Zdravko Radulović. Yugoslavia made its European championship debut in Eurobasket 1947, the fifth edition of the tournament. The team placed 13th out of 14 teams in the competition, losing to the Soviet Union and Hungary in the preliminary round, beating the Netherlands but losing to Italy in the semifinal round (placing third in the three-way tie between the teams), and defeating Albania in the 13th/14th classification match. Yugoslavia's appearance at the Eurobasket 1957 tournament in Sofia resulted in a 2-1 record for the preliminary round and advancement to the final round robin. There, they proved capable of two wins, defeating Poland and France to finish at 2-5 for 6th place in the tournament. Yugoslavia had many successes at the World Championships. The team captured 3 titles in 1970, 1978, and 1990. The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s featured what was perhaps the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Americans invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such future NBA players as Dražen Petrović, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Vlade Divac, Predrag Danilović and Žarko Paspalj, has pioneered the wave of international NBA players well before the early 21st century, when the concept began to gain true global momentum. Many of the former Yugoslav stars mentioned above were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the USA both in pool play and in the final. A number of famous players played for the Yugoslav team in the late 80s and for the Croatian team in the 90s. World championships 1994 - 3rd 1998 - Did not qualify 2002 - Did not qualify 2006 - Did not qualify 2010 - 14th European Championships 1993 - 3rd 1995 - 3rd 1997 - 11th 1999 - 11th 2001 - 7th 2003 - 11th 2005 - 7th 2007 - 6th 2009 - 6th Olympic Games 1992: 2nd 1996: 7th 2000: Did not qualify 2004: Did not qualify 2008: 6th Current roster This is the roster for Eurobasket 2011. As of August 28, 2011. BACKS: Bojan BOGDANOVIĆ (Fenerbahce) Marko CAR (Cedevita) Dontaye DRAPER (Cedevita) Marko POPOVIĆ (Unics) Kruno SIMON (Zagreb) Rok STIPČEVIĆ (Varese) Marko TOMAS (Fenerbahce) WINGS: Damir MARKOTA (Union Olimpija) Damjan RUDEŽ (Cibona) CENTERS: Lukša ANDRIĆ (Galatasaray) Stanko BARAĆ (Efes Pilsen) Ante TOMIĆ (Real Madrid) Luka ŽORIĆ (Unicaja) Players that won't participate on EURO Basket 2011: Zoran PLANINIĆ (Khimki) Roko UKIĆ (Fenerbahce) - injured Marin ROZIĆ (Cibona) Leon RADOŠEVIĆ (Cibona) Fran PILEPIĆ (Široki) Hrvoje KOVAČEVIĆ (Cibona) Hrvoje PERIĆ (Benetton) Zoran VRKIĆ (Peristeri) Tomislav ZUBČIĆ (Cibona) Marko BANIĆ (Bilbao) Mario DELAŠ (Žalgiris) Krešimir LONČAR (Himki) Goran SUTON (Cibona) Notable Croatian players who played for Yugoslavian national basketball team: this list isn't completed because of lack informations about many Yugoslavian players and their ethnicity. Rato Tvrdić: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rato_Tvrdić Vinko Jelovac: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinko_Jelovac Zoran Čutura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoran_Čutura Ante Đogić: no information Duje Krstulović: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duje_Krstulović Branko Skroče: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branko_Skroče Mihovil Nakić: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihovil_Nakić Ivan Sunara: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Sunara Goran Brajković: no information Željko Jerkov: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeljko_Jerkov Andro Knego: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andro_Knego Damir Šolman: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damir_Šolman Krešimir Ćosić - FIBA Hall of Fame member: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krešimir_Ćosić Dražen Dalipagić: FIBA Hall of Fame member: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dražen_Dalipagić Giuseppe Gjergja: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Đerđa Aleksandar "Aco" Petrović: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandar_Petrović_(basketball) Players who played for both Yugoslavia and Croatia: Dražen Petrović: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dražen_Petrović Toni Kukoč: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Kukoč Dino Rađa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Rađa Stojko Vranković: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stojko_Vranković Velimir Perasović: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velimir_Perasović Arijan Komazec: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arijan_Komazec Franjo Arapović: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franjo_Arapović Žan Tabak: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Žan_Tabak Danko Cvjetičanin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danko_Cvjetičanin Bruno Šundov: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Šundov Notable Croatian coaches: Kresimir Cosic, Giuseppe Gjergja, Petar Skansi and Mirko Novosel. Mirko Novosel: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirko_Novosel Petar Skansi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petar_Skansi Other notable Croatian basketball players born in Croatia or outside Croatia: John Abramovic - Fmr. NBA player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Abramovic Andrew Bogut - Australian NBA player, drafted 1st overall in 2005 (both parents Croatian): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bogut Frank Drmic - Australian basketball player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Drmic Gordan Giriček - NBA player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordan_Giriček Mario Kasun - NBA player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Kasun Jack Marin - Fmr. American NBA Star: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Marin Kevin McHale - NBA Hall of Famer (Croatian mother Josephine Patricia Starcevich): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McHale George Mikan - NBA Hall of Famer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mikan Zoran Planinić - NBA player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoran_Planinić Dalibor Bagarić - Fmr. NBA player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalibor_Bagarić Rudy Tomjanovich - Fmr. NBA player and coach, No.2 pick in 1970 NBA Draft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Tomjanovich Andy Tonkovich - 1948 first NBA pick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Tonkovich Roko Ukic - Current NBA player, No. 41 pick in 2005 NBA Draft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko_Ukić Andrew Vlahov - Fmr. Australian NBA player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Vlahov Historic injustice is that Serbia got all results of Yugoslavian national basketball team, even though many Croatian players participated in that team. From rooster of Yugoslavian national team is visible that many non-Serbian players participated in this team. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia_national_basketball_team