A weekly (or whenever there is any) round-up of Eurobasket 2013 news as the road to Slovenia marches on.
Tickets on sale next spring
The Eurobasket Organising Committee have announced that tickets for the tournament will go on sale in the spring of next year.
The announcement comes due to the high level of ticket requests. The exact date and the methods of how the tickets will be sold are unknown at this time though.
Dragic says ‘yes’
Slovenia’s Goran Dragic has announced that barring injury, he is available for Eurobasket next September.
Speaking to RTV SLO from New York, the Phoenix Suns guard says he is not shying away from his duties as a Slovenian basketball player.
“I will be so glad to play at the EuroBasket, the whole of Slovenia will support us and we’re not shying away from responsibility, Dragic said.
“We will need the support to obtain a good result and reach the medals.”
Dragic is also confident that the opportunity to play at a home tournament will tempt Milwaukee Bucks shooting guard Beno Udrih into putting on the Slovenia jersey.
Udrih has not played for the national team since the 2005 Eurobasket qualifying rounds. Dragic has spoken to the Bucks’ veteran guard and he is ‘optimistic’.
“I hope he will come and we will finally have a strong Slovenia,” Dragic added.
Germany hire Menz as new coach
Frank Menz has replaced Svetislav Pesic as Germany’s new head coach.
This comes after Pesic was named as the new coach of Bundesliga side FC Bayern Basketball.
This meant that, in accordance with BEKO Bundesliga regulations, Pesic was instantly seizing to be the head coach of Germany; therefore he was unable to coach Germany at Eurobasket.
Menz was an assistant coach to Dirk Bauermann at the last two Eurobaskets in Poland and in Lithuania.
“Frank Menz has developed in a great manner within the DBB and proven, that he is perfectly fit for a demanding job like this,” stated DBB President Ingo Weiß.
