Apr 4, 2009, 3:34 am
Quote:Finns Look To Build On Momentum Of Impressive 2008
Finland received great leadership from Hanno Mottola last summer when they booked a spot in this year's Additional Qualifying Round for the EuroBasket in Poland.
Now point guard Teemu Rannikko, another inspirational figure in Finnish basketball who led the national side for several years, is back from injury and ready to show the way for the Finns.
Finland coach Henrik Dettmann, who lost Mottola when the big man decided to retire from basketball at the end of last year's qualifiers, has confirmed Tannikko is coming back.
He and his players are very optimistic about the progress of the national team.
"We have all of our best players available to us and committed to the program," Dettmann said. "Period. End of story. Now we just hope that everybody stays healthy.
"With this group of players I feel good going in to the European Championship qualifiers to challenge our opponents, who have big international stars."
Finland will face a very tough August in the additional qualifiers against France and Italy in Group B.
"We recognize that we are grouped with great, great company and we are proud of it," Dettmann said.
"This set-up is like David versus Goliath, but games we played last year left us hungry for further development."
Indeed, Finland raised a lot of eyebrows in 2008.
By sweeping Hungary and upsetting Serbia at home in a very difficult Group A that also included Bulgaria and Italy, Finland safeguarded their status in Division A and also earned a trip to the Additional Qualifying Round.
There is no more Mottola, but Dettmann has Rannikko back, with Gerald Lee Junior and Samuel Haanpaa also in the squad.
Lee Jr is son of Gerald Lee Sr, a naturalized Finn who played for the national side for two decades.
Lee Sr made his national team debut at 41 years of age in 1992 when Dettmann was at the beginning of his first stint with Finland.
He is still the all-time leader of the Finnish league in scoring with 12,556 career points.
Lee Jr has played in 71 games at junior level Finland.
He is a student/athlete at Old Dominion in Virginia and just won the CIT Tournament.
Haanpaa wasn't able to play in last summer's qualifiers after breaking his finger in the first preparation game against Germany.
Arguably the most important player in the Finland set-up, however, is Kimmo Muurinen.
He is a player that Dettmann heaped praise on for his relentless effort on defense in last year's games.
Muurinen, whose long arms and tenacity cause a lot of problems for opponents, said: "Last summer we experienced some feelings that any athlete would want to feel more and more.
"We were able to beat some really big teams, which is always nice.
"However, an even bigger thing was that we saw ourselves developing both as individuals and as a team.
"It's a great feeling to realize that you are playing alongside with great players and achieving some results together.
"This coming summer will provide us with new opportunities to experience more of those feelings."
Preparation Period
To warm up for Italy and France, Finland have been invited to play in an international tournament in Portugal from July 10-12 with Brazil and African champions Angola also taking part.
Hungary will also host a tournament from July 24-26 and have invited Finland to take part, along with the Netherlands and Sweden.
On July 31, the Finns will go up against Estonia and on August 2 in another friendly they will face New Zealand's Tall Blacks.
Their first Additional Qualifying Round game is against France on August 8 in Pau.
"We managed to put together a nice preparation program given the fact that teams start preparation in very different times of summer," Dettmann said.
"When we have to be ready, other teams start playing their first preparation games.
"It's really challenging to build a program in these circumstances and with this competition format."
Looking back on Finland's recent progress, Dettmann beams with pride.
"We have come a long way in four years," he said.
"Like last year, we are now able to prepare against countries which have regularly participated in World Championships, Olympics or European Championships.
"It wasn't like this four years ago, which tells you something about our development."
Finnish NT, preliminary roster 2009
Name Height Weight Born Pos. Club team
Samuel Haanpaa 203 98 27.09.1986 2 Fos Provence (FRA)
Shawn Huff 198 95 05.05.1984 2 Maroussi (GRE)
Tuomas Iisalo 195 86 29.07.1982 2 Kouvot, Kouvola
Anssi Kinnaslampi 191 90 23.02.1982 2 Kataja, Joensuu
Mikko Koivisto 194 89 18.04.1987 2 UNC-Greensboro (USA)
Petteri Koponen 194 88 13.04.1988 1 Virtus Bologna (ITA)
Tuukka Kotti 205 105 18.03.1981 4 Honka, Espoo
Gerald Lee Jr. 208 106 23.11.1987 4 Old Dominion (USA)
Sami Lehtoranta 205 103 13.11.1979 4 Kataja, Joensuu
Jukka Matinen 203 99 06.11.1978 3 Honka, Espoo
Kimmo Muurinen 202 101 23.02.1981 3 Honka, Espoo
Vesa Makalainen 200 100 03.09.1986 4 Namika Lahti
Ville Makalainen 194 94 27.02.1985 2 KTP-Basket, Kotka
Antti Nikkila 210 122 25.08.1978 5 Pyrintö, Tampere
Teemu Rannikko 189 88 09.09.1980 1 BC Himki (RUS)
Juha Sten 191 86 23.12.1983 1 Solna Vikings (SWE)
Aki Ulander 209 112 29.12.1981 5 Sundsvall Dragons (SWE)
Petri Virtanen 183 77 18.09.1980 1 Kataja, Joensuu
Ilkka Vuori 181 77 28.01.1986 1 Namika Lahti
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