[quote name='Paul Nilsen']When Great Britain captain Andrew Sullivan circled the dates for EuroBasket 2009 on his new calendar last week he wasn't quite as excited or surprised as the British basketball fans still pinching themselves in disbelief that they are heading to Poland.
Having made history by qualifying, Sullivan will fittingly lead his country into their first major tournament having been present since the very start of their remarkable rise to prominence.
Great Britain have had to carefully manoeuvre their way through both a nerve wracking promotion campaign from Division B and qualification for EuroBasket with absolutely no margin for error.
The team has evolved markedly along the way but according to Sullivan, those players that started the process before fading into the background are far from forgotten while he also claims to have always been confident of qualification.
"I don't think that we were particularly surprised that we made it to EuroBasket 2009 because that was always our aim and we had confidence that we could achieve what we set out to do, even right back when it all started for us," he told me recently.
"There is pretty much only myself and Nate Reinking left but Coach Finch never lets any of us forget the sheer amount of hard work that has been spent getting us right from Division B to this tournament."
"He still talks about the guys that started us on our journey a couple of years ago, paying them a lot of respect whenever we talk about the team."
"He has a real affinity and admiration for them. He genuinely appreciates the amount of hard work and responsibility they had to deal with to get the ball rolling for British basketball."
"He wont allow any of us to get too big headed or forget what previous players have done for their country and the responsibility that we now have to continue the good work and keep taking the National team forward."
The achievement of reaching EuroBasket is finally beginning to register in a country where basketball is slowly but gradually coming to the fore. Significantly the UK government recently endorsed this by handing the sport a healthy injection of cash at a time when funding for other sports was reduced - much to the relief of Sullivan.
"It is always such a shame when funding for any sport has to be slashed and to be honest I think that most people were afraid that basketball would be one of those."
"However the recognition from UK Sport makes me proud as they have recognised that we have made progress and most importantly we have the ability to keep making progress and rack up more achievements and milestones."
"We were all so happy when the news broke."
The injection of additional investment has however caused one note of controversy with a minority in the British game now questioning whether some of the finance should be used to attract a so-called âWorld Class' coach.
It is a notion that leaves Sullivan shaking his head with a mixture of anger and disbelief, mirroring the feeling of the overwhelming majority in the UK who feel Coach Finch has done a terrific job.
"If you get a coach who gets the best results in the history of British basketball you don't look beyond him. You put even more of your faith in him." explained Sullivan.
"Why anyone would question that is completely beyond me. He has done an unbelievable job getting us where we need to be in two years - from Division B in difficult circumstances."
"He also understands a lot more about the game and European basketball than anyone will ever appreciate and I will always respect him for the sheer amount of hard work he puts into the role."
"He shows a real attention to detail and he can be a next level coach for sure. For anyone to even suggest bringing in another coach is doing him a great injustice and plain wrong."
Finch certainly has a great relationship with his players and Sullivan believes they will need to maintain that spirit and togetherness if they are to progress from Warsaw and emerge from a really tough Group.
"It is massively important for us to keep the resilience and toughness that we showed during qualifying as I thought the draw was a little harsh on us."
"I think there are teams that we have played already that are in other groups that we think we can have a chance of beating more easily than Serbia, Slovenia or Spain."
"Either way, it doesn't matter how you are seeded or how the draw comes out, you have to be realistic and accept that at this level of competition every game will be difficult and a real test."
NBA talents Kelenna Azubuike and Ben Gordon are both widely tipped to join Luol Deng in a Great Britain vest in the autumn, something that excites Sullivan greatly. However he has warned that talent alone won't be sufficient to progress in the tournament, suggesting there is a lesson to be learned from the reigning FIBA World Champions and group opponents Spain.
"Coach Finch will be doing everything in his power to make sure we have the very best possible team but whoever is involved must stick to the same principles that have proved successful so far."
"The main aim is to get as much quality on the court at any given time but without losing any resilience. That means we would have one hell of a team."
"Luol is a massive player for us and his presence also creates a lot of space elsewhere on the court for the rest of us to exploit."
"If Ben or Kelenna do come in, they will get their shots but that will be within our system. It will be great to have three NBA players playing for the team but we have to look up to how Spain manage the situation."
"They have so many players that can put the ball in the basket pretty but they make big sacrifices for the sake of the team and that has brought success."
"They can still go to their main guys like Pau Gasol but they are dynamic and flexible enough to start looking to the likes of Rudy Fernandez who is pushing to be the main guy right now."
"What is really impressive and important is that you never see either player trying to outdo each other on the floor. Everything is done for the team and that is what we would have to replicate if we do end up with more NBA players."
"When you have just one guy with the talent of Luol on your team it makes life a lot easier but if you add in a Gordon and Azubuike then as captain, how can you not be happy?"
For now the London born forward has more pressing matters on his mind than EuroBasket 2009 with his club side CSK-VVS Samara desperately looking to get their EuroChallenge campaign back on track.
"We have really put ourselves right behind the 8-ball and into a really difficult position by not getting wins in games that we felt we could had or should have won."
"The game at home against Tartu University Rock could come back and haunt us because we really should have won that but we are trying to just look forward and if we win our last couple of games in the group then who knows?"
"Both games are at home so we have to go out and just make sure that we put ourselves in the best possible position by getting two victories."
"EuroChallenge has definitely been a great experience for the team and for myself and we want to finish on a high by beating Base Oostende and Virtus Bologna for the fans."
"I absolutely love it in Samara. It is a good situation all round and if the team wanted to talk to me about extending my stay then at the moment, I would love that."
"It is a nice city and the club looks after its players well. Coach Tikhonenko also gives me a lot of freedom to play and has a lot of confidence in me which I appreciate."
"I am loving every minute and I think that another year or two in Russia would be enjoyable because it is a great place to play basketball."[/quote]
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