Doncic and Slovenia on the road to World Cup glory
LJUBLJANA (Slovenia) – The Slovenian national team is primed and a real contender for a place on the podium at the FIBA Basketball World Cup after it was announced that Luka Doncic and other veterans are in the squad.
Doncic, who led Slovenia to the Tokyo Olympic semifinals two years ago, failed to beat Poland in the quarterfinals of FIBA EuroBasket 2022 last summer and will try to get back on track.
Klemen Prepelic, one of the best sharpshooters in international basketball who played an important role on the 2017 EuroBasket title-winning team, veteran shooting guard Jaka Blazic, highly talented center Mike Tobey and emerging point guard Ziga Samar are the pillars of Doncic, who had the highest efficiency of any player at the Tokyo Olympics with 29.2.
Efficiency is the most commonly used statistical measure for comparing players’ overall value.
Slovenia’s offense averaged 100.8 points per game at the Olympics, ranking first ahead of the U.S. (99.0), Australia (90.2), and France (85.8).
Last summer, while the team missed the final four, showed again how brilliant Slovenia is when Doncic is on the team. Against France in Cologne, he scored 47 points, the highest of the modern EuroBasket era.
Slovenia will play in Group F, in Okinawa, Japan, against Venezuela, Cape Verde, and Georgia.
Their first game is against Venezuela on August 26.
