In mid-December 2019, the Montenegrin national basketball team got its sixth coach - after Duško Vujošević, Dejan Radonjić, Luka Pavićević, Bogdan Tanjević and Zvezdan Mitrović, Boško Radović sat on the bench of our national team.
Radović was a member of Mitrović's professional staff, he collaborated with Vujošević, Radonjić and Tanjević, he led the younger selections, and on Monday in Botevgrad he launched Montenegro towards the third European Championship in a row, the fifth in history. Our selection is on the threshold of a new big competition, and only a real miracle, that is, a combination of various circumstances, should happen in order for this not to happen. Montenegro will be left without Eurobasket in the event that it loses to Germany and Sweden in February, that all selections in the group are tied at 3-3, and that our national team has the weakest point difference, which is currently plus 28.
Montenegro and Boško Radović - both continuity and result. With the 45-year-old expert, the team played at the European Championship two years ago, at the Mundobasket last year, and apparently will play at the Eurobasket next year as well. Two big competitions on the bench, a third one is certain, the results speak for themselves and the fact is that Boško Radović made a great result during these five years. Because, for a national team like ours, with a small base of players, continuous placement at the European or World Championships is a big, huge success.
The only setback in Radović's tenure occurred in the qualifiers for the previous Eurobasket, when Montenegro finished behind Great Britain in the group and was left without direct placement. And then in May 2022, the Competition Commission of FIBA Europe, due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions that followed, expelled Russia from the European Championship - the vacant place was taken by the "reds" as the team that had the best performance, but did not qualify.
A good impression was made at Eurobasket. Montenegro did not disappoint, they lost to Germany in the round of 13, and previously, in an unforgettable match in the group, in a direct confrontation for placement in the next stage, they defeated Georgia in Tbilisi. The 2017th place won is the best in the history of performances at the continental championships (as well as in XNUMX), after which the team achieved an even better result at the Mundobasket.
We should not forget that our selection reached the World Cup by playing pre-qualifications with Iceland and Denmark, and that in the qualifiers, on the first of July 2022, in a crowded "Morača", they defeated a French team. Even going to the Philippines was a huge result, and Nikola Vucevic returned to the national team after four years. 11th place was won in Manila, and the match with the United States of America will also be remembered, when Montenegro had a one-point lead at halftime (38:37).
The result in the Philippines launched Bojan Dubljević and his teammates into the qualification for the Olympic Games. However, Dubljević was not present at the tournament in Riga, nor were Nemanja Radović, Nikola Ivanović, Marko Todorović, Vladimir Mihailović and Zoran Nikolić, while Kendrik Perry came visibly exhausted after a hard season and made himself available to Radović. In such a situation, it was not realistic to expect placement in Paris, and the result in Latvia (defeat against Brazil, victory over Cameroon) should not be characterized as a failure.
After Riga came November and important matches with Bulgaria in the qualifiers for the upcoming Eurobasket. The victories in Podgorica and Botvgrad put Montenegro in an ideal position, and Boško Radović got into the situation of leading our selection in the third related competition next summer. And being the selector of the national team at three major competitions in a row is a result worthy of every possible respect.
The road to Eurobasket is laid out in Botevgrad. And the road leader is Boško Radović.
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