Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun reports:
No matter what transpires over the next few days for the Canadian senior national team here on the coast of the Aegean Sea, this summer will be looked back on as one of the best Canadian basketball has ever enjoyed.
And while the senior men’s national team haven’t had a lot to do with that good feeling, strides there have been made too.
In fact, Canada’s growth in international basketball has been surpassed by only two countries over the past five years according to a points system FIBA uses to track these things.
“With the success this summer, particularly with that bronze medal by the Cadet (Under 17) team, we now rank third in FIBA points of all the 213 FIBA countries in world age group championships since 2005/2006,” said Wayne Parrish, the Executive Director and CEO of Canada Basketball who is in Izmir with the senior men’s team. “The only ones ahead of us are USA, which dominates, and Australia which is slightly ahead of us. I think that is a good indication of where we are going.”
