Though the senior men did not qualify for the London Games, this was one of the best summers ever for Canada Basketball.
Canada’s senior women qualified for the Olympics only about a month before they began and going on to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time ever, where they ran into the buzz-saw that is the top-ranked American team.
A year after two players were drafted into the NBA — including Brampton’s Tristan Thompson who went fourth overall to Cleveland — three more players were selected, led by Mississauga’s Andrew Nicholson, who went 19th to Orlando.
Nicholson, Kris Joseph (from Montreal, drafted 51st by Boston) and Robert Sacre (North Vancouver, 60th by the Los Angeles Lakers) all showed up for Canada’s training camp this weekend, significant since Nicholson had never previously been at a Canadian get-together and Joseph had chosen to leave camp the last time he showed up.
Canada’s future stars also fared well this summer.
The junior men’s squad took home bronze at the FIBA Americas U18 tourney in Brazil, finishing 4-1 and beating Argentina to reach the podium.
— Reported by Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun
