Air of mystery shrouds Canada’s qualifier launch
HALIFAX— A unique challenge is what Roy Rana called it, and he couldn’t have been more correct.
Rana takes a team of Canadians that’s had all of four days to work together into a FIBA World Cup qualification game against the Bahamas here Friday night, and he has no clue what he’s getting into.
Neither, of course, do the Bahamians, who have had an equally short time to work out together. That could make the game a classic or ghastly, and there’s about an equal chance of either happening.
“It’s more about personnel than anything else,” the interim head coach of Canada’s senior men’s team said after a workout. “Trying to find a little bit on who their players are, some tendencies there, but we don’t know what they’re going to run, we don’t know how they’re going to play. And they don’t know what we’re going to run, they don’t know how we’re going to play. That’s another part of this unique challenge.”
It’s certainly not a perfect world, nor is it too enjoyable — “No,” Rana said, “no, it’s not fun” — but FIBA’s new qualification process is flawed and since it’s the first time out of the gate, no one knows what to expect.
“It’s always difficult going into the unknown and having that little bit of uncertainty, but we’ve got a good group of guys. They’re bright. We’ve got a really good coaching staff,” Rana said. “I think we should be able to make the adjustments we need in order to compete and hopefully win.”
There is at least a bit of familiarity on the roster — and a history of success. There aren’t too many Canadian men on Earth who can say they’ve won a FIBA world championship medal at any level, and three of them are on this team.
Dyshawn Pierre of Whitby, Brampton’s Anthony Bennett and Olivier Hanlan of Gatineau, Que., were teammates when Canada won a bronze medal at the 2010 world under-17 championship, a team coached by Rana.
“It’s kind of hard when you’re in the moment to understand what you’ve accomplished, but looking back at it, it was a pretty big accomplishment,” Hanlan said. “The senior level is going to be something that’s even more special.”
That has to help with some chemistry on Friday here, and Monday when Canada plays in the Dominican Republic in the second of six first-round qualification games.
“A lot of us have been together for a long time. It’s just a fact of trying to get together,” said Pierre, who plays in the Italian pro league. “Everyone’s coming in from everywhere, so it’s building that chemistry quick and trusting in ourselves and trusting in
“It’s always difficult going into the unknown and having that little bit of uncertainty, but we’ve got a good group of guys” CANADIAN COACH ROY RANA
the coaching staff.
“Chemistry is a big thing and knowing what each other likes to do, what kind of mindset everyone has does play a big part in it. . . . It’s nice seeing the familiar faces for sure, and that’ll give us a nice little confidence boost going into these games.”
One thing none of the players has ever done is play a game on home soil of any legitimate consequence. Discounting the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto because it wasn’t a global tourney, Friday’s game is the first that means something since the1994 world championship in Toronto.
“I’m not sure if they really know it, if they have that context, but they know it’s a big deal,” Rana said. “They’ve come from all around the world in order to play, and that in itself says a lot.
“We’ll continue to send them the messages. You don’t want to overwhelm them and make it like the biggest moment in their lives, but at the same time we want them to enjoy the fact they’ll have a home crowd.”