Garcia Leads Dominicans to Centrobasket Bronze Medal Game

by Tom Ziller on Aug 31, 2008 7:42 AM PDT

The Dominican Republic, led by Francisco Garcia and Al Horford, has made it to the bronze medal game in the Centrobasket tournament. The Dominican, with its highest finish ever in Centrobasket, has qualified for next summer's Tournament of the Americas.

The Dominican will be a long shot to qualify for the 2010 Worlds in Istanbul, but there's a chance. The United States has already qualified for Worlds, so it seems unlikely they'll put a team of elites out on the floor next year in the Tournament of the Americas. (A B-team is still usually tough, though.) Several South American nations will be ready to go, as well as Central/Caribbean teams like Puerto Rico (who beat the DR in the semis today).

The best news for the Dominican's hopes to make Worlds: 24 teams will qualify for Istanbul. The top four in the Tournament will qualify, then; if the United States is among the top 4, then #5 will be invited. Istanbul is also allowed four wild-card bids, one of which I assume will be handed to Britain in preparation for the London Olympics. With two NBA players (one of which, Horford, will be a star), the Dominican could make an attractive addition.

Of course, there has been talk Horford could be asked to get his American passport and join Team USA, in which case the Dominican's advancements would be for naught.

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First!

Grats for winning the Bronze medal game. Interestingly Garcia and Horford tied for 4th leading scorer with 11 points each in their final game.

Ball movement ... is like jogging for most people: They do it occasionally, and it makes them happy. Then they go back to not doing it. - Henry Abbott

by Kfan in Korea on Sep 2, 2008 3:55 PM PDT reply actions

Errors

As a true fan of international basketball, I consider myself an expert in this topic. I want to point out two huge mistakes in this article. First, the Dominican Republic has won Gold in Centrobasket in 1977 and 2004. They also won Silver in 1995, so saying that this is their highest finish ever is wrong. Secondly, according to FIBA rules, once a player represents a country in international competition beyond his 18 birthday, he belongs to that country from then on. After representing the D.R. in this tournament, Horford is not elegible to play for team USA.

by internationalfan on Sep 5, 2008 12:54 PM PDT reply actions

Isn't that the same rule that allowed Tim Duncan

to play for the US in 2004 despite the fact that the USVI had an Olympic team then?

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Sep 8, 2008 7:26 PM PDT up reply actions