| 05 December 2009
Josip Vrankovic once wore the Croatia jersey in national team competitions like Olympic Games and EuroBaskets.
Now he'll lead the team from the sidelines after being appointed coach of his country's top side following the recent departure of coach Jasmin Repesa.
Vrankovic, who had been working with the Croatia B team and led them at the Mediterranean Games this summer, will have a baptism of fire with the senior team at next year's FIBA World Championship in Turkey.
He is already looking at one serious squad issue that will have an impact on the side, and that is the lack of playing time of star guard Roko-Leni Ukic in the NBA.
Ukic was two years ago one of the most promising guards in Europe under Jasmin Repesa at Lottomatica Roma but after seeing little court time in Toronto last season, the playmaker was traded to Milwaukee in the summer and has hardly played at all.
"It's unfortunate that Roko is not currently participating in the games but it is evident that he had made great progress in his game," Vrankovic said.
"And let us not forget that he trained with the B team last summer."
Vrankovic takes the helm of a side that underachieved last summer in most people's eyes.
Croatia earned a spot at the 2008 Olympics via the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and then reached the Quarter-Finals in Beijing before falling to Spain.
At the EuroBasket this year in Poland, fans hoped the team would get to the podium and possibly challenge for gold but instead they suffered a Quarter-Final exit at the hands of Slovenia.
One player who wasn't with Croatia was emerging center Ante Tomic of KK Zagreb and his time could be coming soon.
"On the other hand, I'm glad that Ante Tomic has continued to have good games to build the maximum confidence, but it's still too early in the season for some generalizations," Vrankovic said.
It wasn't that long ago that Vrankovic played the game.
His last season was with Siroki back in 2006.
Fans will remember him most from his days with clubs like Split and Cibona.
The last time he represented Croatia was at the 2001 EuroBasket in Turkey.
As a coach, he led Siroki to the title in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007 but left for Cibona, only to part ways with the club in the middle of the season.
He returned to Siroki to coach and was also appointed boss of the Croatia B side.
Drazen Anzulovic, an assistant to Repesa, was also considered for the national job but lost out.
Czechs hand reins to Decin Boss Budinsky
The Czech Republic have appointed Pavel Budinsky as the coach of their men's national team. Budinsky, who serves as coach of Czech NBL outfit BK Decin, will lead the national squad in EuroBasket Division B next year. Hopes were high that the Czechs would make it to EuroBasket 2009 after reaching the Final Round in Spain two years ago but Michal Jezdik's team finished bottom of its Division A group that also included Great Britain, Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jezdik's team then finished in the bottom two of the Relegation Round to fall into Division B. Budinsky isn't sure about the make-up of the squad in terms of veteran players but does expect to have many of the country's most promising youngsters like Jan Vesely of Partizan Belgrade. He knows it will be difficult to have seasoned campaigners Jiri Welsch and Lubos Barton, though. "Their contracts expire and the Spanish league ends in mid-June," Budinsky said. "It is a question of insurance, and their future. From this point of view, it will be difficult." Budinsky is looking to have two assistant coaches, one from the Czech Republic and the other an American. | 
