| 18 January 2010 By Yarone Arbel Israel haven't missed a EuroBasket since 1993 and despite Saturday's draw which has throw them into an extremely hard qualifying group for EuroBasket 2011, the aim of making it back to the top continental competition remains. Israel will play in Group A with Italy, Latvia, Finland and fresh out of Division B, emerging powerhouse Montenegro. The first-place team in each of the three five-team groups will qualify for the EuroBasket, along with the two best-placed second-place teams.  | | The good news for Israel is that NBA star Omri Casspi will be available. |
There will also be an Additional Qualifying Round, a route that Israel took to EuroBasket 2005 in Serbia and Montenegro, and 2007 in Spain.At EuroBasket 2009 in Poland, Israel finished their Preliminary Round without a win and for the second time in the team's history it was ranked below the 11th spot. Despite that disappointment, and despite the hard road ahead, no one in Israel thinks the country's streak of making it to the Final Round will come to an end. "Our job is to do the best possible to make it to the EuroBasket no matter who we play against," recently appointed coach Arik Shivek said. "There are no easy draws in today's European basketball. "If we got a team like Italy from the fourth seed and Montenegro from the last seed, it says it all." Indeed, Italy may have been a fourth seed but they are a team with a rich history in basketball, winning the EuroBasket in 1999 and capturing bronze four years later in Sweden. The following year, they reached the Olympic Final in Athens before falling to Argentina. Since the recognition of the Montenegrin Basketball Federation by the FIBA Central Board at their meeting in Japan during the 2006 FIBA World Championship, the country has been putting together excellent results. In their very first attempt to get out of Division B, the Dusko Vujosevic-led Montenegrins did not lose a game. In fact, they blew out all of their opponents. With the Latvians having competed at the last two EuroBaskets and the Finns having a classy coach in Henrik Dettmann and a very focused program, nothing will come easy for any team in Group A. Unlike last year, Israel will enjoy the service of Omri Casspi, who's making a name for himself and his country in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings. Alongside Casspi will be Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin, who play for Euroleague powerhouses Caja Laboral in Spain and Olympiacos Piraeus, respectively. "It's going to be a very physical and close run," Shivek predicted. "I won't be surprised if the qualifiers go through on goal differences, which means every game and every basket matters. "All I can promise right now is that we'll work hard and prepare as we need to. "We will study our opponents and with the big support from the Israeli basketball family, I hope we will make it happen." Shivek knows that to make it to Lithuania, Israel are going to have to be supremely focused. "It's a very difficult and I might even say cruel draw for us," he said. "There are four EuroBasket potential participant teams in this group - Italy, Montenegro, Latvia - who always make it or at least come close and us," he explained. Israel will tip off their games in Italy on August 2 and finish the games on the road as well, in a tough game against Montenegro at the end of the same month. | 
