MALAGA (FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers 2017) - Henk Norel expects there will be a belated side-effect to the Netherlands' rugged, hard-nosed displays last September, which earned the Dutch side the admiration of both fans in Zagreb and rivals in EuroBasket 2015 Group C.

The 29-year-old big man says Netherlands could pay the price for their daring return to Europe's showpiece event for the first time since 1989 this coming August, when play in the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers gets under way.

"I think opponents will prepare better for us," Norel explained to fibaeurope.com.

"Obviously I wasn't there for the previous qualification campaign, two years ago, so I am not comparing to that.

"But after what we showed at the EuroBasket last summer, nobody is ever going to underestimate us again.

"So it's going to be harder, I guess."

The Dutch outfit will face Austria, Denmark and Germany in Group B and Norel is sheepish when asked about his team's chances to secure qualification from this pool.

"I think Germany is the favourite but we'll see what is going to happen, we have a lot of time to prepare and we have our options," the Dutch center said.

"If you look at the quality, Germany has the best team.

"Our national team however showed last summer that we can also play.

"So it's going to be interesting and I think the most important thing will be to win our home games.

"Then if we can also get one or two away, it would be awesome."

When somebody as measured and moderate as the CAI Zaragoza center utters the word 'awesome', he must really mean it.

Norel uses the same word to describe the feeling of finally stepping out at a EuroBasket tournament for the first time, a few days before his 29th birthday last September.

Norel was just a baby the previous time Netherlands had played at a EuroBasket in 1989, by coincidence again in Zagreb.

If earning more respect from future rivals is the price the Dutch have to pay for returning to the big stage, the big man will gladly take it.

"It was really something special to play at the EuroBasket," Norel said with a big smile.

"I think we could have done a little bit more because we lost a couple of games in the last minutes but it was good to see that basketball in Holland is getting better.

"The season feels long when you play also in the summer but it is definitely worth it, because it is beautiful to play for your country."

Netherlands' average margin of defeat in EuroBasket 2015 Group C was only 5.75 points, including a last-gasp 68-65 loss to eventual quarter-finalists Greece, while they celebrated victory against Georgia.

Norel has played most of his professional career in the Spanish Liga Endesa and is a seasoned veteran, but several of his team-mates on the national team really had no idea they could compete at this high level.

"It was a big difference because they played against the best players in Europe and, to be honest, you don't have that kind of players in the Dutch league," Norel explained.

"That's why our preparation for the tournament was long, we started very early in the summer.

"We played a lot of warm-up games so we would get used to playing against this sort of teams.

"Hopefully some players who played well at the EuroBasket, like Worthy De Jong, will get an opportunity on a bigger team in Europe.

"And maybe basketball in Holland will continue to grow with this experience."

FIBA