VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - Matt Lojeski is a perfect fit for the Belgium national team that will play at EuroBasket 2015.

He confirmed this past week that he wants to put on the Lions shirt in Riga, where the side will play in the Group Phase.

The 30-year-old can shoot, dribble, pass and defend.

The naturalized guard from the United States will help the Belgians reach the next level.

And there is no doubt that he will be on the team.

Lojeski was supposed to play for Belgium at EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia but he tore a quadriceps muscle in the preparations and had to miss the event.

I spoke to Eddy Casteels, the Belgium national team coach, this past week about Lojeski and he said bluntly: "If you have a player that plays for Real Madrid that makes it to the [Euroleague] Final Four, or plays for Olympiacos as Lojeski does and makes it the Final Four, if you have that kind of talent, for a country like Belgium, you have to take advantage of that situation.

"It's not like you have 10 or 15 players competing at that kind of level in the Belgium team."

Lojeski is a player that was never fully appreciated in the United States.

The big basketball schools didn't recruit him, including in his home state of Wisconsin.

Lojeski instead played junior college ball at Eastern Wyoming before competing for the University of Hawaii.

He impressed for the Rainbow Warriors, but not enough for NBA clubs to draft him.

That Lojeski did not play for the big schools or make it in the NBA surprised his coach at St. Catherine's High School in Racine, Bob Letsch.

"I don't understand it," he once said to the Milwaukee Journal. 

"He can run the court, he can pull up, take the three, he can post up.

"I thought he could play in the NBA."

Lojeski, just as he found a place to play in college, found a place to play professionally.

Top talent like Matt didn't have luck in his career to make it in the States, but he's proved how good he is - Casteels

He travelled overseas in 2007, launched his pro career in Belgium and played for Okapi Aalstar and then Oostende.

The 1.98m guard didn't just improve each year, but became the best player in the country.

He joined European powerhouse Olympiacos in the summer of 2013.  

"I have to recognize how he grew from Okapi Aalstar and went to Oostende, and how he grew from Oostende and went to Olympiacos," Casteels said.

"He developed into a champion.

"How is it possible that this kind of player can't make it in the U.S.?"

Lojeski is going to make Belgium better.

He plays in front of raucous crowds and will soon make his first Final Four appearance.

Belgium need him.

Some players can use a national team experience to enhance their status and while that may happen for Lojeski, it's not something that he needs to do.

"Belgium needs Lojeski more than Lojeski needs Belgium," Casteels said.

Belgium will have to be firing on all cylinders from the off if they are going to take a top-four finish in their group at the EuroBasket and reach the knockout stages.

They will take on Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic in the Group Phase.

Lojeski, who has averaged more than 24 minutes per game for Olympiacos in the Euroleague this season, can shoot it from long range (he has nailed better than 43 percent of his three-balls ) and he can put the ball on the deck and go hard to the basket.

If Lojeski is important to Olympiacos, rest assured, he will be important to Belgium. 

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