BIH - Bajramovic demands more from Bosnia & Herzegovina

BOSNIA (EuroBasket 2009) - Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Mensur Bajramovic is demanding a big improvement from his team after some disappointing performances on the eve of their critical Additional Qualifying Round matches for EuroBasket 2009.

Bosnia played a pair of games against Hungary, losing in an 87-60 rout the first time out before improving slightly to go down 91-85 second time out as Ivan Opacak missed only one shot en route to 25 points.

That was not enough for Bajramovic, however.

"In those games with Hungary we didn't look like ourselves," the coach said.

"Everything went in the wrong direction for us. But we are in a phase of our preparation where we are developing our own style, so I can at least say we are improving. We are working very hard, with high intensity, so I believe that we'll be good in the Additional Qualifying Round."

Bosnia must finish first ahead of Belgium and Portugal in Group A of the AQR, and then beat the winner of Group B (Italy, France and Finland) in a two-legged play-off in order to earn a trip to Poland.

"We must be prepared for those matches, and therefore we want to test ourselves," Bajramovic said.

"I've got a DVD from the tournament Portugal played in, but Belgium haven't played a game yet. Although we can see how Portugal won two matches and lost one, it's hard to draw a conclusion about their true strength, as they are at the beginning of their preparation, just like we are."

FIBA