CAN - Rautins announce final roster

TORONTO (FIBA Americas Championship) - Canada Basketball has announced the final roster for the Senior Men’s National Team that will be competing at the FIBA Americas Championship.

The Olympic qualifier begins on August 22 and culminates on September 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

The tournament features 10 teams from the Americas region that are all looking to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The top two teams from this tournament earn an automatic berth to the Olympics, while the third, fourth, and fifth place teams qualify for the FIBA World Olympic Qualifier in July 2008 for another chance to qualify.

Canada will open up the tournament with a game against Brazil on Wednesday, August 22 at 8:30 pm EST.

They will then face Venezuela on Thursday, August 23 at 6:00 pm EST.

On Friday, August 24, Canada will take on Virgin Islands at 6:00pm EST. Canada will wrap up the preliminary round on Saturday, August 25 against USA at 3:00 pm EST.

“It is always very difficult to decide on the 12 players who will make up the final team. We had a number of tough decisions as our talent level is increasing every year.

Some decisions came down to professional obligations for individual players with their clubs,” said Head Coach Leo Rautins, “We are very excited about this group and looking forward to a strong showing at the Olympic qualifier here in Las Vegas.”

Final roster:

Anderson, Jermaine (Guard)
Brown, Denham (Guard)
Dalembert, Sam (Centre)
Kuljanin, Vlad (Centre)
English, Carl (Guard)
Famutimi, Olu (Forward)
Rautins, Andy (Guard)
Thomas, David (Forward)
Young, Jesse (Forward)
Mendez, Juan (Forward)
Kendall, Levon (Forward)
Bell, Ryan (Guard)

Team Staff

Leo Rautins (Head Coach)
Dave Smart (Assistant Coach)
Mike Malone (Assistant Coach)
Wayne Yearwood (Assistant Coach)