CRO - Planinic assured of redeeming history

BEIJING (Olympics) - Circa 1992 ushered in an entirely new era in Olympic basketball, with the advent of USA's Dream Team.

The team that took on the Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics final and finished with a creditable silver was Croatia.

USA went on to retain the gold at 1996 Atlanta and Sydney 2000 and returned with a bronze from Athens in 2004.

But Croatia sunk to a seventh-place finish at Atlanta Olympics and didn't even qualify for Sydney and Athens.

But now their presence at Beijing has indeed evoked memories of the country's golden era in men's basketball.

Experts say Croatia, at times, played like the team which won the 1992 silver, during their Tuesday's 85-78 win over EuroBasket 2007 champions Russia. And that only added to the pressure on the Jasmin Repesa-squad to emulate their illustrious predecessors.

There is a growing expectation on the current squad to repeat the glory days of Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja and Drazen Petrovic.

"We have a great basketball history but that history also brings a lot of pressure," point guard Zoran Planinic told Reuters, in a story appearing on Guardian website.

"Because every time a young player shows up everybody compares him to Drazen, to Toni, to Dino Radja. In those first years of our country some talents disappeared a little bit under that pressure, you know.

"But as time's gone by I think we have a great generation. Everybody here is young, except (captain Nikola) Prkacin and (Sandro) Nicevic," the former New Jersey Nets player said.

"I'm sure Croatia's going be back in a few years."

FIBA