MNE - A new X-factor

PODGORICA (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Tyrese Rice is a hot commodity these days.

The American point guard raised eyebrows in the 2012-13 German league as a leading player for Bayern Munich, a side coached by Svetislav Pesic.

The 26-year-old Rice averaged team highs in points (15.8) and assists (4.4), and has since earned a contract with European giants Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Now Rice is about to embark on another adventure.

Rice appears to be a front-runner for the naturalized spot in Montenegro’s national team that was taken by Taylor Rochestie last year and Omar Cook the summers before that.

During his days at Boston College, Rice was so good that he earned All-Conference honors in the vaunted Atlantic Coast Conference.

He arrived in Podgorica to have medicals and on Friday was due to travel to Zlatibor, where the national squad was training as part of their preparations for EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia.

Montenegro, who went undefeated last summer in the Qualification Round, will play in Group B with Lithuania, Latvia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"I know that Montenegro has a great team," Rice said.

"I know a few players, and certainly I know what awaits us at the European Championship after a brilliant performance in qualifying.

"I know the quality of some of the Montenegrin national team players like (Nikola) Pekovic, (Nikola) Vucevic, (Bojan) Dubljevic and (Nikola) Ivanovic.

"I look forward to working with other national team members since Montenegro in qualifying showed it was a great team and each player has a specific role."

Germany is where Montenegro boss Luka Pavicevic once coached Alba Berlin.

"I know coach Pavicevic is very demanding and requires a maximum of every player in practice and in games," Rice said.

"I look forward to working with Pavicevic.

"Bayern's coach was Svetislav Pesic ... the coaches have a pretty similar game system so I believe that there will be no problem getting integrated into the system of representation of Montenegro."

So what sort of player are Montenegro getting?

Maccabi coach David Blatt, who coached Russia’s national team for several years, described Rice as a “a creative guard with great driving skills" and said “he likes fast, attractive basketball and brings a lot of passion to the court."

A naturalized player can be a vital addition to a squad, something that Bo McCalebb proved at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania when he led MKD into the Semi-Finals.

McCalebb was selected to the all-tournament team and played last summer for the national team at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Caracas, Venezuela.

Hopes are sky high for Montenegro after last summer, although the memory of failing to advance from the opening round in 2011 serves as a warning that nothing comes easy at EuroBaskets.

The tournament serves as a qualifying event for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, with the top six teams clinching places in next year's event.

If Spain are in the first six, then the top seven teams at the EuroBasket will advance to the 2014 tournament.

"The first goal is the passage to the second phase," Rice said.

"After that, we can make plans for greater achievements.

"Getting a place for the World Cup in Spain next year would be a dream come true, but we have to go step by step."

FIBA