Lecomte hopes to play for Belgium at FIBA EuroBasket 2017

WACO (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - Baylor University's emerging Belgian star Manu Lecomte is hoping to be with his national team at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 in Istanbul. The 21-year-old, who reached the Sweet 16 in this month's NCAA Tournament with the Bears before falling to South Carolina, has spoken to FIBA.com.

Talk about playing for Belgium every summer from 2010 through 2015.
Playing for the national team and wearing the Belgian jersey is very important to me. Most of the best moments of my basketball life have been with the national team during the different tournaments we played in. I'm proud to be from Belgium and representing your country is one of the best things you can do.

Lecomte excelled for Belgium's youth teams

Is it your aim to be with the team in Istanbul for the FIBA EuroBasket?
Playing with the senior national team and playing at the EuroBasket are goals for me this summer. So many talented players are going to play with their national teams and I would love to play against them and help the national team have a good EuroBasket 2017 campaign.

Belgium are in Group D with Turkey, Great Britain, Latvia, Serbia and Russia.
The group is very competitive. To be honest, I am not really surprised as there are so many great teams now at the EuroBasket. Every team can fight for a spot in the Final Phase and there are going to be a lot of very good games. Turkey is a great country of basketball and I expect to see some very noisy crowds. It's going to be a very interesting tournament. I really want to play for the national team this summer. 

Basketball's gaining more of a foothold on the Belgium sports landscape.
The national team is getting more and more competitive. There are some good teams in the national league and some great players are now wearing the jersey of very competitive teams all around Europe. We have a lot of great talents, a lot of young guys that want to be professional basketball players and represent Belgium at the highest level. The future's bright. We have talented players, young kids that are eager to learn and more and more attention is around the sport. I believe there is a great future for basketball in Belgium, and that there will be a constant improvement for the national team, both at youth and senior level. We have all the ingredients to keep growing and be more and more competitive.

Talk about the decision to cross the Atlantic four years ago to play in the NCAA. You started at Miami but transferred to Baylor after a couple of years. 
I have always wanted to play against the best and also get closer to my dream of playing in the NBA. That is the best decision I have made in my life so far. Being here makes you able to learn and compete with some of the best prospects of the world and also learn from some very good coaches. It wasn't easy to make the transition, but I've worked very hard to improve my game and show I can play here. The game here is very fast paced, more than what I was used to in Europe, and I had to get used to this new way of playing basketball. On the other hand, I bring my basketball IQ and the way of playing that I learned in Europe. I play for a great college team and I've improved a lot since I moved to the United States.

Baylor had a great season and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before falling to South Carolina.
It is very disappointing but we have to learn from what we did in this tournament. We had some great games but we couldn't reach our dream of making it to the Final Four and maybe fighting for the title. We had great expectations, but this tournament is very hard and unfortunately, we lost. We have a lot of talent, the team had a great season and we're looking forward to next season. The environment around the team with all the fan support has been tremendous. It's so great to play knowing that you have thousands of other students rooting for you. That's one of the things I like the most about college basketball, the crowds are very noisy and show support every time.

Going way back, how did you end up concentrating on basketball?
Nobody really played basketball in my family except my uncle, so I tried to play with him and I quickly fell in love with the game. I remember when I first started playing, I couldn't go back and play another sport. The orange ball is my passion, and I have wanted to be a basketball player almost since day one. My love for the game is incredible and that's what drives me everyday in order to keep learning and working on being a better player.

What players did you look up to?
My idols are Michael Jordan, Tony Parker and Allen Iverson. Michael Jordan, because he was such an amazing competitor, he is a legend and his mental strength was unbreakable. Tony Parker has always been an example for me because of his signature move, the floater, a skill that I learned very young as I play in the same position as he does. About Allen Iverson, we have something in common: we are both not tall guys. I have always been the shortest guy on my teams, and seeing him be that much of a leader and impact the game gave me confidence and made me conscious that no matter how tall you are, you can reach your dreams.

FIBA