Great Britain men's national basketball team


The Great Britain Men's National Basketball Team, known as Great Britain Basketball, or GB Basketball represents Great Britain in men's international basketball competitions. The national team is currently administered by the British Basketball Federation.
The current governing body for the Great Britain team was formed by the national federations of England, Scotland, and Wales on 1 December 2005 to provide a competitive team for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Although Wales subsequently chose to remain independent, Scotland and England decided to continue with the formal merger. This structure does not include the basketball association of Northern Ireland; Northern Irish players normally represent the Ireland national team, though they are also eligible to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Summer Olympic Games.

History

1948 London Olympics

The Great Britain national team debuted as the host for the 1948 London Olympics. The team was placed into Group A to begin the tournament. Although with the advantage of being at home on their side, the team did not capitalize. They were thoroughly outplayed in their first fixture against Uruguay, and eventually finished last in group play at. The outcome relegated the national team to the classification round. There they recorded their first tournament victory against Ireland, but fell in their next two matches, to wrap up the event at overall.

British Basketball formed 2005

After London won the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, the organisers wanted competitive teams in every sport, including basketball. A Great Britain side was formed for the first time since 1992 on 1 December 2005. The new team secured the help of the NBA's Chicago Bulls' star Luol Deng, as he led the national team to promotion from EuroBasket Division B to Division A. FIBA had stated that Great Britain must prove their competitiveness prior to being granted the spot in the Olympic tournament that would normally be reserved for the host nation.

FIBA EuroBasket 2009

In Great Britain's first season at the Division A level in 2008, they went through qualification for the EuroBasket 2009. The team would eventually finish on top of Group D, which also included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic and Israel to qualify for the finals.
At the first Euro finals for Great Britain after the formation of British Basketball, the national team were drawn into an tough Group C, which featured European heavyweights Spain, and Serbia along with a feisty Slovenia squad. However, the team was overmatched by the international experience those national sides possessed, and ultimately finished at the bottom of the group at to be eliminated.

FIBA EuroBasket 2011

During August 2010 Great Britain began their qualification campaign for EuroBasket 2011. The team were drawn into Group B, containing Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Macedonia, and Ukraine. They went on to finish at the top of the group, and qualified for their second appearance at the finals overall. Heading into their second Euro finals appearance, the British were determined to display a better performance than in 2009. Being drawn into Group A, for the tournmanet, the mindset was different this time around. As many of the players from the previous finals appearance had more experience, as to what to expect. In the opening match for Great Britain, they were pitted against the host Lithuania. However, Luol Deng, and his game high 25 points for the national team was not enough to pull the upset as the team fell to.
In their next two fixtures though, the British were handed two heavy losses, at the hands of Turkey, and Spain. Heading into their fourth match of group play, the team would earn their first ever victory at the Euro finals, when they defeated Portugal. 24 hours after their first win the team turned around, and were victorious again, this time over Poland. With an record in group play though, it was not enough for Great Britain to advance.

2012 London Olympics

On 13 March 2011, FIBA voted 17–3 in favour of Great Britain receiving their host nation spot at the 2012 London Olympics with one condition, they have until 30 June 2012 to decide on whether to merge the three nations that make up the team or disband after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
On 21 June 2012, Basketball Wales confirmed their intent to reject the proposed merger on the grounds that the arrangement was always intended to be temporary in the build-up to the London Olympics, and that it would not be in the best interests for the sport in Wales for the country to forfeit its national team, when the GB team contained no Welsh players.
For the 2012 Olympics games, Great Britain were awarded automatic qualification. In the group stage, they lost to Russia, Brazil, Spain and Australia.
The British team would be eliminated in the group stage, but was somewhat of a surpris. As they lost to the defending, and eventual runners-up Spain by 1, and Brazil by 5; they also led Australia by 10 at halftime before fading late. In the final group game they faced China, both teams already unable to progress to the knockout stage. The team won the game 90–58, making it only the second Olympic victory all-time for Great Britain. Throughout the tournament British star Luol Deng played 173 minutes, more than any other player, and also came in the top ten for points and assists.

FIBA EuroBasket 2013

In June 2013, Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Joe Prunty was announced as the new head coach of the national team, following the resignation of Chris Finch.
Having participated in the previous Olympic tournament, Great Britain qualified automatically for EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia. They went into the finals short-handed: Luol Deng was recovering from illness, Pops Mensah-Bonsu did not participate due to an injury and Joel Freeland was also absent, citing commitments with his club.
Despite this, Great Britain won their first match against Israel in overtime, but subsequently lost to France and Belgium. Winning their fourth group game against favoured Germany put them on the verge of advancing to the second round of the tournament for the first time in their history. The team went into their final group game against Ukraine needing to win, but Ukraine had been performing better than expected and dispatched Britain 87–68. They finished equalling their record from the previous tournament, with Daniel Clark leading the team in scoring and defense.
Following their tournament exit it was announced that the governing body for British sports, UK Sport, were to cut the funding for the team after failing to reach the agreed-upon minimum final placing in the tournament. Funding from UK Sport would have been used to aid the team's efforts to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

FIBA EuroBasket 2015 Qualification

For qualification to the 2015 Euro finals, a defeat to Iceland on 20 August meant the team had failed to qualify for the tournament. This outcome was largely attributed to British Basketball no longer receiving funding from UK Sport; efficiencies were having to be made, including cancelling training camps and being unable to secure the participation of players such as Luol Deng due to insurance costs, which has in turn affected performance, and put the future of the Great Britain team in doubt. Forward Kieron Achara spoke out about how the financial struggles had affected the team.

FIBA EuroBasket 2017

After missing the Euro finals in 2015, the team was eager to qualify for EuroBasket 2017. During the qualifiers, the team was placed into Group G, where they needed to finish in the top 2 in the group to reach qualification. They eventually succeeded in the process, only finishing behind Hungary, to reach the tournament for the fourth time.
At the finals, Great Britain were drawn in the "group of death" with Belgium, Latvia, Russia, Serbia, and one of the tournament hosts, Turkey. Despite some close performances, GB lost all 5 of their matches to finish at the bottom of Group D.
After the tournament Tony Garbelotto took over as head coach of the national team from Joe Prunty.

2019 FIBA World Cup Qualification

For the process to reach the 2019 World Cup, Great Britain were placed into Group H during the first round of World Cup qualifiers. However, in their first match at home against Greece, the team would fall in a crushing hard fought affair in overtime 92-95. In their next qualifying fixture, they would drop another one, on the road this time at Estonia. After the loss, Tony Garbelotto resigned as head coach of Great Britain, and was replaced by Alberto Lorenzo, prior to their next match which they lost at Israel, during the February qualifying window. With an record, the team prepared for Greece once again, this time on the road. Although the outcome was similar, another loss for Great Britain, and putting the team in serious danger of being eliminated.
Heading into the final window of the first round of qualifiers, the team notched their first victory during World Cup qualifying at home against Estonia. With a little momentum on their side, all the team needed to do was defeat Israel in the final match of group play. Ultimately, the team would come up short, losing in a close match at home 59-67, erasing any chance for Great Britain to advance.

FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualification

Great Britain advanced to the next stage of EuroBasket qualifying following a 93-65 win over Luxembourg. The win capped a FIBA winning streak of seven games, the most in programme history.

Major FIBA Tournaments

FIBA World Cup

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Results and fixtures

EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Pre-Qualifiers">EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers

Second round">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Second_round">Second round

Group D">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Group_D">Group D

Third round">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Third_round">Third round

Group G">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Group_G">Group G

EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Qualifiers">EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers

Group G">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Group_G_2">Group G

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers matches played on 21 and 24 February 2020 against Montenegro and Germany.

Depth chart

Head coach position

Notable players

1948 Olympic Games: finished 20th among 23 teams
3 Lionel Price, 4 Robert Norris, 5 Stanley Weston, 6 Trevor Davies, 7 Malcolm Finlay, 8 Colin Hunt, 9 Frank Cole, 10 Douglas Legg, 11 Ronald Legg, 12 Harry Weston, 13 Alex Eke, 14 Stanley McMeekan, 15 Sydney McMeekan
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2009 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 16 teams
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2011 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 24 teams
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2012 Olympic Games: finished 9th among 12 teams
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2013 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 24 teams
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2017 EuroBasket: finished 22nd among 24 teams