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NewsWhore
05-30-2012, 02:30 PM
The Dominican Republic basketball team is training at the University of Kentucky for its Centrobasket 2012 commitment and then its last chance to make the London Olympics.

The DR team will compete in the Centrobasket Championship for Men from 18-24 June in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Dominican team is training at the Joe Craft Center in Lexington, Kentucky, from 1 to 15 June under Coach John Calipari, of the NCAA-winning University of Kentucky team. In Centrobasket, the Dominican team will match fellow NBA, NCAA and European League players on the rosters of the tough teams of Jamaica, Mexico and the US Virgin Islands.

Jamaica has already announced Samardo Samuels (Cleveland), Ryan Reid (Oklahoma City), Jerome Jordan (New York) and Patrick Ewing Jr. (son of the legend) are on their roster.

The Mexico squad includes Gustavo Ayon (New Orleans Hornets), and Eduardo Najera (Charlotte Bobcats).

The teams that finish in first and second place of each group advance to the Pre-Worlds 2013 and the semifinals of the tournament.

Most importantly, Centrobasket will serve to help prepare the team for its bid to win a berth for the London Olympics at the 12-team FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Caracas, Venezuela that starts on 2 July.

Three teams will be chosen for the remaining three of 12 slots in the London Olympics basketball. The teams that have already qualified for the Olympics are Argentina, Brazil, the United States, France, Great Britain, Spain, Tunisia, Australia and China. The teams vying for the three slots are Dominican Republic, Fyrom (Macedonia), Greece, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Russia, Venezuela, New Zealand, Lithuania, Angola, Jordan and Nigeria.

The Dominican Republic (ranked 25th) is in Group C with Russia (11th) and South Korea (31st). The other groups are A: Greece (4th), Puerto Rico (16th); B: Lithuania (5th), Venezuela (22nd) and Nigeria (21st) and D: The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (33rd), New Zealand (18th) and Angola (15th).

The group stages will see the 12 teams play the two other teams in their respective groups in a standard round robin format (12 games in total). The top two teams in each group progress to the quarterfinals.

http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/team/p/eid/6232/lid//rid//sid/6229/tid/274/profile.html

The Dominican team won the bronze medal at the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina in February, narrowly missing Olympic qualification. In that event, the Dominican Republic defeated archrival Puerto Rico and also beat Brazil, a global power in basketball, to qualify for the last chance OQT in Caracas, Venezuela.

Possible Dominican team players and the leagues they play with are:

Edgar Sosa: Fabi Shoes Montegranaro (Italy)
Manuel Quezada: Leon (Adecco Oro, Spain)
Ronald Ramon: Limeira (Brazil)
Gerardo Suero: Albany (NCAA)
Juan Coronado: Leones de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
Luis Flores: Budivelnik (Ukraine)
Victor Liz: North Jersey Pros (ACPBL)
Manuel Fortuna: Leones de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
Dagoberto Pena: Plaza Fernando Valerio (Dominican Republic)
James Feldeine: Breogan Lugo (Adecco Oro, Spain)
Sammy Mejia: CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Ricky Greer: Strasbourg (France)
Francisco Garcia: Sacramento Kings (NBA)
Charlie Villanueva: Detroit Pistons (NBA)
Eulis Baez: FIATC Joventut (Liga Endesa, Spain)
Jack Michael Martinez: Cocodrilos Caracas (Venezuela)
Alejandro Salas: Capitanes de la Bahia (Dominican Republic)
Eloy Vargas: Kentucky (NCAA)
Orlando Sanchez: Monroe (JuCo)
Al Horford: Atlanta Hawks (NBA)
Josh Asselin: Assignia Manresa (Liga Endesa, Spain)
Manuel Guzman: Cupes de los Pepines (Dominican Republic)
Karl Towns (St. Joseph's High School, New Jersey)

For player stats, see www.dominicanosenbasket.com (http://www.dominicanosenbasket.com)

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