Steve Nash and Rowan Barrett were madly text messaging back and forth Monday night as they followed sa国际传媒鈥檚 94-67 Americas qualifying victory over Brazil in Sao Paulo that clinched a berth to the 2019 FIBA World Cup next summer in China.
鈥淪teve and I were giddy and excited because we beat a Brazilian team with [NBA veterans] Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao and we know how mentally tough you have to be to win down there,鈥� said Barrett, assistant GM and executive vice-president of the men鈥檚 national team program.
Nash, the two-time NBA MVP from Victoria, and Barrett were best buddies and Canadian teammates in the 2000s. They rejoined forces at the executive level in 2012, along with their former Canadian coach Jay Triano, to rebuild the national team program.
鈥淲e want to establish a culture of winning and this is an important step because if a national team wants to be a player on the world stage, it has to be playing in the World Cup and Olympics,鈥� said Barrett.
Conor Morgan of Victoria displayed his fluid inside-outside game as the six-foot-nine Mount Douglas Secondary Rams graduate scored five points against Brazil on a spectacular slam dunk and a long three-pointer. Kyle Wiltjer, son of Olympian and former Victoria basketball great Greg Wiltjer, scored 25 points and former Carleton star and now German league pro Phil Scrubb 15.
sa国际传媒 hasn鈥檛 gone to the Olympics since Barrett and captain Nash played at Sydney 2000 and this week finally assured its first World Cup appearance since going 0-5 in 2010.
sa国际传媒 faced harrowing travel delays 鈥� 25 hours from Orlando to Caracas for Friday night鈥檚 84-76 loss to Venezuela and 19 hours from Caracas to Sao Paulo.
鈥淚t brought back memories for Steve and I of playing in Olympic qualifying in Puerto Rico with a police escort because traffic was [purposely] impeding our Canadian team bus to the arena, the fans banging on our dressing room door, and having things thrown at us from the stands,鈥� said Barrett
The result of the rebuild has not only been mental tenacity but depth as sa国际传媒 has used 35 players through two rounds of qualifying. sa国际传媒鈥檚 NBA players, and Barrett鈥檚 son and Duke freshman sensation R.J. Barrett, staked sa国际传媒 to a 7-1 record in qualifying play. But the NBA players were not available for the past week鈥檚 qualifiers in Venezuela and Brazil as sa国际传媒鈥檚 growing pool of secondary players moved that record to 8-2 to clinch a spot in the 2019 World Cup, out of which the top seven teams will be the first wave of qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
鈥淒uring the qualifying process, we鈥檝e used NBA players, seven players who came out of U Sports, our European pros from as far away as Russia, G-League pros and even high school players [which R.J. Barrett was when he starred for sa国际传媒 against China in June in a qualifiers exhibition at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria],鈥� added Rowan Barrett.
Barrett pointed to the Islander Morgan, who in April helped lead sa国际传媒 to the silver medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing the attitude and work ethic Conor Morgan continues to display,鈥� said Barrett.
鈥淐onor just goes all out all the time.鈥�
The two-time sa国际传媒 West MVP signed a contract this fall with Divina Seguros Joventut of the Spanish Premiership, considered the best league in the world outside the NBA. So seeking time off from his Spanish club, as a rookie, was a big ask for Morgan.
鈥淐onor just told his team: 鈥業鈥檓 going.鈥� He is committed to sacrifice and play for his country.鈥�
Which he has done, from the World University Games, Commonwealth Games and now to the senior national team.
鈥淚t was a good team win [in Brazil],鈥� said Morgan.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to be part of it and I鈥檓 looking forward to St. John鈥檚 [where sa国际传媒 will conclude qualifying play Feb. 21 and Feb. 24 against Chile and Venezuela at Mile One Arena].鈥�
Morgan knows making the roster for the World Cup, Aug. 31 to Sept. 15 in cities across China, will be tough with all of sa国际传媒鈥檚 NBA players available, including the formerly recalcitrant Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
