University of Kentucky coach John Calipari is considering coaching the Dominican Republic men’s basketball team for the Tournament of the Americas. This is the last chance for the Dominican Republic men’s basketball team (ranked 30th by FIBA) to win a berth to the London Olympics. P, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama and Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
The Tournament of the Americas is officially known as the FIBA Americas 2011 Championship and will take place 30 August through 11 September in Argentina.<\/p>\n
The top two finishers earn Olympic bids. Team USA will not play because it qualified for the Olympics by winning the 2010 world championships. In the 10-team field, Argentina and Brazil are favorites, but Canada, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are working on sending competitive teams. Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela and Paraguay are also competing.<\/p>\n
On his website, Calipari said that the Dominican Basketball Federation had approached him asking him to help train coaches in the Dominican Republic and coach their national team. Calipari has been involved abroad with China, where he has coached their coaches and promoted grassroots basketball.<\/p>\n
Calipari says that the commitment would mainly be from the start of August through mid-September. The Dominican Republic national team will train in the Kentucky University’s state-of-the-art facilities at the Joe Craft Center in Lexington prior to the start of the Tournament of the Americas, which will begin towards the end of August.<\/p>\n
“If I move forward on this, I?will be asking you to adopt the Dominican Republic national team as your third team behind your Kentucky Wildcats and Team USA. I also want to let all our friends in China know that we will continue our relationship with the CBA and their coaches,” he said. Three NBA players are expected to be on the Dominican team: Francisco Garcia (Sacramento Kings), Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks) and Charlie Villanueva (Detroit Pistons).<\/p>\n
www.coachcal.com\/2011\/04\/26\/coach-calipari-on-coaching-the-dominican-republic-national-team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
University of Kentucky coach John Calipari is considering coaching the Dominican Republic men’s basketball team for the Tournament of the Americas. This is the last chance for the Dominican Republic men’s basketball team (ranked 30th by FIBA) to win a berth to the London Olympics. P, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama and Puerto Rico. The … <\/p>\n