ORLANDO -- Croatia had an impressive run at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Italy last month to earn a spot in Rio. They notched three straight victories and got some redemption against Italy after losing to the host nation in the opener. They also knocked off Tunisia and Greece along the way.
Orlando’s Mario Hezonja, Philadelphia’s Dario Saric and Brooklyn’s Bojan Bogdanovic are the leaders of this year’s squad. This will be the fourth Olympics for the Croatian national basketball team. They won the silver medal at the 1992 games in Barcelona and reached the quarterfinals in 1996 in Atlanta and 2008 in Beijing.