Japan is the sole Asian team to have defeated a European side in the ongoing FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in Okinawa, securing a 1-2 record in the group stage to bolster their Olympic bid as the top Asian team in the tournament.
The Akatsuki delivered a remarkable performance against Finland, overcoming an 18-point second-half deficit and mounting a sensational fourth-quarter run to achieve a stunning 98-88 victory.
Even a lopsided 109-89 loss to Australia in the subsequent match couldn’t deter Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian from lauding the development of basketball in Japan.
“The best coached team I felt at the (2021) Olympics was the Japanese women and he’s (Tom Hovasse) doing the same thing here.
“They play with passion. They play to their strengths,” said Goorjian of Hovasse and the Akatsuki.
During the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the Japan women’s basketball team clinched the silver medal with Hovasse at the helm. This marked the first occasion in which an Asian team medaled in Olympic women’s basketball history since China won silver in 1992.
Before his Olympic triumph, Hovasse guided the Eneos Sunflowers to victory in the Women’s Japan Basketball League 2016-2017 season, boasting a flawless 20-0 regular season record before remaining undefeated in the playoffs en route to the championship.
This dominance led to his appointment as the head coach of the Japan women’s basketball team from 2017 to 2021. He steered them to consecutive championships in the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup in 2017 and 2019, in addition to securing the Asian Games bronze medal in 2018.
Goorjian also emphasized that with the B.League, Japan’s top-tier basketball league, achieving new heights due to the influx of players from various countries, the nation’s basketball program will undoubtedly continue to flourish.
(C) B.League
“Your domestic competition, which is a parallel to Japanese success, is on another level from what it used to be.
“So all systems go. Tremendous respect for the Japanese team and tremendous respect for Hovasse as a coach,” said Goorjian, who also called the shots for Bay Area that finished runner-up behind Ginebra during the Commissioner’s Cup of the 2022-2023 PBA Season.
Established in 2016 following the amalgamation of the National Basketball League and the BJ League, two of Japan’s professional leagues until 2016, the B.League is a relatively youthful league.
Nick Kay, a member of Australia’s bronze medal-winning roster at the Tokyo Olympics, inked a deal with the Shimane Susanoo Magic of the Japanese B.League in 2020.
Filipino collegiate basketball star Thirdy Ravena also made his professional debut through the B.League in 2020 with San-en NeoPhoenix. This set in motion the influx of Filipinos into the league, including PBA superstars Kiefer Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks Jr., and Robert Bolick.
While Hovasse acknowledges the recent positive developments in Japanese basketball, he maintains his focus on achieving international success with the Japanese team.
(C) FIBA.basketball
“We’re just gonna have to keep grinding and keep working. One of these days, we’re gonna beat one of these top teams and then our confidence will grow. That’s what happened with the women’s team,” he said.
“This team is on that path. Everybody in the locker is working for each other. Everybody is working towards the same goal. Sometimes you have to take lumps like today. But from these battles, we learned and got stronger.”
