OKINAWA – Japan’s head coach Tom Hovasse is filled with pride following their ‘very, very successful’ campaign in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
The veteran mentor believes that his team was able to show the world what they are capable of, especially after securing three wins in five outings, marking the program’s best showing ever in the quadrennial showpiece.
Serving as the cherry on top was clinching a berth in the 2024 Paris Olympics by virtue of being the best-ranked team from Asia in the ongoing hoops conclave they are co-hosting with the Philippines and Indonesia.
“Gaining respect is a significant step; winning games at this level is a huge step,” Hovasse offered during the postgame press conference of their nail-biting 81-70 victory over debutant Cape Verde Saturday night at the Okinawa Arena here.
“I’m really proud of what we did. And yes, it was a very, very successful tournament for us,” he continued.
Japan only went 1-2 in Group E during the opening round of the Group Phase, but that record hardly reflected the way Hovasse’s wards competed.
Both of their losses came at the hands of Germany and Australia, but not before giving the powerhouses a run for their money through significant second-half runs.
The fight they showed against those teams, Hovasse said, made his charges confident in their chances against other teams, which they ultimately proved.
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“As a player and as a coach, for me, basketball has always been about gaining the respect of your opponent. Even though we lost to Germany and Australia, we fought them hard and actually won the second half,” he said.
Japan staged an impressive comeback against Finland, rallying from 18 points down to secure a 98-88 victory, marking the biggest comeback of this year’s World Cup thus far.
Then, they swept their classification round games, first by beating Venezuela 86-77 in another come-from-behind finish before surviving the Blue Sharks to end their campaign and formalize their flight to Paris.
“So those little victories were massive for us. Those second-half wins allowed us to gain confidence and beat Finland, beat Venezuela. Today we had to dig down really deep to get this win,” said the former player turned coach.
“Those are the things that I look back on. We gained respect from our opponents, and we won three games, which is massive.”
When asked if Japan was able to shock the world following their run in Okinawa, Hovasse disagreed and said that they did put the world on notice.
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“Shocking the world probably would’ve been beating Germany or Australia. I think we showed the world what we can do, and now, we’re on everybody’s radar, we’re on everybody’s map. That’s a big step,” he said.
For him, the way they’ve earned respect from their opponents was reminiscent of the Japan women’s team’s ascension from being a quarterfinalist in the 2016 Olympics to a silver-winning team in the following edition in Tokyo.
“The women, in Rio, we got [eighth] place, but we earned everybody’s respect that we played against. From there, we were able to get silver,” recalled Hovasse, who coached both of those teams to the Olympics.
It remains to be seen if the men’s team could reach that kind of success, but what’s certain for the 56-year-old is that they’ve taken a huge step.
“This is a big step for Japan basketball. Now we just gotta keep moving forward, upward, and onward,” said Hovasse.
