Czechs Try To Cope With ‘Failure’

Failure! It's a harsh word but one that is used often when a team doesn't achieve its objective.
Failure is what came to mind for Czech Republic national team coach Michal Jezdik when asked to describe his side's attempt to qualify for next year's EuroBasket in Poland.
Their Division A campaign didn't just end on Saturday night in Tel Aviv. The bid to reach the Final Round crashed and burned in a 98-61 defeat to the Israelis.
The Czechs were annihilated by a team that they had beaten back in Pardubice on September 10, 91-70.
The result left Jezdik's team with just two wins in their six Group D games.
"This qualification is a failure," lamented Jezdik.
The coach had high hopes of reaching Poland, especially since the Czechs had played at EuroBasket 2007 and then seemingly caught a break by being drawn in a group that included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel and newly-promoted Great Britain.
The so-called powerhouses of Serbia, Israel, Turkey and France had all ended up in other pools.
So where did it go wrong?
It started when veteran Lubos Barton announced he wouldn't be able to play this summer.
"At the present moment," Jezdik said, "Lubos is for our team irreplaceable."
There was also the absence of a quality point guard in Maurice Whitfield.
"We mostly missed his extensive experience," Jezdik said.
The 67-63 point defeat to the Brits three days before the blowout in Israel was a killer.
The Czechs outplayed their opponents but did just enough to lose. The Czech team was horrible at the free throw line, making just nine of 18 (50%) in that defeat to Britain.
They should have at least forced overtime in their penultimate qualifying game but star man Jiri Welsch missed a lay-up with just a few seconds remaining.
Then there is the form on the road. At home, the Czechs were in form. They beat Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel and suffered the narrow defeat to Britain.
The Czechs lost all of their games on the road by big margins.
"In the games at home and away, we acted as a completely different team," Jezdik said.
"Maybe it really was that we, as a team, did not have much experience."
Now Jezdik and the players will have to stew over what might have been and face up to reality.
The Czechs went from a team that could have qualified for Poland heading into the last game in Israel to a team that is now in the Relegation Round.
They will take on Hungary, Ukraine and Estonia in a fight for Division A survival next year.