The Brazilian national team is preparing for the olympics.

Ruben Magnano, coach of the Brazilian national team, is taking this opportunity seriously, he knows it's not easy to make an Olympics appearance and he's determined to do everything in his power for Brazil to get a medal.  After a 16 year drought, Brazil hopes to put their best team together and finish better than how they did in 1996, which was in 6th place and didn't get a medal.

If everything goes according to plan, this Brazil team will be the strongest they've had in years. Tiago Splitter, Nene , Anderson Varejao & Leandro Barbosa haven't played together in a tournament in years. In The 2011  Fiba Americas Championship in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, Nene, Barbosa and Varejao weren't available and Brazil still qualified for London, in the World Championships 2010 in Turkey, Varejao and Barbosa played, but Nene sat down with a leg injury.

With those four NBA players, along with Marcelo Huertas and solid role players like Alex Garcia, Marcelo Machado, Marquinhos Vinicius and Guilherme Giovannoni, Brazil has a chance to do something very special.

Brazil will play in many preparation games before the London Olympics, here's the schedule:


June 26-28  -  Basketball Tournament Electrobas
Teams:  Brazil, Greece, New Zealand & Nigeria.

July 5 & 6 -  Super 4 Tournament
Teams:  Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and another team left to confirm.

July 11-12 Four Super Tournament

Teams:  Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and another team left to confirm.

July 16 - Brazil vs Team USA
Friendly game.

July 21-22  -  Tournament in France
Teams: Brazil, France & Australia

Magnano hasn't closed the door on making changes to the roster, but he has these 15 players on the selection. Only time will tell if anyone gets injured or can't make the team for other reasons.

1. Marcelo Huertas
2. Leandro Barbosa
3. Larry Taylor
4. Caio Torres
5. Nene
6. Tiago Splitter
7. Alex Garcia
8. Marcelo Machado
9. Guilherme Giovannoni
10. Augusto Lima
11. Raul Togni Neto ( Raulzinho)
12. Nezinho Dos Santos
13. Vitor Benite
14. Marquinhos Vinicius
15. Anderson Varejao


Source:  http://lnb.com.br



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