After summer of senior squad collapses, Canada Basketball seems cursed

Do exorcists still exist? Is there a hotline to reach Father Merrin? Maybe just burning some white sage will do the trick?

Whatever the method you might want to employ, it feels like it’s worth a shot, because after yet another summer of great expectation for both the men’s and women’s senior national basketball teams that fell flat, it feels like there’s a curse put over the program.

Earlier this morning, the Canadian women’s national team had two opportunities to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament, but saw both chances slip away, while all they could do was helplessly watch from afar.

First, there was the U.S.-France game where, if the United States defeated France by 15 or more, Canada would’ve advanced. But it wasn’t to be, as the French gave the Americans all they could handle and the U.S. only won by 11, 93-82.

After that, Canada’s fate was in Puerto Rico’s hands as they took on Australia. All Canada needed was for Puerto Rico to lose by 23 points or less to reach the knockout round, and things were looking good for that to happen as Australia carried just a one-point lead heading into the second half.

However, heartbreak would happen for Canada as Puerto Rico collapsed in the second half eventually allowing Australia to go up by 24 with 1:24 to play in the game and never find a way to get at least one point back as Australia won by 27, 96-69.

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It was painful to watch and the sting hurts that much more when you consider the fact Canada has no one but themselves to blame for putting themselves in this position.

Canada ended up needing to scoreboard-watch and hope things break their way because the club, simply put, didn’t take care of business in the group phase.

It finished with a record of 1-2, as it handily defeated South Korea and lost a hard-fought game to Spain, in the second and third games of group play, as many expected would happen. But because Canada fell to Serbia in the opener, Canada ended up digging its own grave.

Canada lost by just four in that Serbia game, but really should’ve won as it forced 28 turnovers. However, because it couldn’t shoot the ball well — particularly from three — all of that good work defensively was undone.

And that, unfortunately, was the tournament for Canada’s women’s basketball team.

This was a squad that came in as the No. 4-ranked nation in the world and with high expectations of itself, saying it was podium or bust.

Well, Canada has been eliminated from the Olympic Games so you can safely say it’s bust for the country’s women’s basketball team.

And, to extend things further, you can probably say that this entire summer for Canada’s senior basketball teams has been a major bust, considering the fact the men’s team – one that was arguably the most talented ever assembled – failed to get the job done in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Victoria as well.

This all feels completely inexplicable, too.

For more than a decade now we’ve hailed Canada being in a “golden generation” of basketball, and while it’s true we likely have more talented Canadian basketball players than ever before, it hasn’t amounted to much of anything on the international stage at the senior level.

The talent from the players and level of coaching should be good enough to make some serious noise on both the men’s and women’s sides. So what gives?

This is a question that many Canadian hoops fans have been asking themselves for far too long.