EuroBasket 2022 starts tomorrow and, after studying the profile of each member of the Blues roster, we thought that the coach also had the right to his little presentation because, to get a medal, the tricolor troop will have need a good general to guide them. Come on, make way for the presentation of Vincent Collet, coach of the France team.
- Name: Collar
- First name: Vincent
- Age : 59 ans
- Position: coach
- On the CV: Le Mans (2000-2008), ASVEL (2008-2010), SIG (2011-2020 including a short break in 2016), Metropolitans 92 (2021-2023) / France (2009-…)
- Honors in EDF: gold medalist at Euro 2013, silver medalist at Euro 2011 and bronze at Euro 2015, bronze medalist at the 2014 and 2019 World Cup, silver medalist at the 2020 Olympic Games
A key figure in French basketball for almost fifteen years, Vincent Collet will once again be on the bench to drive the Blues during this EuroBasket 2022. Slate and felt Velleda, the native of Sainte-Adresse has been handling them for a long time, for exactly 22 years and from his debut for Le Mans, the team in which he played eight seasons as a player. It was then the beginning of a beautiful story for Collet, who brought back a national title in 2006 to the Sarthois club, thus ending 24 years of scarcity. Le Mans is also a whole generation of players who will rub shoulders with the Norman coach for many years, whether in club or selection. We think of Alain Koffi, Yannick Bokolo, Nicolas Batum (launched by Collet) or the young Antoine Diot. In 2009, barely a year after leaving Le Mans for ASVEL, Vincent Collet offered himself a second national title and even took the opportunity to put a second cap on his head: he took the reins of the Blues. Like several other coaches, Collet chose to continue with a club alongside his national obligations. Licensed by ASVEL in 2010, he accepted the Strasbourg challenge and succeeded in making the SIG a stronghold in the French championship. He had brought a title of champion to his two previous clubs but the SIG will always stumble on the last step, failing five times in the final, without forgetting a European final also lost in 2016. Small consolation, he can at least boast to have caught two French Cups and two Leaders Cups. If the trophies escape him in club, the selection allows Collet to fill his medal cabinet a little more. He won six in eleven competitions including gold at the European Championship in 2013 and of course the beautiful silver medal at the last Olympic Games.. When we know that the French team has fourteen medals in its entire history, that is to say the trace left by Collet.
And this EuroBasket then? Can he afford to add a seventh medal to the private collection of the former rear? We really want to believe it even if the France group is amputated by several executives including Nicolas Batum, Nando de Colo or Frank Ntilikina. Small stat that is interesting by the way: since 2009, Vincent Collet has always been able to rely on a player from his “historic” core, namely Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum or Nando de Colo. For this Euro, he will have to do for the first time without any of them. The packages of the last two are also the main unknown of this competition. Can the Blues compensate for the lack caused by the absence of their two executives? The preparation matches proved that Vincent Collet’s players were capable of the best and the worst (the ultimate symbol, this match against the Czechs). What undoubtedly advance with caution when judging the chances of victory of the tricolors. Quite paradoxically, it’s often when you don’t wait for France that you are most pleasantly surprised. We remember, for example, this 2014 World Cup where the Blues were deprived of Tony Parker, Nando de Colo but also Alexis Ajinça and still managed to get the bronze, allowing themselves to leave the great Spain on their land in the quarter before falling narrowly against Serbia in the semi but without forgetting to go and snatch a bronze medal against Lithuania.
A golden scenario as in 2013, a small regret in 2015 at home, a shipwreck in 2017, the EuroBasket tends to offer sacred emotional lifts to tricolor fans. For this Euro 2022, all scenarios are allowed, especially since no nation clearly has the lead over the others. Spain and Serbia weakened, Slovenia and France stand out as the two most solid teams on paper. It remains to transform this into a result on the ground to best prepare for the next meetings. In a year the World Cup will take place and it will be the last rehearsal before the event that everyone is waiting for, the Olympics in Paris. For Vincent Collet, extended until 2024, this may be the last turn of his career in Blue. What would happen if he were to lead the Blues on top of the world at the Olympics? Would he continue the adventure or, like Aimé Jacquet in football, would he return to the top? For this, he will be able to count on a group normally complete since the leaders (Fournier, Gobert, Batum, De Colo) will all be there in 2024 as well as the young generation with Victor Wembanyama headlining. The nugget will also be coached by… Vincent Collet next year at the Metropolitans 92. Harvesting medals and launching the career of one of the greatest – potential – talents in the history of French basketball, we know a coach who will have plenty to take care of over the next two years.
For his fifth EuroBasket, Vincent Collet is starting to know the song and his experience can only be useful to lead the French team to a new continental medal. Two years before the Olympics in Paris, this European Championship has all the big rehearsal for the conductor of the Blues. False notes prohibited.