Belgrade (AFP)

Serbia, which France faces on Tuesday (1:30 pm, French time) in Shenyang for its last preparation match at the World Cup, has been at the top of the basketball basket for decades thanks to an original method called "organized improvisation".

"It's jazz basketball", describes the writer and sports journalist Aleksandar Miletic, the author of the formula. "It's a way to let the player out of the collective without harming the team."

For Vladimir Koprivica, a specialist in physical fitness, who has participated in many successful campaigns with Serbia and previously Yugoslavia, it is not by chance that the orange ball has become a national passion.

"There is something in this game that is perfectly suited to our mentality: the individual in a collective, a way to be smarter than the opponent," he told AFP.

The foundations of the Yugoslav-Serbian school were laid in the aftermath of the Second World War by four young men: Radomir Saper, the organizer of the Federation, Nebojsa Popovic, the promoter of basketball on television, Borislav Stankovic, the end diplomat who was general secretary of Fiba from 1976 to 2002, and especially the coach Aleksandar Nikolic, become a legend of his profession.

- The master Nikolic -

"These four have put in place what makes us different from others," said AFP Sasa Jakovljevic, 54, dean of the chair of basketball at the faculty of sports in Belgrade. "They understood that it was necessary to learn from someone but especially that what had been learned did not necessarily have to be applied to the letter".

"Nikolic went to the United States to train with John Wooden (the legendary university coach from the 1940s to the 1970s), and tours of the USA (Yugoslav / Serbian teams, ed), under his leadership, were ", says Vladimir Koprivica.

"The Yugoslav / Serbian school is therefore a mixture of the physical preparation of the east and the philosophy of the game of the west, all applied to our local specificities," he summarizes.

- A line of strategists -

Nikolic was the first of a long line of great strategists: Ranko Zeravica, Bozidar Maljkovic, Dusan Ivkovic, Svetislav Pesic, Zeljko Obradovic, etc.

"There has always been love for the game, but above all excellent coaches and a flawless organization," says Vladimir Koprivica, who points out that the results are the result of "dedication and hard work. ".

"The work, applied within a well-organized system, plus talent = regularity", summarizes Zarko Paspalj, former strong winger of Partizan Belgrade and the selection.

The dominant teams were Yugoslav (with Croatian, Slovenian and Montenegrin elements in particular) and Serbian: Dragan Kicanovic, Zoran Slavnic and Drazen Dalipagic, in the 1970s, Vlade Divac, Zarko Paspalj, Aleksandar Djordjevic (the current coach) in the 1990s to that of Milos Teodosic (World Championship injury), Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jokic today.

Yugoslavia / Serbia has been world champion five times (1970, 1978, 1990, 1998, 2002), eight-time European champion and seven-time Olympic medalist (1 gold in 1980, 5 silver and 1 bronze).

She finished second in three of the last four major competitions (World Cup 2014, Olympic Games 2016, Euro 2017). In 2002, in Indianapolis, she was the first nation to win a competition involving an American team made up entirely of NBA players (whom she eliminated in the quarterfinals).

The latest version of this school will be presented at the World Cup in China from August 31 to September 15 with the podium in sight, even the title, given the many defections among Americans. "We are ready for a good fight with them if the match takes place," said Aleksandar Miletic.

© 2019 AFP