Flashbacks to the FIBA OQT in Belgrade.
Italy is out for another upset.
The Azzurri released a 16-man roster for the FIBA World Cup, and it features a lot of veterans who have delivered key victories for the squad in blue.
Leading the squad is Simone Fontecchio of the Utah Jazz. He helped Italy beat Gilas Pilipinas, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Serbia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) to reach the Tokyo Olympics.
Fontecchio then led Italy to the quarterfinals in Tokyo, averaging 19.3 points.
Dwight Ramos and Ange Kouame would also be seeing familiar faces from the OQT with Nicolo Melli, Achille Polonara, Alessandro Pajola, Nico Mannion, and Stefano Tonut.
Italy upset Serbia again in last year's EuroBasket, as Fontecchio averaged 19.4 points along with a 45.1% accuracy from behind the arc.
The 10th-ranked team in the world will be making their tenth World Cup appearance and will seek to replicate or improve their fourth-place finish back in 1970 and 1978.
They will take on Angola first in Group A at the Philippine Arena, before arranging a rematch against the Dominican Republic and the Philippines at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.