2000 Summer Olympics (held in Australia) – On the Olympic stage for the first time in 12 years, Canada quickly proved that their qualifying was no fluke by taking out the host Australians in the first game of the tournament, 101-90.  The team was led by Michael Meeks with 27 points, Rowan Barrett with 21, and Steve Nash with 15 points and an incredible 15 assists.  After 2 more wins and a loss to Russia, Canada faced Yugoslavia in the final game of the preliminary round for first place in the group.  In one of the bigger upsets of the tournament, Canada overcame a 9-point halftime deficit to prevail 83-75.  Steve Nash had another great overall game with 26 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, while Todd MacCollough chipped in with 21 points.  Heading into the quarterfinals as the number 1 seed, Canada decided to play their worst game of the tournament at the wrong time, losing 68-63 to France and missing out on a chance at a medal.  While MacCollough had another strong game with 23 points and 9 rebounds, Nash struggled with his shooting, ending up with only 10 points and 8 assists.  The team finished the tournament off strong by beating Russia 86-83 to finish an undeserved seventh place despite finishing with a 5-2 record.  Michael Meeks led the team with 14.29 PPG, while Nash contributed 13.71 points and 6.86 assists per game. 

2001 Tournament of the Americas (held in Argentina) – With five spots up for grabs to the 2002 World Championships, and the US not sending NBA players to the tournament since they were the hosts, Canada had a relatively easy chance to qualify.  Led by the same starting line-up from the previous two tournaments and including new young players like Prosper Karangwa and Andy Kwiatkowski, the Canadians finished 3-1 in the preliminary round with only a three point loss to Puerto Rico ruining a perfect record.  Steve Nash had another outstanding beginning to the tournament, with three straight double doubles (13 points and 16 assists, 34 points and 12 assists, 11 points and 12 assists).  The Canadians went on to split their four quarterfinal games, finishing in the top four and clinching a spot in the world championships.  In terms of medals, Canada lost to host Argentina in the semi-finals before avenging their earlier loss to Puerto Rico to clinch 3^rd place.  Nash finished the tournament with 16.1 PPG and 5 games of at least 11 assists, while Todd MacCollough finished with 14.4 PPG and Kwiatkowski chipped in with five consecutive double-digit games in points.

2002 World Championships (held in USA) – While the biggest story of this tournament was the US losing for the first time with NBA players, the biggest story for Team Canada came before the tournament.  Due to his large contract with the Dallas Mavericks, team owner Mark Cuban didn’t believe there was sufficient insurance if Nash were to suffer a serious injury representing Canada.  After weeks of controversy between Cuban, Canada basketball and FIBA, Nash decided to not play in the tournament a little over a week before it was to begin, essentially ruining any chances for Canada at the tournament.  The insurance problem also prevented fellow NBAers Todd MacCollugh and Jamal Magloire from participating, further hurting Canada’s chances.  I had the chance to watch Canada’s first exhibition game after Nash quit the team against the eventual 4^th place finishers of the World Championships (New Zealand) in London, Ontario.  Despite missing their NBA talent, the team played well and won 75-72 on a controversial last second three pointer from Michael Meeks.  The team was led by Prosper Karangwa (20 points) and Rowan Barrett (16 points), while Titus Channer (the man who replaced Nash as the starting point guard) scored only 5 points.  This positive win unfortunately did not continue into the tournament, where the team lost all three of their preliminary round games (including a loss to Angola), relegating them to the classification round.  The team did manage to win their two classification games, finishing 13^th out of 16 teams.  The team was led by now veterans Rowan Barrett (17 PPG) and Michael Meeks (12.4 PPG).

     Michael Meeks vs. Angola at the 2002 World Championships

2003 Tournament of the Americas (held in Puerto Rico) – With Steve Nash once again leading the team, Canada had a good chance of capturing one of the three qualifying spots for the 2004 Olympics.  Although Nash and Rowan Barrett were still a part of the team, this team was missing NBAers Todd MacCollough (suffering with what turned out to be a career ending nerve disorder), Rick Fox (foot injury), Jamal Magloire (waiting to sign an NBA contract) and even Carl English (who had signed a free agent contract with the Indiana Pacers).  The team was also without veterans Michael Meeks and Sherman Hamilton, and was therefore relying on new faces like Denham Brown from UConn.  As was the norm in previous T of A tournaments, Canada finished 3-1 after the preliminary round, advancing to the quarterfinal round.  The team then split their four quarterfinal games, advancing to the semi-finals against Argentina and needing to win one of their final two games.  After losing by 16 to Argentina, Canada faced a similar situation to the 1999 tournament with a do-or-die game against Puerto Rico in front of a hostile crowd.  Lightning did not strike twice however, with Canada losing 79-66 and missing out on the Olympics.  The team was led by Rowan Barrett (17.67 PPG), Denham Brown (12.78 PPG) and Nash (11.89 PPG and 6.67 PPG).  After being with the national team for 8 of the previous 10 years, Nash did not play for the national team again (at least as of 2009) due to age and repeated long playoff runs with both Dallas and Phoenix (as well as, some might argue, the firing of long-time friend Jay Triano as coach).

      Nash at the 2003 T of A