2000 roster was returning, many up-and-coming stars such as Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Darius Songaila, Rimantas Kaukėnas and Robertas Javtokas would make their debut. To prepare for the championship and give international experience to the young players, Lithuania participated in many prestigious competitions in Europe and South America. In Braunschweig, Germany, Lithuania achieved the third place among the four very capable teams (Yugoslavia, France and Germany). Then the Lithuanian squad played for the first time in South America, taking part in a four team tournament in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires. Lithuania won two games, including its 500th international victory against Brazil (the last 100 in just 4 years), but only finished second after losing to the hosts Argentina 56–67. Lithuania also competed in the Acropolis Tournament for the second time after nine years, this time losing twice and finished fourth. EuroBasket 2001 ended as an unexpected failure to Lithuania. The group stage started with two victories, 82–60 over Ukraine and 68–59 with Israel, before losing to France 65–76. A match against fellow Balts Latvians would give a spot in the knockout stages. And there Lithuania suffered an unexpected and overwhelming defeat to the Latvians, 64–94. By falling so early, Lithuania lost all the chances of participating in the 2002 FIBA World Championship, and was threatened to miss the next EuroBasket as well. The disappointment made head coach Jonas Kazlauskas resign. EuroBasket 2003 Due to the fiasco in EuroBasket 2001, Lithuania did not have a direct spot on EuroBasket 2003, held in Sweden, and had to take part in the qualification tournament in 2002. They easily granted a ticket into the continental championship tournament, winning all 10 qualifying games. The renewed Lithuania basketball team, full of motivation and energy, that would go to Sweden, was led by Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Arvydas Macijauskas, Ramūnas Šiškauskas and Saulius Štombergas. Again preparations lead to friendlies and international tournaments, losing only to France and Spain in their respective countries. EuroBasket itself opened against neighbour Latvia, responsible for the painful 2001 elimination. The game, once again, was going remarkably poorly for Lithuania. They firmly lost the first quarter (14–23), remained trailing by halftime (34–40) and only managed to tie by the third (58–58). At the fourth quarter, Latvians still had the lead of 66–58, when with 23 seconds remaining, Eurelijus Žukauskas tied the game (81–81) and forced overtime. The extra period had Lithuania guarantee a 92–91 victory