Šarūnas Jasikevičius

Sarunas Jasikevicius (born March 5, 1976 in Kaunas, Lithuania) is a basketball player, the MVP of the 2003 European Basketball Championship.

Jasikevicius moved to the United States at a young age, playing in high school in Pennsylvania and at college at the University of Maryland. Although having success on that level, he went undrafted in the NBA Draft and went back to Lithuania to play for Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius for one season (1998-1999). He spent 1999-2000 in Slovenia with BC Olimpija Ljubljana. Sarunas won a bronze medal for Lithuania in the 2000 Summer Olympics, when his team lost to the United States Dream Team by just two points. The margin was the closest at the time since the US started to use professionals, as Jasikevicius' last-second desperation three-pointer that could have won the game for Lithuania never had a chance.

Sarunas moved to Spain and FC Barcelona, playing there from 2000 to 2003. He blossomed into one of the best players in Europe, winning the 2003 Euroleague. That same year, he led Lithuania to the European Basketball Championship, being named MVP in the process. Jasikevicius then moved to Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv, and promptly won the 2004 Euroleague with them.

In the 2004 Summer Olympics, Sarunas had an amazing perfomance against the United States, hitting seven three-pointers and scoring 28 points, leading Lithuania to a terrific win. Unfortunately, Lithuania couldn't repeat its triumph, losing to the US in the bronze medal game.