The Dubliner prepares to face Azerbaijan this evening (5.0pm) in the first of two 2027 World Cup pre-qualifiers to be held in Tallaght this week, with Kosovo also coming to town on Sunday.
He will hope to lift Ireland off the bottom of their four-nation group, with the first-placed and the best second-placed teams progressing to the next round. This wasn’t his original plan though.
Last year, Carroll had returned to play for Ireland in a 95-61 defeat to Croatia having recovered from his second ACL injury.
It was the “best side” he’d ever played and that failed European campaign helped put him off basketball, before he officially announced his international retirement in February.
“Basically, I thought I can’t play at this level anymore whether that was true or not,” he said.
Then came a change of heart.
“But it probably was not true. I just came back too early from a bad knee injury and was thrown in the deep end.”
“I was like, ‘I need to do something else,’ at the time but when I was away from it I missed playing basketball so I said I might just start back again.”
The 29-year-old shelved a plan to move to the USA, and instead arranged to play club basketball with Sligo All Stars before asking Ireland head coach Mark Keenan whether he was wanted back.
“I was delighted,” said Keenan. “I never thought he should have retired in the first place.”
Carroll played in international friendlies against Armenia, Guatemala and Denmark over the summer, but this is his first competitive fixture since last year and abandoning his retirement plans.
Keenan will be without Taiwo Badmus through injury this week, but named a strong 14-man side on Monday which includes three professionals playing throughout Europe.
Seán Flood plays for British champions London Lions, while Matt Treacy (Tarragona) and Neal Quinn (Aix Marienne Savoie) return from Spain and France respectively for the window.
Quinn, whose father hails from Clondalkin, is the sole Irish American, while Keenan expects Azerbaijan to have their own dual-citizenship star in Jordan Davis.
Las Vegas-born Davis plays for Breogan in Spain’s top flight and was granted Azerbaijani citizenship in 2017, following the path of several Americans who now represent the oil-rich nation.
The head coach describes the guard as a “quality player,” and some of his charges came up against him in Ireland’s 21-12 defeat to Azerbaijan in a European 3×3 tournament last June.
Despite that reverse, Keenan remains confident that his side, who ranking No 90 in the world, can prevail against the No 104.
“I put Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Cyprus all into that same style. They’re all physical, strong men. You got to look at your opposition but you got to get your own job done as well,” he said.
“I think if we play to the best of our ability, we can definitely get the two wins. In our style, we want to play high tempo. We want to get up and down the floor well when the opportunity is there.”
IRELAND: Adrian O’Sullivan (Ballincollig), Conor Quinn (Belfast Star), David Lehane (Demons), James Gormley (Éanna), James Hannigan (Demons), John Carroll (Sligo All-Stars), Jordan Blount (Killorglin), Matt Treacy (CB Tarragona, Spain), Neal Quinn (Aix Maurienne Savoie Basket, France), Nosayaba Aidan Igiehon, (Dublin Lions), Paul Dick (Killester), Rapolas Buivydas (Tralee Warriors), Roy Downey (Neptune), Seán Flood (London Lions, UK).
Ireland v Azerbaijan,
Live, TG4, 5.0