Some Random Thoughts On International Basketball [Archive]

Durbansandshark

08-08-2007, 05:49 AM

Iran, officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran, yes, Iran, surprised many observers this past weekend by winning the 2007 FIBA Asian Basketball Championship in Tokushima, Japan. Iran doused a red-hot Lebanon 74-69 to earn an automatic invite to Beijing as Asian champs. Normally China would get that, but since it is already in as hosts, the Chinese sent a B-team of sorts consisting of players from the CBA to Tokushima. Beijing will be Iran's debut in Olympic basketball, and could hopefully be the coming out party for Jaber Rouzbahani, who I know a lot of pro scouts will look at. Is this compared for Iranians with them clinching a 1998 World Cup berth a decade ago at the Nightmare at the MCG versus the Socceroos? Actually, let's not sleep on the Iranians: they finished 3rd at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

Lebanon will join South Korea, who defeated Kazakhstan 80-76 for bronze, for an Olympic Qualification Tournament as the two Asian teams. I feel a little bad for Japan the hosts. They hosted last year's World Basketball Championship and the Asiabasket with the high hopes of improving their international standing en route to Olympic qualification to Beijing. But it went all for naught; they're too undersized, even with JR Henderson and selecting what group to be in (and an easy one at that), to make an impact. Japan hasn't been in men's Olympic basketball since 1976. They finished a very disappointing 8th.

Final standings:
1. Iran
2. Lebanon
3. South Korea
4. Kazakhstan
5. Jordan
6. Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
7. Qatar
8. Japan
9. The Philippines
10.China
11.Syria
12.Indonesia
13.Hong Kong
14.Kuwait
15.India
16.United Arab Emirates

More details on that next post.

Over on the women's side, hosts South Korea won the Asian Championship in Incheon, South Korea a couple of months ago with a win over China 79-73. Former Storm Jung Sun-Min led the way. Japan, by being third, goes into its own wildcard Olympic tourney next year.

Tomorrow, the Eurobasket Qualifier will take place. Top three finishers in each of their respective groups go into a new group of three. The winner of that newly-formed group eventually gets the no-prize of being in Eurobasket 2007 Group A with powers Russia, Greece, and Serbia in Spain--the Group of Death.

Group A
Bulgaria
Hungary
Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group B
Estonia
Macedonia
Sweden

Group C
Ukraine
Belgium
Israel
Denmark

My pick will be Israel out of that.

Eurobasket nations that did not take part in this:
Austria
Albania
Great Britian
Switzerland
Norway
Finland
Montenegro
Cyprus
Malta
Gibraltar
San Marino
Ireland
The Netherlands
Slovakia
Romania
Faroe Islands
Azerbaijian
Armenia
Georgia
Moldova
Luxembourg
Liechtenstein
Monaco
Andorra

Back later with more details...

Philby

08-08-2007, 06:38 AM

I thought Great Britain were playing in the Euro Basket qualifiers. If they are you would think the would be in with a chance with Loul Deng definetly playing as well as big men Andy Betts and Robert Archibald.

Philby

08-08-2007, 06:59 AM

Sorry Just realised they are playing in the division B part of the Qualifiers

Homer

08-08-2007, 02:09 PM

Iran, officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran, surprised many observers this past weekend by winning the 2007 FIBA Asian Basketball Championship in Tokushima, Japan.Don't be surprised by Iran Basketball. It appears that over the last five or so years, things have really developed up there.
Their Wheelie team is very competitive on an international front as well.

Durbansandshark

10-08-2007, 05:01 AM

Eurobasket Qualifiers 8-8-2007

GROUP A
Bosnia-Herzegovina 75 Bulgaria 71

GROUP C
Belgium 70 Ukraine 45
Israel 72 Denmark 60

www.eurobasket2007.org (http://www.eurobasket2007.org)
www.fiba-europe.com (http://www.fiba-europe.com)

Iran joins hosts China and World Champs (and Eurobasket hosts) Spain to Beijing.

Africa Basket 2007--Angola (held in cities Luanda, Cabinda, Benguela, Huambo, and Lubango)
GROUP A
Angola
Cape Verde
Morocco
Rwanda

GROUP B
Egypt
Ivory Coast
Mali
Senegal

GROUP C
Central African Republic
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Liberia
Nigeria

GROUP D
Algeria
Cameroon
South Africa
Tunisia

Cape Verde has just cancelled a series of three friendlies with Angolan pro club teams (ASA, Interclub, Cabinda) leading up to their arrival in Angola. No reason was officially given for that--likely travel expenses and the need to save them plus more time to develop their technical aspects of their game (and prepare for attacking and defensive plays) played a role. Organization reasons may attribute to that. But the island nation will take part in Angola.

Also, actually Algeria has dropped out of the Afrobasket 2007 comp in the aftermath of being the All-Africa Games hosts. Mozambique will replace them as the top seed in Group D.

Durbansandshark

10-08-2007, 07:20 PM

Eurobasket Qualifiers 8-9-2007

GROUP B
Estonia 57 Sweden 50

I don't understand why FIBA Europe created a qualification tourney with two groups of three teams and only one with four. It should be three groups of four. I can think of adding Great Britian, Switzerland, Georgia, The Netherlands, Montenegro, Finland, Belarus, and perhaps Ireland into the mix.

FIBA joining forces with EA Sports should come as no surprise to anyone when you think about how the EA Sports juggernaut already has the FIFA and UEFA licenses for years. The international basketball governing body, I presumed, was going to be the next big international sports body to fall into line. Maybe it should allow the basketball players to create its own labor union ala FIFPro to prevent endless and time-consuming practices to obtain players' licenses. I long realized that the only way international basketball was going to be in the video game these days was to be under the NBA Live series instead of having its own game. That said, I wish FIBA would allow other companies to use its license for, say, 2K Sports' NBA2K series in addition to EA Sports. We shouldn't be too disappointed in that there are only 8 national teams in the game--it was very late in the game's development when it was announced for them to be included under the FIBA banner. So I'm content with that. The real coming out should be next year with the advent of NBA Live 2009. By then, more national teams will be added including the Boomers, the Tall Blacks, Serbia, and Canada (I know a lot of you want to play the first two teams as well as myself). With the exception of the dreadful World Basketball 97, which was only released overseas while we North Americans had its doppelganger NCAA College Basketball 97, international basketball marks its return to video games since Team USA Basketball, which was made by--you guessed it--EA Sports. I think the production team should take its cues from the likes of their FIFA and Rugby brethren (since basketball is just as internationalized), among many other team sports games, in developing the international portion of the game. To sum it up, I would like for them to acquire pro leagues, continental and subcontinental tourneys and leagues. And to make it even more interesting, why not add the women's teams? These and many more suggestions can be found (I still hope...) on my international basketball video game wishlist.

How is this going to affect Beijing 2008's game, which is expected to include basketball? Since it long predated the announcement of the FIBA-EA Sports license, it should not affect it. Details are still unknown at this point for the game (I hope to get back into that too in these posts), so it's hard to say what exactly it will look like. We should expect the participating teams included with the players selected for them plus the likelihood of women's teams (in keeping perhaps with the gender equity agreement of the IOC upon the game) and nations that did not qualify to add in the place of or attempt to qualify with.

2007 FIBA Asian Basketball Women's Championship Placings (Incheon, South Korea)
1. South Korea
2. China (already qualified as Beijing 2008 hosts)
3. Japan
4. Chinese Taipei
5. Thailand
6. Malaysia

I'll find the Group B side for this later on.

Goose

10-08-2007, 08:11 PM

Israel would be pretty good at basketball wouldn't they?
I know Tel Aviv's euro team is mostly built up of imports but their national side would be competitive, yes?

MAIN_MAN

10-08-2007, 08:27 PM

Not sure, though I can't remember Israel doing alot or anything for that matter in international ball.

Durbansandshark

11-08-2007, 05:34 AM

Does the names Doron Scheffer, Nadev Hanefeld, Micky Berkowitz, Shay Doron, Oded Katash, Amit Tamir, Erez Katz, Yotam Halperin, Sharon Sason, Liad Suez-Karni, Liane Selwyn, Shiri Sharon, Liron Cohen, Ekaterina Abramzon, Karin Agassi, and Guy Goodes mean anything to you?

Slovenia wins the FIBA Stankovic Cup in China in spite of losing to New Zealand's Tall Blacks in their final game 74-72.

Durbansandshark

16-08-2007, 04:23 AM

EuroBasket 2007 Qualifiers
8-11-2007

GROUP A
Bulgaria 79 Hungary 72
GROUP C
Israel 81 Denmark 73
Belgium 80 Denmark 66

8-13-2007
Estonia 72 Macedonia 66

Meanwhile, over in FIBA Europe Division B, Finland is doing well in its preparation for the upcoming Division B qualifiers against Austria later this month. It's undefeated in Group C winning four games. Shawn Huff scored 22 points with Finland adding 17 3-pointers in their defeat of the Tall Blacks 85-79 in the Svjetski World Cup currently held in Croatia. Hosts Croatia defeated a Loul Deng-less Great Britain 79-74 in the other game. But Team GB defeated the Tall Blacks 82-75 with a three point play (a bucket and a free throw) from center (centre) Andy Betts with 20 seconds left in the game. Kirk Penney scored 25 and Mark Dickel had a couple of threes to bring it close. Great Britian goes on to play against Slovakia in Birmingham, England.

Speaking of Slovakia, they defeated Austria 92-82. Radoslav Vacik scored 22 points but the team were dealt a blow with the knee injury to guard Anton Gavel. 10 points each came from Stefan Svitek and Daniel Novak. Christopher Kollik and Benjamin Ortner had 15 points for the Austrian hosts.
www.fiba-europe.com (http://www.fiba-europe.com)

Funny how Algeria is not going to be participating in the upcoming AfricaBasket in Angola, given that it has just hosted the All-Africa Games. It's niot because the Algerians are not a weak outsider without some continental and international experience. I'm very sure Algeria would field a quality team, by African standards, that will be competitive in Angola. It also hosted the last African championship two years ago as a qualifier for the FIBA World Basketball Championship (and qualified for the 2002 WC in Indianapolis). Many of its top players play professionally in France. Did they overextend their funding for basketball? Perhaps they were shamed after their disappointing performance in their objectives as All-Africa hosts with a lack of cohesive collective play, inconstant combativeness, and a weak bench by finishing fifth . Maybe its time for a renovation of the team, and that is perhaps why they pulled out.

Charlotte Bobcats coach Sam Vincent will coach the Senegalese in Angola.

The new mulitpurpose pavillions in Cabinda and Cidadela have just opened in time for Afrobasket 2007. Visit the website for AfricaBasket 2007 and say hi to the mascot Driblo the Lion, a fabulous dribbler. Nice logo!
www.afrobasket2007.com (http://www.afrobasket2007.com)

Will get into more Afrobasket, Eurobasket, the Tournament of the Americas, Pan Am Games, Asiabasket, All-Africa, World University Games, and the womens games soon.

UPDATE: Sixer Samuel Dalembert finally will make his Canadian international debut in Las Vegas in time for Canada's training camp. www.nba.com/sixers/news/sammy_070808.html (http://www.nba.com/sixers/news/sammy_070808.html)

Mr bEn

16-08-2007, 08:34 PM

Lithuania vs Serbia - take a look at this clip if you haven't seen it already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSKDE7ns-cc

Is there something screwy with the way this game finishes?

Is this footage old/new? I've googled and can't find anything.

I am amazed at the non-existant defence and poor pass sequence :shock:

Poida

16-08-2007, 08:40 PM

That is a European Under 18's match, and the reason they did that was because they didn't want Spain (The favourites) going through to the Semi Final stage.

Read about it here:

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2206

Durbansandshark

17-08-2007, 06:25 AM

Norway is such a backwater in basketball that it is not even in Division B Eurobasket or the Division B Promotion right now. Its Scandinavian friends are all in it. They don't play very often, with the women play slightly more. It has tried qualifying in Eurobasket but always falling short. The only time Norway has tried its hand in Olympic qualification was in 1988, and that was dismal. Don't look for it to develop into a Euro power overnight. Best thing for them is develop soem quality young players with perhaps an import onto their teams. Adidas is their official athletic outfitter. www.basket.no (http://www.basket.no)

I'm not a big fan of the current style of Team USA Basketball jerseys manufactured by Nike. They're officially called the Vegas style, in reference to Las Vegas hosting the Tournament of the Americas. I liked the previous styling from Nike in 2006 and Reebok for Athens 2004, but they are cursed because of the players' incompetence. If it helps to win the gold next year, then that is what is more important, isn't it?

When is Montenegro going to play their first internationals?

DIVISION B EUROBASKET
GROUP A
Cyprus
Ireland
Romania
Switzerland

GROUP B
Albania
Belarus
Great Britain
The Netherlands
Slovakia

GROUP C
Austria
Finland
Georgia
Luxembourg
Iceland

Eurobasket 2007 Qualifiers 8-16-2007
GROUP A
Bosnia-Herzegovina 83 Hungary 68

GROUP C
Ukraine 74 Denmark 64
Israel 85 Belgium 66

Mr bEn

18-08-2007, 09:10 PM

Read about it here:

Thanks for the link. Amazing stuff.

Durbansandshark

21-08-2007, 05:08 AM

Since there is already stuff heavily mentioned about the FIBA Oceania Olympic Qualifiers between the Boomers and the Tall Blacks on the NBL posts, it would be a little redundant for me to post them here, save for a few of my thoughts on it. I'll get to that later. Go Boomers!

The 2007 FIBA Tournament of the Americas will kick start on Wednesday over in Las Vegas of course. And that will be interesting.

Eurobasket 2007 Qualifiers 8-18-2007
GROUP A
Bulgaria 70 Bosnia-Herzegovina 69
GROUP B
Estonia 68 Sweden 54
GROUP C
Belguim 72 Ukraine 69
Israel 105 Denmark 76

The losses for Sweden and Denmark illustrate how far the Scandinavian nations have to go in their progress to catch up with their southern European neighbors, to say nothing of Finland, Norway, and Iceland. Sweden has the best shot of the them all, but it will take a few years, and this despite the Swedes hosting the Eurobasket in 2003.

Durbansandshark

22-08-2007, 05:44 AM

Hopefully Canada, when it gets underway for the Tournament of the Americas, will get one of the two spots open to the Americas for Beijing. With a team potentially with Nash, Dalembert, Magloire, Carl English, Juan Mendez, Olu Fatummi, Denham Brown, and Co., it could do well.

Here's a look from Canada's Hoop Life: www.hooplife.ca/viewArticle.php?id=264 (http://www.hooplife.ca/viewArticle.php?id=264)

yuma

22-08-2007, 12:41 PM

Dont forget Dave Thomas :wink:

bucky

22-08-2007, 01:09 PM

old skool

22-08-2007, 05:24 PM

USA squad for Americas selections: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Kobe Bryant, Tyson Chandler, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Mike Miller, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Amaré Stoudemire, and Deron Williams.

And the debate starts ... Chandler or Bosh, Prince or Battier, Miller or Durant, Billups or Heinrich. Makes the Bloomers selection seem easy as ...

Durbansandshark

22-08-2007, 11:59 PM

With a team potentially with Nash, Dalembert, Magloire, Carl English, Juan Mendez, Olu Fatummi, Denham Brown, and Co., it could do well.

Nash and Magloire are not playing, Dalembert is definatley playing.

Notice I said potentially. I knew there was a possibility that Nash and Magloire would not play due to the their long NBA seasons. I figured Nash would relish this opportunity to don the maple leaf in Las Vegas.

UPDATE: Afrobasket 2007 is well into the semifinal stage. Angola unsurprisingly made it to the semis over the Central African Republic 78-51. But the big surprise is that the other African powers Nigeria and Senegal, the most talented teams in Africa, aren't there. Cape Verde upset the Nigerians 62-53 for a ticket to it. Egypt makes it over Tunisia 67-57, and Cameroon knocks off Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivorie) 67-57. I still like the Angolan hosts from the beginning of this.

Andy Rautins, coach Leo's son, is on the Canadian team along with the only players from the Canadian college scene are Carleton's Aaron Doorenkamp and Ryan Bell with Nash and Magloire out.

Anytime Nolan Richardson coaches a team, they will be dangerous indeed with his 40 minutes of hell. We could see this with Mexico. Horacio Llamas is there but not Eduardo Najera.

My predictions:
POOL A
1. Argentina
2. Puerto Rico
3. Mexico
4. Panama
5. Uruguay

POOL B
1. USA
2. Canada
3. Brazil
4. Venezuela
5. US Virgin Islands

Come see the Grover lookalike, Jay Jay! :D

Montenegro has actually fielded its U18 and U21 men's teams while setting up its first women's national team soon. More later.

Eurobasket 2007 Qualifiers
POOL C
Belgium 71 Denmark 61
Israel 68 Ukraine 63

Durbansandshark

24-08-2007, 12:44 AM

CORRECTION: Ryan Bell, a 6'5" guard from the Canadian college basketball juggernaut Carleton Ravens, is the only one actually playing out of the CIS in Las Vegas. His coach Dave Smart is there as an assistant though. Andy Rautins' injury could jeopardize Canada's prospects for Beijing. Samuel Dalembert scored 10 and Juan Gomez had 18 in a losing effort against the Blur that is Phoenix Sun Leandro Barbosa and his 30 points.

Team USA wins over Venezuela 112-69. Their results were a balanced offense, with seven players in double figures, and attacked relentlessly and often on both ends. They forced Venezuela to commit 20 turnovers that converted into 41 points.

This was my prediction toward the African Basketball Championship on how the countries would finish in their group play:
GROUP A
1. Angola
2. Morocco
3. Cape Verde
4. Rwanda

GROUP B
1. Senegal
2. Egypt
3. Ivory Coast
4. Mali

GROUP C
1. Nigeria
2. Central African Republic
3. Democratic Republic of the Congo
4. Liberia

GROUP D
1. Tunisia
2. South Africa
3. Cameroon
4. Mozambique

Nigeria and Senegal may be the most talented of the African teams (witness the exponential growth of how many players arrive and spread to the West to play and learn basketball at various levels from pro to high school in recent years, mostly in the US and Europe), but Angola is still the powerhouse and the favo(u)rite. There's a very good reason for this. For over 25 years Angola has been a power out of Africa for not just having its own set of talented players (though many have yet to make their way in many other countries not just primarily Portugal to play), it also due to the organization, the international experience it has had since the 1986 World Basketball Championship in Spain, and the coach is already familiar with his players for lengthy period. In their run of eight African titles over the last nine years, Angola has lost only twice in 1997 and 2001.

One of the worst problems many nations, if not the worst, in African basketball is organization; many of the players are spread thoughout the world. Just getting many of them together for a pre-tournament training camp to learn set defensive and offensive stretegies is a challenge. Consequently, countries like Nigeria have its players scarcely have the time to get know each other, practice, and build international experience together. This perennial problem is a source of, needless to say, great frustration. But Nigeria did defeat Serbia-Montenegro in last year's World Basketball Championship in Japan and almost did the same against Germany, which would have been historic and were a last second shot away.

For the first time, the African field expanded to 16 teams from 12 in a reflection of progress the sport has witnessed over the last five years. Top African teams like Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Central African Republic, and Cameroon rely on the expatriates, which thus forms an elite.

Eurobasket 2007 Qualifiers 8-22-2007
GROUP A
Hungary 74 Bulgaria 67
GROUP B
Macedonia 95 Estonia 50

Durbansandshark

24-08-2007, 05:31 AM

The disappointing performances of Nigeria and Senegal in Angola illustrates the dual need of developing world class coaching and position players outside of their big men, which are easier to develop despite their limited skills, and of having a pre-tournament training camp gathering as many players from the Nigerian basketball diaspora as possible to prepare. This may more in Nigeria's case. But now both of their nations' Beijing Olympic hopes are shattered--neither will even make the Olympic qualification tournament. And this depsite the knowledge of African basketbal that Sam Vincent has when took the Senegal job. But since left it to Crawford Coleman, and was upset in group play by the Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivorie). I'll get to more later. Check out some video exceprts TPA as you browse, including the one featuring the opening by Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos: www.afrobasket2007.com (http://www.afrobasket2007.com)

Over in Eurobasket Division B, Luol Deng led Team GB with his 21 points and 10 rebounds after going cold in his first four of his five shots, and Slovakia never recovered when he got hot. Greta Britain won in Birmingham 77-52. Other British players with American connections like Richard Midgley and Robert Archibald helped with each scoring 14 points apiece with Archibald pulling down 8 rebounds as he recovers from his knee injury. The Netherlands are next on August 29. In releated British basketball, former international Steve Bucknall wants to join the Team GB coaching staff. I'd say, why not? Anything that will help Great Britain to join Eurobasket Division A for several years in time for London 2012, which they have to do to be autiomatically in for it. This is all the more reason to get Deng's Bulls teammate London-born Ben Gordon, who holds dual UK-US citizenship, to join in and make Team GB more competitive internationally.

UPDATE: Cameroon has beaten Egypt to go into the final 58-52, thanks to UCLA star Luc Mbah a Moute. Angola will surely beat Cape Verde.

2sc945

24-08-2007, 03:22 PM

Cameroon has beaten Egypt to go into the final 58-52, thanks to UCLA star Luc Mbah a Moute. Angola will surely beat Cape Verde.

WHAT DA HELL???? :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

06 World Championships play-off team Nigeria, 05 Afrobasket runner-up Senegal and traditional African powerhouse Algeria (nicknamed French B NT due to its French-based players) all failed to reach semis while soccer nations Cameroon, Egypt and Cape Verde (I didn't know they actually got a b'ball NT) made it.

Was BB Ebi Ere playing for the Nigerian NT?

* sigh *

Africa is seriously lacking coaching in b'ball. Angola is the only nation from that continent actually treat b'ball seriously.

2sc945

24-08-2007, 04:12 PM

http://www.afrobasket2007.com/cache/bin/XPQe1GwXX1598GwWN7CvoNFZKU.gif

Cap Vert

Cape Verde started in Afrobasket in 1977, precisely in the last edition which occurred in Senegal, having surprised whit their general quality of play especially a high level of fighting spirit.

Date of affiliation to FIBA: 1988

Ranking FIBA: 69th – 2,0 points

Participations: 2 – 1997 (7th), 1999 (9th)

Medals: 0

Egipt

Right after being founded, the Association of the Africans Basketball Federations (AFABA), the first championship occurred immediately in Cairo in 1962. Much better than its opponents, Egypt won the first African title without any difficulty. Sudan, Morocco, Ethiopia and Guinea Conakry couldn’t resist because at this time the Egyptian National championship was very competitive.

Date of affiliation to FIBA: 1934

Ranking FIBA: 32º - 28,0 points

Participations: 17 – 1962 (1º), 1964 (1º), 1970 (1º), 1972 (2º), 1975 (1º), 1978 (3º), 1981 (2º), 1983 (1º), 1985 (3º), 1987 (2º), 1989 (2º), 1991 (3º), 1993 (2º), 1997 (4º), 1999 (3º), 2001 (3º), 2003 (3º).

Medals: 16 (5 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze)

Cameroun

It’s not properly a team of the elite of the african basketball. Three participations in 45 years of competition, that puts Cameroon in the bottom places. Its best place was in 1974 when Cameroon finshed at the fourth place in RCA.

Date of affiliation to FIBA: 1965

Ranking FIBA: No Points

Participations: 3 – 1972 (8º), 1974 (4º), 1991 (8º).

Medals: 0

http://www.afrobasket2007.com/cache/bin/XPQe1GwXX1271GwWN7CvoNFZKU.jpg

Angola

Angola is the country who has won the African Championship for Men the most times, now known generically as “Afrobasket”, since its institution in 1962, in Cairo, even having less participations than the old “big names” of the modality, namely Egypt, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 14 participations, beginning in 1980, in Rabat, Angola won eight championships, two of which precisely in Luanda, where the XXIV edition of “Afrobasket” occurs.

Durbansandshark

25-08-2007, 03:23 AM

The stage is set in Luanda: Angola will face Cameroon for that one African ticket to Beijing on Saturday. Angola destroyed Cape Verde 93-60 in front of their racouous hometown fans at the Cidadela Gymnasium. Despite what the score may suggest Cape Verde weren't going to give Angola an opportunity to be mincemeat again. They gave their all even more so than when in group play they lost to Angola by 56 points. The loser of this Angola-Cameroon match and the third place winner of Egypt-Cape Verde will receive the two Africa spots for the Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Cameroon and Cape Verde are now officially rising African basketball powers with their performances. I could only imagine what could've happened if Joakim Noah suited up for Cameroon (his grandfather from his father Yannick's side is from Cameroom, remember).

Egypt hasn't been in the Olympic in basketball since Seoul 1988, the last time two African teams qualified (Central African Republic finished 10th and Egypt placed 12th).

Yes, Ebi Ere is playing for Nigeria at Afrobasket, as is Portland Trail Blazer Ime Udoka.

UPDATE: USA blasted the US Virgin Islands 123-59 last night in Las Vegas. Also the women will play on Sept 16 against the Opals in Trenton, New Jersey. Canada beats Venezuela 80-73.

In Canada The Score is broadcasting all of Team Canada's and Team USA's games in Las Vegas. www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archives/Au ... c6692.html (http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archives/August2007/14/c6692.html)

USA TV schedule: www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_pag ... tvschedule (http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=07_msnt_tvschedule)

Durbansandshark

25-08-2007, 06:07 PM

Some bad news for the Canadians: Andy Rautins, Syracuse Orangemen player and son of coach Leo (also attended Syracuse) will be out of the rest of the Tournament of the Americas because of his knee injury. Now the Canadians have to step things up. Canada did have a good showing against the US Virgin Islands though 93-83 tonight, so not all news was bleak for them.

Mediazone has hooked up with FIBA to provide games on-demand, aprticularly with the Tournament of the Americas. Due to territorial restrictions to the US and Canada (read: DON'T interfere with our TV rights here), it's not available to us here.

Cape Verde has just narrowly defeated traditional African basketball power Egypt 55-53 to deny the Egyptians not just thrid place but a chance to continue their Olympic run for the first time since 1988 through an Olympic qualification tournament. They came from behind at halftime to humble the North Africans. Third place is a remarkable achievement for Cape Verde, a nation with little in the way of basketball history, who will now wait who's is going to join them out of Africa as runner-up for Olympic qualifications in the gold medal match--very likely Cameroon. Because of a lack of pedigree in international basketball and who will they be up against in the draw, I'd be shocked if Cape Verde would be competitive there.

I want some Basketball New Zealand merchandise! Champions used to have some with NZ Breakers gear. But no more. BBNZ doesn't have some to show as of now... :(

It looks as though Toronto Raptor Andrea Bargnani will don the Azzurri in time for Eurobasket in Spain for Italy.

Greece may not have Antonis Fotsis for Eurobasket because of a broken finger.

Israel better watch out for Macedonia if it wants to make it to the Eurobasket finals. Should Macedonia beat Sweden Saturday, it can give Israelis a lot of problems in the final qualification stage.

2sc945

25-08-2007, 10:46 PM

Holy fuck, Cape Verde beat Egypt to grab an Olympic Qualification Tournament spot.

It was like the Guadeloupean soccer team who finished equal 3rd in this year's Gold Cup. The sports world is crazy this year.

rjd

26-08-2007, 03:16 PM

http://www.nba.com/media/ljames_3_400_070825.jpg

2sc945

26-08-2007, 04:39 PM

What a punishing dunk. :D

Durbansandshark

26-08-2007, 05:11 PM

Well, that's exactly how the Canadians feel throughout, not just about, their encounter with their southern neighbo(u)rs today in Las Vegas, rjd.

Back in Africa, the 2007 African Basketball Championship (nice fireball logo) is now in the history books, and Angola is STILL your African champions. Was it ever going to be any different? Once again, the Angolans, without any of their players currently playing in North America, show just how much organization, quality international experience, professionalism, training, and quality coaching along with some talent can do for an African nation over just talent. It could be said basketball is more popular there than soccer (like their national team the Black Antelopes or Black Panthers). They defeated rising power Cameroon 86-72 in front of a festive, packed, pro-Angola crowd of 8000 in Luanda's City Gymnasium; actually the celebratory mood was going on leading up to the game all over the capital city with activities agog with the rush to buy tickets and men, women, and children passionately talking about the team. Fans were decked in the colo(u)rs and draped with the Angoaln national flag. The gold-medal win gives Angola, which now joins China, Spain, Australia, and Iran, another berth to the Olympics from Africa, making Beijing its fifth consecutive one, while making its ninth African title out of the last ten (and fifth consecutive Afrobasket title). Joaquim Gomes is your 2007 African Tournament MVP. Cameroon now joins the surprising Cape Verde Islands to the Olympic Qualification Tournament as the African representatives next year. Do I think Angola will do some damage in Beijing? Depending on how they are drawn and who they will face in Beijing, the Angolans are capable of stealing a game or two, if what happened last year in Japan with Nigeria giving Germany all they can handle is an indicator with what they got. They may have an outside shot at the quaterfinals.

Televisa Publica dos Angola (TPA) broadcasted for Angola with South Africa's Supersport showing several games all over the continent with its Portuguese-language channel, Supersport Maximo, emphasized the Angolans and Mozambique.

Congratulations to head coach Alberto Carvalho and his team!

More of my African basketball thoughts will come in the coming week

Just when the Italians got Bargnani, they suffer the blow of losing Danillo Galanari to a knee injury he suffered in a warmup against Latvia and possibly captain Giacomo Galanda.

Ireland loses to Switzerland in their opening Eurobasket Division B game 86-58 with the Sefalosha brothers Chiacgo Bull Thabo and Kgomotso turining it into their own show in Tallaght, Ireland.

Eurobasket 2007 Qualifiers 8-25-2007
GROUP A
Bosnia-Herzegovina 70 Hungary 74
GROUP B
Macedonia 78 Sweden 73
GROUP C
Denmark 90 Ukraine 85
Belguim 83 Israel 74

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Israel all advanced out of their group by being the preliminary group winners and into the next phase held in Spain.

What if Joakim Noah plakyed for his mother's nation. Sweden could use his star power.

Mr bEn

28-08-2007, 05:11 PM

Did anyone watch the Fiba World Wrap today? Reviewed the Asian Championships. I was particularly intrigued by the big bloke from Iran, quite a towering chap. Showed some game, and got me wondering if his name has ever been mentioned in larger circles? Anyone? Hamed EHADADI is the name.

2sc945

28-08-2007, 05:50 PM

Hamed EHADADI is 218cm tall and is the best centre in Iran atm.

He is so dominant that 224cm giant Jaber Rouzbahani (ex-NBA hopeful) has been forced to sat on the bench for something like 35 minutes per match.

Durbansandshark

31-08-2007, 05:12 AM

We may have to start talking about him than Jaber.

Eurobasket Qualifiers 2007 are now in advancing stage with the aforementioned Macedonia, Israel, and Bosnia battling for the one qualification spot in Menorca, Spain. Right now, it looks as though Macedonia could be the fourth ex-Yugoslavia nation to be in Eurobasket 2007 with Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia already there. FYR Macedonia, already sky-high following their defeat over the Tit Sokk-coached Estonia, beat Bosnia-Herzegovina by 10 with a 73-63 win yesterday in their third meeting together so far this year. Israel has yet to play though, and that will determine the course of the qualifications. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Israel are going at it right now.

On the other side of the qualification spectrum, the Euro teams that finished at the bottom of their respective groups now are fighting to stay at this stage and not get relegated to Division B. Sweden, Denmark, and Hungary are those teams--no surprise the Scandinavian teams of Sweden and Denmark are in this. FIBA Europe calls it Group B. Right now as of this writing, both Hungary and Sweden are unbeaten with Denmark in grave danger of demotion.
Hungary 101 Denmark 70
Sweden 66 Denmark 55

Down at Division B, Great Britain crushed The Netherlands 83-65, but it may come at a price with forward Robert Archibald re-injuring his ankle on a drive play and did not return. The Dutch are already reeling from a shock loss to Slovakia. Team GB now face easybeats Albania. Austria hammered Luxembourg 79-46. Slovakia beats Albania 93-63. Georgia's ambition to get into Division A took a serious and unexpected hit with an upset loss to Iceland 76-75 on a buzzer-beating three pointer. Now Georgia, trying to keep pace with Group C leader and undefeated Finland, will have to hope to be the best runner-up out of its group in the next phase. Tyrone Ellis gave Georgia 17 points. They already saw off Austria previously. More details on the Eurobasket to come soon...

Over in the Tournament of the Americas, classification is already underway. The top four teams in each group move into this with the top four finishers out of that progress into the semis. The US is a lock for that and will almost surely qualify for Beijing. Brazil suffered a tremendous blow to their Beijing prospects with a loss to Argentina, who assured of making it to the semis, last night 86-79 in OT. Canada is helping themselves with wins over Mexico, Venezuela, and Uruguay, but need a win over Puerto Rico tonight to assure it. Brazil plays Uruguay tonight. I'll get more in depth later.

Back to the FIBA license on NBA Live 08, in this blog from one of the game's producers, Nate, explains in detail why this year's FIBA features are as they are (and it confirms what I reasonably assumed).
http://blogs.ign.com/NBALive_08/2007/08/20/63493

I neglected the women in all of this, but I won't for long with the tournaments starting. To start things off, France has cut off the trio of Elodie Godin, Geraldine Robert, and Florence Lepron from the Les Bleues roster as it's now down to 13.

I want my FIBA Eurobasket 2003 and FIBA Road to Athens DVDs!

2sc945

01-09-2007, 04:18 PM

Over in the Tournament of the Americas, classification is already underway. The top four teams in each group move into this with the top four finishers out of that progress into the semis. The US is a lock for that and will almost surely qualify for Beijing. Brazil suffered a tremendous blow to their Beijing prospects with a loss to Argentina, who assured of making it to the semis, last night 86-79 in OT. Canada is helping themselves with wins over Mexico, Venezuela, and Uruguay, but need a win over Puerto Rico tonight to assure it. Brazil plays Uruguay tonight. I'll get more in depth later.

No play-off for fifth?

So that means Canada already grabbed the last Olympic Qualification Tournament spot? It is UNFAIR for Uruguay, Mexico and Venezuela! We got play-offs for 5th and 7th in last FIBA Americas Championship.

boz_novocastrian

01-09-2007, 06:23 PM

i am pretty sure it is only the top 2 teams from the americas that goes through automatically

Durbansandshark

02-09-2007, 05:19 PM

So now it's the USA against Argentina for the Tournament of the Americas crown in Las Vegas. Both nations, regardless of the ultimate result, will automatically head to Beijing as the two Americas representatives. Puerto Rico (losers to the USA in the semis) and Brazil (losers to Argentina in the other semi) will now join Canada, the fifth-place finisher, as the Americas reps for the Olympic Qualification Tournament next year.

It does look unfair that Uruguay, Mexico, and Venezuela won't get to qualify more so on merit. But look at it this way: apart from Venezuela, what has Mexico and Uruguay accomplished at the international level not just the Americas over the last 30 years. Mexico hasn't made the Olympics since 1976 and has fallen fast internationaly since despite having Eduardo Najera and Horacio Llamas in the NBA. Uruguay haven't qualified since 1984--and likely made it only becuase Cuba boycotted and LA 84 needed an Americas replacement. Neither has made it to a World Championship in recent memory. So they regressed as everybody else, except Cuba and Colombia, improved.

I bought myself a copy of the 2007 FIBA Tournament of the Americas program on eBay! :)

As you probrably noticed already, Israel has won the 2007 Eurobasket qualifiers and earned the right to be pummeled by Greece, Russia, and Serbia in Group A later in Spain. I felt whoever was to win between Macedonia and Israel will make it out of that final group. I picked Israel, and not to brag, I was right largely because of the top-notch pro basketball league they've enjoyed over the years the national team players can tap into, as well as internationally with Maccabi Tel Aviv acting as an international power club comps in Euro play. More to come later.

Israel 92 Macedonia 87
Israel 67 Bosnia-Herzegovina 60

Over in the relegation Eurobasket tournament...

Hungary 75 Sweden 64

So Denmark gets demoted to FIBA Europe Division B going winless in this round.

Let me amend my pleas for Tall Black merchandise by adding the Tall Ferns.

Actually, Hungary stays on in Division A and hopes to qualify for Eurobasket 2009 in Poland. Sweden goes down to Division B with Denmark. So the Magyars are safeguarded. Pity for the Swedes, they made some significant progress in Eurobasket in recent years, especially hosting Eurobasket 2003.

As Eeeee may suggest, we may not want a basketball version of the Ashes. The Boomers are much more experienced internationally and have that pedigree than Great Britain with Aussies playing everywhere. But that could all change come 2012...

Once more FIBA and MediaZone announced their stretegic partnership in bringing both Eurobasket 2007 men's and women's games live and on-demand. I'll provide the link later.

Stephane Arigababu will return to suit up for Germany with an Olympic berth in sight

boz_novocastrian

02-09-2007, 07:50 PM

Lamas hasn't played nba level for ages i think about 5 seasons

2sc945

02-09-2007, 10:39 PM

It does look unfair that Uruguay, Mexico, and Venezuela won't get to qualify more so on merit. But look at it this way: apart from Venezuela, what has Mexico and Uruguay accomplished at the international level not just the Americas over the last 30 years. Mexico hasn't made the Olympics since 1976 and has fallen fast internationaly since despite having Eduardo Najera and Horacio Llamas in the NBA. Uruguay haven't qualified since 1984--and likely made it only becuase Cuba boycotted and LA 84 needed an Americas replacement. Neither has made it to a World Championship in recent memory. So they regressed as everybody else, except Cuba and Colombia, improved.

I still think the three Latin American teams deserve another shot at Olympic Qualification Tournament spot. Two of them (Uruguay and Venezuela) only lost to Canada by 7 points earlier in the tournament and all of them can beat the Canadians on their day.

boz_novocastrian

02-09-2007, 11:08 PM

if that was the case, then which other confederation (pardon the football lingo) would have to give up a spot to them

Poida

02-09-2007, 11:17 PM

boz_novocastrian

02-09-2007, 11:37 PM

totally agree poida

Julian

02-09-2007, 11:51 PM

I spit on Uruguay, as they did us in 2001.

2sc945

03-09-2007, 04:18 PM

if that was the case, then which other confederation (pardon the football lingo) would have to give up a spot to them

Africa. A one-off game against Cape Verde and the winner qualifies for the Olympic Qualification Tournament. :wink:

2sc945

03-09-2007, 04:37 PM

Load of shit. Give me a full strength Canadian team, with Nash anyday :)

What if Nash played for his motherland South Africa? They might overtake Cape Verde's spot in the Olympic Qualification Tournament. 8)

boz_novocastrian

03-09-2007, 05:08 PM

who from africa has qualified or are they still to have their qualification series for the beijing olympics

2sc945

04-09-2007, 02:44 PM

Amazing. Cape Verdean men's soccer team ranks 15th in Africa with 434 FIFA ranking points (ahead of Algeria and Congo DR).

Durbansandshark

06-09-2007, 05:58 PM

I'll mention my thoughts about Eurobasket 2007 in Spain here. Here's a start: big story right now out of Eurobasket is that perrenial powerhouse Serbia is now out of contention for the Olympics, finshing winless and last in Group A. This means it will be absent from the Beijing Olympics. I can't recall an Olympics in my lifetime with Yugoslavia/Serbia-Montenegro/Serbia not taking part in men's basketball. Since Mexico City in 1968, it has made great strides in the development of basketball both domestically and internationally (despite the occasional politicial overtones, most infamously in 1995 in Athens). To see this proud Serbian Pride go down the drain ever since that buzzer basket from Manu Ginobili in the first game for SCG in Athens 2004 with its fortunes diminishing is unfortunate. Serbia is in badly need of leadership, and surely a lot of Serbs aren't taking this new bad development very kindly and thus are very angry over this disappointing result. This will be the first time since Melbourne 1956, when it wasn't yet a power, that Serbia will miss the Olympics in basketball.

Goose

06-09-2007, 07:23 PM

There's a first time for everything.

Durbansandshark

12-09-2007, 10:01 AM

What the hell is up with Germany over in Spain?

jake11

17-09-2007, 12:16 PM

The field for the repechage tournament is now known and below that is the current Qualified Teams for Beijing:

In Brackets is World Ranking.

Europe
Greece (seventh)
Germany (10th)
Croatia (21st)
Slovenia (19th)

Americas
Puerto Rico (12th)
Brazil (17th)
Canada (16th)

Africa
Cameroon (49th)
Cape Verde (56th)

Asia
Lebanon (23rd)
Korea (25th)

Oceania
New Zealand (13th)

Olympics - Qualified

Hosts
China (11th)

World champions
Spain (third)

Europe
Russia (18th)
Lithuania (fifth)

Americas
United States (first)
Argentina (second)

Africa
Angola (14th)

Asia
Iran (unranked)

Oceania
Australia (ninth)

Repechage
Three teams to qualify

Durbansandshark

18-09-2007, 03:28 AM

Italy and France are out too from qualifying. Shocking... :shock:

Now it's the women's turn to see who's going to qualify along with China and the Opals. USA is almost prohibitly a lock out of those who will qualify during this time.

More will come later from me.

2sc945

18-09-2007, 12:30 PM

WTF Iran unranked?!? Why??? They are the current Asian champions, should get some points for their efforts.

Durbansandshark

25-09-2007, 05:30 AM

WTF Iran unranked?!? Why??? They are the current Asian champions, should get some points for their efforts.

The Iranians surely will get a boost in the FIBA rankings with them conquering Asia...

Meanwhile, the African Women's Basketball Championship is underway in Dakar, Senegal. I'll hope to get into greater detail in a day or two. I like Nigeria--Ime Udoka's sis, Mfon Idoka, who wears number 11 for the national teams and is US-born like Ime, is the star of the team--Mali, Angola, and Senegal in this. Right now, I have trouble actually finding a website to the event.

2sc945

26-09-2007, 09:13 PM

I got one for u:

2007 FIBA Women's African Championships (http://www.africabasket.com/events/afrcw/afrcw07.asp?women=1)

[shocked]

Three teams, Mali, Senegal and Angola are still unbeaten in this tournament. Angola upsets Nigeria 53-42 on Day 3.

OMFG Angola is starting to dominate African b'ball for both genders.

Durbansandshark

27-09-2007, 04:35 AM

Thanks but that is not the official website for the event, just news from www.africabasket.com (http://www.africabasket.com).

Anyway, here are the teams in the championship:

POOL A
Ivory Coast
Madagascar
Mali
Morocco
Senegal
Tunisia

POOL B
Angola
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kenya
Nigeria

It's worth noting here that another notable African basketball player, Mwadi Mabika, she of the NDCELE WNBA Chapter, perhaps the best known in the west right now, is currently playing for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She gained notice for herself following her country's qualification out of Africa, then known as Zaire, to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as a 17-year old, which surely helped her huge upside and talent.

Don't sleep on Tunisia; they could surprise.

Expect a more significant talent level drop off from the African elite to the likes of Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and Cape Verde in the women's game as opposed to the men. Women's basketball in much of Africa, unlike, say, Angola, is far behind in terms of development and organization than the men. If all of the problems of African basketball affecting the men are bad, imagine what's it's like for the women. So the game is not even ready to have a 16 African women's team field like the men just now got.

2sc945

27-09-2007, 04:53 PM

Now the hosts Senegal is the only unbeaten team after the Preliminary Round, they beat Mali 48:37 on Day 6 while Angola loses to Democratic Republic of Congo 42:52.

Durbansandshark

05-10-2007, 05:24 AM

Down in Valdivia, Chile, the USA won the sole automatic Olympic berth for the Americas to nobody's surprise. Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba will proceed to the Olympic Qualification Tournament next year. Canada, some would say disappointingly--including myself, finished fifth by beating hosts Chile and earlier Mexico. The Canadian women had a chance to surprise against the USA and Cuba, but their inexperience in international play for many (too many turnovers, forced shots, acclimating to the physical style, and starting off slow) come through. Again, many of the players like former All-Canadians Sarah Crooks, Tamara Tatham, and Isabelle Grenier tasted their first major international ball at the senior level. Kim Smith and Therese Gabrielle both got injured, which didn't help their prospects. More will come later.

Meanwhile in Senegal...Mali in a mild upset are your 2007 African women's basketball champions in Senegal and will make their Olympic basketball debut in either men's or women's play as they represent the African continent. They bitterly defeated the hosts 63-56 in Dakar at the Marius N'Diaye Gymnasium on September 30 in front of a vociferously backed crowd. If you paid any attention, the landlocked and predominately Muslim French-speaking West African nation had several of their players from that team from the World Junior Women Championship that was held in Brno, Czch Republic. Houston Comet Hamchatou Maiga is the 2007 African Tournament MVP. Senegal was denied a chance to directly return to Olympic basketball since Sydney 2000 (the men only made it in Moscow 1980). Many Senegalese fans wept uncontrollably after their heroes lost as they were hoping to plan a party long after the night. But Senegal and Angola will head towards next year's OQT. Nigeria, the defending champions here and one of the faves to win it, again disappointed in African basketball championship play this year despite Mfoe Udoka leading all players in scoring, averaging 15.5 points.

Don't worry everybody, Mali will get destroyed in Beijing....

UPDATE: Eurobasket women 2007 was in its last day of qualifying in Italy with Belarus solidly among the top 8 European teams in their first ever Eurobasket performance playing cool, knocking off any hope for the Azzurri to advance. The Italians must've applied too much pressure upon themselves to must-win over Belarus. Russian basketball certainly looks white hot with the men conquering Spain last month and now the twin towers of Maria Stepanova and Irina Osipova greatly dominating their Spanish counterparts. Never discount Ilona Korstin and Svetlana Abrosimova. Watch out for them next year! France is solid, as usual...but they just lost in the quarterfinal to Latvia, effectively ending any chance to go into the Olympics (just like the men did), thanks to former Siena Saint Gunta Basko, Anate Jekasombe, Iveta Kublina, and Zane Tamane. So we're robbed of a chance to see Sandra LeDrean, Edwidge Lawson, Audrey Sauret, and Celine Dumerc next year in Beijing.
www.eurobasketwomen2007.com (http://www.eurobasketwomen2007.com)
If you want to know more about the France collapse against Latvia, read this with a photo of a devastated Celine Dumerc (in French): www.ffbb.com/page_m.php?d=actu&p=actu&id=3502 (http://www.ffbb.com/page_m.php?d=actu&p=actu&id=3502)

Correction: France will need top win two classification games to qualify for the OQT by finishing fifth.

Durbansandshark

06-10-2007, 04:58 AM

Three of the Eurobasket womens 2007 semifinalists are revealed: Russia, Latvia, and surprising Belarus (over the Czech Republic). Belgium (led by Ann Wauters) and Spain will battle it out for the final semi spot (and one that will assure a Western European representative in this) in a matter of hours. The Czech Republic and Lithuania will join France and the Spain/Belgium loser to duke it out for that precious fifth place spot. Like to see Belgium get in, but Spain's got the experience and where they excell in the quarterfinals.

The Malian women's team receives very nice rewards for their incredible accomplishments upon their triumphant return home to the capital city of Bamako that will certainly help the development of Malian women's basketball in addition to their personal accolades when they visited the Malian president.
www.fiba-africa.com/en/lect_actu.php?titre=actu&id=1602 (http://www.fiba-africa.com/en/lect_actu.php?titre=actu&id=1602)

UPDATE: Spain defeats Belgium 72-53 to take the final semifinal spot. The semis are set with the Spanish taking on red-hot Belarus and Russia facing Latvia. I'm predicting a Russian Eurobasket double. Belgium fought hard having to work hard for every point and to close the gap Spain placed on them even with an effective Ann Wauters and her 22 points. The Belgians played their quaterfinal against Spain under a tragic circumstance--reserve forward Eveline Decroos' boyfriend died before the game and the news was a massive blow to the team when it reached them at lunchtime, who sported black tape on their jerseys in memoriam. What caused his death wasn't yet revealed. I hope to get that after the weekend. Decroos did not play nor was she on the bench. She and her family left Italy for home on Saturday morning. Because of this, they couldn't truly focus mentally and that resulted with Belgium making 23 turnovers despite constantly rallying from behind.

Who do I like to get that vital fifth spot for the second chance matches next year out of France, Belgium, Czech Republic, and Lithuania? I'll go with France. They're too talented, experienced, and athletic all through their roster to give that up and have French basketball something to smile about following the disappointing men in Spain (more on them soon). Would be nice to see either Belgium (for the aforementioned reason above) or Lithuania get it (has yet to make their Olympic women's basketball appearance).

Durbansandshark

10-10-2007, 04:27 AM

I picked wrong about France (I'll save it for the next post in this).... :(

This is what the Beijing 2008 women's basketball field will be potentially made of:

THE QUALIFIED:
China--hosts
Australia--World Champions
South Korea--Asian Champions
New Zealand--Oceanian Champions
Mali--African Champions
United States--Americas Champions
Russia--European Champions

REPACHARGE QUALIFIERS:
Japan and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)--Asia
Senegal and Angola--Africa
Cuba, Brazil, and Argentina--Americas
Spain, Belarus, Latvia, and Czech Republic--Europe
Fiji--Oceania

five teams will qualify for Beijing out the repecharge tournament

2sc945

14-10-2007, 08:47 PM

Durbansandshark

26-10-2007, 07:22 AM

For women's repecharge tournament, Fiji, Angola, Senegal, Chinese Taipei and Argentina won't qualify. The 4 European teams will fight it out with Brazil, Japan and Cuba.

My five: Brazil, Czech Republic, Spain, Cuba and Japan.

For men's tournament, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Korea Republic and Lebanon got no chance, Canada, Puerto Rico and Croatia got little chance, Greece is a class above the rest while Brazil, Germany, New Zealand and Slovenia will be in dogfight for the remaining 2 spots available.

My three: Greece, Germany and New Zealand.

After some thinking, it's easier to eliminate who will make it obviously: Fiji, like the Tall Ferns before them, should just be thanking the Opals for its direct Olympic qualification by winning the World Championship last year causing the Fijians going up one level than they normally would. Angola won't be able to join their brothers to Beijing, though it may be as organized like them. Although Senegal made it to the Sydney Olympics in 2000, this is seemingly a whole new collective this time around, and that lack of bigger international experience outside of the continent will hurt them--therefore I can't see two African teams in Beijing. Argentina will no doubt learn what it takes to win internationally and are maybe undersized. Wouldn't be an interesting story if Chinese Taipei makes it to Beijing with that subplot involving the People's Republic of China's hostile relationship with the "renegade province" that is Taiwan? They actually could make it IMHO.

I agree with almost all of your picks for the women except I would replace Cuba with either Chinese Taipei or Latvia. The European teams will always be solid. Spain is a lock and are damn good with Ana Montoya. I can't see Belarus qualifying but they did surprise in Eurobasket 2007 and showed they belonged in Europe's Division A. So they could do it again here. Czech Republic is another lock and are taking up the slack from their Slovakian neighbors. Brazil will still miss Janeth Arcain but they still have more than enough talent and physicality to get through. Japan is undersized but they are speedy and will run circles around their opponents. Cuba is just coming off of their hibernation

Man, I wish Canada and France were in this, for they have the tools to qualify (more on the French later)...

My Picks: Brazil, Spain, Czech Republic, Japan, Latvia

Over in the men: I agree about Cape Verde, Cameroon (even if they can get Reuben Boumje-Boumje and Germaine Njitap with Luc Mbah e Moute as a teammate), and Lebanon having no shot. Greece is tops and will go through. If Canada can get a healthy Andy Rautins from his torn ACL, and Steve Nash and Jamaal Magloire says yes to suit up for the Maple Leaf, I will pencil in the Canadians as they get better and deeper. They will have to fight it against New Zealand, Brazil, and Slovenia. Many of the players have some international experience that they can grow on. For now, I will cautiously have them in. Puerto Rico seen better days in the short term. Ditto for Croatia. But we could wrong about them. New Zealand is a bit undersized despite being in two straight Olympics. There's some more fights for those two spots after Greece. Dirk's gonna will the Germans to qualification unless they run into an African team that could give them problems like with what happened in Japan against Angola and Nigeria.

My three: Greece, Germany, and Canada

There's been some changes to the men's Olympic Qualification Tournament with respect to attaining a high standard of play and it got pushed closer to the Beijing 2008 with info on the format.
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews ... /arti.html (http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/langid/1/newsid/22428/arti.html)

France has got to be the biggest all-around disappointment in these continental qualification tournaments with both their men's and women's teams failing to qualify. I expected both to make to Beijing. Both finished eighth in their respective tournaments. How could they not understand the significance of these games? The FFBB administration failed mightily in reminding them of the signifcance. The men are probrably the biggest ones with all of the talent it assembled with Boris Diaw, Tony Parker, Ronny Turiaf, Tariq Kirksay, Yukhoba Diawarra, and Florent Pietrus with both offense and defense along with their athleticism. If they made it to the Olympic Qualification Tournament, they'd be a lock to get out. Poland beckons for them in 2009, so they must try again and ultimately get to London 2012. Over the women, yes, there was some young players playing in a big tournament in the senior level but they could stepped up their game. And more younger, more athletic players will make their way into both roster. To say the least, I'm very disappointed in them. I worry that London would be a bridge too far for Sandra LeDrean, Audrey Sauret, Sandra Dijon, and Edwidge Lawson. Where's the courage and heart? Expect coaching changes in both the men and women programs.

Meanwhile, Team GB has a lot to be very happy with now. Both its men's and women's teams earned promotion into Eurobasket Division A, a very important thing to do to have automatic qualification with London 2012 looming. 37-year old Andrea Cogreaves, in her final game for England/Great Britain, led the Brits to a 60-58 win over The Netherlands with her 14 points for Mark Clark's side in The Netherlands on September 28. The Brits won on agreggate in the home and home series against the Dutch despite previously losing to the Portugal, previously destroying The Netherlands 68-32. Australian-born Scot Megan Moody added her own 14 to go with her 10 rebounds. Joining them for promotion will be Bosnia-Herzegovina, who defeated Norway. With the men, Britain came to Geneva, Switzerland to gain one of those two promotion spots and won convincingly 87-79 over the Swiss and Thabo Sefalosha's 17 points. Robert Archibald netted 23 points and hauled six rebounds while Luol Deng has 22 points and five rebounds. Finland, coached by former Germany coach Henrik Dettman, a Finn, got promoted too after knocking off Romania. I can imagine a very solid and competitive British team in the near future with Deng, Archibald, Ben Gordon, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, 18-year old Ashley Hamilton, Richard Midgley, Andrew Sullivan, Daniel Clark, Eric Boateng, Kelenna Azuibuike, Neil Fraser, among them. Look for a recap on Luol Deng's attempt to put British basketball on the international map in SLAM magazine soon.

EA Sports' NBA Live 2008 isn't the only video game featuring FIBA teams. A basketball manager game has hit the market for the PC in Europe carrying the FIBA license by Dadaelic and Germany's Xider Games. Unlike NBA Live, this features all of the teams from Eurobasket 2007 in Spain and those from the 2006 World Basketball Championship in Japan, including the Boomers and the Tall Blacks (no Canada... :( ). It's called FIBA Basketball Manager 2008. Of course, when SEGA releases its official Beijing 2008 video game next year leading up to the Games, basketball will be included and I assume both the men's and women's games will be in it.
www.basketballmanager-game.com (http://www.basketballmanager-game.com)
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Lk0dv11Mw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Lk0dv11Mw)

Durbansandshark

03-11-2007, 05:43 AM

Want some Canada Basketball gear? A whole new batch of Canada Basketball gear from Nike has just arrived recently to take a look at or buy! :D

http://shop.basketball.ca

N B Net

05-11-2007, 01:45 PM

$70.00 for a golf shirt seems a bit much!!! As for the women's repechage...my picks are: Spain, Czech, Brazil, Argentina and Japan.

2sc945

05-11-2007, 10:04 PM

$70.00 for a golf shirt seems a bit much!!! As for the women's repechage...my picks are: Spain, Czech, Brazil, Argentina and Japan.

Argentino women's b'ball fall dramatically since 06 WC, atm they are actually weaker than Chinese Taipei.

N B Net

16-11-2007, 01:29 PM

Their 06WC team were all youngsters. They were only losing one player from the team that finished a respectable 9th.

Durbansandshark

17-11-2007, 08:00 AM

Most of the Argentine players are youngsters, so that in itself is cause for them not to qualify. None of the players are currently in the WNBA or ever played there as far as I know, and all but one (Laura Nicolini plays for Caligari in Italy Serie A2) are just playing professionally in Argentina.

Durbansandshark

07-12-2007, 08:01 AM

My first significant memory of German basketball came when I was small watching a road game of then-undefeated Missouri Tigers at the University of Washington on TV one weekday evening in 1982. Because it was on from the west coast, it was 9:30pm in St. Louis. Consequently, I didn't see the whole thing. The Tigers lost that game, but I saw a glimpse of the changing face of international basketball. Thanks to Washington coach Marv Williams and his staff, it was my first exposure to Detlef Schrempf and Christian Welp, the two highly touted Germans. Detlef had a moustache that he would later take off when he was a Dallas Maverick. There have been some foriegn players making marks in the NCAA like the late Kresimir Cosic at BYU (he converted to Mormonism later in his life) and Eddie Palubinskas at LSU, but they were mostly, if I recall, Canadians. But Schrempf and Welp were the among the leaders, along with fellow German Uwe Blab of Indiana, Bridgeport's Manute Bol and Fresno St.'s Jos Kuipers from The Netherlands, of a new generation of college basketball players coming to America (excluding Canadians) in the 80s. Schrempf and Welp helped make the Washington Huskies into a power out of the Pac-10. Blab was a standout center at Indiana under Bobby Knight, and his brother Olaf was about to play next door in Illinois--I don't remember seeing Olaf playing much there if at all. But Uwe was under constant criticism from Knight for not being in playing shape. Blab, Schrempf, and Welp all attended US high schools as exchange students before arriving in US colleges. While living in Seattle as both in high school and college, Schrempf was further honing his hoops skills out on the playgrounds doling it out streetball-style. With those three, they became the young cornerstones for the 1984 West German Olympic basketball team in Los Angeles, a team coached by an American who knew about the German basketball scene at the time. Following three consecutive losses to Yugoslavia, Italy, and Australia, they won two victories over Egypt and France to somehow make it into the quarterfinals against the vaunted Americans coached by--you guessed it!--one of Satan's numerous spawns. West Germany actually would qualified for Moscow 1980 in basketball, but they of course joined the US boycott along with Argentina, Puerto Rico (the commonwealth island did participate in the Games), and China. So Los Angeles was my first opportunity to see them in action as West Germany. The Boomers subsequently repeated their win over them for seventh place. I presumed if the Germans were able to keep their rising young core, West Germany would rise among Europe. But it wasn't to be.

Just remember that Dallas has a tradition of having Germans on their rosters before the Dirkster with Schrempf and Blab being there almost two full decades before Nowitzki's arrival. I don't know exactly what is it with the Germans and Texas. Schrempf and Blab were bench players then with Schrempf earning more playing timke than his countrymen behind Harper, Aguirre, Vincent, Perkins, and Donaldson. Schrempf has some potential there in the Big D. It wasn't until Detlef's trade to Indiana that he really blossomed to a star. He became the first European to play in the NBA All-Star game in 1993, and would've made a longshot MVP candidate. As for Welp and Blab, they had little NBA impact, was it due to prejudice from coaches and GMs because they are foriegn, or was it the fact their games weren't translatable to the NBA level effectively? In fact, Welp and Blab were traded for each other by San Antonio and Golden St. in 1990. Basketball was never big in East Germany, it must be noted.

It was during this span, even after reunification, that German basketball was beginning to wane from its fleeting popularity despite adequate coverage of Schrempf's successful exploits in the NBA from the German public and the media alike. Then again, the media there never really has given basketball true love, except when it tried to play in Eurobaskets and in Olympic qualifications. But even it was minimal in the past on ARD and ZDF. Schrempf declined to participate for Germany's international basketball oportunities numerous times then. So it was left to the likes of Blab, Welp (those two also weren't always available for national tesam duty), former Alaska-Anchorage star Hansi Gnad, who was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ERS and was taken by the Miami Heat in the 1988 expansion draft but never played in the NBA and continued to play in the German Bundesliga up to his early 40s, dunking extrordinaire Henning Harnisch, Canadian-born Michael Jaeckel, Michael Koch, former North Carolina Tar Heel Henrik Rodl, and Jens Kuwaja. With those players and Schrempf in the summer of 1992, Germany qualified out of Europe for Barcelona with a narrow win over Slovenia. They eventually finished seventh in Barcelona, partly due to the over-reliance of Detlef Schrempf, though his presence made them better depth-wise. The following year's Eurobasket 93 with Germany serving as host, and their winning in it wasn't predicted. Welp made a clutch play in the waning seconds of the final against Russia by making a basket at the foot of the key and drawing the foul. He shoots his "and 1" and Germany stunningly wins in front of their fans in Munich. And they did all without Schrempf's services at all! They were as "Team of the Year" by the German press with a public wave of enthusiasm for basketball, but things began to detiorate again for the state of German basketball as it went back to where it formerly was. Dirk Bauermann left to coach in the Bundesliga and Finn Henrik Dettman took over.

DSF, the top cable German sports network, used to show basketball in the years immediately following the Eurobasket successful, but reduced its coverage of the basketball Bundesliga after that. Ratings plummeted for them and that of the national teams when German youth got transfixed with the NBA becoming a brand name overseas and of Michael Jordan. Newspapers and magazines stopped covering the domestic sport as much.

Then of course German basketball got a lucky break in the form of a David Hasselhoff-humming lanky youngster from Wurzburg named Dirk Nowitzki, whose eventual superstar status rejuvanted interest in German basketball, was drafted by the Mavs in 1998. With his play on the nation team, they enjoyed a renaisscience. Germany lost in the semis to Turkey in OT, and a demoralized German squad wound up fourth. The next year, success returned when they won over the surprising Tall Blacks for bronze at the World Basketball Championships in Indianapolis.

To be continued...

West

07-12-2007, 09:36 AM

Am I supposed to read all that?

Durbansandshark

07-12-2007, 09:55 AM

I'll add some more stuff pertaining to that and more in several hours.

Durbansandshark

08-12-2007, 03:24 AM

FIBA will announce over the weekend in Chicago on December 8-9 during their Central Board Meeting where the Olympic Qualification Tournaments will take place. Candidate cities are:

MEN: Athens and San Juan WOMEN: Tokyo and Madrid

I'm picking Athens (some reference to the last Summer Olympics) and Tokyo (proximity to Beijing)

2sc945

12-12-2007, 08:22 PM

MEN: Athens

WOMEN: Madrid

European teams will enjoy huge advantages next year.

Durbansandshark

29-12-2007, 07:44 AM

They sure will.

Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic was recently given a two-year extension as head coach good up to 2010. My question is what's going to happen to his status, assuming as widely expected, despite NZ's solid experience in international basketball, that they will qualify for Beijing? The Tall Blacks will be undersized as usual, so they may have to hope for matchups that will favo(u)r them or their international experience may carry them through for their third consecutive Olympic appearance. Yes, his Nelson Giants won the 2007 Dominion Finance NZBL title, but the Tall Blacks are 6-11 under his tenure.

In honor of those royally shafted 466 members of the 1980 US Olympic Team that was supposed to participate in Moscow but couldn't go in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and thus got their long-awaited Congressional medals, I will try to remember who was on the basketball teams.

I'll start with the men: Dave Gavitt--coach (Providence), Isiah Thomas (Indiana), Sam Bowie (Kentucky), Rolando Blackman (Kansas St.), Mark Aguirre (DePaul), Michael Brooks (LaSalle), Bill Hanzlik (Notre Dame), Darnell Valentine (Kansas), Danny Vranes (Utah), Buck Williams (Maryland), Al Wood (North Carolina), Rodney McCray (Louisville). Oh yeah, that awful head coach 24 years later, Larry Brown, then of UCLA, was an assistant to Gavitt. Maybe he should've avoided it again that time.

Women--Ann Donovan (Old Dominion), Carol Blazejowski (Montclair St.), Jill Rankin (Tennessee), Cindy Noble (Tennessee), Rosie Walker (Stephen F. Austin St.), Lynette Woodward (Kansas), LaTaunya Pollard (Long Beach St.), Debra Miller (Boston), Holly Warlick (Tennessee), Tara Heiss (Maryland), Kris Kirchner (Maryland), Denise Curry (UCLA)
Sue Gunther--coach (UCLA) Pat Summitt--assistant (Tennessee)

Argentina, Canada, China, Puerto Rico, and West Germany all boycotted the men's comp.

Durbansandshark

10-01-2008, 06:59 AM

It's worth noting that Puerto Rico actually DID participate in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which is very interesting since it's a US Commonwealth and would expectedly toe the US line. Some of the other US territories like the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam either did not set up their NOCs yet or automatically joined the boycott. I like to read about this interesting Puerto Rico Moscow story; it refused use of their flag or anthem at the games.

Durbansandshark

15-01-2008, 10:50 AM

Here's the draw for the Pre-Olympic Qualifications--Women (Madrid)

Group A--Japan, Latvia, Senegal
Group B--Angola, Argentina, Czech Republic
Group C--Brazil, Fiji, Spain
Group D--Belarus, Chinese Taipei, Cuba

Quarterfinalist winners automatically go to Beijing. The losers will go into a pool of four teams with the top finisher getting the fifth (and last) women's Olympic qualification spot. The victors can go home with a win and energize themselves for Beijing.

Predictions:
Group A--1. Latvia 2. Japan 3. Senegal
Group B--1. Czech Republic 2. Argentina 3. Angola
Group C--1. Brazil 2. Spain 3. Fiji
Group D--1. Belarus 2. Cuba 3. Chinese Taipei

Quarterfinals:
Latvia over Argentina
Czech Republic over Japan
Brazil over Cuba
Spain over Belarus

Fifth Place Finisher: Belarus

More on how Aidin Bahrami's fatal car crash that also claimed the life of his fiancee rocked Iranian basketball:
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews ... /arti.html (http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/fibaEven/olymMen/p/newsid/23159/arti.html)

2sc945

20-01-2008, 03:54 PM

FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women (Madrid)

Predictions:

Group A--1. Latvia 2. Japan 3. Senegal
Group B--1. Czech Republic 2. Argentina 3. Angola
Group C--1. Spain 2. Brazil 3. Fiji
Group D--1. Cuba 2. Belarus 3. Chinese Taipei

Quarterfinals:

Latvia over Argentina
Czech Republic over Japan
Spain over Belarus
Brazil over Cuba

Fifth Place Finisher: Cuba

Czech Interior Decorator

20-01-2008, 07:50 PM

There have been some foriegn players making marks in the NCAA like the late Kresimir Cosic at BYU (he converted to Mormonism later in his life) and Eddie Palubinskas at LSU, but they were mostly, if I recall, Canadians.

Please, one of the greatest Australian players of all time. The Shot Doctor was inducted into the Basketball Australia's Hall of Fame in August last year. From the LSU web site:

Known as one of Australian basketball's most colorful personalities, Palubinskas represented Australia at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich where he finished second in the tournament for most points scored. He came back in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal to be the tournament's leading scorer.

Palubinskas was the first Australian to make an impact on the American college scene, playing for LSU. He would lead the nation in free throw percentage in both junior college and at LSU and led the team in scoring in 1973 at 18.6 points per game. He twice also led the Tigers in assists, including a 4.1 average in 1973.

When the Atlanta Hawks selected him in 1973, Palubinskas became the first Australian basketball player drafted in the NBA.

In retirement, Palubinskas has become known for his painting and artistic ability and he has used his free throw shooting talents to work with teams and individuals around the world.

Not forgetting he probably has blazed the trail that our next generation of greats will tread. Guys like Mills and Ogilvy have very big shoes to fill.

Bobby

25-01-2008, 02:01 AM

Durbansandshark

25-01-2008, 09:21 AM

Isiah and international basketball repping the USA just didn't mix. He had bad luck not just with the boycott but of the injuries in 1994. (Tim Hardaway was also unfortunate in 1994) Part of me thinks he wasn't selected for the original Dream Team was of his alienation of the Big Three that were Magic, Michael, and Larry, supposedly and especially Michael for when he was a rookie in 1985 by leading a "freezeout" of him by not passing him the ball in the All-Star Game in reaction to Jordan allegedly showing up and not earning his rep yet (like wearing his Nike Air Jordan warmups in the slam dunk contest). Therefore he was punished for that. But he was deserving of international play.

A thing I need to mention here about the the 1980 women was of the fact this was last time the AIAW was involved in women's athletics in an Olympic year. The NCAA of course took over in 1982. So this was why noticed a lot of the smaller schools in abundance like Montclair St. and a few from what-are-now mid-majors on the roster. Sue Gunter's international story is sad, because she, like many of the players on that team, didn't get another chance to perform internationally. I already dealt with Gunter on college basketball 2006-07. Pokey Chatman, her successor who left amid allegations of questionable sexual behavior with a former player, landed an assistant coach's job at Russia's Spartak Moscow.

Time now for a little taste of YouTube, international basketball style

Lithuania up to Eurobasket 2007
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJZVqMz6r5c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJZVqMz6r5c)

A shameful moment in international basketball: no, not the False Team, but the Eurobasket 1995 final in Athens featuring Yugoslavia and Lithuania. Controversy in the forms of bad refereeing, Yugoslavia's flagrant fouls, and the sense of anarchy spoiled what should've been on paper a very enjoyable game. But it's remembered for all the wrong reasons. Greek fans booed their Slavic brothers making the Serb salute to fans infuriating them, and yes, you do get to see the Croatians infamously walk off the podium after all the medals were awarded (and that's a story in its own right). Wish the whole game was on though.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5srP3D5tE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5srP3D5tE)

A look at how basketball touched the San community in southern Angola and northern Namibia, belived to be the first inhabitants of the western side of southern Africa until the Bantus came over. Taken from TPA, Angolan Public Television, during Afrobasket 2007--sorry, subtitles in Portuguese. Nice video! :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=24PMCxkFagw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24PMCxkFagw)

The last few minutes of Spain vs. Yugoslavia in the Los Angeles 1984 men's basketball Olympic semis that Spain won. From TVE.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-EWKaIfAeA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-EWKaIfAeA)

The final moments of the 2002 FIBA World Basketball title game in Indianapolis between Yugoslavia (yes still Serbia and Montenegro) and Argentina from NBC Sports. I missed this when it was on. Seemingly, that country's last big basketball hurrah was from at the moment. All that Serbian pride is now gone. Hope to get the full game soon. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfV73c5DN3E (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfV73c5DN3E)

A much more unified Yugoslavia beats Italy in Moscow 1980. The Italians started to injure the Yuogslav players in the dying seconds of the game, starining out the inevitable. First time I actually saw any significant footage of the game anywhere. Glad it's on YouTube!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufwdkmuE7Ak (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufwdkmuE7Ak)

UPDATE: Spain has just thrown its hat in the ring as a contender for the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Championship. I would not be shocked if it gets it with all of the arenas already existing and a few about to be built like the Real Madrid Basketball Pavillion, part of the venues for Madrid's 2014 Olympic bid.

Draw for the FIBA Olympic Men's Basketball Qualifiers in Athens at the OAKA Sports Arena is January 31. It goes up to at least the semis and third place game.

Over in the EuroLeague women, Lille Metropole climbs TTT Riga to go into the quarterfinals with a win over Fernerbahce 60-59 in Group A.

Durbansandshark

01-02-2008, 05:53 AM

Draw results for the 2008 Men's Olympic Qualification Tournament in Athens:

Group A--Brazil, Greece, Lebanon
Group B--Cape Verde, Germany, New Zealand
Group C--Canada, South Korea, Slovenia
Group D--Cameroon, Croatia, Puerto Rico

First two finishers of the groups advance to the quarterfinals, like in the women's format. But quarterfinalists progress to the semis. Winners of the semis automatically qualify to Beijing with the losers play for the final qualification spot.

Predictions:
Group A--1. Greece 2. Brazil 3. Lebanon
Group B--1. Germany 2. New Zealand 3. Cape Verde
Group C--1. Slovenia 2. Canada 3. South Korea
Group D--1. Puerto Rico 2. Croatia 3. Cameroon

Greece over New Zealand
Germany over Brazil
Slovenia over Croatia
Canada over Puerto Rico

Greece over Canada
Germany over Slovenia

Third place finisher: Canada

Durbansandshark

20-02-2008, 11:23 AM

The 2nd FIBA Women's Diamond Ball draw:

Group A: Australia, China, Mali
Group B: Japan, Russia, USA

Competition is from August 2-5 in Haining, China

Denmark, I kid you not, applies to host the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Championship. Danish Basketball is doing this with the Hans Christian Andersen Arena, slated to open in 2009, in Copenhagen serving as the centerpiece for it and as a significant event for the new arena to host with Aarhus's NRGI Arena acting as another of the venues and maybe the older 10,000-seat Copenhagen Forum. I don't know...Denmark will get overlooked in favor of Spain and France, since it lacks the much-needed FIBA pedigree in international competition before hosting. I would be more comfortable with Sweden doing this, since it has a more consistent taste of top-level international ball than Denmark. Denmark really needs to boost its competition play to get into Division A Eurobasketball before thinking about 2014.

Durbansandshark

08-03-2008, 06:57 AM

Based on what's going with Kosovo's contentious struggle for independence by signing of its UDI, I need to address my thoughts on the situation regarding Kosovo and FIBA. Right now in the face of strong opposition from Serbia and its big brother Russia and pro-independence from many Western nations, until the UN decides to admit Kosovo in, FIBA will not make any compromising moves towards them since Serbia, a major basketball power, is displeased with it. Few international sports governing bodies recognize it except for IHF and ETTF. The IOC is willing to admit Kosovo, but the nation needs admittance into them, including FIBA. Plus there's a wide consensus that Kosovo's athletes aren't likely to qualify in time for Beijing. Don't look for Kosovo to join FIBA this year until the political situation settles. More later next time...

Durbansandshark

12-03-2008, 10:41 AM

The Russian Federation submitted their consideration for the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Championship.

Basketball New Zealand bids for the 2009 U19 FIBA World Basketball tournament.

China brings Donn Nelson as their assistant for Beijing.

Durbansandshark

04-04-2008, 11:14 AM

Jay Triano and Leo Rautins, two of the finest Canadian basketball players of all time, remember their thoughts about the Canadian men's basketball team in 1980 that ended up not going to the Moscow Olympics despite qualifying becuase the Liberal goverment of the late then-PM Pierre Elliott Tradeau joined the US-led boycott, which they always feel was a big mistake. One since made subsequent Olympics as a player while another didn't. Both have spent time as Canada's coaches two decades later.
www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=1860 (http://www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=1860)

A side note, Australian PM at the time, Malcolm Fraser, just admitted that forced attempts to boycott Moscow was a mistake too.

2sc945

14-04-2008, 04:28 PM

USA junior select team beats world team 98-78

PORTLAND, Ore.: Demar DeRozan scored 17 points and Scott Hopson and Drew Gordon each had 15, leading the USA junior national select team to a 98-78 victory over the world select team Saturday in the annual Nike Hoop Summit.

Jrue Holiday added 13 points and five assists while Tyreke Evans had 11 points and eight rebounds for the USA team.

"We only had a practice and a scrimmage, but most of us have known each other for two years, so it really wasn't that hard," Holiday said.

The international team, which featured players from 11 countries, was led by 7-foot-1 Alexis Ajinca of France. He had 13 points and nine rebounds.

The annual game matches the top high school players from the United States against players 19 years and younger from other nations. The world team also included 7-foot-4 Boban Marjanovic of Serbia.

"The world team was big, so it was hard for us to go to the hole," DeRozan said. "So we had to adjust and get a couple of steals and just run them."

The USA led 43-42 with nine minutes left in the third quarter. Holiday led an 11-0 run with a 3-pointer and a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Evans.

"We were faster than they were, so we just trying to push the ball and get some easy fast-break lay-ups," Holiday said.

It became 85-62 behind the play of Al-Farouq Aminu, who scored seven points in a 2 1/2-minute span. He finished with 10 points.

Mammon

16-04-2008, 03:58 PM

New Zealand Tall Fern squad for the Good Luck Beijing tournament:

Suzie Bates, Clare Bodensteiner, Micaela Cocks, Toni Edmondson, Jillian Harmon, Aneka Kerr, Karlene Kingi, Angela Marino, Jess McCormack, Natalie Purcell, Lisa Wallbutton and Noni Wharemate.

Head Coach: Mike McHugh

this squad should be very close to the final squad for the beijing olympics.

Lethal Vertical

16-04-2008, 09:01 PM

Am I the only one who raised their eyebrows at a few of those names?

Or do I simply have an overactive imagination? :lol:

HunterPirates

17-04-2008, 05:47 PM

bodensteiner and cocks haha

Shannon Noll

17-04-2008, 10:21 PM

Durbansandshark

25-04-2008, 09:38 AM

Spartak Moscow women are now 2008 Russian Superleague semifinalists with a win over Dynamo Kursk 80-74. Spartak's final margin was the closest any opposing team had to them since Spartak's loss to CSKA. Without Taurasi, Spartak spread their offense evenly or close to it again their five starters. LJ had 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks in her 21 minutes of contribution while being in both foul trouble and struggling from the range. Sue Bird led the team with 15 points in scoring. Matkovic gained a valubale 12 points.

Spartak await the winner of BC Moscow-Vologda Chevakata. CSKA and UMMC won their respective Game 2s.

Spartak won their second consecutive Euroleague title over Gambrinus Brno 75-60. Lauren Jackson earned MVP hono(u)rs. More details later next week.

Durbansandshark

10-05-2008, 06:37 AM

Looking for some news and info on Swedish basketball? Looky here.
http://www.basketsverige.se (in Swedish of course)

Nike officially outfits the national basketball programs of:

United States
Canada
France
Germany
Serbia
Greece
Turkey
Slovenia
Croatia
The Netherlands(?)
Russia(?)
Mexico
China
Lithuania

Durbansandshark

03-06-2008, 05:42 AM

More good news is coming to Team GB: Chicago Bull and Luol Deng's teammate Ben Gordon announced he will don the colo(u)rs for British in a series of summer matches. More later...

Durbansandshark

10-06-2008, 08:51 AM

Women's Olympic Qualification has just started today at the Telefonica Arena Madrid. Here are the results so far:

June 9
Spain 113 Fiji 42 (GROUP C)
Czech Republic 77 Argentina 55 (GROUP B)
Latvia 94 Senegal 34 (GROUP A)
Cuba 96 Chinese Taipei 79 (GROUP D)

Durbansandshark

11-06-2008, 06:31 AM

The Women's Olympic Qualification Tournament will inevitably get lost in the midst of the EURO 2008 fever going on right now in terms of attention:

Day 2
Brazil 125 Fiji 45
Japan 71 Senegal 69
Cuba 68 Belarus 58

Brazil, Cuba, and Japan have all clinch spot in the quarterfinals with very likely Latvia and Spain to join them. Erika De Souza was supposed to be with the Brazilian team until her injury while playing with the new WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream, changed that plan. That means her absence brings forth more minutes for Kelly at center. Argentina, looking to emulate the men in qualifying to Beijing, has suffered dual blows with the injuries of stars Caroline Sanchez (suspected broken nose in her game against the Czech Republic being nearly unstaoppable with 18 points in the first half) and Gisela Vega.

MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and Skyblog now have a new neighbor in the social networking biz. FIBA has gotten into the act with MYFIBA, and that is aggressively promoted in FIBA's Olympic Qualification Tournaments, starting with the women's one in Madrid. Erin Philips and Patrick Mills are among the latest to join in as members! www.myfiba.com (http://www.myfiba.com)

I'm really intrigued by what EA Sports could do for FIBA with its exclusive license on the latest installment of NBA Live 2009. Rather, I'm intrigued by the potential of what it could be in it now and in the future. I do believe there will be more national teams with Australia, Canada, Lithuania, and New Zealand ought to be included to give a few nations mention. Surely unlike last time with getting the FIBA license very late in development, NBA Live production team now have ample time to implement more of the FIBA rules and teams. Perhaps maybe a tournament. I would like to see them use at least the nations that played in Eurobasket, Tournament of the Americas, and the FIBA World Basketball Championship in Japan with several other nations thrown in from Africa and Asia to start, whether or not they cannot get international pro leagues.

Durbansandshark

12-06-2008, 09:05 AM

Day 2 Update
Angola 59 Argentina 58

Day 3

Brazil 71 Spain 68
Latvia 83 Japan 69
Belarus 81 Chinese Taipei 65
Czech Republic 86 Angola 54

Quarterfinals:
Brazil vs. Belarus
Cuba vs. Spain
Latvia vs. Angola
Czech Republic vs. Japan

Winners of the quarterfinals automatically got to Beijing. Losers will fight for that last ticket in the semis. My picks are Latvia, Spain, Brazil, Czech Republic, with Belarus getting the last spot over Cuba.

N B Net

12-06-2008, 03:31 PM

Big win for Brazil over Spain on their home turf. And what's this about Brazil playing defense?!!! I thought they were all about out scoring the other teams!!!

Durbansandshark

14-06-2008, 06:06 AM

Spain, Latvia, Czech Republic, and Belarus have all qualified to go to Beijing. Still hopeful for Brazil to get the last spot and should.

Durbansandshark

17-06-2008, 08:04 AM

The Brazilian women, with their deep international experience, claimed the final invitation to go to Beijing with a thrilling win over the Cubans 72-67 on Sunday in Madrid...but not before a nasty breakup within the Brazilian camp. I'll get to that next time.

So my predictions as to who's going were accurate. :)

Durbansandshark

19-06-2008, 06:03 AM

Before I get to recap the Madrid women's Olympic basketball qualifications, I'm getting word that for the upcoming NBA Live 2009 game, the international teams will go from 8 to 24 this year. So the Boomers will be included. Plus, MVPs in tourneys, trapazoidal key, stat tracking, and very possibly the Be A Pro mode.

Durbansandshark

27-06-2008, 09:37 AM

EA Sports' NBA Live 09 announces there will be 24 national teams in the latest installment of the long-running series, thus making it 3 times as much last year. I mentioned the Boomers will be in it, so here's my list of who I think will make the 24 team international FIBA cut with the 8 original teams already in and first:

USA
Germany
Greece
Spain
France
China
Italy
Argentina
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Brazil
Great Britain
Lithuania
Russia
Turkey
Serbia
Japan
Angola
Nigeria
Slovenia
Israel
Croatia
Puerto Rico

The criteria behind the teams in is mostly of the fact that most of the teams in it will have at least one player currently in the NBA, and under FIBA regulations, have played in a major international tournament. Superstar or top players for their respective teams are usually the drawing card for them. There are exceptions like Angola, which, despite being a longstanding African powerhouse for over two decades, does not have an NBA player on the national team. Joaquim Gomes, who played in Valparaiso years ago, is the closest. Luol Deng's cover appearance on UK copies of the NBA Live 09 game more than assures that Team GB will appear in it, plus given the fact Team GB is a team on the rise in European basketball competition, having earned promotion into Division A and ready to qualify for Eurobasket 2009 in Poland, the upcoming London 2012 Olympics that it hopes to appear in (even though the IOC can give Great Britian automatic qualification, FIBA, wanting to maintain high competition standards at the Olympics, wants them to at least qualify into Division A and be a mainstay there leading up to it), and the significant UK video game market. I'm looking forward to play as Team GB in the near future. Israel's in due to the fact that, with no NBA players from the country (does have Shay Doron in the WNBA, however) in spite of past draftees Doron Sheffer and Oded Katash, it has a very strong basketball league for years with a premiere team in Eurobasket in Maccabi Tel Aviv. That can't be ignored. Japan's in with its own big video game market, hosting the last FIBA World Basketball Championship, and Yuta Tabutse having a cup of NBA coffee.

This does eliminate some worthy nations like Senegal, South Korea, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Latvia, Ukraine, Poland (next Eurobasket hosts), Switzerland (has Thabo Sefalosha but still a minnow), Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Uruguay, The Netherlands (was in 1992's Team USA Basketball game on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, despite never actually competed in Barcelona), Georgia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Macedonia, Belgium, Hungary, and Kazakhstan. I sincerely hope in the coming years, NBA Live will incorporate a FIBA World Basketball qualification tournament in each of the regions to get to Turkey and win. Get the licences for the basketball league worldwide too, including for many in this post, the NBL.

Pau Gasol and Andrea Bargnani will reprise their cover appearances in Spain and Italy, respectively. Vassilis Spanoulis was on the Greek edition of NBA Live though he barely played for Houston last season

Onto the developments of Canada Basketball. Canada is having their training camp in flight right now at Toronto's Air Canada Centre but with some controversy. Toronto's own Denham Brown, now at Italy's Tesittanta Cantu, inexplicably did not appear for camp this past weekend. Reasons weren't given, and Brown did missed previous team meetings. No, Nash isn't there. On June 30 to July 5, Team Canada takes part as hosts of the 2008 Jack Donahue International Classic in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario playing five games against the Tall Blacks and just crowed West Asian champs Lebanon, both like Canada will fight to qualify for Beijing in 17 days in Athens. Canada first play the Tall Blacks on July 1, Canada Day. All games are at McMaster College (Hamilton) and Ricoh Coliseum (Toronto), first ever time games are to be held there. After that international exhibitions in Germany en route to Greece. National team coach Leo Rautins has a blog on the goings-on with Canada. Check it out: www.basketball.ca/en/hm/blog/?sid=208 (http://www.basketball.ca/en/hm/blog/?sid=208)

Beijing 2008 Women's Draw:
GROUP A: Australia, Belarus, Brazil, South Korea, Latvia, Russia
GROUP B: China, Czech Republic, Mali, New Zealand, Spain, USA

Madrid Olympic Qualification Tournament:
June 14
Brazil 75 Angola 58
Cuba 66 Japan 58

June 15
Brazil 72 Cuba 67

Latvia will replace Japan in the upcoming women's FIBA Diamond Ball Cup in China after Japan's withdrawal, apparently upset and embarassed over the Japanese's failure to qualify.

Durbansandshark

09-07-2008, 09:32 AM

I was correct with almost all of the national teams unveiled for the upcoming NBA Live 2009, missed on one. The list is USA, Argentina, China, Spain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, Brazil, Lithuania, Slovenia, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Great Britain (as England?), Croatia, Iran, Australia, and Serbia. Pasta Padre writer who did the hands-on look for the game failed to note the six other teams. So I'm thinking Canada (has to be there), New Zealand (hopefully to be there for it now has international pedigree), Japan (very big video game market and hosts of as a reminder of 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship), Nigeria, Angola, Mexico (Eduardo Najera), and Israel. Iran, whom I didn't pick, is there largely because of the fact they qualified for Beijing. You can read additional details on this hands-on report of NBA Live 2009 from Pasta Padre with some additional details from Pasta himself in the feedback below. http://www.pastapadre.com/2696/nba-live ... -on-report (http://www.pastapadre.com/2696/nba-live-09-hands-on-report)

Mammon

09-07-2008, 08:33 PM

Sad news for New Zealand

July 8, 2008

http://www.basketball.org.nz/resources/uploads/2008/07/xxx-world-champs-v-russia-aug-02-photosport-edit.jpg
Murray McMahon (third from right) with the 2002 Tall Blacks in Indianapolis

The NZ Tall Blacks were remembering a lost friend and his whanau as they prepared for their opening game of the Alpos Cup tournament in Slovenia today.

Former national representative and, more recently, assistant coach Murray McMahon (64) passed away yesterday, failing to regain consciousness after a heart attack while playing last week.

Most of the Tall Blacks have had some association with McMahon, who capped a long coaching career by steering the Waikato Pistons to the Dominion Finance NBL championship just two weeks ago.

At international level, he is best remembered for his role as video coach under Tab Baldwin during the 2002 FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis, where New Zealand stunned basketball’s elite by making the semifinals.

Fittingly, his contribution to the sport was marked earlier this year when he received the Sir Lance Cross Award for services to basketball.

The oldest man to have played in the National Basketball League at the age of 52, back in 1996, he remained competitive out on court into his 60s. If there is one slight consolation to his death, it was that he suffered his heart attack immediately after converting a lay-up.

McMahon would have enjoyed that.

“Murray was a valued member of the Tall Black family and we are all saddened by the loss,” says head coach Nenad Vucinic, assistant coach of that trailblazing team six years ago.

“For those of us who knew Murray, I’m sure he would have been happy with the way he went … but it was still too soon and unexpected.

“We will remember Murray as our mentor and our thoughts go out to his family in this hard time.”

Fittingly, the Tall Blacks face Puerto Rico in their tournament opener tonight, the team McMahon helped defeat in the world championship quarterfinals. The Kiwis will wear black bands on their white singlets and organizers have granted a minute’s silence before the game.

PS this is the 100th reply of this great thread.

Durbansandshark

10-07-2008, 10:06 AM

Thanks for that Mammon. I was thinking about writing the sad news here. Really unfortunate that has to be the 100th post to this thread.

We're days away from the FIBA Olympic Basketball Qualification Tournament in Athens. There will be plenty to cover and stuff I know about but haven't got around to; some teams for example may not have their star players on baord to put their best feet forward. Here's the Canadian men's roster.

G Jermaine Anderson (Polak Swiecie-POL)
C Joel Anthony (Miami Heat)
G Rowan Barrett (Chalon Sur-Saone-FRA)
F Rans Brempong (Bayer Leverkusen-GER)
C Samuel Dalembert (Philadelphia 76ERS)
G Carl English (Gran Canaria-SPA)
F Olu Famutimi (Khimik-UKR)
F Levon Kendall (Paninios--GRE)
G Tyler Kepkay (University of Utah)
G Andy Rautins (Syracuse University)
F David Thomas (Melbourne Tigers)
F Jesse Young (Estuadiantes--SPA)

Canadians can watch at least the first two games of the Athens journey on The Score live at 5am (Canada CST) first against Slovenia and then South Korea on July 15 and 16 respectively.

Remember the suggestion I brought up about a Commonwealth Basketball Cup to further develop the overall level of basketball within it during the Commonwealth Gamees? FIBA annouced this will take place three months before the start of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, where basketball isn't part of the itinerary. Eight teams will take part with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Great Britain (as England?), Nigeria, and likely South Africa and Barbados if not Cameroon. A women's counterpart will take place announced at a later time outside of India.

Durbansandshark

15-07-2008, 09:40 AM

Athens Men's Olympic Qualification Tournament

July 14
New Zealand 77 Cape Verde 50
Slovenia 88 South Korea 76
Croatia 93 Cameroon 79
Greece 119 Lebanon 62

Cram

15-07-2008, 02:07 PM

Durbansandshark

16-07-2008, 05:40 AM

Remember the suggestion I brought up about a Commonwealth Basketball Cup to further develop the overall level of basketball within it during the Commonwealth Gamees? FIBA annouced this will take place three months before the start of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, where basketball isn't part of the itinerary. Eight teams will take part with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Great Britain (as England?), Nigeria, and likely South Africa and Barbados if not Cameroon. A women's counterpart will take place announced at a later time outside of India.

I think there's been a decision that they'll play all games now as Great Britain, rather than the individual countries, so that they can have a stronger group together at all times (and build toward London 2012). I know that in the Commonwealth games they compete indidually, but if this is a FIBA event rather than a Comm Games event, they'll likely compete as their FIBA team.

That's exactly what I'm thinking too since it was FIBA announcing the Commonwealth basketball affair to boost the talent level and experience within the Commonwealth and I was a little confused with that. Team GB will play as it with this will be 2010 and want to get as much experience together building up toward London 2012 and already in Eurobasket Division A. There's two years between that and London, so it's Team GB. We all know the bulk of the players on the national team rosters, both male and female, will hail from England. But how many will be of Scottish (Former Illinois Fighting Illini Robert Archibald was born in Scotland, so he's a shoo-in for the future) and to a lesser extent Welsh (Wales is very low on the European basketball pecking order) and from Northern Ireland?

We now have the final list of the 24 FIBA national teams that will appear on EA Sports' NBA Live 2009:

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
Croatia
France
Germany
Great Britain (as England)
Greece
Iran
Italy
Japan
Lithuania
Mexico
Puerto Rico
Russia
Serbia
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Turkey
USA

Bad news obviously for you Tall Blacks fans with New Zealand not in it, despite the fact they have enjoyed a nice level international basketball pedigree since 1999, both in the men's and women's game (notably finishing 4th ahead of the USA in Indianapolis). They SHOULD be in the game. But I think with the Boomers in, that takes care of the Antipodean market for EA. I already mentioned why Japan happens to be in (similar reasons apply toward South Korea, which I'm a bit surprised they're in and they're currently in the Athens Olympic qualifier). Mexico is in thanks to Eduardo Najera being in the NBA and the large Latin market it'll bring. But Najera hasn't played for Mexico for a while because he hates the direction the national team program was going; he didn't suit up when Nolan Richardson was coaching the Mexicans last year in the Tournament of the Americas in Las Vegas. Venezuela is another seemingly screwed nation to be omitted. Africa has to be represented and so longstanding power Angola has to be in at the expense of Nigeria and Senegal, both of which have more talented players with a handful currently in the NBA, which Angola has none in the league. If EA had its way, South Africa would be in, but South Africa is still developing its talent during the African basketball competitions. Should NBA Live 2010 hit, I would like for it to deal with 2010 FIBA World Baksetball Championship in Turkey and hold continental competitions on the road to qualifying (Americas, Africa, Eurobasket, Asia, and Oceania) with the actual tourney. In the case of FIBA Europe, why not have both Divisions (A and B) with the qualifiers in the lower levels (Azerbaijian, Albania, San Marino, Gibraltar, Armenia) included to play the promotion and demotion game? In any case, here's a list of nations I like to see make their way in for next year:

New Zealand
Sweden
Finland
Poland
Portugal
Czech Republic
Hungary
The Netherlands
Belgium
Switzerland
Latvia
Ukraine
Venezuela
Dominican Republic
Panama
Uruguay
Chile
Cuba
Macedonia
Israel
Qatar
Kazakhstan
Lebanon
Egypt
Nigeria
Senegal
Cameroon
Ivory Coast
Central African Republic
Algeria
Tunisia
Taiwan (as Chinese Taipei)
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Denmark
Jamaica
US Virgin Islands
Barbados
Estonia
India
Georgia
Belarus

Durbansandshark

16-07-2008, 08:47 AM

Athens Olympic Basketball Qualification Tournament--Day 2

Slovenia 86 Canada 70
Germany 104 Cape Verde 68
Puerto Rico 81 Cameroon 72
Brazil 94 Lebanon 54

So Cameroon, Cape Verde, and Lebanon are now all out of contention, as one would expect in this. Cameroon is really interesting out of the three because of the issues it had coming into and being in Athens when dealing with its government for its financial support they were promised after making it this far from last year's Afrobasket in Angola. Luc Mbah e Moute, the former UCLA star, was hoped to make an appearance and bring star power and depth to the team (and he hoped to proudly represent his nation), but as a NBA second round draft pick with no guaranteed salary or a roster spot, he instead opted to impress the Milwaukee Bucks in the team's Summer Pro League team upon orders from the Bucks front office. This is not to say that Cameroon hasn't been competitive in their two games in Athens. The Indominantable Lions never faced a European team before Athens. Fact is, Africans lack depth. If Germany loses somebody, that person can be easily replaced. Nobody's at fault when that happens in this context here. Luke Schenscher, then fresh out of Georgia Tech, turned a chance to play for the Boomers becuase he wanted to stick with an NBA team. More later.

Observing this tournament, you just can't help but to spare a thought for the French teams--both the men and women--and wonder how well they would've been if they made it at least this far. Both teams surely have the talent to go far with what they got, but they lacked the urgency to accomplish things in their favor. Of course, some young and talented players are coming up like Nicolas Batum will fight for their spot on the team against seasoned vets. Will they feel the pressure to get to London 2012 come Eurobasket 2011 in Lithuania?

And now, the Eurobasket 2009

Already qualified: Poland (as hosts), Spain, Russia, Lithuania (all three in as European qualifiers to the Beijing Olympics), Germany, Greece, Slovenia, and Croatia (all four in for entering in the 2008 Athens Olympic Men's Basketball Qualifying Tournament)

Draw was on February 16 in Venice, Italy for the four groups in the rest of Eurobasket Division A with the top two teams in each group making it to Poland.

GROUP A
Bulgaria
Finland
Hungary
Italy
Serbia

GROUP B
Estonia
Latvia
Macedonia
Portugal

GROUP C
Belgium
France
Turkey
Ukraine

GROUP D
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Czech Republic
Great Britain
Israel

devils

16-07-2008, 08:49 AM

Just looked at the stats from the Greece v Lebanon game (Greece won 119-62). A great team performance by Greece, they shot 73% from the field :shock: their top scorer only had 15 and all 12 players got on the score sheet.

Thier next game against Brazil will be interesting to watch.

Durbansandshark

18-07-2008, 05:57 AM

Damir Markota is out the qualifiers for Croatia with a meniscus injury.

Day 3 Scores

Canada 79 South Korea 77
Croatia 91 Puerto Rico 85
Germany 89 New Zealand 71
Greece 89 Brazil 69

Quarterfinals
Croatia vs. Canada
Slovenia vs. Puerto Rico
Germany vs. Brazil
Greece vs. New Zealand

Samuel Dalembert was kicked off the Canadian team by head coach Leo Rautins. Dalembert apparently wasn't giving the maximum effort to Rautins' liking in the first game against Slovenia. So he was benched and later sulked. I think what happened afterwards was Dalmbert and Rautins jawed at each other in the locker room with Rautins blasting him. I'll get more into this next week and the rest. Canada's chances are shot now. :(

Durbansandshark

19-07-2008, 04:08 AM

Canada's dream for Olympic qualification is dashed in basketball. They lose to Croatia 83-62 today. :(

So now it'll be eight years from Olympic fun for them, and will have to wait until before London 2012 for a return to the Olympics.

devils

21-07-2008, 11:22 AM

Germany, Greece and Croatia all qualified for Beijing, Puerto Rico missed out in the playoff with germany.

Croatia joins Boomers pool :D

Greece and Germany join other pool.

I think we dodged a bullet there missing Greece, the recent games agaisnt croatia will help us, had a few close games without a full squad.

Too bad if you are in the other pool, Greece, Spain AND USA to contend with :)

Cram

21-07-2008, 11:44 AM

Yeah I think all things considered we did ok there.

Obviously to progress we HAVE to beat Iran and have to hope to get one of Croatia, Lithuania, Russia or Argentina. This could be one of the deeper Olympic tournaments in some time, with really only Iran and maybe Angola being out of the running to progress.

Should be a cracker of a tournament.

It would be nice to FINALLY beat Lithuania though!

Mr bEn

24-07-2008, 05:49 PM

I haven't checked for myself, but I'm led to believe ESPN Australia will begin to show Team USA's lead-in games, beginning this Saturday @ 2pm EST vs Canada.

They play Australia on 5th August.

Durbansandshark

20-08-2008, 05:14 AM

Has anybody noticed the jersey worn by Qatar's basketball teams resembled a little like the Miami Heat in one case and later the Cleveland Cavaliers in another?

Durbansandshark

23-08-2008, 04:10 AM

As we get deep into the end of the Olympic basketball tournament, I want you to take a moment to reflect on those poor souls who wish they could be where their rivals are now. Like France, here we have a FIBA interview with Sandra Le Drean after France defeated hosts Italy in a group game at last year's Eurobasket Women.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijWHVVreetM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijWHVVreetM)
Another FIBA interview by Jeff Taylor with Yakhouba Diawarra at the men's Eurobasket in Spain, also following a preliminary game:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zKtXf3pRZ8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zKtXf3pRZ8)

Please spare a thought for the talented France teams as we watch the end of the Olympics. :(

Durbansandshark

03-09-2008, 08:21 AM

If the Tall Blacks gets into the NBA Live series next year, the production team would wise to emulate what their Rugby counterparts did with the All-Blacks: have them perform the Haka before every game.

The Games are over (Paralympics notwithstanding), but don't look now: there will be a legacy as the NBA plans to make known greater details about its forthcoming NBA China in the coming months.

Durbansandshark

16-09-2008, 05:56 AM

Team GB is really on a roll in the Eurobasket Qualifications after beating Bosnia in Birmingham, England 82-74 thanks to Luol Deng's 29 points. Only thing disappointing is the small attendance of 2246 at the NIC.

Did their women counterparts stayed alive to assure host nation qualification in London 2012? Stayed tuned for that and more tomorrow.

Durbansandshark

24-09-2008, 05:21 AM

Sorry for the false headway...I got really busy. Hopefully when there's free time next week, I'll delve into more Team GB and then some.

Heads up: CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina, one of the best basketball coaches outside of the NBA, will share his coaching expertise with help from the Toronto Raptors, Basketball Ontario, and Canada Basketball at the home of one the most international cities worldwide. At the University of Toronto!
http://www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=2404

Durbansandshark

14-10-2008, 10:03 AM

A little fresh info has come forth about NBA China. The NBA in partnership with AEG will design and construct a dozen new NBA-capable arenas over the next few years, announced Sunday, with local Chinese Communist government units financing but the NBA and AEG operating them. Money over arena investment will come NBA China, which one of the investors happens to be the Walt Disney Company. NBA and AEG do hold a working engagement together with designing and building the Wukesong Indoor Basketball Arena in Beijing and AEG operating the Staples Center, O2 Arena in London and O2 World in Berlin.

Durbansandshark

31-10-2008, 06:51 AM

We got lots to cover a lot here in the several days, time permitting. I will reflect on the Tall Ferns' and Latvia's sojourn in Beijing, Eurobasket 2009 qualiifications (both men and women), more on Becky Hammon donning the Russian colo(u)rs, the emerging CSKA Moscow juggernaut in global basketball, the rank Fijian outsiders that made it up to Madrid, the Canadian men's ill-fated Athens qualification for Beijing (including my take on the row Samuel Dalembert had with coach Leo Rautins) and what it needs to do to get better, the Turkish basketball arena boom, Brazil's tough time at the Olympics and even qualifying, Hanno Motolla's retirement from basketball altogether, Mexico wanting to host the next Tournament of the Americas, and basketball in China, among other things.

Durbansandshark

07-11-2008, 07:48 AM

Canada's ill-fated attempt to qualify for Beijing through Athens is a reflection of the steps lost to stay ahead in the ever-increasingly competitive international basketball landscape. Man, they looked bad doing it. To be sure, Canada still fields very competitve teams and produces outstanding players, but this time around, despite having Steve Nash hailed as its shining star winning MVPs and more Canadians playing professionally both in the US and Canada and overseas, this new generation struggles to gain a foothold and earn unmissable status in the eyes of the NBA and break it out in the middle of the pack internationally. Canada does have players who are on the cusp of significant NBA play like Carl English, Levon Kendall, Joel Anthony, Jermaine Anderson, Juan Mendes, Jesse Young, and Ryan Gomes. But if I recall correctly, there aren't as many Canadians in the NBA as there was in the recent past with Rick Fox, Bill Wennington, Mike Smrek, Leo Rautins, and Todd MacCollough. It's been missing from the FIBA World Basketball Championship since 2002 after its dismal performance without Nash aboard.

One major issue with the Canadians was that this edition was its relative inexperience in national team play. Average age on that team was 24, and that's young by today's international standards compared to 27 for many of the top teams, particularly from Europe. They needed time to gel and know their roles and tendencies, and in hindsight I admit, the timing of the tournament wasn't enough against the immensely experienced and better likes of Croatia, Slovenia, Grrece, and Germany for the last three spots, but I hoped for an outside upset. Could Steve Nash and the seemingly deteriorating Jamaal Magloire have helped if they suited up for the Maple Leaf? Yes, they would for its NBA experience playing with top players (being a floor general in Nash's case), ruggedness, and leadership. Magloire didn't really want to play for Canada, and waiting waaaaaayyy too long for Jay Triano and Leo Rautins' liking, so they both moved on. Nash doesn't owe anything to Canada Basketball anymore with his incredible contributions up to 2004, and it's his right not participate any further and let someone younger earn the experience. A lot of Canada's funding and support these days in the COC understandably goes to having a very good showing in Vancouver two years from now, escaping the dubious distinction of the being the only host nation not gaining a gold in the Olympics--and that happened twice in 1976 and 1988. But that's winter Olympics. Basketball gets only a drop in the city, provincial, and federal level funding.

I don't think Rautins is the man for the head coaching job in Canada. As a coach he was way over his head for someone who never coached before. I propose either a return of Jay Triano or promote bright young Carleton coach Dave Smart, an assistant on the national team in Athens to run the show. Rautins' game plan was rather mediocre. Based on what I read about the heated (and very likely profane) beef between Sam Dalembert, who got his Canadian citizenship last year, and Rautins on the team bus back to the hotel following the defeat, no wonder why Canada turned disjointed after that, save for its great comeback win against an undersized South Korea, a team they should've beaten soundly. Canada surely needed his size. Dalembert should've stayed on court to get footing in the first game against Slovenia instead of a benching thanks to his disappointing performance. Alright, Leo, you should've acted more mature than that, and some (not me but a few posters on CBC Sports' website when commentating the Canadian disappointment) have witnessed you get infuriated over the slightest of things. The two didn't discuss this privately between themselves over this benching and questioned "being committed to the team" or after the Slovenia game, not on the team bus. He later called Sam a prima donna and being late or not present for meetings, and being with his entourage. He claims he's got the players' support, but maybe the young players were afraid of losing their status on the team under him. Apparently, he sounds like a hard-edged old-school type of coach who can't (or won't) adjust and see what one of his top was legitimate in his concerns. Rautins didn't have things organized and abandoned his entire playbook. For example, he had his Syracuse son Andy playing out of his position backing up Jermaine Anderson. Consequently he struggled. English struggled off the bench, an unfamiliar role for him. Plus, with Anderson in foul trouble and Jesse Young injured, they relied too much on eager but young Kendall, Anthony, and Olu Fatumni.

Good luck to Rautins (and I'm surprised he's still there as the coach) on bringing in future Canadian NBA players on to the national team.

Dalembert, on his side of things, says Rautins wanted him to leave the team bus after talking and shouting for five minutes. All he were "nice people" by his side: his longtime girlfriend, a close friend, his old Montreal high school coach and his wife. He adds there were no mandatory team meals (he couldn't some of the hotel food and ate with his circle) and stayed in hotel room that was more accomodating to his size. Rautins stands by his decision on Sam, but he says he is willing to open the door for his return. But apparently, Dalembert is through with Canada Basketball after this unless things get "more structured and organized". That last point I can definitely agree with. It may have been a bad game for Sam, but things magnify when fortunes are bad. Puzzling how things unraveled as it did in Athens with all of the massive effort to recruit Dalembert to play for Canada and get his Canadian citizenship.

Another major problem Canadian basketball has lies in the reality of how many of their top senior pro players are all so spread out all over. No domestic basketball league up there exists for numerous reasons that will help young Canadian players hone their craft and deepen the talent pool to practice with greater ease, and it won't overnight be a premier and strong league like in Greece, Spain, Russia, Turkey, and Italy. Even New Zealand has a domestic pro league in the large shadow of Australia's. Many of the players on the young team got quality minutes from their respective teams in Greece, Spain, Italy, Israel, Poland, Croatia, US and Canadian colleges, and Australia. The national team needs more Canadians in the NBA getting nice minutes to take the torch from Nash and Magloire. This issue also plagues the women.

Perhaps the young Canadians will not get too disillusioned about the way things happened in Athens and get deeper with more international experience. There's some hope with good young players coming like University of Minnesota's 6-3 G Devoe Joseph from Ajax, Ontario, a three-time Canadian High School Player of the Year, who was among the last players cut for the Athens team by Rautins. Joespeh surely will learn a lot from Tubby Smith, a great coach. Joseph can spell for Jermaine Anderson and be the next Steve Nash in Canadian PGs. Vladimir Kuljanin can be a factor too. Aaron Doorenkamp and Osvaldo Jeanty, both Carleton stars, I figure will factor in the mix too. The next ultimate target is Turkey 2010 and we will see and hope they haven't regressed and are gelling better.

And now, Canada's dramatic comeback against South Korea in the final three minutes that put them to the quaterfinals televised by The Score.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFN7HEaHHoo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFN7HEaHHoo)

Durbansandshark

18-11-2008, 08:32 AM

Men's Eurobasket 2009 (hosted in Poland)

GROUP A

Russia
Spain
Greece
Lithuania

(Wow, this is a group of death! If you that last Group of Death in Eurobasket was bad with Greece, Serbia, Russia all duking it out as cultural cousins with Israel, this is even more dog-eat-dog in group play. Very likely the ultimate in Eurobasket!)

GROUP B

Croatia
Germany
Slovenia
Turkey

(In all likelihood, the second toughest group. Some emerging power(s) is bound to have a major letdown here)

GROUP C

Serbia
Poland
Macedonia
Latvia

(Serbia should be glad to have a change of place, compared to Spain and spare us more of Darko Milicic's outburst. Maybe the leadership has matured. Don't sleep on Poland or Latvia though)

GROUP D

Great Britain
Bulgaria
Israel
Qualifier

(Great Britain with Deng, Mensah-Bonsu, and maybe Gordon can very well be the team of the group. Getting into Eurobasket surely will boost basketball's domestic profile in GB. My best pick as the qualifier will be France, one of the most complete and talented teams in the world. Hope they learn from the last Eurobasket's debacle about not playing with a lot of urgency (ditto for the women). If either France or Italy get in, I can see one of them atop this group with Great Britain behind them.)

Two groups of six teams were drawn out for the Eurobasket 2009 qualifications coming just before the big enchilada in early August 2009 (August 5-20).

GROUP A

Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Portugal

GROUP B

Finland
France
Italy

A more detailed look is coming very soon

Durbansandshark

05-12-2008, 10:27 AM

Nice treat to reminisce for many of you to relive and enjoy with an exciting end. I know you'll love it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3N7qSsYDJQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3N7qSsYDJQ)

Durbansandshark

24-12-2008, 05:51 AM

Nobody wrote any posts regarding the Tall Ferns during their run at the Beijing Olympics. Understandable, since this is an Aussie-centric basketball post and that the only other nation that got major attention here was the US teams. Even considering the handful of Kiwi posters here like NZB, I found it surprising that no one took the initiative to do it. If I had more time and resources to follow them more--I have no cable, so I wasn't able to see them on the temp NBC Olympic Basketball Channel or online through Windows Vista at the NBC Olympics website, and I worked a lot back then--I would've done this earlier in a separate post. So I will take it upon myself, belatedly, to review how the Tall Ferns did there and garner my thoughts.

I must disclose that I only managed to see their final game in group play live on NBC (Channel 5-KSDK here in St. Louis) Sunday afternoon against Team USA. Because of this, my knowledge is limited to a good degree. Of course the Tall Ferns, which is almost entirely the sadly now-defunct Christchurch Sirens in national team gear, are a young team still learning how to play internationally and got a couple of Americans on the roster. Yeah, this around they caught a major break with the Opals qualifying as World Champs to ensure their third consecutive Olympic berth. With no notable international veterans to steady them like Gina Farmer or Donna Loffhagen that helped them to their best ever finish at 8th four years ago, the undersized players were going to struggle and lose against higher powers like USA, Spain, Czech Republic, and China--all eventual quarterfinalists. Maybe they were hoping they'll pull a surprise or two in it. African champs Mali was the only beatable team for them, as expected. Only surprising thing was the margin of victory the Tall Ferns had to win over them in their first game. They beat Mali by four points, when I think they should've done so by perhaps ten to twelve. When I saw them play against USA, I just couldn't keep my eyes off of Angela Marino in my first seeing her in action, that talented starting PG--she's actually quite attractive and led everybody on the team in scoring. She needs to play in the WNBA soon, hopefully in 2009. We'll see. For the Tall Ferns, she was the best thing for them in that game in an expected blowout. Not surpringly, with that class A defense the Americans enacted on Kiwis, the team shooting was horrendous, and that was another memorable thing about the game for the Tall Ferns. Kate McKeenan-Ruscoe was a disappointment. Had there were classification games in Beijing (so that players can report back to their respective WNBA teams ASAP), the Tall Ferns surely would faced Latvia by virtue of both teams finishing fifth in their pools, and I think the Latvians in their Olympic debut would defeat them outright for the 9th-10th place classification instead of going by point differentials. Another thing I observed were two Tall Ferns, Noni Wharemete and Charmaine Purcell, both Maoris, voluntarily sat out in the last game like Paora Winitara would in observance of the Mormon Sabbath and were on the bench in their NZ Basketball gear. Both rarely played up to that point. Mike McHugh and the Tall Ferns admit that it'll be tough for them to make it out of Oceania again to reach the Olympics for the fourth time because Australia (the Incredible Hulk, as he calls it) is so damn tough and deeper than they are. A World Championship is a more realistic goal for them with more spots as they learn to get to know each other and inject younger and fresher talent.

The timing of their performance is even more significant when considering the demise of the Sirens after their debut season in the WNBL. This means there's less opportunities for Kiwi women to develop their game at the professional level adequately. The development of women's pro basketball in NZ obviously took a setback in this that may take a few years to get back on track. In the interim, I feel more Kiwis are needed in the WNBA and hopefully break out while several are tooling across the Tazman Sea.

Meanwhile in Canada, Canada Basketball announced its board of directors to oversee the develop of the sport both domestically and in its international prospects. Included in that gropu is legendary Canadian coach Ken Konchalski at St. Francis Xavier, Steve Nash, and Toronto Raptors Assistant GM Maurizio Gheradini. Gheradini, with his international knowledge at Benneton Treviso over the years, will act in the same capacity that Jerry Colangelo has south of the border with USA Basketball. The highly respected Gheradini is a fantastic hire for Canada Basketball as it attempts to get back into the upper echelon of the top international teams. Under his leadership, the young Canadians will get better and earn more international experience. Hopefully, they'll qualify to Turkey. But the bad news is Leo Rautins was retained as head coach. But Alison Smith kept her coach in the equally young women's program.

Dunkin' Dan

24-12-2008, 08:43 AM

When I saw them play against USA, I just couldn't keep my eyes off of Angela Marino in my first seeing her in action, that talented starting PG--she's actually quite attractive and led everybody on the team in scoring. She needs to play in the WNBA soon, hopefully in 2009. We'll see.
You want her on the LA Sparks so that they will suck, is that what you're getting at?
Oh, and the reason you couldn't keep your eyes off her is that hair was flying everywhere, her hands were flying everywhere, and amazingly even her feet were flying everywhere as she bounced around the court.
She's now a solid WNBL point guard, who benefits from being surrounded by talent at all positions in Adelaide, but only this season have I started to see some hints of any court vision & passing ability from her. She needs further improvement before I would let her near a WNBA team. I certainly can't see it happening in 2009 with one less team in the league and apparently only 11 players per roster now.

Durbansandshark

08-01-2009, 08:08 AM

Brief comment: With all of this talk of revamping Basketball Australia and of the NBL, one thing those two entities should deal with is come up with official Facebook/MySpace/Bebo/Friendster profiles to connect with fans worldwide better, including many of us here on these boards. Basketball New Zealand has yet to do so. The likes of Canada Basketball and Basketball Great Britian both are on Facebook, for example. So why not BA, NBL, and Basketball NZ too?

Durbansandshark

14-01-2009, 07:58 AM

Delayed for sure here but time to check up on the progress of the Great Britain women as they fight for their survival in Eurobasket Division A. Last week the British women started their campaign on January 4 and added former Canada basketball coach Ken Shields to help the young (but internationally inexperienced) women on their fortunes as an assistant, namely on the defensive end. That day, they overcame a poor shooting start in the beginning to hosts Finland to claw their way to victory 63-61 as the Finns shooting ultimately betrayed them. Finland had 27-13 lead in the first quarter ended by former Xavier (OH) star Reetta Piipari's three-point shot but later Team GB came close at the half 36-30. British center Sarah McKay, who had 12 point in the first half set the tone with a jumper leading to a 12-0 run capped by teammate Kristy Lavin's three pointer (she missed all of last year's games for Britain due to a ruptured ACL) and used aggressive defense henceforth. And Finland never recovered from their slow start in the third quarter.

More happiness came in the form of a convincing thumping on hapless Bosnia-Herzegovina 91-58 in the second round in Sheffield, England later that week on the 7th. Everything for the British offense was balanced with Rosalee Mason almost pulling a double double (17 points and 8 boards). The only tie was in the beginning 9-9 in the first quarter, and the Brits never looked back.

But in Nottingham heartbreak followed for the Team GB women in the clash of the then-undefeated teams against Romania. Turnovers (29 in GB's disfavo(u)r) worked against them there in a game that got away from them, a 75-71 loss. Great Britain led 69-64 with three minutes to go in regulation but the Romanians dug deep within themselves to tie the score when, after a couple of missed shots by the hosts, Alexandra Uiuiu tied it up for the Romanians. Then, the Brits turned it over and then foul Maria Pascaliu, who made both free throws to give the lead for good for Romania--made two more and Britain responded by a Meghan Hoffman layup. With 17 seconds to go after a Romania miss on their next way down the floor and Team GB with the ball, Pascalau stole the ball from Kristy Lavin leading to a Uiuiu layup to seal it. Great Britain outrebounded Romania 41-31 in that game. Kim Butler had 25 points and 9 rebounds to lead all scorers with Mason not far behind with 23. Svetlana Dragusin led Romania with 22 points.

Great Britain faced the Finnish again at the University of Worcester in Worcester, England as I write this. A win here will almost assure they will stay in Division A. Romania has just accomplished that by beating winless Bosnia last night 78-47 remaining unbeaten, forcing the Bosnians to face life down at Division B. But the Brits just lost in a close one 60-55. Now they got some additional work to do facing Bosnia later this week on January 16 in a game mattering more to the Brits than the Bosnians to keep pace with the Finns...and hope the Romanians don't take the game off following celebrations to stay.

Durbansandshark

24-01-2009, 06:09 AM

The British women failed to stay in FIBA Europe Division A thanks to another loss at the hands of the Romanians. But Team GB is confident and optimistic FIBA will give them a spot for London 2012 for having making it to that, as was the desired destination for the governing body. Now the long road begins back to Division A, but there won't be any competitive fixtures for the rest of the year for the British; there must be preparations to move out of Division B running between 2010 and 2011. More next week on how they squandered their opportunity to stay in.

Durbansandshark

11-02-2009, 10:11 AM

Riding high on the massive success the Olympic basketball tournament in Beijing at the Wukesong Indoor Basketball Arena (or Sports and Culture Center) with attendance almost doubled that of Athens (448,000 compared to 247,000 four years from that), FIBA and the IOC are sure to be feeling good about hoops. The hot basketball ticket was undoubtably the sold-out Sunday night (local Beijing time) matchup between`Team USA and China. 27 million fans in the US (including myself) and roughly 100 million Chinese fans watched it on NBC and CCTV, respectively, thus making it the most watched Olympic basketball game on television in Olympic history (and not the thrilling USA-Spain gold medal game). So I was reading this from the British sports business magazine called SportsPro, to which insprired me to write this. Since basketball is obviously an immensely valued event in the Olympics, FIBA, with its operating a number of international tournaments and leagues like the FIBA World Baketball Championship and Euroleague and its close working relationship with the NBA, calls are growing louder for expanding the Olympic basketball in both men's and women's fields from 12 to 16. Clamor for it started in Athens, and we could see this happen in time for London 2012. Just look at some of the countries that could've qualified and surely were more than capable of being competitive in Beijing: France, Brazil (men), Canada, Puerto Rico (men), Nigeria, Turkey, New Zealand (men), Poland, Slovenia (men), Lithuania (women), Japan (women), Israel (men), Italy, and Serbia.

You know, I actually would like to see that too for London. Basketball is the only other Olympic team sport outside of soccer that definitely captivates a massive worldwide audience in all corners of the world both in person and on TV/Internet, so it's ready for an expanded tourney. It's no accident why basketball and soccer got their own temporary respective NBC Olympic TV channels on cable during Beijing. A field of 16 wasn't used since Munich. But would it come into conflict with the IOC concerns of gigantism, which wants to cap the athlete amount to approximately 10,000? Has the IOC voted on the two vacant sports spots left by baseball and softball? Because that can impact the number of athletes particpating. How would the format look like? My guess it will resemble what soccer already is, if that's an indicator: four teams each in four groups with the top two making out into the quarterfinals with some preliminary games taking place before the Opening Ceremonies. Will lower two teams in each group play classification games and the ones who do not advance during the medal round? Possibly not with the London Olympic coming during the WNBA season, and teams would like for their star players report back to duty after their national team sojourn is up ASAP. Wanting to be gender-neutral, the IOC and FIBA would do likewise for the men. I, however, would like to see them brought back. But I can see why some see them as meaningless. Also how would the allocations for each territory get divvied up in a 16-team field? I can see it as this: 1 for Team GB, 1 for the FIBA World Champs (say, USA), 1 for Oceania, 1 for Africa, 3 for the Americas, 4 out of Europe, 1 for Asia, with the remaining four coming from a repechage pre-Olympic tournament. The women may end up using a little different qualification portioning. Yes, I say keep the repecharge like the ones they had for Athens with the men and Madrid for the women. If the International Olympic Committee is worried about how big the Summer Olympics have gotten, why not take away the hangers-on and expand the Olympic calendar to a month? Hey, it works for the FIFA World Cup, the Euro soccer championships, which fall on the same calendar year as the Summer Olympics, and the Rugby World Cup, the last one lasted a two month stretch if I recall, with a couple of off days from competition, with no drop off of interest. It would also help those who like recording the Olympics like me to give our DVD recorders, computers, TiVoing, and VCRs some necessary breathers.

In other news in the international realm, Greece has nabbed former China coach Joan Kazlauskas, who succeeds the legandary Panyiotis Giannakis after Greece played with discipline, defense, passion, and tenacity. Kazlauskas aim for greater heights for the Greeks.

World champs Spain now has Sergio Scariolo to lead them and take Spain to the next level, Olympic gold.

Durbansandshark

13-03-2009, 09:27 AM

I hope to get about Team GB women's aftermath, among other things, shortly.

Antipodean2007

14-03-2009, 01:28 AM

i have to say there are way too many players with tattoos that play in the nba. and i dont refer to kobe, but the excessive ones

its just ridiculous to see guys like matt barnes, delonte west walk around the court look like crims asking for a drive by shooting to happen. and theres also chris andersen for denver

thank god for the paul pierces, ray allens, grant hills and most the international players for displaying the squeaky clean image.

on the other side of the argument you dont need to wear tattoos to say youre tougher, fiercer, meaner or more fearsome than anyone else.

at the end of the day, these people with this so called 'body art' will regret putting all these tattoos on their bodies when theyre 50, or as a matter of fact even when theyre - 40 when the ink fades, or the skin on their bodies come loose the ink runs

smittys07

14-03-2009, 11:00 AM

Durbansandshark

17-04-2009, 08:41 AM

Don't worry. I'll return to the Great Britain women in the sojourn to stay in Eurobasket Division A this week (and their Finnish, the Romanians, and Bosnians counterparts).

Some not-so-surprising and (faintly) related news has emerged today in the world of women's international basketball. USA Basketball will officially announce that Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma will lead the US women's national basketball team through the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first active college coach in that position since Stanford's Tara VanDeveer in the pre-WNBA days of Atlanta 1996. After Ann Donovan, who else in the world of North American women's basketball coaching has a more marketable name that hasn't head coached in the Olympics yet than Geno? Mike Thibault, C. Vivian Stringer, and Gail Goestnekors, just to name a few, all would make great coaches for the Olympics, but they lack the high Q rating Auriemma has, though newly-inducted Hall of Famer Stringer comes reasonably close (has yet to win in the NCAA title despite her 800+ wins). Thanks to a new rule instituted last month by USA Basketball's executive committee, the new head coach must hold at least five years of experience, either as an assistant or head coach, at any level at the time of application/selection instead of restricting that to just WNBA head coaches, for it was the hightest level in the USA (Auriemma was an assistant in Sydney). Something tells me this was done to accomodate Geno (and possibly Stringer) for the aforementioned reason I just brought out. You know, Geno relishes this opportunity to defend the US Olympic gold for a fifth go-round. Will he take a sabbatical from his current UCONN job like VanDeveer and then-Indiana Fever coach Nell Fortner both did in their posts as USA head coach and possibly let former player Shay Ralph (if not Hartford Hawks' Jen Rizzotti) run the Storrs store while he's away?

It's almost a foregone conclusion that outside of that Emissary of Evil Parker becoming the taliswoman on the team in London, it'll be almost like classic UCONN times with mainstays and good BFFs Bird and Taurasi as first-stringers. Maya Moore could be on the team then. What if DelleDonne decides to return to basketball, and how interesting that will be with Auriemma coaching and maybe selecting (if not playing) her? One good thing about London is no more of that wretched and conceited My Stupid Evil Pony. Last week with the Final Four going on here, I talked to a few women's college basketball fans who detested Geno for they think he's arrogant in his demeanor. I reminded them that if you rack up all of those titles, including those from a few undefeated seasons, you can afford at least a little arrogance. He does admit that he's highly opinionated and fierce, but it works for him. His first task is to get them to win the 2010 FIBA Women's World Basketball Championship in the Czech Republic, thus qualifying automatically in London. No mean feat.

Opals and Carrie Graf, I really, really want you ladies to finally win it all--you should've won during the MSEP years of oppression. But from the looks of this, you got some serious work between now and London to get over the hump at last. Put yourself through some serious physical training and matchup to counter what they have, study immensely on the US game and styles via video and Internet (like his), don't be afraid of innovation (unlike Stirling), develop some emerging depth particularly at the frontcourt (hopefully Tolo among them to ease Loz's burden), have some slashing players, and replenish your shooting guards supply, just to name a few things for now.

FIBA's announcement on the host of the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Chanmpionship will be during the weekend of May 23-24 between China, Italy, and Spain in Geneva, Switzerland.

Durbansandshark

30-04-2009, 10:51 AM

DVK Joventut Badalona, Ricky Rubio's club and one of the more successful ones in Spanish basketball (it played every year of the ACB League), as reported on ESPN the Magazine in a blurb, is under some serious financial trouble, as it is as a consequence of the global economic recession. This will surely make Rubio's wish to play in the NBA even more expeditious, and definitely look for DVK Joventut wanting a very nice financial compensation from the NBA as they turn the rights to him, when he is surely one of the two bonafined PGs to be taken in the NBA Draft's First Round, definitely among the overseas-based players in it (including fellow PG Brandon Jennings, a former high school star playing for Italy's Serie A's Lottomattica Virtus Roma). Negotiations between the two camps will be

I just name-dropped Jennings. Now San Diego High's 6'11" Jeremy Tyler will follow in his footsteps and go one better (or worse, depending on your POV). It's entirely unprecedented: he told the NY Times he will dropout of high school (but will take online courses--and just left San Diego High before his junior year ended) and play in likely in Spain for at least two years before being NBA-eligible because he's gotten so much better and focused in his basketball that he couldn't "hit the books". I know he'll get harshly criticized for turning to sports over education, but at least he will get paid and will take HS course online to graduate, as I just mentioned. He adds that people are attracted to college for "off-the-court stuff" activities versus going to the gym and getting better. Let's be real here: the NCAA operates a charade of thousands college ballers who are supposedly there for education when they are, with numerous exceptions, unpaid basketball labor biding their time honing their craft before the NBA beckons. At least, Tyler's refreshingly upfront about that.

Durbansandshark

12-05-2009, 11:04 AM

France (Les Bleus) has a star-studded roster to select their national team from for EuroBasket 2009 in Poland, and it is deeply talented as it ever was with coach Vincent Collett announcing the training camp roster with players hailing from the NBA to the strongest teams in Europe. France, if it doesn't self-destruct in the European Additional Qualification Tournamnet against Finland and Italy in Group B, should be seen as a major contender for Poland with a spot with either Portugal, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Belgium waiting for them coming out of Group A before them:

Joakim Noah
Tony Parker Jr.
Johan Petro
Mickael Pietreus
Florient Pietreus
Ludovic Guily
Yannick Bokolo
Boris Diaw
Nicholas Batum
Alexis Ajinca
Mamahatou Diawarra
Yakhouba Diawarra
Dounia Issa
Ronny Turiaf
Antoine Diot
Abdoulaye M'Baye
Marc-Antoine Pellin
Nando De Colo
Aldo Curti
Joesph Gomis
Alain Koffi
Thomas Larroquis
Laurent Foirest
Ian Mahimnis
Mikael Gelabale

France will have a training camp from July 12-16 and will move to Strasbourg for July 22-26 with tuneup games against Austria (July 24), Belgium (July 25), and Czech Republic (July 26). Personally, I don't see how will the Austrians will help them since they're not even in the heat of top-flight Euro competition. Apparently the Austrians need this to challenge themselves for Eurobasket Division B promotion hopes than France needs the Austrians.

FIBA now has a long-overdue archive section to check out past tournaments, teams, and players. Still not a finished product, as you would expect, but worth checking out constantly. I sincerely hope to see photos from past tournaments like the African Basketball Championships and Junior Tournaments when available.
http://archive.fiba.com

Good news for all you Kiwi basketball fans. All of the hosts New Zealand's Junior Tall Blacks games in the 2009 U19 Men's World Basketball Championship will be shown live on TV on Sky Sport--starting with the Kenny McFadden-led JTBs taking on Argentina on opening night at the North Shore Events Centre--with quarterfinals, Semis, and Championship game after that in commemoration of the first FIBA event hosted by NZ. Sky Sport's plan is to show three games per day during this. It can be rather tough for the Junior Tall Blacks in group with Argentina and Croatia, but it's good for them to have consistent international exposure. They can surprise in this. Kazakhstan is the great unknown in that group. More details are coming from me later.
http://newzealand2009.fiba.com

UPDATE: I got major news regarding the Team GB women when I finally get to them tomorrow...

Durbansandshark

13-05-2009, 07:34 AM

When we last left the British women, I mentioned that they were just demoted to FIBA Europe Division B following their loss to Romania in a must-win game to earn a stave of such. Here comes the gory details...Romania surged to a 19-6 lead to begin the first quarter, but Team GB battled back hard in the first quarter to come with a 23-17 deficit, only to have Romania shoot a three to close the first quarter putting back a nine-point lead. GB was down by 15 in the second quarter but again fought back hard to keep things competitive at the half in Romania 42-33. At the start of the third, it was the British women who started off the quarter like gangbusters coming within 4, but the hosts reapplied the distance between them with 10. Romania was in control for much of the fourth quarter. But then a late 8-3 rally from GB had them at three points behind, forcing Romania to take a timeout. And that timeout worked like a charm as they came out with a three-pointer in the final seconds. Stef Collins from Team GB responded in kind, but time became their enemy and couldn't pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Britian's leading scorer was Kim Butler, who had a double double (22 points 10 rebounds). Rosalee Mason almost had one herself (16 points and 8 rebounds). One serious factor working against Great Britain was they had 24 turnovers as opposed to the Romanians' 13 in that game.

That loss finished Team GB at 3-3 when only the top two teams in that relegation division allowed to stay in FIBA Europe Division A after their win in Bosnia 77-61 (www.british-basketball.co.uk/Developmens/DevelopmentShow.aspx?id=20090116) after a fall to to Finland in Worcester (www.british-basketball.co.uk/Developments/DevelopmentShow.aspx?id=20090114) to stay in contention. So Great Britain and Bosnia-Herzegovina were sent down. Sara McKay was the best player for GB in those two games having returned from injury with additional contributions from Mason, Lisa Hutchinson, Kim Naylor, and Sarah Butler all throughout this endeavor. Former Xavier (OH) Muskateer star and Finnish PG Reeta Piipari scored a team high 16 points for Finland with teammate Nina Laaksonen added with a double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Fallout from this disappointing result came in the form of women's basketball coach Mark Clark (and Canadian assistant Ken Shields) resigning for not securing their status in Division A...or so we thought (more on that later). It was kind of easy for Clark to be let go; there was no further games for the Team GB senior women scheduled for the rest of the year to look forward to, even if they succeeded. But acutely mindful of FIBA's constant wishes and assurances for the British women to be at least decently and proven competitive in time of the London 2012 Olympic basketball competition, for they never ever played in consistent top-flight international basketball before until now either as Great Britain or as any of the Home Nations, British Basketball was confident FIBA will cut them some slack having witnessed the ladies were indeed such. If only they didn't narrowly lose to Germany 74-72 that prompted the ill-fated fight to stay in. Keeping in mind that the senior women lacked any of their NCAA-based players, who were not released for the games to provide greater depth like D2's Franklin Pierce's All-American Johannah Leedham, on their roster in January for their fights, I think they indeed were competitive. Their games surely weren't blowouts in their disfavo(u)r, and that helps their promotion of the women's version of the sport up to the London Olympics, which overall promotion needs little prodding. But their youth and inexperience showed through against the likes of Romania and Finland. Obviously, this is a young team assembled with an eye towards London at this stage. Now they'll know what it takes with experience under their belts. Having said that, consistent appearances in international tournaments with better competition in the next few years are needed to act as a barometer.

Right now, there are currently no British players in the WNBA as far as I know, and I can't point out any British women's players in NCAA D1. Andrea Cosgrove, the face of British women's basketball for so many years, has retired. Yeah, that's going have to change between now and until London, even if it's just one player going to be repping the Brits. But are there any British lady ballers whose game screams WNBA ready in the next few years?

Some very good news have come the British women's way so far this week that will boost their prospects on the road to London. At the FIBA Europe Board's meeting in Cannes, France this past weekend, the board exceptionally approved of Team GB's Division A Eurobasket 2009 reinstation appeal (www.gameongb.com/news/002.php)following a critiquing of their level of competitive play against top European powers, and of London 2012 Olympics as a great incentive to further promote the British portion of basketball further to the public.

To that end, in time for the women's training camp comes news that British Basketball pulled off a major coup: Tom Maher will arrive to take over from Clark up until London, a city he never spent any time in, to get the ladies Olympic-ready, starting with Eurobasket Division A competition in 2010--this was what I was teasing you guys about. Being on these boards for several years, I can see how Maher can be a polarizing, even hated and joked, figure, and you don't need me to rehash them all. You can't argue with his international pedigree and results though--he can more out of less with the unheralded in the face of powerhouses like the Opals, Team USA, and Russia. As Dunkin' Dan noted, at least he can speak the language this time around without the aid of an interpreter unlike with China. But China and New Zealand were already competitive up to that point, but he earned my respect even further when he took an internationally experienced but undersized Tall Ferns team (that he incidently inherited from fellow Aussie Carrie Graf) into the Olympic quarterfinals in Athens, their highest-ever international finish. Not to mention the two medals he earned. Maher works best as a quick fix in international basketball like Guus Hiddink is to soccer to help them grow and develop. Team GB is a different kettle entirely partly because London will make its Olympic debut, so it can get intimidating and overwhelming on the grand stage even as hosts. Maher will provide a steadying and experienced hand. Certainly Team GB get better and will improve under him when the London Olympics start. With no games in the near future to focus and prepare on right now this year, this will allow time to get to know the players he hasn't seen yet like Naylor, who's coming of a sixth knee operation (YIKES!) and performed heroically, and Mason. He'll consume all of the video footage about them, spot out what they did wrong and what to improve on, play their strengths, and tweek his basketball philosophies to suit their strengths as well as evaluating emerging younger players who can make a meaningful impact for London. Still, because of Great Britain's lowly status and relative inexperience, he knows the challenge is dauting and will be frustrating to start out with for they still need to make gigantic steps in world basketball on such a steep learning curve. And those advances, such as little things like emotional ones, won't happen overnight.

FIBA and digital sports provider Perform announced live and on-demand broadcasting of FIBA international games throughout all of the 5 FIBA continental zones to fans worldwide through www.fibatv.com. Fans can also search and view games through the archives. Also included in the deal are live and delayed subscription service, free 90-second highlights, sponsored interviews, and 250+ classic games. You can be sure this will be both international and club games. In this deal, Perform will assist FIBA in commercialization new media rights on cell and Internet platforms through their global rights and advertising teams. Perform already has a similar deal with the English Premier League and England's FA.

Durbansandshark

13-05-2009, 07:35 AM

When we last left the British women, I mentioned that they were just demoted to FIBA Europe Division B following their loss to Romania in a must-win game to earn a stave of such. Here comes the gory details...Romania surged to a 19-6 lead to begin the first quarter, but Team GB battled back hard in the first quarter to come with a 23-17 deficit, only to have Romania shoot a three to close the first quarter putting back a nine-point lead. GB was down by 15 in the second quarter but again fought back hard to keep things competitive at the half in Romania 42-33. At the start of the third, it was the British women who started off the quarter like gangbusters coming within 4, but the hosts reapplied the distance between them with 10. Romania was in control for much of the fourth quarter. But then a late 8-3 rally from GB had them at three points behind, forcing Romania to take a timeout. And that timeout worked like a charm as they came out with a three-pointer in the final seconds. Stef Collins from Team GB responded in kind, but time became their enemy and couldn't pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Britian's leading scorer was Kim Butler, who had a double double (22 points 10 rebounds). Rosalee Mason almost had one herself (16 points and 8 rebounds). One serious factor working against Great Britain was they had 24 turnovers as opposed to the Romanians' 13 in that game.

That loss finished Team GB at 3-3 when only the top two teams in that relegation division allowed to stay in FIBA Europe Division A after their win in Bosnia 77-61 (www.british-basketball.co.uk/Developmens/DevelopmentShow.aspx?id=20090116) after a fall to Finland in Worcester (www.british-basketball.co.uk/Developments/DevelopmentShow.aspx?id=20090114) to stay in contention. So Great Britain and Bosnia-Herzegovina were sent down. Sara McKay was the best player for GB in those two games having returned from injury with additional contributions from Mason, Lisa Hutchinson, Kim Naylor, and Sarah Butler all throughout this endeavor. Former Xavier (OH) Muskateer star and Finnish PG Reeta Piipari scored a team high 16 points for Finland with teammate Nina Laaksonen added with a double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Fallout from this disappointing result came in the form of women's basketball coach Mark Clark (and Canadian assistant Ken Shields) resigning for not securing their status in Division A...or so we thought (more on that later). It was kind of easy for Clark to be let go; there was no further games for the Team GB senior women scheduled for the rest of the year to look forward to, even if they succeeded. But acutely mindful of FIBA's constant wishes and assurances for the British women to be at least decently and proven competitive in time of the London 2012 Olympic basketball competition, for they never ever played in consistent top-flight international basketball before until now either as Great Britain or as any of the Home Nations, British Basketball was confident FIBA will cut them some slack having witnessed the ladies were indeed such. If only they didn't narrowly lose to Germany 74-72 that prompted the ill-fated fight to stay in. Keeping in mind that the senior women lacked any of their NCAA-based players, who were not released for the games to provide greater depth like D2's Franklin Pierce's All-American Johannah Leedham, on their roster in January for their fights, I think they indeed were competitive. Their games surely weren't blowouts in their disfavo(u)r, and that helps their promotion of the women's version of the sport up to the London Olympics, which overall promotion needs little prodding. But their youth and inexperience showed through against the likes of Romania and Finland. Obviously, this is a young team assembled with an eye towards London at this stage. Now they'll know what it takes with experience under their belts. Having said that, consistent appearances in international tournaments with better competition in the next few years are needed to act as a barometer.

Right now, there are currently no British players in the WNBA as far as I know, and I can't point out any British women's players in NCAA D1. Andrea Cosgrove, the face of British women's basketball for so many years, has retired. Yeah, that's going have to change between now and until London, even if it's just one player going to be repping the Brits. But are there any British lady ballers whose game screams WNBA ready in the next few years?

Some very good news have come the British women's way so far this week that will boost their prospects on the road to London. At the FIBA Europe Board's meeting in Cannes, France this past weekend, the board exceptionally approved of Team GB's Division A Eurobasket 2009 reinstation appeal (www.gameongb.com/news/002.php)following a critiquing of their level of competitive play against top European powers, and of London 2012 Olympics as a great incentive to further promote the British portion of basketball further to the public.

To that end, in time for the women's training camp comes news that British Basketball pulled off a major coup: Tom Maher will arrive to take over from Clark up until London, a city he never spent any time in, to get the ladies Olympic-ready, starting with Eurobasket Division A competition in 2010--this was what I was teasing you guys about. Being on these boards for several years, I can see how Maher can be a polarizing, even hated and joked, figure, and you don't need me to rehash them all. You can't argue with his international pedigree and results though--he can more out of less with the unheralded in the face of powerhouses like the Opals, Team USA, and Russia. As Dunkin' Dan noted, at least he can speak the language this time around without the aid of an interpreter unlike with China. But China and New Zealand were already competitive up to that point, but he earned my respect even further when he took an internationally experienced but undersized Tall Ferns team (that he incidently inherited from fellow Aussie Carrie Graf) into the Olympic quarterfinals in Athens, their highest-ever international finish. Not to mention the two medals he earned. Maher works best as a quick fix in international basketball like Guus Hiddink is to soccer to help them grow and develop. Team GB is a different kettle entirely partly because London will make its Olympic debut, so it can get intimidating and overwhelming on the grand stage even as hosts. Maher will provide a steadying and experienced hand. Certainly Team GB get better and will improve under him when the London Olympics start. With no games in the near future to focus and prepare on right now this year, this will allow time to get to know the players he hasn't seen yet like Naylor, who's coming of a sixth knee operation (YIKES!) and performed heroically, and Mason. He'll consume all of the video footage about them, spot out what they did wrong and what to improve on, play their strengths, and tweek his basketball philosophies to suit their strengths as well as evaluating emerging younger players who can make a meaningful impact for London. Still, because of Great Britain's lowly status and relative inexperience, he knows the challenge is dauting and will be frustrating to start out with for they still need to make gigantic steps in world basketball on such a steep learning curve. And those advances, such as little things like emotional ones, won't happen overnight.

FIBA and digital sports provider Perform announced live and on-demand broadcasting of FIBA international games throughout all of the 5 FIBA continental zones to fans worldwide through www.fibatv.com. Fans can also search and view games through the archives. Also included in the deal are live and delayed subscription service, free 90-second highlights, sponsored interviews, and 250+ classic games. You can be sure this will be both international and club games. In this deal, Perform will assist FIBA in commercialization new media rights on cell and Internet platforms through their global rights and advertising teams. Perform already has a similar deal with the English Premier League and England's FA.

Durbansandshark

30-05-2009, 05:47 AM

Last weekend, the FIBA Board announced that Spain will follow Turkey as the next host nation for the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Championship over the likes of Italy and China. More details next week.

2sc945

06-06-2009, 11:09 AM

WTH Spain? Aren't Australia and New Zealand going to host the 2014 FIBA World Championships? It's very unfair to the rest of the world for giving European countries the hosting rights for successive FIBA World Championships.

Durbansandshark

10-06-2009, 09:07 AM

Eurobasket Women 2007 started a couple of days ago in Latvia. Up for grabs for the 16 teams are those precious few (four, at least I think) spots for the FIBA Women's World Basketball Championship next year.

GROUP A: Spain, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine
GROUP B: Latvia, Poland, Greece, Hungary
GROUP C: Russia, Turkey, Lithuania, Serbia (the group of death here)
GROUP D: France, Italy, Belarus, Israel (or maybe this one)

The top 12 teams from the four combined groups since advanced to play in two groups of six:

GROUP E: Latvia, Spain, Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Slovakia
GROUP F: Russia, Turkey, Lithuania, France, Italy, Belarus

Durbansandshark

11-06-2009, 10:17 AM

Mexico lost the right to host the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship for Men because not all of the facilities it offered were ready or up to code in time. So Puerto Rico was chosen to be this year's host, and it has proven itself in recent years to be an adequate host for international tourneys in the Americas. San Juan's 10,000-seat Roberto Clemente Coliseum, the largest arena on the island until the Puerto Rico Coliseum was built in 2004, will serve as the venue for all of the games. No doubt PR will be competitive and had some success there.

Mexico on the other hand. What recent success has Mexico had in at least the Americas? Its men's basketball program has fallen behind even that of the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and the US Virgin Islands but slightly above Cuba. Mexico City's Palacio del Deportes seats a lot of people, but it's outdated. The country's most modern arena is in Monterrey. Basketball isn't big there, despite producing Horacio Llamas and Eduardo Najera and in 2007 featured Nolan Richardson, who speaks fluent Spanish, as coach in Las Vegas' tournament. BTW, Najera says that, unless Mexico's basketball federation doesn't chart a better course in the international scene, he won't suit up for the green.

As gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, the United States does not have to submit a team there to Puerto Rico. For Beijing doubles as the Olympic champions' automatic berth in Turkey next year. Therefore, it's not in it. Because of this, Canada, as the only other representative in the North American zone, automatically participates. Hopefully for the Canadians, they'll at least perform well enough to get a wildcard shot.

The grouping goes like this:

GROUP A-Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands
GROUP B-Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela

Dominican Republic hopes to boosts its chances by including NBA players Al Horford, Francisco Garcia, Charlie Villanueva, and Travor Arviza on the roster. So they might surprise.

From the looks of it, Group B is the tougher one of the two. Cuba to me is the easybeat and won't advance. The US Virgin Islands could suffer the same fate in theirs.

Speaking of Canada, the Canadian women will get ready to prepare for theirs in Brazil as the young squad under coach Allison MacNeil continues to earn more meaningful international experience. Having just been waived by the Phoenix Mercury following a trade, Kim Smith and fellow Mission, BC native and veteran national team member Therese Gabrielle look forward to deepen and boost their native country's fortunes during the summer, wearing Canada across their chests. They must finish in the top three in the Americas, which shouldn't be a problem with Team USA not around here too. A controversial FIBA Americas Beijing Olympics qualification process in Valdivia, Chile left MacNeil and her players fuming. Canada, if you recall, was placed in a difficult group with USA and Cuba with no crossover. But the women aren't big on size--only two players, Jordan Adams and Laurelle Weigl, are above 6-3. With that, they will impletement be uptempo and pressure defense with a little physicality to get in their faces to suit them better. So should they advance, will they be effective playing like this against stronger opponents in the Czech Republic? Right now, they are at a three-game series in China against the Chinese national team. Then head to Cuba for some games in August before embarking to play against Brazil in September on the eve of the Americas championship.
http://basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=3074

Durbansandshark

12-06-2009, 07:28 AM

EUROBASKET WOMEN 2009 RESULTS:

June 7

Ukraine 55 Slovakia 77
Lithuania 71 Serbia 49
Belarus 81 Israel 76
Greece 59 Hungary 43
Czech Republic 59 Spain 66
Russia 74 Turkey 61
Latvia 86 Poland 52
Italy 61 France 76

June 8

Slovakia 65 Czech Republic 58
Turkey 69 Lithuania 66
Spain 85 Ukraine 59
Israel 64 Italy 75
Poland 62 Greece 60
Serbia 37 Russia 72
Hungary 59 Latvia 76
France 63 Belarus 61

June 9

Ukraine 77 Czech Republic 79
Turkey 65 Serbia 55
Spain 71 Slovakia 54
Belarus 58 Italy 67
Poland 60 Hungary 53
France 73 Israel 70
Greece 68 Latvia 70
Lithuania 52 Russia 60

June 11

Poland 56 Slovakia 65
Greece 48 Spain 67
Czech Republic 47 Latvia 65

Until yesterday, all of the games for Eurobasket 2009 in Latvia were held at the Valmeira's Vidzemes Olimpiskas Centrs and the Leipaja Olimpic Center. Both have low seating capacity. But now subsequent games from the next round and up to the championship one are now played at the capital city of Riga in the Arena Riga, which seats 10,000.

A couple of observations for now: Russia, I must say, is the runaway fave to repat as Euro champs. This time near their border. I'm surprised they're stacked as they were in Beijing last year--Svetlana Abrosimova, Becky Hammon, Ilona Korstine, Maria Stepanova, Irina Ossipova, Ekaterina Lisina, and Tatiana Schchlegova are all back from that squad. They are about as complete as a national there is in Europe, since many of them actually play in the lucrative Russian Superleague nd EuroLeague clubs like CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Samara, and Spartak Moscow...and ply their trade in the WNBA too. It's just a matter of who's going to stop them in Latvia.

I noticed the scheduling is early. This time coming at the early days of the 2009 WNBA season, not in the aftermath of the end of the season. Probrably explains why many of the European ones decide not to play this year or won't report to their WNBA teams until their team play is over.

Cathy Melain, one of France's women's basketball legends, will retire from basketball after the Eurobasket 2009. She finally succumbed to coach Pierre Vincent's wishes for the last two years to bring her back to the national team, Les Bleus. Almost a decade ago, she was among one of the best players in Europe and led France to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Now, she doesn't score as much as she formerly did, but she's a great regulator as a veteran. It's too bad Melain never got to play in the WNBA, did geta blurb in SLAM magazine back in 2000-01. After this, she won't report back to Bourges. I also noticed Sandra Le Drean, Edwidge Lawson, and Audrey Sauret areen't on the team this time. There's a lot of pressure to get the Frenchwomen, with all of their talent, make the next level and stop underachieving.

One person to keep an eye for the near future for her emerging talent is Turkey's young star on the rise Bahar Caglar. Only 20 years old, the Galatasaray player has natural all-around talent but her inside-outside skill, her experience, and the ability to use the tools are still under development.

www.eurobasketwomen2009.com

2sc945

13-06-2009, 05:53 PM

As gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, the United States does not have to submit a team there to Puerto Rico. For Beijing doubles as the Olympic champions' automatic berth in Turkey next year. Therefore, it's not in it. Because of this, Canada, as the only other representative in the North American zone, automatically participates. Hopefully for the Canadians, they'll at least perform well enough to get a wildcard shot.

I don't understand it. Isn't Canada always been given a spot in the 10-team FIBA Americas Championship for Men? The FIBA Americas Championship always gives 4 spots to the South American Zone, 4 spots to the Central American Zone and 2 spots to the North American Zone (geographically speaking, Canada and USA are the only 2 North American nations in the world).

Durbansandshark

24-06-2009, 08:11 AM

You're right, Canada always does participates in the Tournament of the Americas for they are a very solid and organized team internationally when assembled. But with Team USA not in it this time, one of those spots that goes to both Canada and USA as North America went either to Central and Caribbean (likely) or to South America in this 10-team field.

Also notice that Panama, a team that surprisingly made it to the last World Basketball Championship in Japan out of the thanks to the guiding hand of coach Nolan Richardson, did not qualify for this Tournament of the Americas. Cuba's seemingly in their place. Could Barbados, a team that was in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and Jamaica fielded decent squads?

In February, FIBA Africa announced that Libya will act as the host for the 2009 African Basketball Championship set to start on August 5 with the draw set on Friday.

A new German generation of young basketball players is emerging to stake their claim for the Nationalmannschaft. With that, two mainstays on it for about a decade, Robert Garrett and Mithat Demirel, announced their international retirements from the team, following the leads of Patrick Femmerling and Pascal Roller, who both left after Beijing. Both Garett and Demirel won bronze at the WC in Indy 2002 and silver at the Eurobasket 2005 in Belgrade. Another longtime thirtysomething player, Demond Greene, is opting out of Eurobasket 2009 in Poland to spend time with his wife and two kids, but is not retiring. As for Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman, neither of them made public of their commitments to Germany as of yet. Without that experience, Germany will have a tougher time against Russia, Latvia, and whoever comes out of the AQT.

Another international retirement has occured. Israel's 34-year old Meir Tapiro's leadership on the national team will be missed, so new Israel coach Zvika Sherf is on the hunt for a new captain to fill that major hole as the Israelis hope to come out of the Eurobasket and qualify for Turkey next year. This is where the combo-guard's leadership will be missed. In his press conference announcing his international retirement, Shapiro likely would continue playing in the Additional Qualifying Tournament, but Israel directly made it so he decided it was time for a young generation.

Durbansandshark

10-07-2009, 09:12 AM

All signs indicate that Mike Krzyzewski will return to his Team USA coaching duties for the upcoming 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship in Turkey and the London Summer Olympics two years later. He was expected to make his decision on his fate sometime later this month to USA Basketball Managing Partner Jerry Colangelo. This will make Krzyzewski to first college coach to reapeat his stint as USA's men's basketball coach in the Olympics since the legendary Oklahoma A&M/Oklahoma St. coach Hank Iba did in 1964, 1968, and 1972. Had he not taken the post again, some big coaching names were thought of like Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, both of whom surely would be dumb not to consider the offer if presented to them.

I won't go into the NZ-hosted World Junior Basketball Championship since it has already its own post.

For all of its perrenial presence in the Olympics and the FIBA World Basketball Championships for almost three decades, not to mention its highly-regarded organization of basketball (by African standards) like its facilities, why hasn't Angola sent many of its players or at least attempted to put in college and the NBA, to say nothing of the minor leagues? Since 1992, Angola has made great strides and won 3 games in Japan 2006, so you would assume some attention and interest would be coming their way. The only Angolan I know who actually played in the USA is Joaquim Gomes, who played at Valparaiso from 2000-04. But no NBA players produced from the southern African nation. It's still been an African champ (and will almost certainly repeat as such in the upcoming African Championship in Libya) for two decades--and the women aren't slouches either, but Angola gets bypassed in favo(u)r of the Nigerians and the Sengalese, who are considered more talented in their pools than Angola. Many of the players played professionally in Portugal, Germany, and The Netherlands, but the national team consists of players currently based from two of Angola's top basketball teams, Primiero de Agosto and Atletico Petroleos Luanda. Benefica had some players in the earlier days, but not these days. So there may be one clue here as to why: though Angola's basketball league is the only fully professional one in all of Africa, the competition isn't as challenging.

Japan has a new coach in the hopes of competing and qualifying to Turkey as one of the top three out of Asia in Tianjin after 60-year old former Alabam coach (1992-98) David Hobbs was forced to resign due to "health problems". So the JBA appointed Osamu Kuraishi as the new coach, who actually wasn't in a coaching capacity but "almost like a general manager position", Kuraishi says. But he understands the long-term vision the JBA has for its national team, which means capitalizing on a full court game and zone defense for the team lacks size and power. Currently, the Japanese national team is playing against a New Orleans Hornets pro summer league team and NBDL sides in Las Vegas.

Julio Toro, the former Puerto Rico and Venezuela coach, has agreed to a four-year contract to watch over the Dominican Republic and oversee the sport's development in the country. Keep an eye on the team since Toro took both of the former nations to the Olympics that featured some NBA talents, like the Dominican Republic has.

Durbansandshark

05-08-2009, 06:02 AM

Africa actually starts the continental championships this year with the 2009 African Basketball Championships today in Libya, as previously mentioned on this subject. Libya, the hosts this time around after Angola, is, like their soccer and volleyball counterparts in the African Nations Cup, eccentric and rank outsiders even in their own continent; the last time the Greens participated in African basketball like this was 31 years ago (perhaps this is why FIBA Africa awarded the nation the tourney), where the Greens finished tenth. The other times they played were in 1965 and 1970 (both finishing times fifth). Don't expect much out of them as the host nation though host teams' performances are generally integral to the success of a tournament in the hosts in any sport.

The drawing:
GROUP A--Ivory Coast, Libya, Nigeria, South Africa
(Nigeria's the class of this group with Ivory Coast capable of pulling a surprise. South Africa, the organization isn't there yet, probrably should be happy just beating Libya and maybe give the Elephants a handful--Libya will get eaten alive here.)

GROUP B--Angola, Egypt, Mali, Mozambique
(Angola is team supremo in all of Africa of course. Egypt isn't that far behind. Mali is capable though.)

GROUP C--Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Senegal
(It's Senegal and Cameroon in this all-Francophone group coming out of this. Central African Republic is a darkhorse, with its players mostly plying their trade in France and in US colleges and minor leagues, but lack the big time experience yet and are one tourney away. A penny for Congo-Brazzaville's hopes.)

GROUP D--Cape Verde, Morocco, Rwanda, Tunisia
(Cape Verde and Tunisia for me in this group)

Now you can get up-to-date info, for which in the past has been hard to quickly get out of Africa because it's been behind speedwise. Now a dedicated website will change that for African basketball fans and be the start, with all due respect to Angola's nice one in 2007--www.libya2009.fiba.com

News and reports are in both English and French but no Arabic or Portuguese?

Durbansandshark

07-08-2009, 11:15 AM

Wow, the Greens really surprised me in their opening game win over South Africa as hosts 88-72. Libya is currently not among the ranked nations in the FIBA rankings. Since Libya has re-established diplomatic relations with the United States only a few years ago, it make it OK for its coach to be an American. Enter Kevin Nickleberry. But the Greens just lost to the Ivory Coast 73-64 today; they did show competitive spirit in that too. It'll be tough against Nigeria for the Libyans though.

Meanwhile, South Africa lost again this time to Nigeria in a blowout 98-47. So South Africa has no chance of advancing again from group play. Nigeria is currently coached by a familiar face from the NBA: John Lucas.

Panama is going to be in the Tournament of the Americas after all coming up later this month in Puerto Rico. Turns out Cuba decided not to take part with Panama next in line for anybody who was going to drop out. Panama should've been in this all along, based on their performance and going into the last FIBA World Basketball Championship in Japan and in the last TOA. They're experienced and have some talent on their roster. Cuba has gotten weaker and weaker in the last decade.

The Asian Tournament is going on along right now with the African Basketball Tournament in Tianjin, China.

Durbansandshark

19-08-2009, 06:35 AM

African powerhouse Angola became the first team to actually punch their ticket to Turkey by merit and automatically qualifying with another African championship title in Libya with a win the final over the Ivory Coast 82-72 in Benghazi, Libya's second city. Actually they accomplished that by winning in the semis over Tunisia, who later qualified by clinching third. This one marks as Angola's 10th African title, far and away the most of any nation in the continent. The Elephants of the Ivory Coast (or Cote D'Ivoire) will join them in Turkey next year being the second to qualify from Africa. Once again, Angola's Joaquim "Kika" Gomes is your African Tournament MVP. Once again, both Nigeria and Senegal disappoint. More stuff on the way.

Meanwhile, USA Basketball women's coach Geno Auriemma selected his first eight players, many of them from Beijing, where they directly qualified for, for the 2010 FIBA Women's World Basketball Championship in Brno, Czech Republic today: Sue Bird, Diana Tuarasi, Seimone Augustus, Kara Lawson, Tamika Catchings, Cappie Poindexter, Slyvia Fowles, and lastly and certainly least in my eyes, that WNBA MVP Evil Emissary (no, not MSEP thank God...). Four other players will be announced at a later date for the 12-strong team. Nobody doubts Team USA will be always formidable.

Argentina's coach Sergio Hernandez has Luis Scola and Pablo Pigrioni, but Hernandez won't have a host of other notable players at his stable for this year due to injuries (Ginobili, Nocioni, Delfino, and Oberto). So he's going to bring aboard some other blood like Juan Pablo Cantero, Leonadro and Juan Pedro Gutierrez, Diego Garcia, Roman Gonzalez, Sebastian Matias Sandes, Federico Kammerich, Andres Pelussi, Paolo Quinteros, and Leonardo Maindoli. Temple Owl Juan Mandel Fernandez is the 13th player or alternate but won't suit up.

2sc945

20-08-2009, 06:05 PM

WTF Angola champions again and again there will be 2 new kids from Africa in next year's World Championship. It seems that with the exception of Angola, all other African nations stayed in a very low level of development and keep holding each other out. By contrast, Asia's level has rised significantly with Lebanon (who by skill level has already reached 2nd rate European level) failed to earn an automatic qualifying spot for the WC (I hope their performance can earn them a wildcard spot though). Host China (who has never lost in an Asian Championship final b4) lost for the 1st time in the final to defending champions Iran by 18 points. Traditional powerhouses Korea Republic (7th) and Japan (10th) also failed to achieve their goals. Chinese Taipei (who lost to eventual winners Iran by just 4 points in their opening game) performed strongly to finish 5th overall (best in a decade) and was the 2nd best East Asian team in the tournament (behind host China only). However, the gap between Asia's Top 10 and its also-runs has widened spectacularly with Big Brothers beating Little Brothers by 50+, 60+, 70+ or even 80+ points (laughable).

Durbansandshark

21-08-2009, 06:19 AM

It sure does seem laughable with Asia's basketball development. I will get more in depth with that and Africa's next week actually.

In a bit of a mild upset, Canada has upset a rearranged Argentina team in the pre-Tournament of The Americas tourney, the Marchand Continental Cup in Puerto Rico 86-72. Canada is now 1-1 in Group A after a 5-point loss to Puerto Rico 60-55. Remember this is a warmup for the big stuff.

Durbansandshark

29-08-2009, 04:12 AM

Canada held the Mexicans to 40 in their win in the Tournament of the Americas in San Juan, Puerto Rico yesterday on the first day of it in their 95-40 pounding, making it the new lowest total of points for any team in that tournament ever. Canada enjoyed a 30-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and obviously never looked back.

2sc945

03-09-2009, 03:05 PM

Durbansandshark

09-09-2009, 10:06 AM

Finally now I have some days to catch up to speed with several aspects of basketball that I want to cover but couldn't in depth due to my work streaks and of the fact that I'm back in class (currently into my third week of the Fall semester and explains why I went with the brief tidbits). And here we go...

The European women had their turn a couple of months ago in Latvia, which I will recap for you soon. Now the men just started--actually into their second day of the tournament--in neighboring Poland with 16 of the greatest national teams in Europe duking it out starting on Labo(u)r Day. Many of them of course feature several NBA stars from across the continent helping their teams for European supremacy! Just about every team in it has at least one NBA player on their roster. Turkey, or 12 Dev Adam (12 Giant Men in Turkish), is already automatically in the World Championships next year as hosts, but it's still testing its mettle amongst the rest of Europeans, arguably the deepest, most competitive, and most well known FIBA continental championship in the world. Top six places (not counting Turkey if among those places) out of the Round of 12 will start making plans for Turkey next year.

France, in no small part inspired by the women's performance over in Latvia (won't reveal EXACTLY what Les Bleues did there until days later), managed to become the last qualifier for Eurobasket 2009 Poland after knocking off an overmatched Belgium (aka the Black Knights, formerly the Black Devils) squad in the Additional Qualifying Round Tournament 2-game home and home Playoff series though tied--70-66 in the first game at Antwerp and 92-54 in Pau. France won on aggregate 158-124. France is way too talented a team up and down to subject themselves to such a qualification like that. On the other hand, coming "hot off the press" could get used to their advantage. More on that later.

And now the groups and a belated preview of the group. Teams from the same seed cannot face each other in the same group:

GROUP A

1. Greece
2. Croatia
3. Macedonia
4. Israel

Greece will continue its European powerhouse ways in this group with the Croatians being the only real threat with coaching legend Jazmin Represa, also coach of Italy's Serie A's Virtus Roma, the team that had Brandon Jennings, at the helm and bounced back from being a little bit in the wilderness after announcing its arrival back on the big stage. But Croatia doesn't really have a bonafide superstar (no NBA names on the roster) as a go-to guy, but they are big, have plenty of power, and play with a very strong team ethic. Look out for G Roko-Leni Ukic, who spelled for Jose Calderon in Toronto last season. Greece (Hellas) is too deep. Macedonia is capable of pulling some talent together and continue their inspired play after knocking off Estonia to get to Poland last year. And Israel? A nation with a financially lucrative and perrenially well-known pro league will continue to struggle once again against bigger European powers, continually finding out how difficult it is to emerge out of European play. No NBA players here and they are a bit undersized.

GROUP B

1. France
2. Russia
3. Germany
4. Latvia

Normally, I'm wary of teams coming into a big tournament fresh off a qualifier (since they won't have time to relax and prepare effectively against the group opponents at least). But I'll make an exception for France, since they are loaded all over with a nice mix of experience and youth. Will they find the urgency when the chips that was so lacking last time two years ago? Les Bleues now know what it takes to get there to the Worlds and the Olympics after that disappointment. Almost all of them are NBA players or have NBA teams claim their rights to them. Defending Euro champs the Russian Federation is a bit down following the disappointing perfomance at Beijing, but that's attributable to how tough and unpredictable the talent is back then. They'll slip somewhat, but as long as the coach from CSKA David Blatt is there, Russia's always a threat. Leadership can be an issue since they're without AK47 and David JR Holden, so that means Russia reverts to their traditional point guard weaknesses, leaving a huge hole. They got Khmiki's Kelly McCarthy to fill the naturalization role at SF, but all eyes will lay on Viktor Khryapa for Russia. But he shouldn't be relied on for everything; opposing defenses will collapse on him, taking away his effectiveness. Other players donning Russia must step up and work harder, but they'll advance. Germany has an even bigger problem with the absence of its star Dirk Nowitzki; the Germans are stuck in the middle of two eras coming into Eurobasket 2009: still in the Dirk Nowitzki epoch and the look of the much-dreaded post-Nowitzki one. The Dirkster hono(u)red an agreement with Mavs' owner Mark Cuban that after getting Germany into the Olympics for the first time since Detlef Schrempf's team did in 1992, he will not suit up for Germany and take the summer off. This is a new young breed for Germany under coach Dirk Bauermann with Femmerling being the only majorly experirenced player and just came out of international retirement for leadership. Six Olympians are gone from this team like Chris Kaman. Is there a difference maker on the backcourt? The inexperience will definitely show but they have some speed and athleticism to spare. All that said, don't look for miracles, contention, or a medal spot as Deutschland look toward the future with these talented youngsters as they get a chance to play in the next level. A top six place is a bit too much to ask of them for now. Latvia has pretty much former UNLV star Kaspars Kambala and little else. They haven't won a game in European competition in two straight tournaments, let alone advance out of group play. Latvian basketball fans are growing so impatient that the women like Gunta Basko are stealing their thunder lately and are favo(u)ring them. Latvia is not just a "run and gun team". They "want it all and want it now" like that Queen song famously says. Having ditched a Serb, Nenad Trajkovic, as coach, the Latvians turned to a Lithuanian as new conductor for fresh experiences and ideas, Ketstutis Kemzura, which has been good results-wise, and brought over some solid young Latvians who made their mark in European club basketball.

GROUP C

1. Spain
2. Slovenia
3. Great Britain
4. Serbia

I may end up selling the Serbs short based on developments in recent years and the lack of leadership I have writing about here. Like not being in Olympic basketball for the first time since 1956. Perhaps that will act as motivation and make them appreciate what they previously had. Great Britain are of course the new kids on the block in big time European basketball with the BBC giving them some love on TV with all of their group games on the Beeb. Former Shefield Shark star and now GB coach Chris Finch and crew will find the first time going tough in their virgin endeavour, and they probrably find the Group Of Death experience incredibly daunting with heavily experienced Spain, Slovenia, and Sebia to confront. Nothing short of incredible amid all of the dysfunction that the likes of Finch witnessed and having the good fortune of Loul Deng and Ben Gordon playing basketball with some British ties, Team GB should be applauded for making incredible strides and a meteoric ascent in such a short amount of time after years of turmoil (including the women's game), a mission for a progam to be proud of and contributed to bringing London 2012 a reality. Previously, Eurobasket was a pipe dream that reflected how unhealthy (still is in some cases) the state of basketball was there. Now it's attainable. I think they must beat Serbia to see any chance of advancing because Great Britain suffered the double whammy of not having NBA stars Loul Deng (injury) and Ben Gordon (failing to commit). Had they were donning the Union Jack, they could be dark horses for the latter stages. How they qualified is even more remarkable by topping the group mostly without the likes of Robert Archibald and Andrew Betts, and, to its credit, got their house and issues in order with impressive unity on and off the court. Back to Eurobasket, they lack depth and of course experience and will be exposed of Euro players. So the name of the game now is be competitive and live and commit to what Chris Finch is selling on. Pops needs much more significant NBA play. What is there needed to say about Spain, the defending World Champs and Beijing silver medalists, that hasn't been uttered lately? They are damn good and a prime contender to gain the Euro title with their star-studded lineup. Slovenia is a dark horse.

GROUP D

1. Lithuania
2. Poland
3. Turkey
4. Bulgaria

Why is Bulgaria here? Had the nation was still a Soviet bloc satelitte, I would give it more consideration. The Bulgarians are like those European teams like Sweden, Czech Republic, and Bosnia that are in-betweeners: can qualify to the upper level with some good fortune on their side but not really good enough to fight effectively and consistently against the big boys in Euro Division A. They got on the sole naturalization spot Ibrahim Jabeer as the star. Needless to say, they'll get pummeled. I'm not worried about the Turks, except they would like to have a good showing to get the fans pumped even further for next year as hosts. Poland, they gotta have that home cooking to breathe life in Polish fans, and they can do it with Martin Gortat. But will there be overreliance on him? And what of the additional pressure of being hosts. They've a chance to advance with the exciting scoring machine David Logan getting his Polish passport in July to provide instant offense. A good start is a must for the Polish and they will win a game or two. Lithuania will miss ALL their star players more than they realize and will be wounded but still capable.

RedbackVenom

09-09-2009, 06:27 PM

Nice preview.

Interesting to see the results so far compared to your previews. Turkey is foing well at 2-0, whilst France has come out firing. GB will be lucky to get a win.

Durbansandshark

10-09-2009, 04:51 AM

EUROBASKET 2009

Monday, September 7

GROUP A
Macedonia 54 Greece 86
Croatia 86 Israel 79

GROUP B
Russia 81 Latvia 68
France 70 Germany 65

GROUP C
Great Britain 59 Slovenia 72
Serbia 66 Spain 57

GROUP D
Poland 90 Bulgaria 78
Turkey 84 Lithuania 76

Tuesday, September 8

GROUP A
Macedonia 82 Israel 79
Greece 76 Croatia 68

GROUP B
Germany 76 Russia 73
France 60 Latvia 51

GROUP C
Slovenia 80 Serbia 69
Spain 84 Great Britain 76

GROUP D
Poland 86 Lithuania 75
Turkey 94 Bulgaria 66

Today is the last day of preliminary group play for Eurobasket 2009.

Durbansandshark

10-09-2009, 08:34 AM

Canada is going back to the FIBA World Basketball Championships for the first time since Indianapolis 2002! :) They qualified by placing fourth in the recently completed Tournament of the Americas with an upset win into the quarterfinals over an equally talented Dominican Republic (by Canadian standards anyway) that has some NBA players on the team of their own. The game was close at the beginning, but thanks to some crucial long range shooting with good looks in the second half from Andy Rautins and David Anderson and clutch free throws from Joel Anthony, the "Road Warriors", the youngest team out there in Puerto Rico took the lead but never exactly pulled away as the Dominicans fought back. Canada stayed up for good at the final minutes.

I think in this sojourn Leo Rautins has grown as a coach. For all of the criticisms he gets (including from me), he performed his best yet since taking over. That doesn't mean his beef with Sam Dalembert last year was excusable (more on that later). He chose a tougher road by providing some younger, wet-behind-the-ears players have a taste of more international ball. Plus the rotations were terrific when he rested the players possibly setting up the big win against the Dominican Republic.

So with all of that, I expect the Canadians to get deeper for next year in Turkey with Rautins pledging to bring in the likes of Nash, Mendez, Gomes, Matt Bonner, Magloire and Dalembert, whom in the latter I'd like for them to smoke the peace pipe. It wouldn't hurt for them to do that. The Canadians should really thank and send a bouquet of flowers to the USA for winning Olympic gold in Beijing, thus having an automatic spot to Turkey allowing another team from the Americas to go through. GO CANADA!!! :)
www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=3409
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqoMa9RkfDY (game highlights)

Meanwhile, Leo Rautins' female counterpart, Allison Macneill, announced her own young and relatively internationally inexperienced roster headed by Kim Smith and Teresa Gabrielle (http://brazil2009.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/09/facw/news/p/nid/32065/sid/4023/article.html). With the USA out of the way in this too, I think Canada can sneak up and take one of the three spots for a trip to the Czech Republic. Group draw is favorable for them with Brazil the only threat. Cuba's on the decline. I expect Argentina to be the third.

One thing I would like to see EA Sports do for the next installment of the NBA Live series now that it has the FIBA license is to expand from the 24 national teams it now has. NBA Live 2011 should take a page from those FIFA World Cup Games and install continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe, Oceania) to take your favo(u)rite countries to Turkey and play there to global glory--NZ's Tall Blacks MUST be in it by then! I don't care if they happen to be minnows like South Africa or Kazakhstan who aren't really competitive, you can fufill that fantasy. Complete with actual arenas to be used in Turkey and the facilities in the continental tourneys. Maybe add a wildcard tournament, unlike extending invites in real life. Crowds should reflect the national fervor of the teams they root for, among other things. Since this will be the first time EA Sports will operate with FIBA with a WC going on, why not take advantage of it?

Oh yeah, this wild and recent pre-Americas Tournament incident has now become a YouTube staple. This involved Mexico's Aztecs and Uruguay's Celeste. This has got to be the junior version of the Malice in The Palace, albeit it kept on the court (then again all hell broke loose outside of it and some fans did descend onto the court), but it kinda looks like what you see with some of the rowdy and thuggish Argentinian soccer fans clashing with police. All started when Mexico's Romel Beck's shoe was stepped on by a Uruguayan defender and then jawing at each other. Beck had to be restrained later on, you'll notice.
From ESPN Deportes (with all-women sportscasters) (www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1xSZ8fm6N0)
Also from ESPN Deportes (male and female commentators) (www.youtube.com/watch?v=1egNjUDRwus)
With different angles on Mexico TVC Deportes (www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPP1gwcE9d0)

Durbansandshark

10-09-2009, 12:09 PM

2sc945

10-09-2009, 10:01 PM

Wednesday, September 9

GROUP A
Croatia 81 Macedonia 71
Greece 106 Israel 80

GROUP B
France 69 Russia 64
Latvia 68 Germany 62

GROUP C
Spain 90 Slovenia 84
Serbia 77 Great Britain 59

GROUP D
Turkey 87 Poland 69
Lithuania 84 Bulgaria 69

(isn't it interesting how the losers in both games in the last group lost with the exact same amount of points?)

Well, the winners in both games in Group A on Monday scored the exact same amount of points too.

Come Friday, Eurobasket 2009 goes into qualifying round group play. Both groups alternate play:

GROUP E
France
Greece
Croatia
Germany
Russia
Macedonia

My picks: Greece 1st, France 2nd, Russia 3rd, Croatia 4th, Germany 5th and Macedonia 6th.

GROUP F
Turkey
Lithuania
Poland
Slovenia
Serbia
Spain

My picks: Serbia 1st, Spain 2nd, Turkey 3rd, Slovenia 4th, Poland 5th and Lithuania 6th.

Quarter-Finals:

Greece bt Slovenia
France bt Turkey
Spain bt Russia
Croatia bt Serbia (2OT)

Playoffs (5th-8th):

Russia bt Slovenia (OT)
Serbia bt Turkey

Semi-Finals:

Spain bt Greece
France bt Croatia

7th Place Playoff:

Turkey bt Slovenia

5th Place Playoff:

Russia bt Serbia

3rd Place Playoff:

Greece bt Croatia

Final:

France bt Spain (3OT) http://www.ozhoopsboards.com/images/icons/icon11.gif

France duo Champions in both Men's and Women's EuroBasket, Spain 'OMG so close' again. http://www.ozhoopsboards.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

The qualifiers for FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey are …

Olympic Champions (1) - United States of America
Africa (3) - Angola, Ivory Coast & Tunisia
Americas (4) - Brazil, Puerto Rico, Argentina & Canada
Asia (3) - Iran, China & Jordan
Europe (6) - France, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Russia & Serbia
Oceania (2) - New Zealand & Australia
Wild cards (4) - Dominican Republic (FIBA Americas), Lebanon (FIBA Asia), Slovenia & Germany (FIBA Europe)
Hosts (1) - Turkey

Durbansandshark

11-09-2009, 10:04 AM

Well, the winners in both games in Group A on Monday scored the exact same amount of points too.

Correct.

The qualifiers for FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey are …

Olympic Champions (1) - United States of America
Africa (3) - Angola, Ivory Coast & Tunisia
Americas (4) - Brazil, Puerto Rico, Argentina & Canada
Asia (3) - Iran, China & Jordan
Europe (6) - France, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Russia & Serbia
Oceania (2) - New Zealand & Australia
Wild cards (4) - Dominican Republic (FIBA Americas), Lebanon (FIBA Asia), Slovenia & Germany (FIBA Europe)
Hosts (1) - Turkey

Not much of a dispute with your picks for Europe and the wildcards. But do take serious consideration that FIBA might like to extend a wildcard to Great Britain instead of one of the four you picked because A) of the star power it could bring assuming if NBA stars Loul Deng and Ben Gordon will be on the team also providing depth to the competitive young emerging squad next year, B) FIBA would love to tap into the lucrative British market that has never been into a World Championship and signal a vote of confidence to the great strides in development British basketball has made in all areas in such a quick amount of time and hopefully as a mainstay in the upper echelon of European basketball, and C) provide Team GB some more top-level meaningful and significant international basketball games under its belt leading up to London 2012. DR I can see with Villenueva and Al Horford. Lebanon is a West Asian powerhouse and therefore developed an international pedigree. Japan, though very undersized, might get one too as it is a very significant market and having hosted the last one. I doubt Japan will get it though.

Speaking of Lebanon, the women, despite lacking vision or strategy for long-term success, will make their debut in the Asian Basketball Championships in Chennai, India later this month, with hopes of emulating the men after a decade of international basketball (www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/32076/arti.html). Key here is strong, consistent support from the Lebanese Basketball Association.

2sc945

11-09-2009, 02:44 PM

I fully agree with you about Britain should get a wild card, a competitive host is the key for a successful major international tournament.

My qualifiers for 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey are.…

Olympic Champions (1) - United States of America
FIBA Africa (3) - Angola, Côte d'Ivoire & Tunisia
FIBA Americas (4) - Brazil, Puerto Rico, Argentina & Canada
FIBA Asia (3) - IR Iran, China PR & Jordan
FIBA Europe (6) - France, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Russian Federation & Serbia
FIBA Oceania (2) - New Zealand & Australia
Wild Cards (4) - Dominican Republic (FIBA Americas), Lebanon (FIBA Asia), Slovenia (FIBA Europe) & Great Britain (FIBA Europe)
Host Nation (1) - Turkey

2sc945

21-09-2009, 06:32 PM

FIBA Europe qualifiers (6): Spain, Serbia, Greece, Slovenia, France & Croatia

5 of my picks qualified while Russian Federation finished 7th, 2005 EuroBasket Champions Greece did what I had predicted by finishing 3rd. There's not much difference between these 8 really, anyone can beat anyone on any given day but there's quite a gap between the Top 8 and the Bottom 8 with just 1 upset result recorded (Germany beat Russia 76-73 in the Preliminary Round).

So, here are my picks for the 4 Wild Cards (with reasons given):

(1) Russian Federation

Reason: 7th in FIBA Europe, was the Champions in 2007 EuroBasket, performed strongly in the most competitive continental championship in the world. Russia is also a huge market for FIBA.

(2) Dominican Republic

Reason: 5th in FIBA Americas, was 6th in 2005 FIBA Americas Championship but lost their Wild Card spot to Puerto Rico (who finished 7th in 2005). Will be quite unfair to them if they get overlooked again this year.

(3) Lebanon

Reason: 4th in FIBA Asia, made tremendous improvement over the last few years, was the Grand Finalist in 3 out of the last 5 FIBA Asian Championships. Made successive World Championship appearance in 2002 and 2006, should make another appearance in Turkey but lost their spot to the sudden rise of Jordan.

(4) Great Britain

Reason: A competitive host is the key for a successful major international tournament. As the host of 2012 London Olympics, FIBA really need to give them a taste of international basketball in world level before 2012 so they can organise a quality team for the Olympics. Britain is also one of the big markets in Europe.

2sc945

23-09-2009, 12:04 AM

If Pau Gasol plays for Spain, Diamantidis for Greece, Kirilenko and Khryapa for Russia and David Blatt stays as coach, Joakim Noah plays for France and Luol Deng and Ben Gordon for Great Britain, here is my prediction for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey:

1 - USA, 2 - Greece, 3 - Spain, 4 - France, 5 - Turkey, 6 - Argentina, 7 - Australia, 8 - Serbia, 9 - Brazil, 10 - Russian Federation (wild card), 11 - Slovenia, 12 - New Zealand, 13 - Puerto Rico, 14 - Croatia, 15 - China, 16 - Canada, 17 - Dominican Republic (wild card), 18 - Iran, 19 - Great Britain (wild card), 20 - Lebanon (wild card), 21 - Angola, 22 - Jordan, 23 - Tunisia, 24 - Côte d'Ivoire.

Durbansandshark

26-09-2009, 04:44 AM

A brief report on the just completed Asian Women's Basketball Championship in Chennai, India before the full one soon. China is the winner of this year's installment, beating South Korea by 20 91-71, and one again the East Asian dominance in Asian women's basketball continues. When it comes to this, it's always China and South Korea for Asian supremacy. Matter of fact, those two and Japan (for beating Chinese Taipei for bronze) all got the three Asian invites to next year's FIBA Women's World Basketball Championships in the Czech Republic. More will come next week.

If you remember what I commented and blasted almost four years ago about Russia getting shafted from a wildcard invite to Japan, I commented on the rich market and the strong tradition and power it has even as part of ther Soviet Union. Since then of course, Russia became a Eurobasket champ and is a mainstay in the upper echelon of European and international basketball, made the Olympics again after missing Athens, imported a few more players to the NBA, and CSKA Moscow became a powerhouse in Euroball with lots of rubles to spend. So, agreeing with 2sc945, FIBA would be stupid to repeat the same mistake on Russia.

2sc945

20-10-2009, 07:17 PM

The Lebanese women's bball team has qualified for Level I FIBA Asia Championship for Women in 2011 after thrashing Thailand by 25 points (83-58) in the playoffs.

RedbackVenom

21-10-2009, 12:38 PM

Agree with Russia and Dominican Republic receiving wildcards as they deserve it based on results in qualifying events. However Great Britain and Lebanon do not deserve a wild card based on the same criteria as they were poor in their qualification events - in fact Great Britain did not even win a game!

Macedonia just missed out at Eurobasket on direct qualification, whilst Germany were poor at Eurobasket (but better than Great Britain), and Poland did better at Eurobasket than Germany. Not too mention Lithuania who are FIBA ranked in top 10 but could not get past the first stage at Eurobasket! Italy did not even qualify for Eurobasket, so I will not go there...

There is no chance in hell Lebanon are better than any of ther aforementioned European teams. There is also a clear case to say that both Poland and Macedonia are far better than Great Britain, Germany, Lithuania and Italy.

So after Russia and the Dominican Republic, I would vote for Poland and then Macedonia to get the last two wildcards. Again my criteria is based purely on results at qualifying tournaments, and then combine it with world rankings to compare region agaisnt region. I know FIBA selection includes more than that, but you cannot select a team based on who will or will not play.

Durbansandshark

23-10-2009, 09:52 AM

The African women were the last to play their continental tournament with the one recently ended in Antananarivo, Madagascar. And we got a new women's champ in the continent claiming the crown in the Francophone island nation at the Indian Ocean. Senegal avenged their heartbreaking loss (and cost them direct entry into the Beijing Olympics for Africa) at the last African final held at home two years ago in a rematch with Mali. The Senegalese dethroned their fellow French-speaking West Africans from Mali 72-57 to claim a record tenth crown, despite the Malians winning the last two quarters points-wise 14-9 and 20-6. Both finalist nations will rep for Africa in the World Basketball Championships in the Czech Republic.

In the third place game, Angola beat the Ivory Coast 76-57.

So the Czech Republic field next year is complete:

Host: Czech Republic
Olympic Champ: USA
Europe: France, Russia, Greece, Spain, Belarus
Americas: Brazil, Canada, Argentina
Oceania: Australia
Africa: Senegal, Mali
Asia: China, Japan, South Korea

I just checked the field on Wikipedia, and I noticed the next FIBA World Basketball Championship in 2014 is going to be in India?! Is this true at all?! I doubt it. FIBA may like to expand its horizons into newer frontiers, but is India and its women's game up for the challenge and worthy of it for now? In any case India has a lot of work to do in its national women's basketball program to really be competitive. How about Great Britain? Lithuania? Greece? Argentina? Canada?

More details later on Africa, Eurobasket, the Americas, and Asia

2sc945

23-10-2009, 02:02 PM

My prediction for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic:

1 - USA, 2 - Australia, 3 - Russia, 4 - France, 5 - China, 6 - Spain, 7 - Brazil, 8 - Czech Republic, 9 - Korea Republic, 10 - Belarus, 11 - Canada, 12 - Greece, 13 - Japan, 14 - Argentina, 15 - Senegal, 16 - Mali.

2sc945

13-11-2009, 02:42 PM

The World Championships Wild Card Race Update Vol. I
Kris SANTIAGO[/i]] - Merhaba!

The race is on for the last four tickets to Turkey!

How about brining all the country's best players to the ring to let them fight for the tickets?
There is so much speculation going on these days about who will be getting a chance to play in Turkey next year. FIBA is going to make a decision and will be announcing it on December, 13th of this year. Until then, there is a mass of speculations, so here is a round-up on the latest information and the latest rumors that are circulating around:
[b]
Europe:

Lithuania, who is a strong candidate to get one of those wild-cards, openly complained through their president Garastas about the late-registration-fee but is currently talking to some sponsors to cover it. For me, a front-runner in this race for sure.

Germany's Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman would be in, if their country will be granted a pass for Turkey, according to Marc Stein of ESPN. The Germans are eager to see Nowitzki suiting up again, as he is the face of national hoops and should be shifting the media attention back to the sport as soccer is dominating the TV screens over here.

Russia's David Blatt talked to FIBA.com some time ago about the possibility to obtain a wild-card.
Since then, no more updates were seen on whether the East Europeans are going to go for the extra-ticket or not.

Great Britain is also strongly interested developing their national-team program and therefore are also going strong for the last tickets.
Luol Deng would be a lock for Britain if healthy, but their chances are looking slim compared to other countries.

Italy, who has failed to even qualify for the European Championships this year, pulled officially out of the race, according to FIBA Europe. But you never know what's going to happen. A team with Belinelli, Gallinari and Bargnani might be changing Italy's recent path of failure.

There is also some interest coming from Poland, Montenegro, Finland and Israel but I would rate their chances as slim compared to the other countries involved in the process, mostly due to their missing lobby in the basketball world and their recent performances.

Latin America:

The Dominicanos re-vamped their national-team program this year and fielded their best team ever in Puerto Rico at the FIBA Americas Championships. I was able to follow their games, and I must say, that with a stronger point guard and some more camping before a tournament, the team could go against some of the European teams. The question is, if the federation will be able to put up a good presentation as well as the money. Their stars like Al Horford, Francisco Garcia, Charlie Villanueva, Jack Michael Martinez and Luis Flores are capable of playing well internationally and it has to be seen if Trevor Ariza could be cleared to play for the Caribbean country as well by FIBA.

The Uruguayos maybe also counted into the race, even if the y did not go out publicly with the wish to obtain a card yet. Esteban Batista is their main weapon and the way they played the FIBA Americas reminded me of the Argentinos, who had their star in pivot Luis Scola. It has to be seen

Africa:

The Nigerians expressed a strong interest and their president is quiet optimistic, but the Africans might not be getting a second chance according to this article here. The big question is: Who is going to sponsor the "D'Tigers" quest for Turkey? After talking to one of the national-team players, there is a lot of money in the government, but the interest to spend it on basketball is not high.

I know of Cameroon to be interested but their lack of proper organization (I was apparent, that Cameroon did have problems to prepare under professional circumstances for last year's Olympic qualifiers as well as this year's African Championships) as well as the lack of money and support by the government won't help the ambitious team. Mali and Senegal are two other countries with a strong national-team program who may try their best to get also a free-pass for Turkey. But I doubt that more than one country from Africa will be even getting a closer look this time.

Asia:

Lebanon and its basketball-fans are pushing hard with an online-petition as well as bombarding FIBA with e-mails. The West-Asian basketball powerhouse is in a good position after getting edged by China and Jordan for one of the three open spots for Asia. Players such as Fadi El-Khatib, Matt Freije and Jackson Vroman are providing fire-power for the "Cedars" and Turkey is not far from Lebanon, so fans should be able to travel to support their country.

East-Asians Korea might be applying as well from what I heard. I would rate their chances not higher then Lebanon's but the country showed some upside in the recent years and might be on the come-up with a solid team that is spearheaded by big Seung-Jin Ha and has even some nice foreign-born talent in Kim-Min-Soo and Daniel Sandrin.

So now that I have given you an overview, I'm hoping to feed you soon with more rumors and tendencies regarding the leading candidates in this battle for the last four spots for Turkey 2010.

I'm out like an additional qualifying tourney...

2sc945

13-12-2009, 10:21 PM

RedbackVenom

14-12-2009, 07:04 AM

I still can't get over the fact Lebanon got a wildcard!

Can't argue with the other 3 selections, but Lebanon?

Durbansandshark

15-12-2009, 10:35 AM

What about Great Britain?

RedbackVenom

15-12-2009, 11:17 AM

What about Great Britain?

GB's international record not good enough IMO, although they had a good case with London 2012 fast approaching.

Dominican Republic missing out has me puzzled. And the selections made really did nothing to help grow and promote basketball in Africa.

2sc945

20-12-2009, 08:27 PM

Good read: Bison Dele (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_Dele)

Durbansandshark

06-03-2010, 08:12 AM

What's up with the Azzurri and the state of Italian basketball? Thoughts coming soon...

2sc945

10-03-2010, 01:49 PM

What's up with the Azzurri and the state of Italian basketball? Thoughts coming soon...

Hopeless, they're gone.

RedbackVenom

10-03-2010, 01:51 PM

They are not that bad, but the Italian league is in a bit of a mess at the moment...maybe not as bad as the NBL was not that ong ago, but it is still pretty bad for what was once a very good league.

2sc945

10-03-2010, 02:15 PM

Germany (FIBA Europe), Lebanon (FIBA Asia), Lithuania (FIBA Europe) and Russia (FIBA Europe) have been awarded the final four wild-card spots at next year’s FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey.

Their addition brings the field to 24 team ahead of the official draw in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Those teams are …

Hosts (1) - Turkey
Olympic Champions (1) - USA
Africa (3) - Angola, Ivory Coast & Tunisia
Americas (4) - Brazil, Puerto Rico, Argentina & Canada
Asia (3) - Iran, China & Jordan
Europe (6) - Spain, Serbia, Greece, Slovenia, France & Croatia
Oceania (2) - New Zealand & Australia
Wild Cards (4) - Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania & Russia

I can understand why Russia, Germany & Lebanon got the Wild Cards, but Lithuania? I don't think they deserve a Wild Card as they never treat the FIBA World Championships as seriously as the Olympic Basketball Tournaments (and their performance in EuroBasket 2009 was fairly average too). Dominican Republic (who should have taken Puerto Rico's spot 4 years ago) or Great Britain (2012 Olympic Hosts) should take their spot instead.

2sc945

10-03-2010, 02:46 PM

They are not that bad, but the Italian league is in a bit of a mess at the moment...maybe not as bad as the NBL was not that ong ago, but it is still pretty bad for what was once a very good league.

So, how would u rank the World Leagues?

My picks:

(1) NBA (United States)
(2) Euroleague (Europe)
(3) ACB (Spain)
(4) NBA D-League (United States)
(5) HEBA A1 (Greece)

The rest are all bad leagues.

2sc945

10-03-2010, 03:50 PM

2009-10 Russian Superleague A Teams

Club European participation in 2009-10 season

(1) CSKA Moscow Euroleague / VTB United League
(2) Khimki Moscow Region Euroleague / VTB United League
(3) UNICS Kazan ULEB Eurocup / VTB United League
(4) Spartak Saint Petersburg ULEB Eurocup
(5) Triumph Lyubertsy ULEB Eurocup
(6) Dynamo Moscow ULEB Eurocup
(7) Lokomotiv Kuban EuroChallenge
(8) Enisey Krasnoyarsk EuroChallenge
(9) Krasnye Krylya Samara EuroChallenge

Note: Ural Great and Universitet Yugra Surgut could not participate in the competition due to financial difficulties. CSK VVS Samara went bankrupt and was replaced by Krasnye Krylya Samara. Spartak Primorje finished last in the 2008/09 season and was relegated to Super League B. Avtodor Saratov finished first in Super League B in the 2008/09 season and was promoted, however due to financial difficulties the team declined to participate in Super League A for the 2009/10 season.

LOL the Russian Superleague A is the first league I've ever known which has all its teams qualified for Continental competitions. They used to be a super strong league in Europe, but nowadays they got too many teams folded and the ULEB should consider to reallocate the Russian quota in their competitions so the team that finishes last in the Russian league (who will actually be relegated to Superleague B next season) won't be playing in an European-wide competition.

Russian Basketball Super League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Basketball_Super_League)

Cram

11-03-2010, 05:17 AM

I can understand why Russia, Germany & Lebanon got the Wild Cards, but Lithuania? I don't think they deserve a Wild Card as they never treat the FIBA World Championships as seriously as the Olympic Basketball Tournaments (and their performance in EuroBasket 2009 was fairly average too). Dominican Republic (who should have taken Puerto Rico's spot 4 years ago) or Great Britain (2012 Olympic Hosts) should take their spot instead.

Lithuania has been a power in international basketball since they've been a country, and before that, they were the rock behind the strong teams from the USSR. Sure they've never gotten into the medal round at the World Champs, but they've come 7th twice in the last 3, which is a good effort, and I think their Olympic exploits (3 bronze, 2 4th placings) mean they're very worthy.

2sc945

11-03-2010, 03:44 PM

Lithuania has been a power in international basketball since they've been a country, and before that, they were the rock behind the strong teams from the USSR. Sure they've never gotten into the medal round at the World Champs, but they've come 7th twice in the last 3, which is a good effort, and I think their Olympic exploits (3 bronze, 2 4th placings) mean they're very worthy.

Unlike most countries who want to do well in both major tournaments, the Lithuanians strategically reserved their best for the Olympics and used the World Champs as training tournaments for their youth/fringe players (which is IMO a smart decision, u just can't push your best players every year & still hope they can deliver the goods). That's why their performances in those 2 tournaments were so vastly different. My point was that why should the FIBA give the Wild Card spot to a team who will not send their strongest team to compete instead of someone who will treat the WC spot as a great opportunity for the exposure and development of basketball in their country?

Durbansandshark

14-04-2010, 12:40 PM

One of my favo(u)rite women's basketball players who have not tasted WNBA ball as far as I know, Sandra Le Drean from France, announced hours ago she would hang up her sneakers in a matter of weeks (www.womensbasketball-in-france.com/playing-basketball-comes-to-an-end-for-sandra-le-drean.html) after playing pro ball with the Czech Republic's ZVVK USK Praha. She already announced her international retirement from Les Bleues last year, which explains why she didn't play and won the Eurobasket title with them.

Durbansandshark

30-04-2010, 12:17 PM

It wasn't that long ago that Italian basketball was among the finest destinations for anyone who aren't in the NBA and those Europeans who wish to play in one of the top Euro basketball leagues for decades with Italian basketball clubs contending among the powerhouses with their depth. It still is, but my impressions are that the state of Italian hoops is in a slide for the last several years, with the last hurrah for it being the Azzurri claiming silver in Athens. Right now, the top Spanish, Greek, French, Lithuanian, Russian, Turkish, Israeli (almost always Maccabi Tel Aviv), Serbian, and even the odd Polish clubs get more attention and pub than Italian basketball clubs, it seems. Italian clubs Now with Italy having failed to even qualify out of the 2009 Eurobasket qualification tournament with the likes of France, Belgium, Finland, and Bosnia-Herzegovina finishing ahead of them. Doesn't matter that Toronto Raptors teammates Andrea "Il Mago" Bargnani and Marco Bellini ply their trade in a Canadian city that holds a massive Italian population in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) with the highly regarded Maurizio Gheradini acting as one of their bosses; Gheridini also manages Canada Basketball. I'm certain that Bargnani, Danilo Gallinari, and Bellini are interested in donning the Azzurri in the off season, for they're the public face of Italian basketball to many of us here, but perhaps they want some rest or want to be sure Italy have qualified in something important with them as the talismen on the squad. Some of the notable names from Italian basketball have been Dino Meghenin and his son Andrea, Roberto Chiacig, Gregor F., Carlton Myers, Stefano Rusconi, Fernando Gentile, and Vincenzo Esposito, the first ever player the Raptors ever signed. Neither Rusconi or Esposito ever played much in the NBA at all in the 1995-96 season. Myers and the rest never even tasted the NBA.

When I started to get really curious about basketball outside of the NBA from watching pieces from CBS' coverage of the NBA playoffs in the mid-80s, particularly overseas, Italy was among the first. Crowds are passionate and colo(u)rful with their cheerleading and flag forests down to Serie C basketball. Former NBA players, even some superstars, earned good money and enjoyed fan followings there like in Tracer Milan and Il Messangero Roma (sponsors of clubs tend to change seemingly annually). Italy was one of the first major countries outside of the USA and Canada perhaps where interest in the NBA is high like that there in terms of coverage and publicity. Brandon Jennings playing for now-Virtus Roma with former Charlotte Bobcat Primoz Brezec under the legendary Croatian coach Jasmin Represa last year breathed renewed attention to Italian basketball. You can still make very good money in Italy, but what does it need to get back among the premier Eurobasket nations with national coach Simone Pianigiani? I would like to get back into that and more in the near future as I ponder this more. But I would say Italy's European (and international) basketball profile being in decline of sorts did not help the failed efforts to bring the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Championship to Italy with Spain getting the honors, which I'll get to that next week.

If you think Italian basketball fell off badly, Danish senior men's national basketball suffered an even more dramatic downfall (www.fibaeurope.com/nfID_271.coid_Kn3CxUUUGaIkB4FKrX1gS2.articleMode_o n.html) in just four short years after punching above its weight playing up to Eurobasket Division A before getting demoted, plummeting all the way down to Division C with Malta, Andorra, Scotland, Gibraltar, Moldova, San Marino, and Wales as the field this year in Malta. Christian Drejer's retirement from injuries did not help, but it also illustrates the need for a younger generations and levels as a focus to step up (grow and expand the opportunities) and mind the talent gap in such an "exciting" time as it puts the pieces back together. Not a good look for Scandinavian basketball, where only Finland is currently in Division A, but along the lower levels barely getting by.

Can Jonas Jerebko be the one who can put Sweden back among the leaders in European basketball? Not that they were top dogs to begin with but to be back among the elite since they were Eurobasket hosts in 2003, that is. He had a solid season with Detroit, so that helps. Too bad Joakim Noah can't be there, even though he has a Swedish mother, a former Miss Sweden, since Noah opted to play for France. Not many talk about Swedish basketball and the Basket Ligan, so that's a little underrated. Also, can former Clemson Tiger guard Terrence Oglesby (http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/oglesby_terrence00.html) bring Norway back seemingly from the dead in European basketball with his Norwegian passport (his American dad, which his son gets his dual US-Norwegian citizenship played professionally)? More difficult with Oglesby obviously than with Jerebko, who has an American dad of his own, because of where Norway is at. Oglesby wasn't on the national team roster when Norway played a weekend series in April against Scotland (www.basket.no/t2.asp?p=45938).

Next weekend, we got our Euroleague Final Four in Paris with Regal FCB (Spain), CSKA Moscow (Russia), Olympiacos Pireas (Greece), and Partizan (Serbia), who upset Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv to get to Paris, rounding out the field. www.euroleague.net

glockers

30-04-2010, 09:00 PM

I love Durban posts. Always a good read.

2sc945

02-05-2010, 08:21 PM

Durbansandshark

07-05-2010, 11:18 AM

Group A: Argentina, Australia, Serbia, Germany, Angola and Jordan is the "Group of Feeling a Little Off Colour".

Group B: United States, Croatia, Brazil, Slovenia, Iran and Tunisia is the "Group of Under the Weather".

Group C: Greece, Turkey, Russia, China, Puerto Rico and Cote d'Ivoire is the "Group of Life Support".

Group D: Spain, France, Lithuania, New Zealand, Canada and Lebanon is the"Group of Taking a Sickie".

I don't get the names for each group. :confused:

Coming up in the early 90s with the emergence of the NBA's profile internationally with the McDonald's Open and the NBA playing regular season games beginning in Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan, I wasn't really expecting anything instantly accessible in terms of basketball outside of even our minor pro basketball leagues here in the US and Canada like internationally to satisfy my developing curiousity. That was something I had the immense patience toward. I watched, in a cable-deprived household, the odd international game like in the Olympics or segments or clips of overseas basketball footage. Or reading an annual review of international basketball article on Encyclopaedia Brittanica's World Data Annuals/Yearbooks. When lo and behold I stopped by a newsstand (newsagent)/convience store one April Friday and saw a copy of FIBA Basketball Monthly, an official publication from the international basketball governing body published in the UK--and had some British bias in a few of its articles. Rare still that it hit a small market like here in St. Louis. Needless to say, it was a godsend for my international basketball curiousity because I got to have access to action photos, scores and standings of various basketball leagues, profiles and interviews of non-NBA players, coaches, and other movers and shakers, a centerfold poster, and of course the brief news bits.

FIBA Basketball Monthly, when it hit newsstands, had ads for Tuborg Beer, Converse, Visa, and Digital, for they all were official FIBA sponsors at the time and surely was several months late. But the latter part didn't matter to me. Since this is an Australian-centric basketball board here, I eventually got excited regarding reading news about anything Australian basketball, particularly the NBL as it was its noted boom period. Yeah, it was at a time when the NBL was playing during the Southern Hemisphere fall through spring. So that's how I became even more a fan of and knew about the Aussie basketball personalities and the then-current state of the game down there as well as in New Zealand. Not to mention the goings-on with the Boomers and Opals.

Of course, it wouldn't what it is without having NBA stuff significantly in it. What the magazine usually did was put the abundant NBA coverage as the second half in the issues. It was always interesting to me to center NBA coverage conducted in a foreign perspective. There was a lot of it. It also did the NCAA, but not as much. Partly due to the growing interest in both entities with relations between the NBA and FIBA warning to a very nice friendship, the magazine became more glossy. There have been stretches of months when I couldn't get the issue, and, consequently, went to other newsstands to buy copies. There were sister mags like the short-lived XXL and the NBA and FIBA World Basketball Championship previews that I later bought, but it was still FIBA for me.

As far as the British angle, it was good to see how basketball was in the UK. That's how I heard about coach Kevin Cadle and his Kingston team. British basketball was just starting to get talented within Europe with John Amaechi, Spencer Dunkley, and Steve Bucknall before a downfall in Eurobasket with their facilities weren't exactly up to snuff. At the time Cadle also coached the Great Britain team up to the 1992 There was the odd brief British women's basketball story at times. But the focus was on the European side of things was on the better leagues of Greece, Italy, Spain, Israel, the former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Germany, and Russia. Sometimes there was a club and a basketball publication (like Basketball Week) profile--both men and women. Yes, it did get into the women's game news from NCAA to some overseas club basketball to the WNBA (in the early days) to the senior international level as it tried to be gender equal.

Now with the advent of the Internet, which boosted my continuing hunger manifold for international and minor pro basketball even more so, there isn't much of a need for FIBA Basketball Monthly these days. I could be proven wrong. Costs went up for publishing. And FIBA since has its own more recent magazine called FIBA Assist. There isn't much curiousity for us Americans for basketball outside of the NBA and NCAA, sadly; the numbers aren't clearly potent enough in backing that position up. My collection of those magazines are sadly lost. But I would very much like to, when I get enough money and patience, look forward in rebuilding my collection with the missing issues when possible. Hopefully in the near future!

Got some news regarding the Team GB women. When we last left them, FIBA granted permission for the young team to stay in Eurobasket Division A and got Tom Maher as their head coach to boosts their fortunes even further. in less than a month, the young team will play a series of warmup games traveling to face The Netherlands, Israel, and Belgium after a training camp in Stirling, Scotland. Team GB has Germany, Slovakia, and the Ukraine as part of their European qualifying campaign in Division A. But Maher and Co. will have to do it without the talented but injured Yemi Oyefuma, but has WNBA draftee Johannah Leedham and Rose Anderson, among others in the relatively inexperienced training camp roster (www.fibaeurope.com/nfID_2791.coid_Qy8-sYn-GyEIJomo,t9s63.articleMode_on.html).

Durbansandshark

08-05-2010, 03:40 AM

Perhaps the reasonably closest to FIBA Basketball Monthly that I've seen, if you can call it such, happens to be this Spanish basketball magazine that I started seeing at my fave newsstand called Basket NBA. Basket NBA, as you would figure out, places a great deal of emphasis on the Spanish NBA stars like Jose Calderon, Rudy Fernandez, Pau and Marc Gasol and other notable Spanish players like Fran Vasquez, Jorge Garbajosa, and Ricky Rubio. There's lots of ACB news and profiles with the accompanying action photos from that league...and some EuroLeague too. But the NBA, yes, gets a lot of love from this publication: I just a NBA 2009-10 preview from them that was...six months behind like FIBA when it arrived. But that's OK.

Good news for British basketball fans. Ben Gordon will at last suit up for Great Britain (www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/39887/arti.html) for the upcoming Eurobasket Division A qualification tournament, Group B, with Hungary, Macedonia, and the Ukraine. His free agency signing with Detroit and all the transition with that didn't allow him to play in Poland with them last year and fully commit. With no playoff trip for the Pistons this year and now settled with them, Gordon can can now back up his discussions with some play Team GB could've used him then and boost their sense of urgency to please FIBA in their eyes for London 2012.

Azzurri's decline isn't as bad as I originally played; Italy's ranked 8th in the FIBA World Rankings. But to stay at that level, it will have to start playing major international basketball tournaments again (www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/39348/arti.html). It missed a few big ones in the last few years, and that's where I got the impression regarding its decline and disappointing results. Rebuilding back to prominience starts in Bari, Italy in the Eurobasket Division A qualification, Group A with Israel, Finland, Latvia, and Montenegro, a "group of death" of the two qualification groups (then, there are no gimmes in European basketball, even in Division B). For Montepaschi Siena coach Simone Pianigiani, this is actually his first time in charge of the Azzurri following a runaway success in Lega A this season with Siena. Il Mago says yes, please (www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/39781/arti.html) to such an important tournament but his Raptors teammate Bellini hasn't committed yet while Galinari's injuries prevented him from joining sooner.

10 teams will compete in the 2010 Centroamerican Basketball Tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Top four teams in it will then qualify for the 2011 Tournament of the Americas (pre-Olympic), the top 8 teams will play for the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and the top four will automatically go into the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalaraja, Mexico. Teams are US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Panama, and Dominican Republic (Group A) Puerto Rico, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and Mexico (Group B). At question here is, will there be star power in this? Will the likes of Al Horford and Charlie Villenueva play and add to the depth of the talent level, since many of these teams have players who aren't known to casual fans. What about former UNLV guard Romel Beck and Eduardo Najera for Mexico? Regardless, because of the low standing this tournament has worldwide, this will get scant attention. Draw here (http://basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=4100)

Durbansandshark

22-05-2010, 04:30 AM

Now Ricky Rubio can add Euroleague Final Four champion to his growing allure as he and Regal FCB Barcelona defeated Greece's Olympiacos and Josh Childress in Paris 86-68. Though soccer is still king with seemingly immortal 6 titles the soccer team amassed last year and continues to further add to its rich legacy, the basketball is pretty damn good and holds its own well. CSKA Moscow won over Partizan Belgrade in an OT thriller 90-88 for third place.

BG Gottingen from Germany won the EuroChallenge Final Four on its home court in its first ever appearance in international competition. They defefeated Krasnye Krylia from Russia 83-75. For third place, it's France's Roane Basket over Italy's Scavolini Spar Pesaro 86-80.

Durbansandshark

15-07-2010, 11:28 AM

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the first ever on the African continent, is now over since Sunday. So congrats to Spain's Red Fury on its first ever World Cup title being the newest member of the World Cup title fraternity since France 1998. But that does not mean I won't focus on the African nations that qualified and focus on the state of their basketball teams.

Let's start with the hosts South Africa, the most industrial, most infrastructure-ready, richest, influential, and strongest nation in all of the continent. However, that very strong status in Africa, especially in the post-apartheid era since 1994, doesn't translate on the basketball realm. As I have mentioned at times in the recent past here when SAF gets mentioned in basketball, South Africa is a minnow on its own continent. In the last African Basketball Championship held in Libya last year, South Africa finished next to last there with only Congo-Brazzaville being there. In past African championships up to 2005 since returning from international pariah status for its evil, racist, and oppressive policies by the now-defunct National Party (and very Calvinistic, macho, and Afrikaner) white-minority government, SAF would finish dead last starting from the 1997 African Championships In Senegal losing all four of their games in Group A against Senegal, Nigeria, Central African Republic, and the Ivory Coast. Only reason why South Africa didn't finish last last two times was of the field expanding to 16 teams; its best finish at this was 13th in Angola 2007 going 2-4 with wins in the classification round over the even-weaker Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and neighbors Mozambique after losing all three of their group games to Cameroon, Tunisia, and Mozambique and 9th-12th place classification game to a disappointing Senegal. And a favo9u)rable point differential to break the tie. In case you're wondering, Liberia, still recovering from the ravaging civil war, finished dead last then going 0-6.

It did finish 7th when the African Basketball Championship was held in Alexandria, Egypt tied with Algeria at 3-3, so it is the best alltime.

A closer look at why the South Africans can't progress in Africa lies in a large deal, but not entirely, with the legacy of apartheid. Similar issues and problems that plagues the declining talent level of Bafana Bafana when it just hosted the World Cup also impact the basketball realm. With apartheid, the economic gap between white and black South Africans, to say nothing of the Coloureds and Asians, was immensely wide and nurtured on most of the nation's resources like gold and diamonds. Things are much better with rise of black middle class and significant GNP growth, but the gap between the rich and poor is still wide. Matter of fact, if white South Africans were a separate nation, their very high standard of living would easily rival those among other Western nations. Like a lot of international sports governing bodies such as FIFA, IIHF, and the IOC, FIBA banned South Africa for decades though it looked like it was still a member. Just didn't participate internationally. Also, FIBA banned airing of basketball on South African TV like the World Basketball Championships in South Africa until, I think, 1992. Thus, they couldn't Because of the policies and hateful treatment of its own people, South Africans lost a lot of significant ground in international sports for decades and still trying to catch up. They were also the last industrial society to have television in 1976, long after many African nations started having it, because the National Party was so deeply worried of its power and wanted to control it when it created the SABC TV arm. Many blacks couldn't afford it and couldn't watch sports on TV. If that happened, they may have seen imported highlights from the NBA or the NCAA and maybe learned from then.

Thank God the white South Africans happen to seriously like and follow sports that weren't part of the Olympic program much of the time like rugby, cricket, tennis, surfing, and golf at that period! That's where the inertia of the high standard of living comes into play with South Africa being consistent in those sports and making a solid impression when brought back into the international fold and afterwards, most notably with the Springboks' inspiring Rugby World Cup victory as hosts in its first-ever appearance in 1995, a seminal moment in the early post-apartheid days bringing everyone together in the Rainbow Nation. Yes, Bafana Bafana won the 1996 African Nations Cup as hosts in its return to soccer, but it has accomplished little since and then came the decline. When it came back into international soccer, Bafana Bafana and SAFA thought it could hit the ground running with its first international versus Zimbabwe...and lost.

Steering it to how it affects South African basketball, unlike with soccer, many of the other team sports there weren't under the illusion they were going to be world beaters when they got back onto scene. Field hockey and water polo are possible exceptions. The national Basketball South Africa infrastructure is far being incredibly organized like Angola's, and I'm sure Angola's basketball people have granted advice on how to run things effectively on a national level. And Angola has recovered from a civil war. Fact is, basketball, outside of the NBA and international interest, is never a big sport domestically; some prospective players were isolated from being exposed and learning about diverse playing style to take home and learn from. South Africa's national team has had several foreign coaches like Zoran Zavic and Sam Mitchell, who made a name for himself coaching in Africa after his playing days. The sport has remained as far as I know unorganized and not confident. Too bad South Africa can't lay claim on Steve Nash (born in Johannesburg where his dad played soccer) and Thabo Sefalosha and his brother Kgomotsoe (born and raised in Switzerland with a South African dad); those three surely would get boost the depth in South Africa. The national team's best known members are Quintin Denyssen, Neo Mothiba, and Thabo Letsebe. Denyssen is a Egoli Magic Coloured, which historically gets better and more accessible health care and nutrition than many black South Africans. Without those two essential things for black South Africans growth gets interrupted with shorter people and poorer more frequently. Plus, the team is mostly undersized, so I think they have to rely on speed and defense.

Many of the players currently on the national team ply their basketball skills in the small time domestic league called the Premier Basketball League. During the mid-90s the PBL was set up only to fold at the end of the decade due in part to a lack of sponsorship. Many of the teams are back, but they don't play in upscale sports arenas. Likely intimate small gyms and university facilities. No South Africans are actually playing basketball overseas in the big leagues, which would help them their prospects internationally and developing their talent. When I checked the South African Abroad section at Africabasket.com, currently only a handful are playing outside it, but none of them are elite--one plays in China and another is in the lower-tiered US minor pro basketball leagues, in this case the IBL, and a few play semipro ball in Australia. Many probrably can't afford to travel easily to Europe, Australia/New Zealand, and the United States to see how basketball is played, coached, and organized. Outside of Sefalosha, no South Africans are in the higher leagues. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, there were a few South Africans--all of them white--played in the NCAAs. Paul Jesinskis (Hawaii) and George Van Backstrom (Oregon St.) are the best-known names I can think of with Jesinskis playing more. Neither of them are playing basketball right now and Van Backstrom played for South Africa in the 1999 African championships. In short, South African basketball is largely isolated, largely playing in FIBA Africa Zone 6 with the rest of southern Africa including African powerhouse Angola and Mozambique as its top rivals there--at one time, when it qualified for African Basketball Championship in 2003, South Africa blew out Swaziland and Botswana by at least 100 points each in Johannesburg--and the rest of Africa, many of them poor and even more isolated, for the continental title. Here in South African basketball, there's less social networking.

Since Supersport, South Africa's top sports TV channels, gets aired all through the continent, it airs a weekly half-hour show called Basketball Africa, which certains helps the exposure of the sport in the continent. Ascending through African basketball, let alone internationally, for South Africa certainly won't come overnight; it may take around 20 years to be a rival and maybe get many of the other African nations to get more competitive. For what Basketball South Africa must do is find, develop, and nurture young talent not just players but also coaches in the long term. Doing so, though, requires money, know-how, and an administrative structure supporting it.

Durbansandshark

28-07-2010, 09:25 AM

I'll return to the African basketball scene very soon, including additional thoughts and clarifications about South Africa, likely tomorrow, but I want to give you the preliminary rosters for the 24 teams in the upcoming 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championships in Turkey. Look for me to bring some of my thoughts on that very soon, especially with SLAM magazine making a World Basketball Championship preview hitting newsstands (newsagents) in the US and Canada in a matter of days.

Group A
Angola 18-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Portugal Luís Magalhães
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Domingos Bonifacio 1984 Recreativo Libolo
Guard Olimpio Cipriano 1982 Recreativo Libolo
Guard Roberto Fortes 1984 Petróleos Luanda
Guard Vladimir Geronimo 1977 Primeiro de Agosto
Guard Miguel Lutonda 1979 Primeiro de Agosto
Forward Felipe Abraão 1979 Primeiro de Agosto
Forward Carlos Almeida 1976 Primeiro de Agosto
Forward Felizardo Ambrosio 1987 Primeiro de Agosto
Forward Paulo Barros 1989 Promade Cabinda
Forward Carlos Morais 1985 Primeiro de Agosto
Forward Leonel Paulo 1986 Recreativo Libolo
Forward Simão Santos 1982 ASA
Center Joaquim Gomes 1980 Primeiro de Agosto
Center Valdélicio Joaquim 1990 College of Eastern Utah (USA)
Center Miguel Kiala 1990 Petróleos Luanda
Center Divaldo Mbunga 1985 Montana State University (USA)
Center Eduardo Mingas 1979 Primeiro de Agosto
Center Yanick Moreira 1991 Primeiro de Agosto

Argentina 16-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Argentina Sergio Hernández
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Juan Cantero 1982 Deportiva Atenas
Guard Juan Fernández 1990 Temple University (USA)
Guard Juan Figueroa 1986 Deportiva Atenas
Guard Pablo Prigioni 1977 Real Madrid (SPA)
Guard Paolo Quinteros 1979 CAI Zaragoza (SPA)
Forward Carlos Delfino 1982 Milwaukee Bucks (USA)
Forward Leonardo Gutiérrez 1978 Deportiva Atenas
Forward Hernán Jasen 1978 Asefa Estudiantes (SPA)
Forward Federico Kammerichs 1980 Regatas
Forward Marcos Mata 1986 Peñarol Mar del Plata
Forward Andrés Nocioni 1979 Philadelphia 76ers (USA)
Forward Matías Sandes 1984 Ayuda en acción Fuenlabrada
Forward Luis Scola 1980 Houston Rockets (USA)
Center Fabricio Oberto 1975 Washington Wizards (USA)
Center Román González 1978 Peñarol Mar del Plata
Center Juan Pedro Gutiérrez 1983 CB Granada (SPA)

Australia 15-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: United States Brett Brown
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Adam Gibson 1986 Gold Coast Blaze
Guard Steven Marković 1985 Red Star Belgrade (SRB)
Guard Damian Martin 1984 Perth Wildcats
Guard Patrick Mills 1988 Portland Trail Blazers (USA)
Guard Brad Newley 1985 Lietuvos Rytas (LTU)
Forward David Andersen 1980 Houston Rockets (USA)
Forward David Barlow 1983 CAI Zaragoza (SPA)
Forward Joe Ingles 1987 CB Granada (SPA)
Forward Alex Loughton 1983 Cairns Taipans
Forward Mark Worthington 1983 Brose Baskets (GER)
Center Aron Baynes 1986 EWE Baskets (GER)
Center Luke Nevill 1986 Melbourne Tigers
Center Andrew Ogilvy 1988 Beşiktaş (TUR)
Center Aleks Marić 1984 Panathinaikos BC (GRE)

Germany 16-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Germany Dirk Bauermann
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Demond Greene 1979 Bayern Munich
Guard Steffen Hamann 1981 ALBA Berlin
Guard Heiko Schaffartzik 1984 New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig
Guard Lucca Staiger 1988 ALBA Berlin
Guard Johannes Strasser 1982 Telekom Baskets Bonn
Guard Chad Toppert 1985 CAI Zaragoza (SPA)
Guard Per Günther 1988 Ratiopharm Ulm
Forward Robin Benzing 1989 Ratiopharm Ulm
Forward Elias Harris 1989 Gonzaga University (USA)
Forward Yassin Idbihi 1983 New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig
Forward Jan Jagla 1981 Asseco Prokom (POL)
Forward Philipp Schwethelm 1989 Eisbären Bremerhaven
Forward Konrad Wysocki 1982 Turów Zgorzelec (POL)
Center Tim Ohlbrecht 1988 Telekom Baskets Bonn
Center Tibor Pleiß 1989 Brose Baskets
Center Christopher McNaughton 1982 EWE Baskets Oldenburg

Serbia 17-Man Preliminary Squad

Head Coach: Serbia Dušan Ivković
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Stefan Marković 1988 Benetton Treviso (ITA)
Guard Ivan Paunić 1987 Aris (GRE)
Guard Bojan Popović 1983 Efes Pilsen (TUR)
Guard Aleksandar Rašić 1984 Partizan Belgrade
Guard Miloš Teodosić 1987 Olympiacos (GRE)
Guard Milenko Tepić 1987 Panathinaikos (GRE)
Guard Dragan Milosavljevic 1989 Partizan Belgrade
Forward Nemanja Bjelica 1988 Olympiacos (GRE)
Forward Marko Kešelj 1988 Red Star Belgrade
Forward Milan Mačvan 1989 KK Hemofarm
Forward Duško Savanović 1983 Power Electronics Valencia (SPA)
Forward Novica Veličković 1986 Real Madrid (SPA)
Forward Ivan Radenovic 1984 Cajasol (SPA)
Center Nenad Krstić 1983 Oklahoma City Thunder (USA)
Center Boban Marjanović 1988 CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Center Kosta Perović 1985 Regal Barcelona (SPA)
Center Miroslav Raduljica 1988 Efes Pilsen (TUR)

Jordan 12-Man Squad

Head Coach: Portugal Mário Palma
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Zaid Abbas 1983 Shanghai Sharks (CHN)
Guard Mousa Al-Awadi 1985 Zain
Guard Fadel Al-Najjar 1985 Applied Science University
Guard Wesam Al-Sous 1983 Aramex
Guard Sam Daghlas 1979 Zain
Guard Rasheim Wright 1981 Zain
Forward Mohammad Hamdan 1984 Zain
Forward Jamal Maaytah 1981 Zain
Forward Enver Soobzokov 1978 Zain
Center Islam Abbas 1980 Applied Science University
Center Zaid Al-Khas 1976 Zain
Center Ayman Idais 1978 Orthodox

Durbansandshark

28-07-2010, 09:25 AM

Group B
Brazil 13-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Argentina Rubén Magnano
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Marcelinho Huertas 1983 Caja Laboral (SPA)
Guard Leandrinho Barbosa 1982 Toronto Raptors (CAN)
Guard Paulo Boracini 1985 Joinville
Guard Raul Togni Neto 1993 Minas
Forward Alex Garcia 1980 Universo de Brasília
Forward Marcelinho Machado 1975 Flamengo
Forward Jordan Burger 1991 Cajasol (SPA)
Forward Marquinhos 1984 EC Pinheiros
Forward Guilherme Giovannoni 1980 Universo de Brasília
Forward Anderson Varejão 1982 Cleveland Cavaliers (USA)
Center Nenê Hilário 1982 Denver Nuggets (USA)
Center Tiago Splitter 1985 San Antonio Spurs (USA)
Center Hátila Passos 1984 Marinos de Anzoátegui (VEN)
Center Lucas Bebê 1993 Asefa Estudiantes (SPA)

Croatia 17-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Croatia Josip Vranković
Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Davor Kus 1978 Benetton Treviso (ITA)
Guard Zoran Planinić 1982 CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Guard Marko Popović 1983 UNICS Kazan (RUS)
Guard Krunoslav Simon 1985 KK Zagreb
Guard Rok Stipčević 1986 KK Zadar
Guard Roko Ukić 1984 Fenerbahçe Ülker (TUR)
Forward Marko Banić 1984 Bizkaia Bilbao Basket (SPA)
Forward Bojan Bogdanović 1989 KK Cibona
Forward Hrvoje Perić 1985 KK Zadar
Forward Marko Tomas 1985 Fenerbahçe Ülker (TUR)
Forward Vedran Vukušić 1982 KK Cibona
Center Stanko Barać 1986 Caja Laboral (SPA)
Center Mario Delaš 1990 Žalgiris (LTU)
Center Krešimir Lončar 1983 UNICS Kazan (RUS)
Center Leon Radošević 1990 KK Cibona
Center Ante Tomić 1987 Real Madrid (SPA)
Center Luka Žorić 1984 KK Zagreb

Iran 20-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Serbia Veselin Matić
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Iman Zandi 1981 a.s Bond Shiraz
Guard Hamed Afagh 1983 Mahram Tehran
Guard Amir Amini 1984 Petrochimi Bandar Imam
Guard Javad Davari 1983 Petrochimi Bandar Imam
Guard Aren Davoudi 1986 Zob Ahan Isfahan
Guard Mehrad Atashi 1986 Mahram Tehran
Guard Ali Baheran 1986 Zob Ahan Isfahan
Guard Mehdi Kamrani 1982 Mahram Tehran
Guard Saeid Davarpanah 1987 Petrochimi Bandar Imam
Guard Saman Veisi 1981 Shahrdari Gorgan
Forward Arsalan Kazemi 1990 Rice University (USA)
Forward Samad Nikkhah Bahrami 1983 Mahram Tehran
Forward Oshin Sahakian 1986 Zob Ahan Isfahan
Forward Pouya Tajik 1980 Azad University Tehran
Forward Hamed Sohrabnejad 1983 Shahrdari Gorgan
Forward Mohammad Hassanzadeh 1990 Saba Mehr Qazvin
Center Ali Doraghi 1984 a.s Bond Shiraz
Center Hamed Haddadi 1985 Memphis Grizzlies (USA)
Center Asghar Kardoust 1986 Azad University Tehran
Center Rouzbeh Arghavan 1988 Saba Mehr Qazvin

Slovenia 18-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Slovenia Memi Bečirovič
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Sani Bečirovič 1981 Armani Jeans Milano (ITA)
Guard Aleksandar Ćapin 1982 Žalgiris (LTU)
Guard Sandi Čebular 1986 Union Olimpija
Guard Zoran Dragić 1989 Geoplin Slovan
Guard Jaka Klobučar 1987 Partizan Belgrade (SRB)
Guard Jaka Lakovič 1978 Regal FC Barcelona (SPA)
Guard Dino Murič 1990 Parklji
Guard Samo Udrih 1979 KK Cibona (CRO)
Forward Hasan Rizvić 1984 Union Olimpija
Forward Goran Jagodnik 1974 KK Hemofarm (SRB)
Forward Boštjan Nachbar 1980 Efes Pilsen (TUR)
Forward Uroš Slokar 1983 Montepaschi Siena (ITA)
Forward Marko Vranjkovič 1990 Helios Domžale
Center Primož Brezec 1979 Milwaukee Bucks (USA)
Center Mirza Begić 1985 Žalgiris (LTU)
Center Matej Krušič 1987 Geoplin Slovan
Center Gašper Vidmar 1987 Fenerbahçe Ülker (TUR)
Center Miha Zupan 1982 Trikala (GRE)

Tunisia 12-Man Squad

Head coach: Tunisia Adel Tlatli
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Anis Hedidane 1986 Stade Nabeulien
Guard Marouan Kechrid 1981 IR Tanger (MOR)
Guard Nizar Knioua 1983 Stade Nabeulien
Guard Marouen Lahmar 1983 Club Africain
Guard Amine Rzig 1980 El Geish (EGY)
Forward Makrem Ben Romdhane 1989 ÉS Sahel
Forward Naim Dhifallah 1982 Egypt Assurance (EGY)
Forward Mohamed Hdidane 1986 Stade Nabeulien
Forward Atef Maoua 1981 JS Kairouanaise
Center Hamdi Braa 1986 ÉS Sahel
Center Mokhtar Ghyaza 1986 ES Rades
Center Salah Mejri 1986 ÉS Sahel

United States 19-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: United States Mike Krzyzewski
Pos Name Year Born Team
Guard Chauncey Billups 1976 Denver Nuggets
Guard Stephen Curry 1988 Golden State Warriors
Guard Tyreke Evans 1989 Sacramento Kings
Guard Eric Gordon 1988 Los Angeles Clippers
Guard Andre Iguodala 1984 Philadelphia 76ers
Guard O.J. Mayo 1987 Memphis Grizzlies
Guard Rajon Rondo 1986 Boston Celtics
Guard Derrick Rose 1988 Chicago Bulls
Guard Russell Westbrook 1988 Oklahoma City Thunder
Forward Kevin Durant 1988 Oklahoma City Thunder
Forward Rudy Gay 1986 Memphis Grizzlies
Forward Danny Granger 1983 Indiana Pacers
Forward Lamar Odom 1979 Los Angeles Lakers
Forward Jeff Green 1986 Oklahoma City Thunder
Forward Kevin Love 1988 Minnesota Timberwolves
Forward Gerald Wallace 1982 Charlotte Bobcats
Center Tyson Chandler 1982 Dallas Mavericks
Center Brook Lopez 1988 New Jersey Nets
Center JaVale McGee 1988 Washington Wizards

Durbansandshark

28-07-2010, 09:27 AM

Group C
[edit] China

Head coach: United States Bob Donewald
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Hu Xuefeng 1980 People's Republic of China Jiangsu Dragons
Guard Liu Wei 1980 People's Republic of China Shanghai Sharks
Guard Sun Yue 1985 People's Republic of China Beijing Olympians
Guard Wang Shipeng 1983 People's Republic of China Guangdong Southern Tigers
Guard Zhang Qingpeng 1985 People's Republic of China Liaoning Dinosaurs
Forward Du Feng 1981 People's Republic of China Guangdong Southern Tigers
Forward Li Xiaoxu 1990 People's Republic of China Liaoning Dinosaurs
Forward Wang Lei 1986 People's Republic of China Bayi Rockets
Forward Zhu Fangyu 1983 People's Republic of China Guangdong Southern Tigers
Center Su Wei 1989 People's Republic of China Guangdong Southern Tigers
Center Wang Zhizhi 1977 People's Republic of China Bayi Rockets
Center Yi Jianlian 1987 United States Washington Wizards
[edit] Côte d'Ivoire

Head coach: Switzerland Randoald Dessarzin
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Pape-Philippe Amagou 1985 Greece Kavala
Guard Errick Craven 1983 France Clermont
Guard Mouloukou Diabate 1987 France Dijon
Guard Kinidinnin Konate 1980 Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan
Guard Issife Soumahoro 1988 France Strasbourg
Forward Charles Abouo 1989 United States Brigham Young University
Forward Wilfrid Aka 1979 France Paris-Levallois
Forward Jonathan Kale 1985 Germany Phoenix Hagen
Forward Ismaël N'Diaye 1982 Switzerland Lausanne
Forward Didier Tape 1981 France Rodez-Aveyron
Center Mohamed Kone 1981 Spain Lagun Aro GBC
Center Namori Meite 1988 France Évreux
[edit] Greece 15-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Lithuania Jonas Kazlauskas
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Vassilis Spanoulis 1982 Greece Olympiacos
Guard Nikolaos Zisis 1983 Italy Montepaschi Siena
Guard Nick Calathes 1989 Greece Panathinaikos
Guard Dimitris Diamantidis 1980 Greece Panathinaikos
Guard Kostas Vasileiadis 1984 Spain Bizkaia Bilbao Basket
Guard Nikos Pappas 1990 Greece Kolossos
Forward Stratos Perperoglou 1984 Greece Panathinaikos
Forward Kostas Kaimakoglou 1983 Greece Panathinaikos
Forward Antonis Fotsis 1981 Greece Panathinaikos
Forward Georgios Printezis 1985 Spain Unicaja
Forward Kostas Tsartsaris 1979 Greece Panathinaikos
Forward Kostas Papanikolaou 1990 Greece Olympiacos
Center Ioannis Bourousis 1983 Greece Olympiacos
Center Sofoklis Schortsanitis 1985 Greece Olympiacos
Center Ian Vougioukas 1985 Greece Panathinaikos
[edit] Puerto Rico 23-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Puerto Rico Manolo Cintrón
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Carlos Arroyo 1979 United States Miami Heat
Guard Larry Ayuso 1977 Puerto Rico Capitanes de Arecibo
Guard José Juan Barea 1984 United States Dallas Mavericks
Guard Richard Chaney 1984 Germany EnBW Ludwigsburg
Guard Christian Dalmau 1975 Puerto Rico Vaqueros de Bayamón
Guard Guillermo Diaz 1985 Italy Victoria Libertas Pesaro
Guard Kevin Hamilton 1984 Germany Phantoms Braunschweig
Guard Joel Jones 1981 Puerto Rico Piratas de Quebradillas
Guard Javier Mojica 1984 Puerto Rico Vaqueros de Bayamón
Guard Filiberto Rivera 1982 Puerto Rico Gallitos de Isabela
Guard Mike Rosario 1990 United States University of Florida
Forward Renaldo Balkman 1984 United States Denver Nuggets
Forward Ángel Luis García 1988 United States University of Memphis
Forward Carmelo Antrone Lee 1977 Puerto Rico Vaqueros de Bayamón
Forward Nathan Peavy 1985 Germany Artland Dragons
Forward Angelo Reyes 1981 Puerto Rico Capitanes de Arecibo
Forward Ricky Sánchez 1987 Puerto Rico Cangrejeros de Santurce
Forward Ángel Daniel Vassallo 1986 France ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne
Center Alphonse Dyer 1985 Puerto Rico Atléticos de San Germán
Center Manuel Narvaez 1981 Puerto Rico Leones de Ponce
Center Peter John Ramos 1985 People's Republic of China Fujian SBS Xunxing
Center Daniel Santiago 1976 Turkey Efes Pilsen
Center Luis Villafañe 1981 Puerto Rico Cangrejeros de Santurce
[edit] Russia

Head coach: United States David Blatt
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Sergei Bykov 1983 Russia CSKA Moscow
Guard Vitaly Fridzon 1985 Russia Khimki
Guard Anton Ponkrashov 1986 Russia CSKA Moscow
Guard Egor Vyaltsev 1985 Russia Triumph Lyubertsy
Guard Aleksei Zozulin 1983 Russia Spartak Saint Petersburg
Forward Fedor Dmitriev 1984 Russia Triumph Lyubertsy
Forward Nikita Kurbanov 1986 Russia CSKA Moscow
Forward Kelly McCarty 1975 Russia Khimki
Forward Sergei Monia 1983 Russia Dynamo Moscow
Forward Andrey Vorontsevich 1987 Russia CSKA Moscow
Center Timofey Mozgov 1986 United States New York Knicks
Center Dmitri Sokolov 1985 Russia CSKA Moscow
[edit] Turkey 15-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Montenegro Bogdan Tanjević
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Engin Atsür 1984 Turkey Beşiktaş
Guard Ender Arslan 1983 Turkey Efes Pilsen
Guard Kerem Tunçeri 1979 Turkey Efes Pilsen
Guard Sinan Güler 1983 Turkey Efes Pilsen
Guard Evren Büker 1985 Turkey Galatasaray Café Crown
Guard Ömer Onan 1978 Turkey Fenerbahçe Ülker
Forward Cenk Akyol 1987 Italy Air Avellino
Forward Ersan İlyasova 1987 United States Milwaukee Bucks
Forward Hedo Türkoğlu 1979 United States Phoenix Suns
Forward Cevher Özer 1983 Turkey Beşiktaş
Forward Kerem Gönlüm 1977 Turkey Efes Pilsen
Center Fatih Solak 1980 Turkey Galatasaray Café Crown
Center Oğuz Savaş 1987 Turkey Fenerbahçe Ülker
Center Ömer Aşık 1986 United States Chicago Bulls
Center Semih Erden 1986 United States Boston Celtics

Durbansandshark

28-07-2010, 09:28 AM

Group D
[edit] Canada

Head coach: Canada Leo Rautins
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Jermaine Anderson 1983 Croatia KK Cedevita
Guard Ryan Bell 1984 Germany Schalke
Guard Carl English 1981 Spain Caja Laboral
Guard Tyler Kepkay 1987 Germany ETB Wohnbau
Guard Andy Rautins 1986 United States New York Knicks
Forward Jermaine Bucknor 1983 France Aix-Maurienne
Forward Aaron Doornekamp 1985 Italy Pepsi Caserta
Forward Olu Famutimi 1984 Turkey Oyak Renault
Forward Levon Kendall 1984 Greece Maroussi
Forward Kyle Landry 1986 Czech Republic Prostějov
Center Joel Anthony 1982 United States Miami Heat
Center Jesse Young 1980 Italy Bancatercas Teramo
[edit] France 16-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: France Vincent Collet
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Rodrigue Beaubois 1988 United States Dallas Mavericks
Guard Yannick Bokolo 1985 France Gravelines
Guard Nando de Colo 1987 Spain Power Electronics Valencia
Guard Fabien Causeur 1987 France Cholet
Guard Edwin Jackson 1989 France Rouen
Forward Nicolas Batum 1988 United States Portland Trail Blazers
Forward Boris Diaw 1982 United States Charlotte Bobcats
Forward Mickaël Gelabale 1983 France Cholet
Forward Alain Koffi 1983 Spain DKV Joventut
Forward Charles Lombahe-Kahudi 1986 France Le Mans
Forward Florent Piétrus 1981 Spain Power Electronics Valencia
Forward Ali Traore 1985 France ASVEL
Forward Ludovic Vaty 1988 France Orléans
Center Alexis Ajinça 1988 United States Dallas Mavericks
Center Ian Mahinmi 1986 United States Dallas Mavericks
Center Joakim Noah 1985 United States Chicago Bulls
[edit] Lebanon 15-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: United States Tab Baldwin
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Jean Abdel-Nour 1983 Lebanon Al-Riyadi
Guard Omar El Turk 1981 Lebanon Al-Riyadi
Guard Elie Estephane 1986 Lebanon Champville
Guard Rony Fahed 1981 People's Republic of China Tianjin Ronggang
Guard Ahmad Ibrahim 1992 United States Mountain State Academy
Guard Ali Mahmoud 1983 Lebanon Al-Riyadi
Forward Bassel Bawji 1989 Lebanon United Club Tripoli
Forward Brian Beshara 1977 Free Agent
Forward Fadi El Khatib 1979 Lebanon Champville
Forward Daniel Faris 1987 Netherlands WCAA Giants
Forward Matt Freije 1981 Puerto Rico Mets de Guaynabo
Forward Ali Kanaan 1985 United States University of Massachusetts–Lowell
Forward Elie Rustom 1987 Lebanon United Club Tripoli
Center Roy Samaha 1984 Lebanon Sagesse
Center Jackson Vroman 1981 Iran Mahram
[edit] Lithuania 17-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Lithuania Kęstutis Kemzūra
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Mantas Kalnietis 1986 Lithuania Žalgiris
Guard Martynas Gecevičius 1988 Lithuania Lietuvos Rytas
Guard Arvydas Eitutavičius 1982 France Cholet
Guard Giedrius Gustas 1980 Greece Kavala
Guard Tomas Delininkaitis 1981 Greece PAOK
Guard Martynas Pocius 1986 Lithuania Žalgiris
Guard Renaldas Seibutis 1985 Spain Bizkaia Bilbao Basket
Guard Mindaugas Lukauskis 1979 France ASVEL
Forward Simas Jasaitis 1982 Turkey Galatasaray Café Crown
Forward Jonas Mačiulis 1985 Italy AJ Milano
Forward Linas Kleiza 1985 Canada Toronto Raptors
Forward Mindaugas Katelynas 1983 Spain Meridiano Alicante
Forward Paulius Jankūnas 1984 Russia Khimki
Forward Tadas Klimavičius 1982 Lithuania Žalgiris
Center Robertas Javtokas 1980 Russia Khimki
Center Donatas Motiejūnas 1990 Italy Benetton Treviso
[edit] New Zealand 15-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Serbia Nenad Vučinić
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard Michael Fitchett 1982 New Zealand Nelson Giants
Guard Jarrod Kenny 1985 New Zealand Hawke's Bay Hawks
Guard Kirk Penney 1980 New Zealand NZ Breakers
Guard Lindsay Tait 1982 New Zealand Wellington Saints
Guard Corey Webster 1988 New Zealand NZ Breakers
Forward Thomas Abercrombie 1987 New Zealand NZ Breakers
Forward B.J. Anthony 1988 New Zealand North Harbour Heat
Forward Craig Bradshaw 1983 Australia Gold Coast Blaze
Forward Pero Cameron 1974 Australia Gold Coast Blaze
Forward Casey Frank 1977 New Zealand Wellington Saints
Forward Leon Henry 1985 New Zealand Wellington Saints
Forward Jeremiah Trueman 1987 Australia Perth Wildcats
Forward Mika Vukona 1982 New Zealand NZ Breakers
Center Robert Loe 1991 United States Saint Louis University
Center Alex Pledger 1987 New Zealand NZ Breakers
[edit] Spain 15-Man Preliminary Squad

Head coach: Italy Sergio Scariolo
#↓ Pos↓ Name↓ Year Born↓ Team↓
Guard José Calderón 1981 Canada Toronto Raptors
Guard Rudy Fernández 1985 United States Portland Trail Blazers
Guard Sergio Llull 1987 Spain Real Madrid
Guard Rafa Martínez 1982 Spain Power Electronics Valencia
Guard Juan Carlos Navarro 1980 Spain Regal FC Barcelona
Guard Ricky Rubio 1990 Spain Regal FC Barcelona
Forward Pablo Aguilar 1989 Spain Real Madrid
Forward Víctor Claver 1988 Spain Power Electronics Valencia
Forward Jorge Garbajosa 1977 Spain Real Madrid
Forward Álex Mumbrú 1979 Spain Bizkaia Bilbao Basket
Forward Fernando San Emeterio 1984 Spain Caja Laboral
Forward Carlos Suárez 1986 Spain Asefa Estudiantes
Center Marc Gasol 1985 United States Memphis Grizzlies
Center Felipe Reyes 1980 Spain Real Madrid
Center Fran Vázquez 1983 Spain Barcelona !Regal FC Barcelona

Durbansandshark

29-07-2010, 09:45 AM

As far as it is known, Ghana has yet to bring a team into just the African Basketball Championships. Too bad for Ghana some of the players that actually have Ghanaian lineage like Pops Mensah-Bonsu, if they play prominently enough, opt for playing for Great Britain, for in his case the talent level is quickly rising and competitive constantly. There are some Ghanaian basketball players playing abroad with the majority of them basing themselves in the USA, the UK, and Germany with one each in Canada, Uruguay, Australia, France (former Louisville Cradinal player Alhadji Mohammed is an All-FranceProB 2nd Team member for Limoges), and Italy, according to Africabasket.com. These players (www.africabasket.com/Ghana/basketball-Players-Abroad.asp) may have to do with at least some of the domestic players to make up the national team to throw a bone to it. Not surprisingly, the talent level, like with seemingly New Zealand's All White soccer team and very likely even worse, is varying.

Ghana is in FIBA Africa Zone 3 with Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and even Liberia, Togo, Niger, Benin, which the latter four managed to make an African Basketball Championship trip or two. That group alone is tough to break through for Ghana. Almost all of the government funding in sports tends to go to the far more popular sport of soccer, mostly the Black Stars and Black Queens (to a lesser extent), of which they made themselves into an international power not just in Africa, even in the U21 and under levels. Furthermore, there's no investment in the youth basketball levels. Consequently, the national basketball governing body has little funding and little infrastructure.

There is a league but it is not professional. All of the teams are based in the capital of Accra and is called the Greater Accra Basketball League. Custom Exercises and Preventive Services (CEPS) and Hoops are the league's top teams with CEPS just winning their 10th title.

Making its third-ever trip to the FIBA World Basketball Championship, Ivory Coast's Elephants (also the name for its basketball team) often tends to shuffle and jockey in the African basketball pecking order with several other countries after true leaders Angola. Yes, they may be more talented this time from the last two where they finished next to last (23rd in 1986 and 13th in 1982), but so has apparently almost everybody else since. In this French-speaking West African nation that witnessed civil war, fans there will get another sports team hoping to make them proud and unify the nation further in another world championship to a lesser extent from the soccer team.

The Elephants could surprise somewhat in Turkey after qualifying in Libya last year, despite not being as talented as their West African neighbors Nigeria and Senegal, both are often regarded as Africa's most talented nations in terms of player depth. But like them, they do have the physical capabilities but better development programs can go a long way. As apt for a former French colony, a majority of its players play professionally in the French Pro leagues. A few play in the NCAA but are not stars on their teams. French-born guard Pace-Phillipe Amagou is the leader of this young team and currently plays for Greece's Kavala. His dad is from the Ivory Coast and mother from Senegal. The coach himself is interesting. Swiss coach Randoald Dessarzin also coaches French basketball club Dijon after taking Boncourt to two Swiss titles in his nine seasons with them and is married to an Ivorian woman with whom they have a child together.

Meanwhile, it is a great time for Canada Basketball right now! :) For the first time ever in Canada's basketball history, the senior level men's and women's teams and the junior men and women have all qualified for this year's FIBA world basketball championships. A sign that the game there is getting healthy. I'll get more into this soon. But there have been unprecedented amount of excitement in a long time for Canadian basketball. Currently, the women's team is playing in a rare 2-game series each against Chile and Sweden, neither of those two will see any World Basketball Championship action in the Czech Republic, within Canadian borders for fans there to check them out with two games each at the Canada West school the University Fraser Valley Cascades' home court alternating and the Richmond Olympic Oval (first time a non-Olympic/Paralympic event hosted here). All in BC. The Canadian women's series is almost over with the final game against Sweden tomorrow at Richmond (that's bridge drive away from the south of Vancouver). Canada's women are 3-0 in this. If I were to pick of two squads with a better upside for future international success, it would be Sweden, for they are about as young if not younger than Canada.

The men will get their turn next month for some home-based exhibition basketball against more comparable basketball powers China and France. August 10 will see Team Canada face the Chinese at Vancouver's General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena), the former home of the Vancouver Grizzlies. No surprise here: the team would like to indirectly tap into the afterglow of February's Winter Olympics and attract the large Chinese population in that city to come attend in the biggest basketball game in Vancouver will witness since the departure of the Grizzlies. On August 12-13, in an obvious attempt to remind Canadians of its bilingualism, Canada will play two games with France at Toronto's Air Canada Centre. All three tuneup games for the World Basketball Championships are part of the Jack Donahue International Classic. Perhaps Montreal's Bell Centre couldn't be used since Montreal isn't big on basketball like Toronto is. Again, more thoughts later.

www.facebook.com/pages/Canada-Basketball/42100100012

Durbansandshark

04-08-2010, 05:30 AM

African basketball will return, but my wish for the upcoming and newly-renamed NBA Elite 2011 video game from EA Sports, the one with Thunder superstar Kevin Durant on the cover at least here in North America, is, having the exclusive FIBA license, the game will at least have the World Basketball Championship mode with all of the 24 teams and the official venues to be played in Turkey. It really should in a small scale resemble like that of the EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa. Not only that, have a nice array of nations that didn't actually make to trip to Turkey like Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Japan, Uruguay, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sweden, Poland, South Korea, and Qatar with regional qualifying tournaments. If you remember, a few years about my international basketball video game wishlist posts, I went all out about my wish for something like that--and I still don't posess any sports games yet. EA Sports has yet to announce officially what their FIBA 2010 WBC plans are for NBA Elite 2011, but I'm looking forward to the company's announcements.

Durbansandshark

24-09-2010, 09:56 AM

An update emerged with the upcoming NBA Elite 2011. Screenshots exist over the FIBA international game that came out this month. Kevin Durant and Team USA are featured with Turkey, but this confirmation that FIBA license still is in effect despite the seemingly-radical makeover from NBA Live to NBA Elite.

http://forums.nba-live.com/viewtopic.php?f=131&t=75053

Durbansandshark

07-10-2010, 12:03 PM

A terrible update emerged after I displayed the TEAM USA and Turkey's screenshots from EA Sports' NBA Elite 11. The game itself, that holds the exclusive FIBA license, has been delayed. This means the delay will cost EA US$50 million. This should serve as one of the inherit dangers in getting exclusive licenses for sports video games, particularly in EA Sports' case. If FIBA was smart, it would allow international basketball in other games like the critically-acclaimed NBA2K series.

Durbansandshark

14-10-2010, 10:31 AM

A lot is coming up right now here on this thread.

Surely a lot of people, including yours truly, definitely recall the Yugoslavian teams from 1988-91. They were not just brilliant and one of the great national teams ever in basketball history, they were awe-inspiring. Yugoslavian basketball was making the transition from the likes of the legendary Drazen Dalipagic to the young and incredibly talented "golden generation" of Drazen Petrovic (Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets), Vlade Divac (Evil Laker Empire, Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings), Dino Radja (Boston Celtics), Toni Kukoc (Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks), Zarko Paspalj (San Antonio Spurs), Juri Zduoj, Stojko Vrankovic (Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers), Alexandr Djordjevic (Portland Trail Blazers), Predrag Danilovic (Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat), Kicanovic, Zeljko Obradovic, Peter Horvath, Radislav Curcic, and Franjo Arapovic. All under the tutelage of coach Dusan Ivkovic making them a force to be reckoned with. The fruits of all of the hard work Yugoslavian basketball built over the decades in both Europe and international was bearing ripely, cultivating a basketball-mad culture for "kosarka" in the Balkans. All this was going on as Yugoslavia was sadly and slowly disintergrating in the years following the death of Marshall Tito in 1980 when nationalism was starting to take shape in each of the regions away from the Slavic Communist-mandated integration.

It was an incredible team, as I just stated. Several of them eventually played in the NBA and made their names there. This young team was what symbolized what was the best of that nation. In what was to become the last great basketball moment for the nation before the violent breakup, Yugoslavia won the 1990 World Basketball Championship in Argentina over the Soviets. A scary, young, and fearless machine (complete with a Divac-Paspalj reunion) (www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfA3l1OfVyc) ready to conquer the world. The teammates were very close with different personalities; they were "once brothers", especially Vlade and Drazen, who started out as roommates. But once the brutal civil war broke with nationalistic fervor on all sides, splitting the nations, it also split the players.

With special help from NBA Entertainment and director Michael Tolajian, ESPN just aired an emotional documentary yesterday entitled "Once Brothers" as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series that explores the national team and the friendships that the civil war made victims of; the breakup of the players reflected the breakup of the nation. In 1996, Sports Illustrated ran an article detailing it as part of its 1996 Olympic preview issue and companion TV piece for NBC's 1996 Atlanta Olympic Preview show, so there is some precedent. But this is different as this is almost 14 years later from that with the wounds healing and peace and reconciliation among the former Yugoslav republics.

As among the first significant wave of international players particularly from the Eastern Bloc (with all due respect to Bulgarian Georgi Gloukov with the Phoenix Suns in 1985-86) in 1989, Divac recounts how he and his teammates what it was like playing in the NBA and what could've been. With the extrovert, laid-back, and entertaining Serbian Divac with the Evil Laker Empire as a starting center succeeding the retired Kareem and the focused, studious (in basketball), and reserved Croat Petrovic in Portland as a reserve guard behind Terry Porter starting his all-too-brief NBA career as neophyte NBA imports, they lived up to the title when speaking daily on the phone. Petro ate, thought, spoke, breathed, and played basketball. They admired each other. As Divac puts it, the civil war destroyed their friendship "in seconds" that was built in years. An important part of the falling out came immediately after the 1990 FIBA World Basketball Championship final when a Croatian man came onto the court with what looked like the old Croatian flag (or is it the Ustase flag) and confronted Divac with it. Croatian nationalism was running rampant back then leading to its independence. Serbian Divac spotted it, angrily confronted the man, and in a spur of the moment took it away after the man proclaimed the Yugo one as a "bullshit" flag (www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxOoceI_cNc) and reaffirmed the Yugoslav flag with him and his teammates tugging it at the ends in celebration in a defiant sign of unity of all the SFRs. Petrovic, seeing all this, perhaps began to view things in a nationalistic lens. Players were advised by a memo to ignore the nationalism creeping into the games when Yugoslavia played. Back home, the Croatian media blasted Divac, blowing out of proportion, while the Serbs treated him as a hero.

The conflict fractured the team and, at the core of the doc, the relationship between Petrovic and Divac. Petro didn't want to speak to Divac any more, probrably out of fear the subject would inevitably turn to the war and end badly. Divac, for his part, tried to reach out to stay close on and off court to him, but was unsuccessful. As he began to withdraw, Petrovic later claimed Divac's act was politically motivated, though the two never actually talked about the war, as Divac admits. When Drazen Petrovic, a Croatian idol, was tragically killed in a car accident near Munich, Germany in May 1993 on a rain-slicked road at the age of 28 fresh from playing for Croatia against Slovenia in the 1993 Eurobasket, any attempts at reconciliation between the two, of course, sadly died with him ("a burden I could not escape," Divac said in the film. He did not attend the funeral for political tensions that was attended by 100,000). Petrovic, coming off his best NBA season with the New Jersey Nets making the All-NBA Third Team with Derrick Coleman (and should've been in the All-Star Game that season). Divac, now president of the Serbian Olympic Committee, wonders aloud how things could've been between them had the war not been waged. "Once Brothers" has Divac travel to LA, Belgrade, and Zagreb, where he visits the Petrovic family including mother Bizerka and brother Alexander for an emotional meeting and pays homage to his late friend in an act of closure. This also contains interviews with Kukoc, Radja, Paspalj, Ainge (who admired both Divac and Petro, liking the latter to Ainge's idol Pete Maravich), Magic, Reggie Miller (who liked Petro because he talked trash in mulitple languages), and West. Stojko Vrankovic, I think, declined to take part in this. Slovenian Jure Zdovc isn't in it, but he did express his thoughts to Basketball World News on that great but ultimately tragic basketball era and hopes for future reunions among the players (www.fibaeurope.com/coid_ieu0skf5GLYte4dBxUFTs1.articleMode_on.html).

"Once Brothers" is a very gripping and highly recommended doc. Don't know if it hit Australia and New Zealand. There are YouTube portions, and I'll get to them very soon.

Julian

14-10-2010, 12:17 PM

"Once Brothers" is a very gripping and highly recommended doc. Don't know if it hit Australia and New Zealand.
30 for 30 is airing on ESPN HD over here, albeit a few weeks behind the US. Highly recommended viewing. Once Brothers is scheduled for November 7.

My favourites so far: June 17, 1994 and The Two Escobars.

Clips

14-10-2010, 05:47 PM

30 for 30 is airing on ESPN HD over here, albeit a few weeks behind the US. Highly recommended viewing. Once Brothers is scheduled for November 7.

My favourites so far: June 17, 1994 and The Two Escobars.

Haven't seen The Two Escobars, but I did see June 17. I'd love to get my hands on it if it is available (dunkin dan?).

Cheers for the heads up on once brothers.

fan since the old snakepit

14-10-2010, 06:35 PM

That Yugoslavia team was probably up there as my favourite all time team to watch. Their all round fundamental skill levels, execution, size and pure basketball IQ were only matched by the great USSR team of the mid to late 80's that included the amazing Arvydas Sibonis, Marciulionis, Tikhonenko, Kurtinaitis, Volkov, Chomicius.
I would also like to see once brothers as I dont have ESPN

fan since the old snakepit

14-10-2010, 07:05 PM

Now you have got me drifting down memory lane I looked at a few youTube clips of Sibonis and started thinking about my all time favourite players.
Four of them, Petrovic, Marciulionis, and Sabonis come from the teams mentioned in this thread, the others are the unstopable Oscar from Brazil and the player who I regard as the most amazing scorer of all time Nikos Galis from Greece. He is the most unhearalded of the group but could flat out put huge numbers up night in night out with every oponent focusing on shuting him down. A little clip here of him Vs Sabonis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94X7oyzlfeY

Another from 1987
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93qc8EzsohM&feature=fvw

Durbansandshark

15-10-2010, 04:48 AM

I agree Nikos Galis should be mentioned in the same breath as those high-octane scorers Schmidt and Petrovic. Did you know he was born in New Jersey to Greek immigrant parents from Rhodes and Nisyros and started off as a boxer? How about Israeli basketball legend Mickey Berkowitz? If there's one reason why both are underrated lies in the fact that neither tasted Olympic basketball for their respective nations in basketball, so that the rest of the world could be in awe of how good they were. Galis did carry the Olympic torch in the Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony at Olympic Stadium as a token of appreciation for his immense contributions in Greek sport.

Galis played at Seton Hall and was a scoring star, finishing third in the nation with a 27.5 scoring average in 1978-79 as a senior finishing behind Lawrence Butler and Larry Bird. One of his scoring outburst was when he dropped 48 on Santa Clara. Then-Seton Hall coach Bill Raferty calls Galis the best player he ever coached. Galis drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 68th pick in the 1979 Draft's 4th round. Yes, the same draft with Bird and Magic. Can you imagine Galis with Bird, McHale, Parrish, Ainge, Dennis Johnson, and, had he lived, Len Bias? They could've won more titles in the 80s than the Evil Laker Empire! Galis could eased the scoring burden on the best frontcourt in NBA history and opponents would have to respect his shooting prowess and his playmaking and passing. Sadly, during preseason training camp, Galis got severely injured, and the Celtics never considered offering a contract to him because Gerald Henderson wound up taking his spot with his injury keeping out of action for a lot of time. Auerbach later heavily regretted letting him get away when he became a superstar in Greece after Galis got numerous NBA offers (including the Celtics and the New Jersey Nets) but, like Oscar Schmidt, turned them all down since FIBA hadn't yet recognized professionalism (read: NBA), something it did not happen until 1989, since Galis liked playing for the Greek national team and it meant oh so much to him. Had he donned the Celtic green, he therefore would be disqualified at the time for FIBA play.

While we're talking about legendary international players, there's a new class of inductees into the FIBA Hall of Fame this year with 16 of them coming from 12 nations. Divac, Sabonis, Cheryl Miller, Natalia Zassoulskaya, Lindsay Gaze, Dino Meghnin, Dragan Kicanovic, Mirko Novosel, Evgeny Gomelskiy (brother of the later Alexander Gomelskiy), Aboulaye Seye Moreau, George Killian, Jim Bain, Hans-Joachim Otto, and Konstantinos Dimou, and Ernesto Segura de Luna.
http://turkey2010.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/10/fwcm/news/p/nid/44592/article.html

I honestly believe a full Yugoslavia squad like that one could give the Dream Team a run for its money in Barcelona had they faced each other (at least for most of the game), for they were younger and ascending to its peak. The Dream Team was at the peak of their powers.

Now back to the present.

Remember what I said regarding Denmark's demotion to Eurobasket Division C, which was actually a bold move after being in Division B to offer young Danish players greater resources? This summer, the favoured Denmark won it all in Division C with a convincing win over Andorra (www.fibaeurope.com/cid_KNce8jInH7Qj1EsyH5rjn2.compID_Jvy4pg8IJ0MN4eTp 8w6A,1.coid_Tb8l5bzVHloskBeMWJv2Z2.articleMode_on. html) to top its ranks when it was held in Malta.

1. Denmark
2. Andorra
3. Malta
4. Moldova
5. Wales
6. Scotland
7. Gibraltar
8. San Marino

The Netherlands, Sweden, and the Czech Republic all finished atop of their respective groups in Division B with the Dutch and the Czechs being the only unbeaten teams in it. Sweden stopped the Azeris in Baku and their unbeaten streak with a 101-73 win, with a blistering performance from Jonas Jerebko in the fourth quarter, that actually contributed to a three-team identical record in Group B with Azerbaijan and Romania. The Netherlands ended things over the summer with a 90-76 triumph over Estonia. More later.

Durbansandshark

15-10-2010, 07:45 AM

No need to wait for November 7 to see "Once Brothers" on ESPN! :) :

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hOst_NExGI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF5fN08RTQs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K835fDiY34
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNqtXkNwbOk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw9sXmVWmU4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AvdGfCqHrk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8TqtFRpBYw :(
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUlqgwfGYYs

The story begins with archival footage in early 1993 when Drazen was making his name in New Jersey from an NBA Inside Stuff interview with Drazen and then-co-host Willow Bay in New York near, aptly, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (remember the Nets are more like part of the New York market). I remember this interview which the show is also operated by NBA Entertainment. Willow asks him about how the civil war impacted his relationship former Yugoslav teammate Divac, and Petro responds that they don't talk much like they used to. Divac in LA loved to see everything was up to be taken and in abundance; lots of chocolates, for example. He said his biggest thrill after his arrival in America was going through a McDonald's drive-thru! :lol: I wish someone would upload the Arsenio Hall show appearance. Though I'm a hardline hater of ELE, seeing footage of Divac having fun in La-La Land makes me smile in retrospect.

Toni Kukoc looks like a charming college professor these days. Nice to see legendary coach Dusan Ivkovic. Nice footage to see the young players in action making their mark in Yugoslavian ball, including a (rarely seen) clean-shaven Vlade, something I haven't seen since the 1990 Schick commercial (www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCTx6K3Irag)! :)

Durbansandshark

21-10-2010, 11:46 AM

Now the FIBA 2012 London Olympic basketball allocation is in place:

Men:
FIBA World Basketball Champion: 1-United States
FIBA African Championship: 1
FIBA Americas Championship: 2
FIBA Asian Championship: 1
FIBA Eurobasket: 2
FIBA Oceania: 1
Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 4

Women:
FIBA World Basketball Championship: 1-United States
FIBA African Championship: 1
FIBA Americas Championship: 1
FIBA Asian Championship: 1
FIBA Eurobasket: 1
FIBA Oceania: 1
Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 6

Pretty much the same format and allocation like it was with Beijing except for one very important thing: Great Britain is not, for the moment, an automatic qualifier on its home games. If it was already, it'll take away one of the Olympic qualifying spots. I'll delve into that much more tomorrow. But for now FIBA is still not quite convinced that Team GB, men and women, despite both making it to the Eurobasket 2011, but this is as much about British basketball's infrastructure as it is dealing with Britain's talent.

I'm glad the qualification tournament is back for London. Makes things more competitive and fairer to earn.

Team DMD Basketball

21-10-2010, 12:49 PM

Durbansandshark

26-10-2010, 11:46 AM

How amazing are Eurobasket and FIBA Americas going to be in 2011.

Will definately be watching a ton of basketball, all the NBA guys are playing.

Are USA already qualified as one of those America's spots?

The United States, having already qualified for the Olympics in both men and women, can still participate in the Americas tournaments as one of two members of the North America Subzone (the other is Canada). Given our bottomless depth, we can send other NBA and WNBA or non-NBA and non-WNBA players (like those playing professionally in Europe, college players or junior players) to them to get some international experience and not worry about our placings. Or it can sit out this altogether and give a spot to another Americas nation not originally on the list as a wildcard like perhaps Jamaica, Mexico, Belize, Paraguay, Colombia, or Chile.

Week 1 at the Turkish Airlines Euroleague just ended. But here are the teams:

GROUP A
Zalgiris Kaunas
Caja Laboral
Khmiki Moscow
Partizan Belgrade
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Asseco Prokom Gydnia

GROUP B
Virtus Roma
Olympiacos Pireaus
Real Madrid
Unicaja Malaga
Spirou Basket
Brose Basket

GROUP C
Cholet Basket
Regal FC Barcelona
Fenerbache Ulker
Montepaschi Siena
Cibona Zagreb
Lietuvos Rytas

GROUP D
Panathinikos Athens
Armani Jeans Milan
Efes Pilsen Istanbul
Union Olimpija Ljubljana
CSKA Moscow
Power Electronics Valencia

Coming very soon, a followup on Team GB and African basketball

Durbansandshark

30-10-2010, 05:20 AM

There other international European club basketball competitions going on too like the VTB United League. VTB the sponsor is a Russian bank. As such, the league consists of those in the Eastern European and Baltic regions. The 2010-11 teams in this are:

Minsk-2006 Minsk (Belarus)
Kalev Tallinn (Estonia)
Honka Espoo (Finland)
VEF Riga (Latvia)
Zalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania)
Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius
Asseco Prokom Gydnia (Poland)
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Khmiki Moscow
UNICS Kazan
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine)
Azovmash Mariupol

Many of them are also involved in Euroleague basketball too. CSKA Moscow is the only champion the VTB League has ever known in its few years of existence as it enters its third season.

Svensk Basketbollforbundet recently signed a deal with Nike for the company to be its athletic outfitter for all the national basketball teams. It succeeds Champion, a longstanding outfitter for over a decade.

With this in mind, let's see who else Nike has in their national basketball team stable as well:

USA
Canada
Germany
France
China
Angola
Jordan
Czech Republic
Brazil
Puerto Rico
Philippines
Israel
South Korea
Lithuania
Hong Kong
Slovakia

Durbansandshark

10-11-2010, 08:43 AM

To understand why Jay Larranaga left Ireland to coach the NBDL's Erie BayHawks, you need to know the following. During the 90s and up to the end of the previous decade, Ireland's economy was fast growing; it embraced the euro as opposed to the UK, which stuck to the British pound. So much so in the growth that Ireland was called the "Celtic Tiger", after rapidly growing nations economies in Asia like India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Now like several other European nations, the economies stretching from Iceland to Greece to Estonia are in shambles with this global recession with strict and deeply painful austerity measures taking place, and Ireland is no different.

Ireland's seriously sorry financial state (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932010_Irish_financial_crisis) has impacted Irish basketball, much like everything else. Basketball Ireland announced on February 2010 that, thanks to "bad financial info and planning, accounting errors, and trying to grow the sport too quickly" it accumulated 1.4 million euros in debt, and it was deactivating its international senior teams in both the men and women (www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0224/1224265091401.html) to cut costs. Last year, both the men and women lost their final group games in 2009 Eurobasket Division B with a narrow away loss to Iceland for the women. It impacted the women's team, whose funding was 43,000 euros and considered the most talented Irish women's team ever, more abruptly as they came narrowly short in promotion to Division A at third place. Even trying to buy their way to play as the Irish national teams weren't well funded. Underage teams will continue as they are self-sufficient entities and far more cheaply operated. Basketball Ireland is a hand to mouth existence running on a shoestring budget and performed admirably under such difficult circumstances. The women performed under tremendous sacrifices to get Irish women's basketball greater prominence within Europe. FIBA understandably gave Basketball Ireland their blessings to pull the plug since it is small nation where basketball isn't as big. The majority of the Irish women play domestic ball like for the Bausch & Lomb Wildcats and DCU Mercy with another (Rachel Clancy) play for the Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo Mustangs and Caroline Jane Nixon playing in Spain with Arranz-Jopisa Burgos. One notable Irish women's player is Susan Moran who once played for the New York Liberty.

As for the men, notable names include former Phoenix Sun Pat Burke (who was born in Ireland and the only one from there to play in the NBA), Alan Tomidy, Marty Conlon, Larranaga, Cal Bowdler, and the Westbrook brothers--Issac, Michael, and Aaron. Larranaga was, at the beginning, the player-coach for Ireland but became just the coach after his player days. The roster is, given their ages, where the team should be entering or at their prime. Four years earlier, promotion to Eurobasket Division A was missed more narrowly as the Irish men lost to Denmark by 4 points following a 10-point beatdown they gave the Danish in Dublin.

In 1948, Ireland was invited to play in the 1984 London Olympics a year after Basketball Ireland's formation, from which many of the top countries couldn't equip their own teams as they were still reeling from WWII, and London served as its only Olympic appearance. Ireland finished 23rd out of 24 teams. Ireland's only subsequential Olympic taste in basketball came in 1976 in an Olympic qualification tournament, when it finished dead last in the European qualifying group. It finished fourth in its Euro 2009 qualifying behind Georgia, Sweden, and Slovakia winning only two games in an 8-game home and home series with only Luxembourg being winless. As you figured out, Ireland has never qualified for Eurobasket or the World Basketball Championships outside of that 1948 Olympic invite, largely because the Irish economy wasn't particularly strong to support basketball there as it was among the poorest in Europe until it grew too fast starting in the 90s.

As for the professional domestic league, the Nivea For Men Superleague sports 10 men's team and women's pro league has 8, of which Basketball Ireland holds supervision. I'm surprised, given the economic woes there, that sponsorship hasn't been an issue or even pulled.

Durbansandshark

20-11-2010, 07:49 AM

FIBA announced five countries willing to host the 2013 Eurobasket following Lithuania next year. The five nations are Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Slovenia. In September 5, only Italy and Slovenia submitted formal bids by the August 31st deadline. But October 15, Italy withdrew from the bidding leaving only Slovenia for now.

There's talk that Germany and France will hookup for a 2015 joint-bid. Ukraine and Great Britain are seriously thinking of 2015 bids themselves.

More later.

Durbansandshark

23-11-2010, 12:59 PM

2010 Asian Games are going on in Guangzhou, China until November 26. Basketball in Asia, despite the rise of the West Asian nations and the continued strength of the East Asian powers, is still lopsided with wide margins and varying degrees of talent levels. Because of this, the top eight Asian nations, the ones who regularly make it and advance in Asian basketball competitions--like China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Qatar, Chinese Taipei, and Jordan--got automatic byes into the next round already in two groups of four. Eight teams, two in each group, make up the opening round. The teams are North Korea, Hong Kong (Group A), The Philippines, Kuwait (Group B), Mongolia, Turkmenistan (Group C), Afghanistan, and India (Group D). The Philippines made it to every latter stage of the Asian Games basketball from 1951 to 2002 until 2006, when they were suspended from international competition for its institutional infighting, had to start at the beginning unseeded and were placed with Saudi Arabia. But the Saudis withdrew and were redrawn with Kuwait, who were originally with Hong Kong and North Korea. Out of the opening round, India, The Philippines, Mongolia, and North Korea advanced with their single-elimination games.

Mongolia and North Korea were placed in Group E with China, South Korea, Jordan, and Uzbekistan. India and The Philippines got hooked up with Japan, Chinese Taipei, Qatar, and Iran. Of those early teams, the Filipinos were the best. Right now, they are third in Group F with a better point differential than Qatar, though both have the same record. For the quarterfinal play that is ready to start on Wednesday. China, the big faves for Asian gold, is the only unbeaten team with a 5-0 record. They, South Korea, North Korea, and Jordan made it out their group while Japan, Iran, The Philippines, and Qatar emerged out of theirs.

All of the men's quarterfinal games are in Huangpu, China with the semis and beyond in Guangzhou. Classification games in Ying Dong:

China vs. Qatar
Iran vs. Jordan
South Korea vs. The Philippines
Japan vs. North Korea

The surprise of the last Asian Games basketball competition in Doha, Qatar in 2006, Afghanistan, lost to India 83-76.

Meanwhile in the women's game, the talent depth issues are even more pronounced. Only five teams are in that with no appearances from North Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, or even Indonesia to balance things out. You had four in Group A--China, India, Thailand, and South Korea. And just three in Group B--Japan, the Maldives, and Chinese Taipei. Games involving the Maldives were no fun for the higher powers. What the poor Maldivians, in apparently their international women's basketball debut, endured was no fun: a 127-23 blasting from Chinese Taipei and a subsequent 143-19(!) (understating ahead) shellacking at the hands of the Japanese. India was more competitive but not by much after losing 107-39 to China. Its closest game was it final one in group play as it lost to Thailand 62-54 after suffering a 98-44 loss to South Korea. Yet despite that and giving up much more points than the Indian women did, the Maldives will play a fifth-place game against Thailand on Wednesday!

Japan and South Korea will play in the first semifinal. China and Chinese Taipei will play in the other.

Durbansandshark

02-12-2010, 12:23 PM

Hosts China, no surprise, won both the men's and women's Asian Gmes 2010 basketball comps in Guangzhou minus the Washington Wizards-based Yi Jianlian and, of course, Houston's Yao Ming. Both times beating South Korea for the gold. But it wasn't quite easy as the competition has gotten better from a few areas throughout the massive continent over the past several years, particularly West Asia, as the medal rounds featured better games. The Asian Games also marks Wang Zhizhi's international retirement.

Quarterfinals--November 24

China 71 Qatar 66
Iran 67 Jordan 42
South Korea 74 Philippines 66
Japan 92 North Korea 75

Semifinals--November 25

China 68 Iran 65
South Korea 55 Japan 51

Classification--November 25

Qatar 60 Jordan 52
Philippines 96 North Korea 69

November 26

7th place game
Jordan 79 North Korea 74

5th place game
Qatar 81 Philippines 71

Bronze Medal Game
Iran 71 Japan 66

Gold Medal Game
China 77 South Korea 71

WOMEN'S
November 24--knockout stage
China 84 Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) 58
South Korea 93 Japan 78

Bronze Medal Game--November 25
Japan 73 Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) 61

Gold Medal Game--November 25
China 70 South Korea 64

Oh yes, the Maldivian women did much better and scored more than they ever did in the fifth-place game against Thailand...still they lost 93-47.

Got the complete men's 2010 Asian Games Gold Medal Game from CCTV-5, which is primarily the military channel. Got the feel of any run of the mill NBA or even FIBA-sanctioned game in terms of presentation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKhT6O5YvnE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIjHu4T5kTU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXiTAnYc14c
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRiLnkiGjus
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHVjOzeIYOU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FoGznAYqrM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnWxOrvzYpU

Once again at this wonderful time of the year, Canada Basketball's conducting Give The Gift Of Game. Among the things, it's doing was giving its webshop a new makeover (http://shop.basketball.ca/) with new Nike apparel, particularly for the 12 Days of Shopping of limited 2010 FIBA Canada Basketball World Basketball Championship gear and a new package of stuff daily during this time. Staring tomorrow, you bid for stuff at the NBA Auctions. And you if you are planning to visit the Toronto area, you get discounted Toronto Raptors home game tickets (www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=258&id=3532) to see them in action at the Air Canada Centre against the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon that is Canada Basketball Day. All proceeds go towards Canada Basketball and even donate to the Canada Basketball Foundation (www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?id=2755). If only Vancouver was still in the league, and it could've been better if it was just those two for Canada Basketball Day. Looking forward to see some of the stuff offered. Too bad I can't go to Toronto...yet.

Also on Sunday, FIBA will announce the Eurobasket 2013 hosts, which in all likelihood will be granted to Slovenia as the only surviving Eurobasket 2013 bid by default with Italy's 2013 Eurobasket bid committee dropped out. Come visit its Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/EuroBasket-2013-Slovenia-Bid/256741352098). Wish they could retain the logo for the actual competition.

Durbansandshark

11-12-2010, 08:45 AM

Slovenia was officially awarded Eurobasket 2013. More on that coming soon.
www.mvp247.com/2010/12/eurobasket-2013-hos/

From Fiba Europe on the Eurobasket Women's 2011 draw in Lodz, Poland:
10.12.2010

EuroBasket Women

The European women's basketball world is gathered in Lodz, Poland this weekend for the EuroBasket Women 2011 draw, to take place on Saturday, December 11th.

Fifteen teams have already qualified for Europe's top basketball tournament while a sixteenth participating nation will be decided through the Additional Qualifying Tournaments (AQT), next spring.

EuroBasket Women 2011 will be organised from 18 June to 3 July, in the Polish cities of Katowice and Bydgoszcz for the First and Second Round and Lodz for the Final Round.

All three venues were hosts cities in EuroBasket 2009. Bydgoszcz and Lodz hosted the Qualifying Round and Katowice was the stage for the Final Round.

The format of the competition remains the same as it was for EuroBasket Women 2009, with 16 teams divided in four groups of four for the First Round.

The seeding for the draw is determined by the team's results in the latest official FIBA Europe competition. Teams from the same group of seeds cannot be drawn against each other.

Seeds I: France, Russia, Spain, Belarus
Seeds II: Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey
Seeds III: Lithuania, Montenegro, Latvia, Israel
Seeds IV: Great Britain, Croatia, Slovak Republik, Qualifier

EuroBasket Women 2011 Additional Qualifying Round
Hungary and Italy will organise the two Additional Qualifying Tournaments of EuroBasket Women 2011.

Hungary will host Group A (Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Netherlands and Ukraine) in Sopron while Italy will organise Group B (Serbia, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Romania) in Taranto.

Both round-robin groups will be staged June 3-8 next year. The winners of the two groups will then play each other in home and away games, on June 12 and 15, with the winner securing the last EuroBasket Women 2011 spot.

Durbansandshark

15-12-2010, 01:05 PM

Highlights from the Canada-China exhibition match at Vancouver's GM Place (now Rogers Arena) during the Jack Donahue Classic before the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship. Music by Phoenix:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfXAWWD3J4c

The 2010 Asian Games Gold Medal women's basketball final between China and South Korea in Guangzhou, China in its entirety from CCTV-5:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUvc-6IHgU4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad9PifclaQI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2rB1rm8js0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG0LZtk3hfk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OfC8jVbrnI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofY_7xc5nWw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m91CIxQmGWc

From FIBA Europe.com:
11.12.2010
EuroBasket Women
The EuroBasket Women 2011 Draw took place on Saturday in Lodz, Poland, in front of a sizeable crowd of National Federation representatives, coaches and journalists from around Europe.

If one thing was made clear to the attendees during the bright ceremony it was that reaching the Final, let alone conquering Gold this summer, will be as hard as negotiating your way through the snowy roads of Lodz in mid-December.

Champions France find themselves in a difficult group, featuring Greece, Latvia and Croatia.

EuroBasket Women 2009 silver medalists Russia will not have it much easier in Group A, against Turkey, Slovak Republic and Lithuania.

Group B sees the two sides that caused the biggest stir in the recent FIBA World Championship, Czech Republic and Belarus, facing each other.

Hosts Poland will take on the 2009 Bronze medalists Spain as well as Montenegro and the team that will qualify through the Additional Qualifying Tournaments, in Group C.

EuroBasket Women 2011 will take place from 18 June to 3 July. The city of Bydgoszcz will host Group A and Group B, while Katowice will play host to Group C and Group D and the Final Round will take place in Lodz.

The Additional Qualifying Tournaments (AQT), which will decide the sixteenth team to take part in the competition, will take place in Hungary and Italy.

Hungary will host Group A (Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Netherlands and Ukraine) in Sopron, while Italy will play host to Group B (Serbia, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Romania) in Taranto.

Both round-robin groups will be staged June 3-8 next year. The winners of the two groups will then play each other in home and away games, on June 12 and 15, with the winner securing the last EuroBasket Women 2011 spot.

The four First Round groups are:
GROUP A: Turkey, Russia, Slovakia, Lithuania
GROUP B: Great Britain, Israel, Belarus, Czech Republic
GROUP C: Poland, Spain, Montenegro, Euro Qualifier
GROUP D: France, Greece, Croatia, Latvia

This is a great tournament for the young British women to earn top-notch international competition under its belt leading up to London early next year under Aussie coach Tom Maher! They were kinda lucky just hanging by a thread at the lower levels of Eurobasket Division A with the likes of Finland and Romania with them. Speaking of which, don't you think those two nations are upset at this, even when you factor in the London 2012 aspect of Team GB's entry? But the Team GB women did finish ahead of Germany, the Ukraine, and Slovakia in its qualifying group, so that's justifiable. Maybe Eurobasket women should expand its own field to 24 just like the men in France.

Two host nations, Italy and Hungary, will host the Additional Qualifying Tournament before Eurobasket women 2011 to determine the qualifier out of that in Group C. Hungary will host Group A that also features Bulgaria, Finland, The Netherlands, and the Ukraine. Italy has Group B with Romania, Germany, Serbia, and Belgium. Top finishers in each group will play a home and home series. Group play is staged June 3-8 and the home and home series is June 12 and June 15.th

France, the defending Eurobasket women champs, will host the next Eurobasket women in 2013. Venues will be announced early next year. Last time the nation hosted in September 2001, they won it all. Will it happen again? Les Bleues got the talent for the next several years with some young guns emerging.

Because of her new commitments with the Chicago Sky in the WNBA, Pokey Chatman will no longer continue her coaching duties with Slovakia. But she will continue to coach Sparta&K after the WNBA season is over.

Oh yes! Better hurry if you want a replica Tall Blacks New Zealand jersey from Peak in time for Xmas while supplies last!
www.basketball.org.nz/news/tall-blacks-replica-singlets-available-for-purchase/

Durbansandshark

14-01-2011, 07:30 AM

From FIBA Europe regarding the seedings to the now 24-team Eurobasket 2011 field in Lithuania (more on that in the future):

12.01.2011

EuroBasket 2011

To basketball fans across Europe, the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day meant that the countdown to the Continent's most important competition had started. 2011, as any basketball fan will tell you, is EuroBasket year.

In the run-up to the EuroBasket 2011 draw that will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania on 30 January, FIBA Europe announced on Wednesday the seeds for the draw.

Seed 1:Spain, Serbia, Greece, Slovenia

Seed 2:France, Croatia, Russia, Turkey

Seed 3:Germany, Lithuania, Montenegro, Belgium

Seed 4:Great Britain, F.Y.R of Macedonia, Israel, Georgia

Seed 5:Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Seed 6:Ukraine, Latvia, Qualifier 1, Qualifier 2

According to FIBA Europe Regulations, the ten European nations that participated in the FIBA World Championship 2010 in Turkey qualified directly to EuroBasket 2011 and are the top ten seeds.

These ten teams are ranked according to the EuroBasket 2009 results and so reigning European Champions Spain are ranked first, silver medallists Serbia second and bronze medallists Greece third.

The following 12 teams are ranked according to their results in the Qualifying Round that was held last summer. Wherever the win/loss percentage was identical, the goal average was used as the next criteria, so for example Montenegro are seeded 11th because their goal average coefficient was better than that of Belgium and Great Britain, who also finished with the same record (6-2) in the Qualifying Round.

The 23rd and 24th seed are reserved for the two countries (from Finland, Hungary, Portugal) that will qualify for EuroBasket 2011 through the Additional Qualifying Round, which will be concluded on 24th August.

Yeah, it's such a shame that Irish basketball had to shut down the senior international basketball program almost a year ago on February. Especially for the women, who were on the cusp of breaking through to Eurobasket Division A after missing out on a semifinal spot. They had some talent and, while they may have not survived to thrive in there like maybe Finland, Germany, or Great Britain, but they would gain valuable experience at the top level--and would help further aspire young, future Irish women to don the Irish green and orange and further promote the sport of basketball in the Emerald Isle, which a marginal sport as it punched above its weight. It hurts everybody who works so hard at Basketball Ireland in that senior program from the players, the coaching staff, and the Basketball Ireland workers--all of them should be commended heavily for this under such trying circumstances. The good news is they're eager to resume their basketball endeavors soon with determination toward a clear goal and hopefully some real financial backing deepening the talent pool with young and up and coming players, many based in the US on NCAA scholarships. Thus they don't want people to feel sorry for them.

Furthermore, a need to help strengthen promotion and future success the Nivea For Men Superleague and the women's domestic basketball, especially in the midst of the deep economic recession Ireland is in, as they cope with coming out of the pain, is paramount for the national development to a higher standard than what basketball previously was there. FIBA Europe's Paul Nilsen has written a two-parter on the state of Irish basketball since the closure (for now) of Irish senior international basketball. Hopefully, they can get back right into where they were before the shutting down.
www.fibaeurope.com/nfID_305.coid_wUxy14iSIKEjsKsGhnYeq2.articleMode_o n.html
www.fibaeurope.com/nfID_305.coid_NY9XcjD3IlgNRsAQ473qr1.articleMode_o n.html

There isn't any news regarding the Norwegian men's basketball developments, but there is some news pertaining to the women. In a Scandinavian nation where winter sports like cross country skiing, ice hockey, skiing, moguls, snowboarding, and curling, you would expect, are king, the big team sport there is actually handball. The Norwegian women handball team are currently Olympic and, just recently, European gold medalists. Women's soccer holds a lot of talented Norwegian players, though it has slipped a little in the talent pool and international standings since 2000, when they were the Sydney gold medalists. It's a rich nation for a small nation and population with a high quality of life and a strong committment to gender equity. After three years of being away, the Norwegian women returned to serious European international basketball competition last summer by being in Division B with the primary aim of reaching Eurobasket Division A within reach.

Norway was grouped with faves and next-door neighbors Sweden, Portugal, and Slovenia. Personally, they were cursing that fact with their exile showing their rustiness and inexperience, making it a tough reintroduction. Although despite this, they did not struggle as much as people feared as Norway tries to blend in a younger generation of players like 18-year Maren Austgulen with the experienced vets. They last played in 2007 and made it to the semis only to lose to Bosnia-Herzegovina that cost them a chance at promotion to Division A. They were excited to be back in the mix, but it proved to be short-lived. They were overwhelmed by Portugal 69-35 in their first game. Then their Swedish neighbors came and beat them 65-53 in Oslo before the Norway ended their winless 0-3 campaign to Slovenia 81-61.

Durbansandshark

20-01-2011, 09:50 AM

Taking a Teutonic turn once again on this thread. Though Germany's basketball Nationalmannschaft were a disappointed bunch of campers in not progressing in Turkey with not having expectedly Dirk with them, deciding to sit out the summer like he did a year earlier for the Eurobasket, Germany's mostly young corp of rising talent, the next generation of twentysomethings like Jan Jagla, Elias Harris, Tim Ohlbreicht, Lucca Steiger, Robin Benzig, Per Gunther, Philipp Schweithelm, Heiko Schwaffartzik, and Tibor Pleiss, with Demond Greene for veteran leadership gained some valuable international experience that will help them this year in Lithuania as one of the top Eurobasket powers meeting expectations with their encouraging play, still fielding one of the youngest teams in all of Europe. Harris is making a name at Gonzaga this season with his play and skills. Pleiss could come into the NBA with Oklahoma City in a year or two. Full disclosure: I got a Nike Germany shooting shirt. Looking forward to buying the Nike Deutschland black basketball practice T-shirt.
www.fibaeurope.com/coid_YBPJ6UicImkl8HTsGOPfT1.articleMode_on.html

Switzerland still has ways to go before joining the Eurobasket Division A, but they have a decent shot now at promotion. Actually, the expanded field to 24 could work to Switzerland's advantage and incentive. All that rests for the Swiss to make some noise as try to punch above its weight is will Thabo Sefalosha from the Oklahoma City Thunder carry them on their back if he suits up. Which could be a double edged sword; opposing teams could either neutralize his teammates and just allow him to get his regular production from him since the Swiss of course aren't as deep, or they can defend him hard render him useless. Another player of noe for Switzerland is the naturalized American Greg Brunner, who played in the summer for Nati with Sefalosha gone and ended up tweaking his ankle.
www.fibaeurope.com/coid_1YB1kdacJPk5gbHuZ93bS0.articleMode_on.html

Durbansandshark

15-02-2011, 01:47 PM

The legendary Serbian coach Dusan Ivkovic, currently at Olympiakos in Greece, steps down from his national team coaching position in his letter to Serbian Basketball Federation president Dragan Kapicic.

www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/langid/1/newsid/45782/arti.html

Durbansandshark

17-02-2011, 01:05 PM

Belatedly to us here, the 24-team Eurobasket 2011 Lithuania draw took place in Vilinius, the capital city, in late January. And the draw wasn't kind to Chris Finch's Team GB men, though they expect going through the Olympics, World's, and Eurobasket will NEVER be easy. They actually want to be tested. So they got Group A with Spain, Turkey, hosts Lithuania, previous hosts Poland, and qualifier 2. August 31 starts things off with a date against the hosts in front of the Panavezeys venue packed with largely the hometown green-clad, flag-waving fans. More on this later, hopefully next week with more time, inclduing the FIBA deadline whether to allow the Brits in basketball as hosts draws near.

Durbansandshark

02-03-2011, 01:27 PM

Mike Fratello, the Czar of the Telestrator, to coach the Ukraine? Actually, that's not as far-fetched and odd as it may sound. Remember, he and his Atlanta Hawks back in August 1988 did a three-game barnstorming tour throughout the Soviet Union with the Soviet national team leading up to the Seoul Olympics, stopping in Tblisi, Georgia and Vilinius, Lithuania, and Moscow. Now, it's largely forgotten these days as an important moment in the development of international basketball and of the relationship between the NBA and FIBA. It was of the era of Hawks' owner Ted Turner operating the Goodwill Games and of glasnost and perestroika. The czar will get reacquainted with Lithuania with Eurobasket 2011. But he's got a lot to learn with his team. Volkov, already familiar with Fratello, is too old to play anymore.
www.ballineurope.com/national-teams/team-ukraine-mike-fratello-deja-vu-2193/
www.ballineurope.com/specials/head-coach/mike-fratello-team-ukraine-head-coach-eurobasket-8220/

2sc945

12-03-2011, 08:15 PM

OMFG THE MIGHT OF USA BASKETBALL (http://www.usbasket.com/Americans-Overseas.asp?Country=GER)!!!

Durbansandshark

24-03-2011, 12:43 PM

OMFG THE MIGHT OF USA BASKETBALL (http://www.usbasket.com/Americans-Overseas.asp?Country=GER)!!!

Of course, this is just one example in a nation. Many of which of these American players you never ever heard of previously. But like an army of ants, American basketball players' depth and impact on those teams overseas in every corner of the world are very profound.

To get myself back into African basketball, at least for a little bit, I would like to tell you about the upcoming African Basketball Championship in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in August. It beat other bids from Nigeria and Madagascar to win the rights. This will be the Ivory Coast's second time as hosts, after they won as hosts in 1985. Hosting it will come at a good time for Ivorian basketball since last year the Elephants made it to Turkey as one of the top four African finishers in Libya. Only three more spots are to be filled to round out the field of 16 with them as wildcards. Likely South Africa will get one of them.

Durbansandshark

29-03-2011, 12:49 PM

Game on for Team GB! Both the men's and women's teams will have automatic bids in Olympic basketball for London 2012 thanks to FIBA at their meetings in Lyon, France!
www.mvp247.com/2011/03/gb-to-london2012/

UPDATE: What's interesting about this field of 16 African teams about ready to congregate in Abidjan--13 so far with three wild card spots up for grabs is that there are a couple of fresh faces in this. You get the usual suspects of Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, hosts Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Tunisia, Mozambique, Morocco, Rwanda, and Mali. All of which were at the last African Basketball Championship. Senegal, in fact, is making its 25th consecutive appearance in this. But this field now has two nations that aren't known for their continental basketball pedigree. For the first time since 1978, Togo makes its appearance. Maybe they'll be inspired by the soccer Sparrows later this year that made waves both in Africa and in the World Cup with Emmanuel Adebayor as its talisman. The French-speaking central African nation of Chad gets to make its African basketball championship debut as the FIBA Africa Zone 4 runner-up with other nations in that zone--Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sao Tome & Principe, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon--did not participate. Not much is known internationally about the national team; I strongly believe it'll get whallopped by more experienced, talented, and organized squads. A wooden spoon is VERY likely.

Already mentioned South Africa as one of my picks for the three wild cards--it's way too much of an important nation in so many levels and intagibles on the continent not to be involved. Now my two other picks will be Algeria and Cape Verde over Egypt, Madagascar, and Kenya.

Libya's Greens, the previous hosts, did not take part in the qualifications.

2sc945

06-04-2011, 02:46 AM

http://www.xmnn.cn/sports/zhty/201011/W020101126398330046937.jpg
198cm Chen Nan (red) trying to force her way pass 202cm Ha Eun-Joo (black) and another Korean defender

A pic taken from last year's Guangzhou Asian Games women's bball final between the two mightiest female bball nations in Asia

Durbansandshark

07-04-2011, 12:28 PM

Durbansandshark

08-04-2011, 06:31 AM

Unfortunately, the Ivorian basketball players and the coaching/training staff (aka the Elephants) can't control issues beyond the basketball court. Yesterday, FIBA announced that, due to renewed civil war in the Ivory Coast between the pro-government forces in the south and the Muslim rebels in the north over the impasse from the election results, the African Basketball Championships will have to be moved from the French-speaking West African nation. It has yet to decide where else in Africa it will be held later this year. There's rumours of going to Morocco, Madagascar, or back to 2007 hosts Angola.

It's a shame because with their surprising qualification to Turkey in the last one in Libya, the Elephants had the potential to upsurp the Angolans in the battle for African supremacy by winning it at home and directly qualify for London. Their qualification for the FIBA World Basketball Championship tenatively united a nation like their more well-known soccer counterparts.

Durbansandshark

15-04-2011, 12:51 PM

With the NBA Elite series stillborn for at least up until 2012, I seriously think this is a good time that, unless it has already done so, FIBA needs to take a good, hard reconsidering at its exclusivity license contract it has with EA Sports, if it ever wants to make serious and permanent inroads into the video game market here in North America. In hindsight, it was a bad mistake to go for that. Though I can understand considering the period: EA had exclusivity towards the IRB and some UEFA and FIFA exclusivity license but never claimed the IIHF one for the NHL series some years ago leading up to this. There lies the danger of the exclusivity in the event of the cancelled game. So I was hoping for a more detailed international basketball selection with more national and club teams under the NBA Elite 2011, the only reason I could have bought it.

FIBA should terminate that contract and head towards hooking up with 2K Sports.

Durbansandshark

28-04-2011, 06:51 AM

Yesterday afternoon at my Champs job I had the pleasure of talking with a former basketball player who played professionally in Italy for Livorno during the mid-80s as he tried on a pair of the Nike Air Prestige III, a basketball sneaker from that very time period. As one of the numerous American imports playing in Lega Basket Serie A basketball, he played against Simac/Tracer Milan that featured future NBA and Eurobasket coach Mike D'Antoni, a superstar there after coming from the NBA as a bit player in no small part due to his Italian surname. He had came out of playing basketball out on the bases in the military honing his game after scouts saw him. During his brief pro time there in Italy, he played with and against notable players who were college and pro stars back in America like Joe Barry Carroll (whom he says was living up to his disparaging moniker of "Joe Barely Cares" for being lazy), Earl Cureton, and Joe "Jellybean" Bryant (yes sadly, Kobe's son) and was surprised with one of them. Names are fuzzy for the most part to me, but I hope to get them soon and update them. He added that he left before Bob McAdoo and George Gervin arrived to end their pro careers there. For the game's domestic players, he played against legend Dino Meghenin. His son Andrea later became a star in the Italian game during the 90s. We even commented on some the handful Italian NBA players like Danilo Galinari, Andrea Bargnani, Stefano Rusconi, Vincenzo Esposito, and Marco Bellinelli and the clubs in Lega Basket Serie A like Bennetton Treviso, Bologna, Torino, Roma, and Naples. The former Italian pro import says he didn't like playing inside the gyms despite the passion and enthusiasm of the fans who are notorious for throwing coins, batteries, and whatever else at players.

Mike Fratello is coaching the Ukraine in Eurobasket 2011. And in December, we had another notable American head coach planning to run another nation's basketball team. Louisville's Rick Pitino agreed to coach the Puerto Rican men's basketball team during that month as part of its dream of qualifying for London 2012. But he since realized that was going to be a tall order operating NCAA powerhouse Louisville and Puerto Rico at the same time with both entities demanding a lot of your time, especially with possibly being at another tournament in Brazil in which Puerto Rico is participating in the fall semester when Pitino can't afford to be away from the Louisville campus. Part of this agreement was of the hope to send his Cardinals to play in Puerto Rico for exhibition games, something the NCAA allows. But Puerto Rico, a US commonwealth territory, is not considered a foreign nation though it does it does have its own NOC and sports governing bodies. And the appeal was rejected by the NCAA. With all of the scheduling conflicts, Pitino decided to resign form his Puerto Rico coaching job yesterday. Don't worry for the Puerto Ricans, they're already good enough to at least be among the top five in the Tournament of the Americas in Mal Del Plata, Argentina to take part in the FIBA Olympic Basketball Qualifying Tournament.

Isn't it about time that the FIBA Women's Basketball Championship started to expand its field to 24 teams for the 2014 edition in Turkey? There's plenty of time for that to happen, as we saw with Lithuania 2011. As it stands, the venues will all be in Istanbul with the new Fenerbache Ulker Sports Hall slated to open in September 2011 (seating 15,500), the Ayhan Sanak Sports Hall (seating 3500), and either between the Sinan Erdem Dome (16,000) or the Abdel Ipecki Sports Hall (12,500) for the final round. For the first two venues, two groups each will call their competition home. Attendance was disappointing in the Czech Republic, since, although the Czech Republic made it all the way to the final with some solid talent, women's basketball isn't terribly big there. Let's hope it won't be like that in Turkey with its deeper appreciation toward the sport. I think last year's FIBA championship held there will be used to its advantage because that is still fresh among the Turks' minds.

Durbansandshark

29-04-2011, 10:04 AM

Let's get back into British basketball, shall we? :) We're just hours away into the eagerly anticipated wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey, so I think it's a good time to look into it again in multiple parts, starting with the British women.

The British women certainly will have a lot to look forward to even with prelude to the London 2012 Olympics with the Global Community Cup at Manchester's MEN Arena against Team USA (more soon). But waaay before even then, Tom Maher's team surely have much work to do to get the young Team GB women ensured to be in decent international code. Maher announced his enlarged 16-person squad (www.mvp247.com/2011/04/gb-women-squad-for-euros/) for training camp and tuneups in Surrey against Turkey and Latvia before Maher cuts it down to the final 12 for Eurobasket 2011 in Poland. Jo Leedham, the most notable name on the team, is on despite doubtful concerns of her fitness with tendonitis in her right knee (http://www.mvp247.com/2011/03/leedham-a-doubt-for-eurobasket/), and Old Dominion redshirt Mairi Buchan was placed too even with hers. But yesterday came news of Buchan's injury would be too much for her at this time and Andrea Naylor's unavailability. So it was announced Meaghan Hoffman and Jo Clayden would get called up in their places.

For Eurobasket, Team GB gets the tough draw (www.mvp247.com/2011/04/eurobasket-women-schedule/) revealed earlier this week by opening their group play by facing Belarus, then their only night game against world runnerup Czech Republic, and finally in the following afternoon with little rest versus Israel. All in Bydgoszcz.

Tony Parker says yes to playing for France for Eurobasket 2011 and hopes Joakim Noah will suit up too:
www.fibaeurope.com/coid_EASnFXZUG6-is037,KwYB3.articleMode_on.html

Germany is happy to take on Finland at home early August in an exhibition game leading up to Eurobasket. Finland is expected to win one of the two qualifying spots to make the new field of 24, and they're coached by former Germany coach Henrik Dettmann.
www.fibaeurope.com/coid_E8nknPfnHhM1HC2kv0VAC3.articleMode_on.html

Mario Palma coached Angola and Jordan to unprecedented success. He now returns home to his native Portugal and hopes to do the same with them after following them from afar. He's right: Portugal needs more international experience, especially within a very tough European competition, both club and international. But it's gradually changing. Portugal did take part in the 2007 version.
www.fibaeurope.com/coid_Vc-HjxfBJkACFQa12e0ue0.articleMode_on.html

Durbansandshark

30-04-2011, 07:49 AM

Right now, it's still the Ivory Coast hosting this year's Afrobasket. But if that nation can't due to the flare up of the renewed civil war, Madagascar is next in line, like a first runner up in a beauty pagent. Should that happen, Madagascar will, as hosts, get use of one of the three wildcard spots.

2sc945

12-05-2011, 05:40 PM

I know nothing about the African basketball. Apparently, an African American former NBA player was found dead in an apartment in Puerto Rico (http://www.latinbasket.com/Puerto-Rico/basketball.asp).

Durbansandshark

14-05-2011, 04:56 AM

With its booming and rapidly developing economy, rising middle class, a 1 billion+ population with a massive diaspora worldwide, and growing sphere of influence on the global stage, people would possibly think India would develop a stronger and more well-rounded sports culture. Far from it. But it's still very early for the sport of basketball. Basketball is largely a marginal sport there with cricket, field hockey, and tennis taking the Indian sports center stage, definitely the cricket. When it comes to basketball, I think India is where China was 38 years ago. There's a lot of catching up to do in that.

There is an international basketball history with it. India made the Moscow 1980 Olympics in men's basketball, but that was only because China, Japan, South Korea (at the time the nation did not had any diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union), and The Philippines, the top four Asian finishers in the previous year's Asian championship in Nagoya, Japan, all joined the US-led boycott. India finished fifth ahead of the Pakistan, which also boycotted Moscow, so it repped Asia by default. And its Moscow appearance was memorable for its abominable performance being lumped in a Group A with Brazil, Czechoslovakia, and the hosts Soviet Union and later in the classification round with Sweden, Australia, Senegal, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Finishing dead last in both. It was here that illustrates just far the basketball development in India, even in a boycott-affected field like so many others like basketball, was so far behind in a lot of ways; that lack of international experience showed glaringly. Talk about being out of your league. India set Olympic men's basketball records at the time for the allowing the most points in a game and in group play, resulting a then-record of giving up a -197 in point differential in Group A and later a -210 in classification. Needless to say, they were also woefully undersized along with the incredible inexperience with a lack of a strong infrastructure behind.

It has made the occassional Asian championship, even hosting it at times. However, India has not made much of a meaningful impact in the Asian realm with China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and even Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Syria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran all improving and winning out of it. Meanwhile, India is now more like in the middle to the lower level in the Asian ranks with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. The Philippines is still well ahead of India there because basketball is still part of their sports culture; there's a love there not found in India. The Young Cagers, as they are known, did make the 2006 Commonwealth Games in a weak field by international standards, where it had to deal with the Boomers, the Tall Blacks, Nigeria, and South Africa. In 2009, India finished 13th ahead of Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia. It's currently a young but undersized team that needs more high-quality coaching and training.

Fortunately, there is some change in the air. The NBA is quickly realizing there's great potential in India with its market. Makes sense: after China, there's that 1 billion population ready to tap into. Thanks to the likes of ESPN Star Sports Asia, the NBA gets into the Indian households to expose them to the NBA. The NBA has conducted basketball and coaching clinics across India to improve the quality of basketball there for a future generation of both. The NBA even has its own India page (www.nba.com/india/) with a Jr NBA and WNBA skills challenge to be held in Mumbai on Sunday featuring Brandon Jennings. India still has a ways to go to catch up the Chinas, South Koreas, and even Taiwans, but with its growing economy, the acceleration in the ranks could come quickly. Give it at least 15 years.

2sc945

17-05-2011, 02:23 AM

If the Indians treat sports as serious as the Chinese they should be a Top 5 sporting nation in the world along with the United States, Russia, China and Australia.

Durbansandshark

27-05-2011, 06:07 AM

Ales Pipan, formerly with Slovenia, will lead the Polish in their Eurobasket 2011 campaign, starting in a tough group.
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/46964/arti.html

Despite his Bulgarian last name, Chalon's Ilian Evtimov looks forward to be among the final 12 for Les Bleues' Eurobasket campaign and discusses the Coupe de France win.
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/inte/p/newsid/46887/arti.html

There's a qualification tournament that Taiwan, er, Chinese Taipei, has to go through for the Asian Basketball Championships in Wuhan, China. But, with matchups important, the injury woes hit the Taiwanese hard in the run up:
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/46972/arti.html

Germany's Nationalbasketballmannschaft starts to take shape with youth on their side, whether or not Dirk Nowitzki joins.
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/46863/arti.html

The draw for 2011 FIBA Americas Women's Basketball Championship in Nieva, Colombia took place early last month. As FIBA World Champions, the United States automatically qualify for London next year, which is why they are not here. Only one team, the champs, out of 10 participating will go directly from here to London. The three teams finishing second to fourth proceed to the repachage tournament next year close to London at a site TBD. The draw:

GROUP A
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Cuba
Puerto Rico

GROUP B
Brazil
Canada
Jamaica
Mexico
Paraguay

My early predictions of the four to advance at least to the repechage: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Cuba with Brazil directly going to London. More later.

Durbansandshark

03-06-2011, 05:56 AM

It's official. Madagascar will host the upcoming African basketball championships after the civil unrest made it impossible and irreparable to get the arenas prepared and on schedule in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, as it was announced in late April.

With that, Madagascar gets what would've been one of the three wildcard spots. But this time as hosts as the Elephants instead get an at-large bid. Other wildcard nations announced were, as expected, South Africa and Egypt to round out the field of 16.

2sc945

07-06-2011, 03:23 PM

January saw the FIBA Tournament of the Americas draw take place. This is the draw for the Mar Del Plata-hosted competition:

GROUP A
Canada
Dominican Republic
Brazil
Venezuela
Cuba

GROUP B
Argentina
Panama
Uruguay
Puerto Rico
Paraguay

As Olympic and FIBA world champions, the United States gets automatic entry into London. And that applies to the women's team too.

WTH no Mexico?????

What happened? They have the 2nd biggest pro bball league (behind the NBA) in North America. They are the most populous country in Central America, the 2nd most populous country (behind the United States) in North America and the 3rd most populous country (behind the United States and Brazil) in Pan-America and the 11th most populous country in the world. They should have done much better than failing to qualify for a continental tournament behind the likes of Paraguay and Cuba, pure minnows in world basketball.

Durbansandshark

10-06-2011, 08:23 AM

London's temporary Olympic Basketball Arena is now complete as the fourth one of the London venue done! Looks real nice! Only the downside to it lies in the fact it will only be temporary as a way to cut costs and avoid the dreaded white elephant fate--the O2 Arena is a stone's throw away. Looks real nice inside with the orange and black seats. There are major plans for it get lighted in each of the five Olympic rings colors and orange for the basketball during the Olympic nights. The Exterior kinda looks like Christo might've designed it. But more so with Beijing's Wukesong Basketball Arena. Check out some pics. (I'm there on those boards too!)

www.gamesbids.com/forums/topic/15776-basketball-arena-construction/page__st__40

Since we're talking Olympics now, time to check up on Team GB. The British women are continuing their progress in the leadup to Eurobasket Poland 2011 as the young team gain valuable international experience. They had finished with silver by beating Croatia (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/gb-v-croatia/) at the Antalya Invitational Tournament that was won by hosts Turkey, although they lost in their final game against Montenegro. Before then, the British women were devoured by hosts Turkey (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/turkey-v-gb/) but previously impressed by crushing equal international newbies Montenegro in their first game (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/gb-v-montenegro/). Later they returned back home, only to get overmatched and well-beaten by the WNBA's Atlanta Dream's physical might, talent, athleticism, and experience (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/gb-v-atlanta-dream/) in Manchester and still being without former WNBA draftee Jo Leedham and Natalie Stafford. Kim Butler the bright spot for Team GB in that game. Even without star Angel McCoutry out with a sprained knee, the Dream was still too deep. Just about an hour ago, Team GB lost to Latvia, one of the participants of Beijing 2008 women's basketball, at the Latvian Invitational Tournament in Riga 74-50 (www.mvp247.com/2011/06/latvia-gb/) in another rout for Britain's disfavor upon the return of Leedham and her team high of 10 points. Nonetheless, coach Tom Maher says he sees progress in his young Team GB players as he surely makes his cuts for the final 12 for Poland, learning as a team still working on offensive rebounding, defensive transitioning, weak-side help, and ballhandling skills. Even Atlanta Dream coach Marynell Meadors agrees on that assessment that they will get competitive for London as hosts.

Meanwhile, Team GB's men's coach, Chris Finch, just got promoted as an assistant on Kevin McHale's new Houston Rockets coaching staff from his head coaching spot with the NBDL's Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who just lost the NBDL title to the Iowa Energy.

Could you see the Olympic basketball field to be expanded? Talk has been mentioned about that given the immense global rise and popularity of the roundball dating from the Dream Team. Of all the Olympic sports in the program, only soccer has more than the usual 12-team field (it has 16 nations, half of the FIFA World Cup field), and that sport is still popular around the globe, more so than basketball. With the talent level and more nations getting better at it worldwide, I think it's about time for an expansion. Surely, the IOC knows this. Expansion is too late for London, but not for Rio De Janeiro. The IOC can allow an expansion of 4 teams to the field to 16, something that hasn't happened since Munich. But it's so worried about gigantism and capping the athletes to approximately 10,000 in the Summer Olympics. One solution would be why not expand the days of the Olympics from 17 days (19 if you include the pre-start Olympic days for soccer matches) to a whole month (a separate topic altogether)? Playing for a month hasn't damaged the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, numerous team sports world championships, and the Euro soccer championships. Not with the TV ratings. Women's teams aren't deep all around yet as the men, but they can benefit too with this to 16. Furthermore, how would the Olympic participation from the continents be allotted with the reconfiguration? The hosts and the FIBA world champs will continue to get automatic spots. How would the 14 other spots be divided up. Safe to assume, Europe will get the majority of spots. Oceania might get two for Australia and New Zealand. The Americas can have four. Asia and Africa will have two each. Just an example. Or how about the repechage qualification tournament? What places should the teams qualify for that? That's a real good idea to maintain for Rio and beyond. Because of this, maybe allow 10 spots for continental tournament winners and the final four to the pre-Olympic qualification tournament winners. All in all, this could grant more teams the incentive to compete harder to qualify instead of resigning to their fates in not succeeding (see what the new 24-field in Eurobasket this year could do?).

I noticed Anna De Forge was on the Montenegro team as the sole import during the game against Great Britain. This is because of both of her friendly ties to many players on the Montenegro team and she could play as a European--under Bosman rules--while playing in Europerather than as an import with her Montenegran passport. Does seem strange. But it's easier to get not-quite-elite players who'd like to obtain a European passport than you'd think. Not sure how the team could be better since they're very post heavy.
www.ironmountaindailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/515532/Montenegro-in-DeForge-s-plans.html

Supersport, a South African group all-sports TV channels that is transmitted all across sub-Saharan Africa, has a 30-minute program devoted to African basketball across the continent called Basketball Africa. Supersport also airs the weekly FIBA Basketball TV show.
www.supersport.com/press-releases/news/101105/Africas_premier_basketball_show_on_SuperSport

Also, FIBA produces a weekly international basketball show showcasing basketball around the world call FIBA Basketball World. Here in the US and Canada, it's shown on NBATV.

The Canadian Women's basketball team has a blog that was initially a focus on them going to, qualifying for, and participating to the 2010 FIBA women's world basketball championship in the Czech Republic. Now the focus lays towards the Road To London to make it to the Olympics for Canada in 12 years. The blog is written by its players with photos and videos.
http://canadaball.blogspot.com/

Durbansandshark

11-06-2011, 05:50 AM

I'd be remissed if I didn't mentioned about the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Basketball Final Four 2011 at Barcelona's Palau Saint Jordi (logo intro here (www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnlYYUe0UIY)). All about the four clubs representing four of the traditionally strongest leagues in Europe--Real Madrid (Spain), Panathinaikos (Greece), Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), and Montepaschi Siena (Italy). As you would expect by the history of success in basketball, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Panathinaikos won their respective semifinals to go into the championship with Panathinaikos coming away winners 78-70 for their sixth title. Dimitris Diamantidis was named Euroleague Final Four MVP. Call is a mixture of Greek and Spanish.

For a bit of a local line from my neck of the woods, Ian Vouyoukas, the product of a Greek dad and English mother, played for St. Louis University a few years back at center. With his birth, he had the option of choosing either Great Britain or Greece for international play, but ultimately choose his dad's country instead. I always felt he's better suited for Great Britain because of the need to provide depth and size for Team GB and because Greece has plenty of depth already. But with Greece Vouyoukas will be assured of top and consistent international competition. Vouyoukas, a great guy, became the starting center of Panathinaikos for both Final Four games after entering the season with just 16 minutes. In the semifinal against Montepaschi Siena, he drew 6 fouls in favor of the Greens that got the Italian club in trouble. Back in 2007 I meet him along with his English mum at Champs one weeknight as they were looking for basketball sneakers for his brother. They were impressed by my knowledge of both Greek and British basketball, particularly legendary Greek players like Fassoulas, Christodoulou, Giannakis, and Galis.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LopoF2lxMp8 (Panathinaikos-Montepaschi Siena highlights)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R1R9IYCJxU (Maccabi Tel Aviv-Real Madrid highlights)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD0UThWoPAc (Third Place game--Montepaschi Siena-Real Madrid)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr2G2u7HM04 (First Quarter)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmBfTYLcuPY (Second Quarter)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUPczslGHI (Third Quarter)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXWeJiGUqGQ (Fourth Quarter)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a7m347qJ4c (postgame)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=89F9GZqtVws (trophy presentation in English)

Internet info here from its website: www.euroleague.net/final-four/barcelona-2011/main-page

Just remembered about this: Once Brothers is part of the ESPN 30 For 30 sets
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OSVTRW/ref=s9_simh_gw_p74_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1BT371NQTJFZXY8CJ8HQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
Or you can buy it separately (www.amazon.com/Once-Brothers-NBA-Entertainment/dp/B0040ZN9MM/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1307734833&sr=1-1).

Days away from the Eurobasket 2011 women in Poland. Look for a preview next week.

One thing we do know, the British women do not wish to just fill up the numbers as they continue working on being a competitive team, which is more difficult than it looks:
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/47193/arti.html
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/byNF/p/newsid/46796/arti.html

2sc945

12-06-2011, 05:27 PM

Since we're talking Olympics now, time to check up on Team GB. The British women are continuing their progress in the leadup to Eurobasket Poland 2011 as the young team gain valuable international experience. They had finished with silver by beating Croatia (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/gb-v-croatia/) at the Antalya Invitational Tournament that was won by hosts Turkey, although they lost in their final game against Montenegro. Before then, the British women were devoured by hosts Turkey (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/turkey-v-gb/) but previously impressed by crushing equal international newbies Montenegro in their first game (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/gb-v-montenegro/). Later they returned back home, only to get overmatched and well-beaten by the WNBA's Atlanta Dream's physical might, talent, athleticism, and experience (www.mvp247.com/2011/05/gb-v-atlanta-dream/) in Manchester and still being without former WNBA draftee Jo Leedham and Natalie Stafford. Kim Butler the bright spot for Team GB in that game. Even without star Angel McCoutry out with a sprained knee, the Dream was still too deep. Just about an hour ago, Team GB lost to Latvia, one of the participants of Beijing 2008 women's basketball, at the Latvian Invitational Tournament in Riga 74-50 (www.mvp247.com/2011/06/latvia-gb/) in another rout for Britain's disfavor upon the return of Leedham and her team high of 10 points. Nonetheless, coach Tom Maher says he sees progress in his young Team GB players as he surely makes his cuts for the final 12 for Poland, learning as a team still working on offensive rebounding, defensive transitioning, weak-side help, and ballhandling skills. Even Atlanta Dream coach Marynell Meadors agrees on that assessment that they will get competitive for London as hosts.

WoW, Tom Maher is coaching every Olympic hosts. Will Team GB also make the Top 8 (or better) in 2012, just like what China and the New Zealand Tall Ferns have done before?

2sc945

12-06-2011, 06:12 PM

Could you see the Olympic basketball field to be expanded? Talk has been mentioned about that given the immense global rise and popularity of the roundball dating from the Dream Team. Of all the Olympic sports in the program, only soccer has more than the usual 12-team field (it has 16 nations, half of the FIFA World Cup field), and that sport is still popular around the globe, more so than basketball. With the talent level and more nations getting better at it worldwide, I think it's about time for an expansion. Surely, the IOC knows this. Expansion is too late for London, but not for Rio De Janeiro. The IOC can allow an expansion of 4 teams to the field to 16, something that hasn't happened since Munich. But it's so worried about gigantism and capping the athletes to approximately 10,000 in the Summer Olympics. One solution would be why not expand the days of the Olympics from 17 days (19 if you include the pre-start Olympic days for soccer matches) to a whole month (a separate topic altogether)? Playing for a month hasn't damaged the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, numerous team sports world championships, and the Euro soccer championships. Not with the TV ratings. Women's teams aren't deep all around yet as the men, but they can benefit too with this to 16. Furthermore, how would the Olympic participation from the continents be allotted with the reconfiguration? The hosts and the FIBA world champs will continue to get automatic spots. How would the 14 other spots be divided up. Safe to assume, Europe will get the majority of spots. Oceania might get two for Australia and New Zealand. The Americas can have four. Asia and Africa will have two each. Just an example. Or how about the repechage qualification tournament? What places should the teams qualify for that? That's a real good idea to maintain for Rio and beyond. Because of this, maybe allow 10 spots for continental tournament winners and the final four to the pre-Olympic qualification tournament winners. All in all, this could grant more teams the incentive to compete harder to qualify instead of resigning to their fates in not succeeding (see what the new 24-field in Eurobasket this year could do?).

I would like to see an expansion in the Olympic basketball field for the men's tournament only (women's game is still pretty amateur), from 12 to 16, but we need to reduce the number of athletes allowed per team from 12 to 10 to avoid gigantism (2 of the least talented bench players usually don't have a chance to play anyway). For continental allocation, my suggestions are:

Host Nation: 1 spot
FIBA World Champions: 1 spot
FIBA Oceania: 2 spots
FIBA Africa: 2 spots
FIBA Americas: 3 spots
FIBA Asia: 3 spots
FIBA Europe: 4 spots

The repechage qualification tournament can be abolished (waste of money).

2sc945

12-06-2011, 06:20 PM

2sc945

12-06-2011, 06:36 PM

For a bit of a local line from my neck of the woods, Ian Vouyoukas, the product of a Greek dad and English mother, played for St. Louis University a few years back at center. With his birth, he had the option of choosing either Great Britain or Greece for international play, but ultimately choose his dad's country instead. I always felt he's better suited for Great Britain because of the need to provide depth and size for Team GB and because Greece has plenty of depth already. But with Greece Vouyoukas will be assured of top and consistent international competition. Vouyoukas, a great guy, became the starting center of Panathinaikos for both Final Four games after entering the season with just 16 minutes. In the semifinal against Montepaschi Siena, he drew 6 fouls in favor of the Greens that got the Italian club in trouble. Back in 2007 I meet him along with his English mum at Champs one weeknight as they were looking for basketball sneakers for his brother. They were impressed by my knowledge of both Greek and British basketball, particularly legendary Greek players like Fassoulas, Christodoulou, Giannakis, and Galis.

Ian Vougioukas.

Durbansandshark

16-06-2011, 08:49 AM

10 nations in a two groups of five vied for the right to compete in the Additional Qualification Round for Eurobasket 2011 Women in Poland. Germany and Hungary both finished at the top of their respective groups to determine who will go on to it. In a two-game series in both Germany and Hungary, the young German women won on a 126-109 aggregate. Wonder how much media attention will be granted to them in basketball as in just about the same time the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup will kick off in Germany, with them as the two-time defending champs on home soil and still a favorite to win it all again.

www.eurobasketwomen2011.com/en/coid_htkGXyeFI7wB68wfeVAHZ3.articleMode_on.html

Tom Maher announces his final Team GB roster for Eurobasket 2011, headlined by the now-fit Jo Leedham:
www.mvp247.com/2011/06/gb-women-squad-euros/
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/47252/arti.html

GROUP A: 1. Russia 2. Slovakia 3. Lithuania 4. Turkey

Russia is without a doubt the class of this group. Their all around talent and size from top to bottom makes them an international powerhouse for decades dating from as a member of the Soviet Union. Slovakia sure seems motivated from its disappointing tumbles in recent years but have taken collected two wins in the lead-up to Poland in Riga, Latvia. I almost put Lithuania ahead of the Slovaks, and they could still finish ahead of them and surprise, but some work needs to be done. The young and talented, but inexperienced internationally, team is coming together, with its individuals enjoying strong club play, for three years while the 1997 championship seemed like eons ago. On the rise dreaming big, the transitional phase could very well be over. Turkey still has a lot of learning to do at the top European level, and it will be brutal with this group. Several key players were injured last time while putting up a good fight. The Turkish women surely have the potential but are frustrated over being under the radar. Furthermore, that youth which was so rampant last summer now has taken a backseat for wisened older players like Nevriye Yilmaz. Turkish league basketball has taken on greater importance with clubs investing for EuroLeague Women glory that heightened the standard of play for its domestic players. A good showing here won't hurt its promotion and hosting for the next FIBA Women's World Basketball Championships. Then again, they did advanced to the Eurobasket quarterfinals.

GROUP B: 1. Czech Republic 2. Belarus 3. Israel 4. Great Britain

Czech Republic, the silver medalists as hosts from the world championships last year, will have no problem winning this group. Belarus could pull stunners again like it did with the last Eurobasket and the Olympic qualification tournament. Their frontcourt is as powerful as they come in Europe. Their rapid rise in success is superb considering the lack of resources available nationally and a lack of a rich basketball heritage. Belarussian women are indeed making one with simply finding good players. Needs shooters though. Israel has loads more big time international experience than Team GB, but don't count out the new kids. Momentum may be on their side (maybe size) with those tune up games and Tom Maher, who knows how to produce more out of less as they ultimately focus on London as hosts for next year. Remember, they did defeat Slovakia recently while appreciating and embracing the demands of international elite basketball tournaments in the face of brutal wake up calls. That means being realistic in them, even with being hosts next year. Winning a game will act as the obvious goal, likely against Israel, while being gutsy and hardworking in all three games, enjoying themselves along the way and showing they truly do deserve to be at the table. It was just over 20 years ago that Israel last won a tournament game in Eurobasket women against Czechoslovakia. But the Israelis are competitive even in this long, current Eurobasket losing streak. Just winning a game is enough. And it's more than about time for that with this team's chemistry, stability, and continuity led by twin turbos Shay Doron and Liron Cohen.

GROUP C: 1. Spain 2. Poland 3. Germany 4. Montenegro

Spain is another European women's basketball power with eyeing the Olympics and will get better with their talent. They could go at least the semis with their intensity and defensive pressure. The Spanish defeat opponents with great regularity these days even without Sancho Lyttle. Any host nation competing well in a tournament is important for it. Poland is no different in its aspirations, setting its sights on its first Olympic women's basketball appearance since Sydney 2000. But it will sadly be with heavy hearts as its best known women's basketball player ever, the gentle and beloved Margo Dydek, tragically died a few weeks ago from a heart attack while three months pregnant in Brisbane. How will they effectively cope with that, as the whole organizing of Eurobasket 2011 will be dedicated in her memory? Germany goes up and down at the top Eurobasket women's level but never a true power. But it does hold lots of potential. I think they're a Eurobasket tournament away from doing damage. Another team that may be a tournament away is Montenegro. It has lots of size on its roster with a powerful trio as they embark on a compelling journey. It will just be a good experience for them for the young independent nation in their first Eurobasket tournament. Then again, they can play impressively with big wins as they love writing their own headlines. Is Anna De Forge ready in time? Could pull of some upsets to single elimination.

GROUP D: 1. France 2. Latvia 3. Greece 4. Croatia

Defending Eurobasket women's champs is just another dominant power that will just be victorious with their talents with a nice mix of international experience and athleticism and youth. Latvia has Gunta Basko leading a core of talent for, hopefully for them, a second consecutive trip to the Olympics. Greece could surprise, but I'm still learning about them. If the Greeks were drawn in a different group, they may have more of a chance, I think. Size and defensive energy could be issues for the Greek women, however. Also, this could be the swan song for several of the significant generation of players like Eurobasket MVP Evina Maltsi, the heart and soul of the national team, along with a bunch of capable support players. Younger players will be on hand for this. Croatia is the big unknown. Don't think they'll go far or advance out of this group as they go toward a new direction hoping to be a regular fixture in international tourneys. If there's any good news for the Croatians, Greece and Latvia aren't known for their frontcourt prowess, which the comparatively frontcourt-thin Croatia could exploit; in the paint play will determine the course for Croatia. France will be a handful for them, though. But this group may turn out to be the most even and balanced of them all.

2sc945

17-06-2011, 05:53 PM

NO Serbia, Italy, Slovenia, Ukraine, Romania and the Netherlands?

Durbansandshark

19-06-2011, 04:56 AM

NO Serbia, Italy, Slovenia, Ukraine, Romania and the Netherlands?

Italy, a favo(u)rite in the qualification round, disappointed and never recovered in their loss to Germany. In fact, Serbia, Romania, and Italy were in the same group--Group B. The Netherlands and the Ukraine were both in the other one. I'll delve more later, hopefully next week.

2sc945

20-06-2011, 02:24 AM

The draw for 2011 FIBA Americas Women's Basketball Championship in Nieva, Colombia took place early last month. As FIBA World Champions, the United States automatically qualify for London next year, which is why they are not here. Only one team, the champs, out of 10 participating will go directly from here to London. The three teams finishing second to fourth proceed to the repachage tournament next year close to London at a site TBD. The draw:

GROUP A
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Cuba
Puerto Rico

GROUP B
Brazil
Canada
Jamaica
Mexico
Paraguay

My early predictions of the four to advance at least to the repechage: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Cuba with Brazil directly going to London. More later.

No Dominican Republic and Venezuela? Both of them, especially the Dominican Republic women's team have strong histories in continental competitions.

2sc945

20-06-2011, 02:34 AM

Fantastical news (http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball/5163945/Israel-FIBA-find-compromise-for-Orthodox-guard)

Durbansandshark

22-06-2011, 05:11 AM

Tom Maher's Team GB moves onto the second round of Eurobasket Women 2011 thanks to a win in their last Group A game easily against Israel 74-51, continuing the poor Israeli women's 20-year Eurobasket losing streak. Further Eurobasket women 2011 details will arrive soon.

www.mvp247.com/2011/06/gb-israel/

Durbansandshark

24-06-2011, 04:17 AM

FIBA just unvieled a new subsite hub for all of the London 2012 Olympic basketball news, continental championships, Diamond Ball Cups, Olympic second chance tournaments, and all points in between called Road To London. It's completes with Olympic basketball archives and other tournaments. Worth checking out.
http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/p/index.html

Meanwhile with the men's Team GB basketball, Pops Mensah-Bonsu's shoulder injury forced
him to withdraw from Lithuania's Eurobasket 2011 as the roster is set by Chris Finch. But Ben Gordon is as part of the preliminary 17-man squad. Three players from the British Basketball League champs Mersey Tigers like Drew Sullivan, James Jones, and Nate Reinking are on board with surprise pick New York-born Laurence Ekperigin.
www.mvp247.com/2011/06/gb-mens-squad/

The four divisions in the 2011 FIBA African Basketball Championship in Antananarivo, Madagascar are...

GROUP A
Madagascar
Mali
Mozambique
Nigeria

GROUP B
Angola
Chad
Morocco
Senegal

GROUP C
Cameroon
Egypt
Ivory Coast
South Africa

GROUP D
Central African Republic
Rwanda
Togo
Tunisia

Got some sobering news, Oscar Schmidt, that Brazillian basketball scoring machine legend, recently had emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor in Sao Paulo. Get well soon, Holy Hand.
http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/news/p/eid/6232/nid/47109/sid/6232/article.html

Durbansandshark

02-07-2011, 06:44 AM

Team GB showed a lot of heart at Eurobasket Women in Poland. But the Turks and the Russians stopped them in their tracks in the second round. Progress has been made despite ultimately going winless in Group E. Missed opportunities abound, though. But they'll learn from it.

Now it's Russia and Turkey for the championship and the sole automatic European entry to London. Turkey stunned the defending champs France in the semis 68-62 in OT. Russia hammers the Czech Republic 85-53.

It was also announced that Jo Leedham will play for the Bulleen Boomers down under.
www.mvp247.com/2011/06/leedham-join-bullee/

Durbansandshark

09-07-2011, 05:58 AM

Russia joins USA and Great Britain in the the London women's Olympic basketball feed as winners of the Eurobasket Women 2011 in Poland, beating Turkey. For the Olympic repechage out of Europe Turkey, Croatia, France, and the Czech Republic all get spots.

Durbansandshark

22-07-2011, 09:39 AM

Chad??? We don't know much about it in terms of basketball. This is going to be their first time in the African Basketball Championship. They will have a training camp in Paris with French coach Patrick Maucovert to get acclimated for its biggest stage ever in Madagascar. Maucovert promises the Chadians won't back down, but they will face a very uphill struggle with the Angolans, the Senegalese, and the Moroccans, all among the top teams in Africa, in their group.
http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/news/p/nid/48200/article.html

The Philippines win the South East Asian Basketball championship easily over hosts Indonesia 89-50. Those two and Malaysia will represent the South East Asian region in Wuhan, China.
http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/news/p/nid/47495/article.html

As of my writing the field for the Asian Championship is almost set except for two teams:
China and Lebanon (automatic qualifiers, finalists of the Asian Stankovic Cup)
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) (East Asia)
Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia (Southeast Asia)
Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (Gulf Region)
Iran, Jordan, Syria (West Asia)
India (Middle Asia)

1 spot from Middle Asia ise still up for grabs with the top finisher of the Uzbekistan-based round robin tournament with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan all squaring off in the "Stans" championship. The other was in New Delhi, India for the South Asian portion in early August. It was India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. India and Sri Lanka formed one group with the other three in another. For the Indians, this was nothing as they blasted away Sri Lanka 99-42 and then waited out to see Nepal and Bangladesh come out of their three-team group. India later shattered the Bengalis 120-26 before taking care of Sri Lanka for the gold in that region 89-35. But this is kindergarten for the Indians, even the rest of Asia from the east, west, the Gulf, and southeast will clearly give them fits.

Politics suck! That's what I can sum up about the 1980 US Olympic men's basketball when I read this SLAM magazine story. Actually, I long knew about the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the US-led boycott because then-President Jimmy Carter wanted to act tough against Communism (in this case protesting the Soviet Red Army 40th Regiment's invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979). Many years ago when I was fourth grade, I wrote a little paragraph essay for the school paper about the Games. Didn't use Olympics though but it was understood. Those who were publishing it likely were impressed with it; never assumed a 4th grader won't think of something like that. Just the generic stuff on it. Nothing too deep and complex. Like the rest of the US Olympians from 1980 (and those from Canada, West Germany, Norway, Japan, China, South Korea, to name a few), they never really had a chance to prove themselves internationally at that big of a stage. All of them, except for Larry Brown (then an assistant under Dave Gavitt while coaching UCLA) never appeared in another Summer Olympics in men's basketball. After Isiah Thomas came close but key members of the Dream Team like Jordan, Magic, Bird, and Pippen weren't thrilled about the prospect of him as a teammate. All of the players went on to have at least lengthy and solid NBA careers with several becoming NBA All-Stars like Thomas, Blackman, Aguirre, and Williams. What's sad is that, like with a majority of members of that unfortunate US team, many never got a chance to be on another US Olympic team again. Negative stuff like this leaves behind legacies that cannot be rectified or reclaimed. In the 2007 book Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games (www.amazon.com/Boycott-Stolen-Dreams-Moscow-Olympic/dp/0942257405/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311286812&sr=8-2), Walter Mondale, then-VP, apologized to the members for shattering the dreams of those Olympians in his foreward on behalf of the Carter Administration, but he still stands by the decision to boycott. The book has 18 profiles of those Olympians, among them, on Bill Hanzlik (Notre Dame) and Thomas (Indiana), both All-Americans. Not all of them were angry over this; some even supported the boycott because they saw it as supporting the president. Others were indifferent. Such a shame those basketball players never got an opportunity to test their mettle in facing the Soviets, who wanted to prove their (cheated) gold in Munich 1972 was not a fluke (the hosts ended up with bronze). Interestingly, this could have Bobby Knight's team to coach and not the one four years later in LA which had even bigger stars on it as that turned out, but he was arrested after a run-in with a policeman.

I think they'd get gold if they were there, along with a few other nations. In Olympic basketball, that field was affected so much, history would've been spared of India's ineptitude.
www.slamonline.com/online/the-magazine/old-school-2/2011/03/original-old-school-the-team-that-wasn’t-there/

(BTW, since this is an Australiasian website, I am aware of another 1980 Moscow Olympic book, also entitled Boycott (www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Boycott-Lisa-Forrest/9780733322952). This focuses on the Australian dilemma and subsequential trip to Moscow. It's written by Lisa Forrest, who was a co-captain of the 1980 Australian Olympic swim team at the age of 16. She was in the women's 200m backstroke final but she slipped on the starting wall and never recovered with a 7th place finish. She since became a major writer and actress. Lindsay Gaze, Boomers coach at the time, took part in this book.)