EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

[campus 2012]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

FIBA Europe gives chances to Hungary, co-hosting

Looking ahead to the 2012 summer schedule of youth European Championships, two things really stand out: first of all, FIBA Europe wants to give Hungary as much preparation as possible for EuroBasket Women 2015; and secondly, the European continental basketball body appears ready to give co-hosting tournaments another chance.

In 2015, Hungary will be hosting EuroBasket Women for the fifth time in their history having done so in 1950, 1964, 1983 and 1997. And even though Hungarian basketball clubs have a long tradition in European club competitions, FIBA Europe is once again doing the correct thing in giving Hungary youth championships ahead of time to prepare for the big event in three and a half years time.

The proposed 2015 host cities are Budapest, Sopron, Gyor, Szombathely and Veszprem. While those will likely be awarded youth events in coming years, this summer Miskolc will be the backdrop of the U16 European Championship for Women in July and the U20 European Championship for Women will take place in Debrecen in August.

Before Miskolc hosted the U18 European Championship for Women Division B tournament last summer, it had been some time since Hungary last welcomed national team basketball to its borders. The 2006 U20 European Championship for Women took place in Sopron while the 2005 U18 women’s tournament was played in Budapest. Before that, Sopron hosted the U16 women in 1997 – actually after that year's EuroBasket Women.

FIBA Europe made the right choice in bringing the EuroBasket Women back to Hungary, where clubs like Sopron, Pecs and Gyor have represented their country well outside of their homeland. And the youth tournaments are a huge help in building up the local populations and organisations to prepare for bigger events and determine what infrastructure still needs development.

One city surprisingly missing from the EuroBasket Women plans is Pecs, which this season failed to reach the EuroLeague Women for the first time in 16 years, but did host the 2004 EuroLeague Women Final Four.

The youth tournaments will also prepare Hungary to host other events in the future.

Attila Czene, the country’s Secretary of State for Sport, said at the awarding of EuroBasket Women 2015 that Hungary are also considering to bid for the Youth Olympics in 2017.

The other major note of interest from the selection of youth tournament hosts came with the decision regarding the U16 and U18 European Championships Men, which in 2012 will both be co-hosted by neighbors Lithuania and Latvia.

It was widely regarded in the industry that FIBA Europe had shunned countries co-hosting tournaments since the 2007 U20 European Championship Men in neighboring towns Nova Gorica, Slovenia and Gorizia, Italy – which was complicated by the fact that Slovenia was not yet in the Schengen Area, meaning that teams, officials and fans continually needed to go through border controls when going from one arena to the other.

The fact that the Germany/France-conceived EuroBasket 2015 bid appeared destined to be approved before falling apart at the last minute hinted that FIBA Europe has since softened its non-official stance. And it seems the case for certain now that FIBA Europe has allowed Lithuania and Latvia to co-host two tournaments this summer.

Lithuanian basketball fans – and officials – were looking forwards to bigger things this summer, hoping for both the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (awarded to Venezuela) and the U20 European Championship (awarded to Slovenia) – the latter which could have possibly seen Jonas Valanciunas play in his final youth tournament. But one summer after hosting EuroBasket, Lithuanian fans still get to see both the U16 and U18 men’s tournaments not to mention the FIBA U17 World Championship in late June and early July.  

The U20 men decision makes sense as it gives the EuroBasket 2013 hosts Slovenia a chance to prepare for Europe’s top tournament.




FIBA Europe’s reversal on co-hosting meanwhile also makes sense. Two host nations hosting their teams’ groups promise more fan support for all games – which was the underlying premise of Germany and France’s EuroBasket 2015 bid along with Croatia and Italy.

Should Lithuania and Latvia succeed in co-hosting their tournaments this summer, European basketball fans may see more of neighboring countries teaming up to host events.

David Hein from FIBA

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[zone424]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Fortune and misfortune
"...The misfortune of some is the good fortune of others..."

In France there's an expression: "The misfortune of some is the good fortune of others". This can apply to the stock market as well as to basketball.

While the NBA lockout is creating misfortune or unemployment for many workers connected to the NBA business machine, it is also creating wealth for many lawyers and buzz for European teams with NBA players on their rosters.

While the billionaires and millionaires haggle over indecent sums of money without regard for the fan (or taxpayer) who eventually pays, or the minimum-wage employee who sells hot dogs in the arenas or after-game beers near the arenas, the Euroleague starts this week with a lot of NBA-labelled talent to attract more and more fans into THEIR arenas.

In France, Nicolas Batum will play his first Euroleague game with the ambitious Nancy team this week in Cantu and the presence of Tony Parker (and soon Ronny Turiaf) on the Lyon-Villeurbanne roster has created an unprecedented media impact following up beautifully the French national team's highly-mediatised and brilliant performance at the Eurobasket.

Parker is promoting basketball everywhere: from the primetime news shows on national TV to numerous advertising spots and even a recent cartoon show to seduce the youngest generation of fans!

Tony will fill arenas and boost TV ratings along with his team's chances of figuring well in the Eurocup competition. Yes, the same Eurocup which Deron Williams failed to qualify his Turkish team for.

In fact, Deron only scored 11 points in his first Turkish League game this past weekend which proves that it won't be so easy for the NBA guys to dominate the tough competition over here because it's a different style of basketball than the NBA.

Deron's situation also underlines the risk of reducing some of the NBA's marketing luster as international fans discover up close some NBA stars who are not necessarily miles above the competition.

Remember the recent experiences of Allen Iverson in Turkey or Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis in China.

The NBA sells a dream game with incredibly gifted athletes playing in wonderfully-lighted modern arenas in front of 20,000 fans and an international television audience that often watches in the middle of the night.

The NBA seems to be from another idyllic planet but the lockout is bringing everyone crashing back down to earth and I wonder if even big basketball fan Barack Obama can get the warring parties to negotiate intelligently.

All future percentage point gains in Basketball Related Income (BRI) by the players over a six-year deal will be negated by lost salary after just two months of a lockout!

When anger and ego replace reason in a complex negotiation, this not a good sign.

After such a successful season in 2010-2011, it is hard to fathom that all the actors in this disappointing NBA melodrama continue to strangle mercilessly the goose that layed all those golden eggs!


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While the owners try to protect themselves from their own mismanagement and players lose touch with the everyday reality of the common fan, even more Americans than usual will watch football and Europeans will marvel at this oppurtunity to see NBA stars up close because life goes on.

by George EDDY from FIBA

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[euro_fan]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Fun Final

The best EuroBasket of all time was organised in a country where the game is a religion and the fervent Lithuanian fans created a magical, high decibel atmosphere.

The fun Final was icing on a beautiful cake with lots of run and gun, uptempo action and it ended with the logical crowning of Europe's Dream Team, Spain, which recorded a rare back-to-back in EuroBasket competition.

France played chin to chin with Spain and made some good runs, but Juan Carlos Navarro & Co always found a solution or a miracle shot at the end of a possession to keep them at bay.

F.Y.R. of Macedonia was better at slowing down Spain's runaway freight train in their Semi-Final, but this was because France has the thoroughbreds to keep up but not the excellent and consistent execution that the Spanish players have developped together over the last decade.

Don't forget that this group went through some heavy disappointments before it became World Champs in 2006 and France can look at Spain's recent past and use it as a blueprint for its own future.

The French just need to develop the same shared experience with this roster but in any case they are already fully satisfied with reaching their first EuroBasket Final ever, and getting a direct ticket to London and in knowing that basketball has become, once again, a major sport in France in terms of popularity and TV ratings!

The fact is, Spain are dominating European sports in general and their sports system and infrastructures can be a blueprint for anyone these days!

The two key stats that favoured Spain in the Final were points off turnovers and blocked shots (Serge Ibaka!) which proved that the Spanish defense fueled, and was just as good  as, its brillant offense.

That was not so much the case for France which gave up an historical number of points.

Individually, Navarro was in the twighlight zone from the Quarter-Finals onwards and his best friend Pau Gasol seemed happy to let him walk off with a much-deserved MVP trophy.

I should say run off because no one can catch the Barcelona star who looks like you and me off the court but is a unique player on the court thanks to his quickness and technique which are similar to Tony Parker's.

Navarro's shooting off of one foot or while moving to his left is unstoppable and he has a variety of cool moves that young players should admire and copy like his catch-and-shoot off of screens, his teardrop shots from all angles and his change of direction dribbles before dishing  assists out of the high pick-and-roll.

What a pure genius this guy is while being exactly the contrary of typical modern sports stars who all look like body-builders!

You can say the same thing for Parker (a mature leader now) who joined Juanca on the All-Tournament team along with Mr All-Around, Andrei Kirilenko (whose foul trouble against France in the Semi-Final was key), Bo McCalebb who helped Macedonia become the revelation of the tournament while turning the heads of some NBA scouts, and last but not least, Pau Gasol.

The gentle giant was go-to insurance as usual down low whenever Spain needed a big play and his pairing with his brother Marc worked fabulously within the framework of a team of stars who accepted to share the ball, self-sacrifice on defense and watch out for each other  as Pau so pertinently pointed out after the Final.

The coaches of the Final Serge Scariolo and Vincent Collet can be proud of the way their players bonded together for the common cause from day one.

These two smart coaches also intelligently let their players take centre stage and I would say the same thing for the referees who did a good job and were less penalising to NBA players compared to the past while also giving more baskets plus the foul in continuity situations when players attack the basket the way they do in the NBA.

The one change I would make in the EuroBasket formula would be to give one rest day before those decisive classification games for the last two spots at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament which logically went to Lithuania and Greece.

All of this top notch play in Lithuania has me salivating already for the Olympics in London where Spain will try and upset  Team USA in the battle of the Dream Teams and France can legitemately hope for a medal.

What do you think?




by George EDDY from FIBA

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[mariana69]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

It's Olympic crunch time !!!
 Eight team, six places - who'll be booking their place for London?

With the second round now behind us, London now quite literally gets closer for eight teams as the tournament moves west to Kaunas for the final stages.

When EuroBasket arrived at the same stage in the previous tournament that doubled as an Olympic qualifier in Madrid, Spain in 2007; six of the eight teams that were there then are again here now in 2011. Of those six teams Spain, Russia, Lithuania and Greece would go on to book Olympic berths whilst Slovenia would fail in their bid to experience the Olympics for the first time in their short history, and France would not be able to return for the first time since winning silver back in Sydney in 2000.

Joining those six in the final eight are newcomers F.Y.R. of Macedonia who have never before made it to this stage in a tournament and hence never been to the Olympics; and Serbia who are hoping to return to the Olympics following an eight year absence.

Playing in the first quarterfinal on Wednesday, Spain will be confident of moving one step closer to direct Olympic qualification when they take on a Slovenian side whose time in Lithuania has to date resembled something of a rollercoaster. Slovenia's recent talk - at least to the media - has been that a top six finish and the subsequent Olympic Qualifying Tournament berth are where their ambitions lie.

Having exceeded expectations by making it this far, F.Y.R. of Macedonia will be feeling the pressure released from their shoulders, which may well be a key factor when taking on Lithuania, for whom the pressure will mount every day, in the second of Wednesday's semis.

F.Y.R. of Macedonia Head Coach Marin Dokuzovski has seen little minutes from his bench in this tournament and fatigue in his key players may start to play a role. Coupled with the fact that it looks likely that inspirational starting center Todor Gechevski will miss the game with injury, F.Y.R of Macedonia could be struggling against the Lithuanians, who will have the unwavering support of the crowd behind them and who benefit from an extra day's rest.

With some teams looking to the future by bringing a number of fresh faces to this year's tournament, France is one team bucking the trend with their minds firmly set on winning EuroBasket and worrying about the Olympics later with French Head Coach Vincent Collet telling FIBA that this team was brought to play this tournament alone with no places within the side guaranteed for next year.

On the other hand, Collet's Greek counterpart Ilias Zouros has stated time and again that this tournament's team is one for the future, with a number of veteran players staying at home or being left there. Zouros' work in progress will have the ultimate test against a French team bringing back Tony Parker and Joakim Noah who were both rested in France's previous outing.

The last time that Russia needed to qualify for the Olympics they didso by beating World Champions Spain in the final of EuroBasket 2007. If they are to take the same direct qualifying route here then they are going to have to continue the tournament as the only unbeaten team up until the gold medal game.

Fresh off a win over F.Y.R. of Macedonia, Russia also showed they can get the job done without star Andrei Kirilenko who had an off-night shooting.

Yet despite their unbeaten status, Russia remain wary as they prepare to take on Serbia who only made it this far when Turkey's Ersan Ilyasova missed a buzzer-beater that would have instead put his team in the last eight.

Having arrived to this point in such a fashion Serbia will now be all the more determined not to go home and as Russian Head Coach David Blatt pointed out to media, they will also be all the better for having had a rest day more than the Russians.


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Tenemos una deuda enorme de gratitud a nuestros patrocinadores
por su apoyo fundamental.
Por favor ayúdenos a darles las gracias
visitando sus sitios o usando sus servicios !


from FIBA

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[pro-motor]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Greetings! Eurobasket of surprises

The first round of the strongest Eurobasket of all time is over and some surprising things have already occurred.

For example, in Group C who could have predicted that Croatia would be already eliminated, that Finland would qualify for the second round with F.Y.R. of Macedonia, and that the latter would dominate Greece for first place!

Group C was wide open from the start and it was only fitting that the third qualifier would squeak through on a three-way point differentiel. Unreal! When I commentate these games on TV I always insist that the final margin is almost as important as the result because when you base the standings on so few games, the point differential is often decisive.

The equally wide open Group D was another case in point, where Georgia sneaked through despite losing its last game to Bulgaria. If point differential is hard to explain to casual basketbal fans, it does make EVERY possession important.

In the second round, Russia and Slovenia should logically emerge as quarter-finalists, led by their NBA stars, Andrei Kirilenko and Goran Dragic. Kiri is dominating the stat sheet for the top notch Russian team that has recuperated its best players and wants a repeat of their amazing 2007 finish. Dragic can't buy a three point shot but is still playing a good all-around game while being significantly helped by Erazem Lorbek the leading scorer and rebounder for a Slovenian team that only lost by one point to powerful Russia. F.Y.R. of Macedonia and Greece should join them in the quarters and the second tour will be themed, in my opinion, by teams jockeying for position in order to avoid Spain in the quarter-finals!

The Spanish demonstration vs. Lithuania and its fans was absolutely incredible. Spain was younger, quicker, and more intense from the opening tip behind a Juanca Navarro festival and the Lithuanians looked like they were running in mud. When you added up the speed and shooting of the outside players with the size and technique of the inside trio of NBA stars, Spain looked unbeatable. Ibaka's second half was so good that coach Scariolo decide he could let Pau Gasol rest his ankle the next day against a resuscitated Turkish team,another surprise entrant who was saved by Great Britain beating Poland the last day. Without Pau and worn out by the short turnaround after the emotional Lithuania win 18 hours earlier, Spain looked human again missing open shots and only scoring TWO points in the fourth quarter, proving that one must be doubly careful vs. a team that dodged elimination miraculously! Maybe Spain got a little overconfident, something they will want to avoid in the second round when they play Germany, Serbia and France!

For me, it is much less clear which teams will qualify for the quarters out of Group E compared to Group F, even though France starts out in the best position after going 5-0 in the first round behind their brillant MVP candidate, Tony Parker and his other NBA pals, Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, Joakim Noah etc. France will want to immediately punch its ticket for the quarters vs. Turkey on wednesday in a high pressure battle which arrives a bit rapidly for a tired and beaten up BUT euphoric French squad playing its best basketball since 2005 (bronze medal in Belgrade). The France-Serbia matchup was the best played game(they saved the best for last!) of the first round by far with lots of points,excellent execution,suspense, and spectacular action and it only seemed fitting that the result should be decided on an unlucky miss from close range after Serbia rained in eleven amazing three-pointers! Both teams deserved to win this one but the turning point was when Milos Teodosic was eliminated for five fouls at the end of regulation on a flagrant foul he should have avoided!

For once, France was just as mentally tough and determined as the Serbs which is a good sign for what lies ahead for them. In my opinion, they will qualify with Spain, Serbia and Lithuania but it won't be easy for any of them! What do you think?



by George EDDY from FIBA

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[marionbasket]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

EuroBasket - NBA players with key roles

After writing about Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker last week, I would like to go into the key roles that many other NBA players will have at the EuroBasket.

This week I will concentrate on Groups A and B, by far the strongest groups and next week we will look at groups C and D where Russia, Greece, Croatia and Slovenia line up as strong favourites to make the Quarter-Finals.

In powerful Group A, you have the two probable finalists in Spain and Lithuania plus FIBA World Championship finalists from Turkey who emerge as favourites to go to the Second Round.

For Spain,  the top seven players played or will play in the NBA as major actors (not as benchwarmers), which proves their talent level and their shared experience in winning big games since 2004 is unparalleled; they are everyone's favourites!

Playing all but one of their preparation games at home was good for filling the federation's coffers and pleasing the home fans, but we must not forget that their only loss came against Lithuania in Kaunas. Maybe they should have played stronger opponents away from home.

With Linas Kleiza, their best scorer in Turkey, absent, the NBA presence on the Lithuanian team is less important but former NBA players, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Darius Songaila can still take and make money-time shots and Jonas Valanciunas has a brillant future waiting in Toronto and a role to play at the Eurobasket.

The fabulous support of their basketball-loving home crowd should give them wings!

Turkey should qualify as the third team from Group A behind Ersan Ilyasova and Hedo Turkoglou but turning the page on the Bogdan Tanjevic era and the euphoria of last summer's World Championship Final won't be easy as we have seen with Turkey's up and down results during the preparation games.

Chicago's brillant scorer, Luol Deng, will have to move mountains by himself to get Great Britain into the Second Round but it will be fun watching him try.

Group B is by far the most dense with Serbia and France as clear favourites but fighting off Italy and Germany won't be easy.

Serbia, like Lithuania, is more of a European style roster but their results in the last two years speak for themselves. If Milos Teodosic stays a calm leader throughout, he should be the best point guard at the EuroBasket along with Parker.

Tony leads a French team where the top seven players play in or were drafted by NBA teams.

France has by far the greatest athletic potential of all the teams in Lithuania, which can translate into some lockdown defence when needed as in 2005 when they won the bronze in Belgrade.

However, the defensive leader then was the Phoenix Suns' Mickael Pietrus who is injured and will be missed along with the Knick's energetic Ronny Turiaf.

France won nine out of 10 preparation games but only played four tough opponents and six of the wins were too easy. Maybe they should have played more top flight teams at the end of their long preparation schedule.

The pressure will  be on from the get-go because Italy has three NBA stars to build around and Germany has two and these two teams feel that they can go to the Second Round too!

The big question for Italy is, can their trio of NBA shooters share the ball and play enough defence to qualify?

For Germany the question is: can Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman (who will probably score half their team's points) get enough scoring help and quality play from the guards to qualify?

The irony for the teams that qualify for the quarters from Groups A and B is that possibly their toughest opponents will already be behind them, but as we all know, anything can happen when all the marbles are riding on one game!

In any case, the teams in Groups A and B will have to take the competition step by step because being upset by a weaker opponent just one time might mean you don't qualify for the next round! What do you think?




George Eddy from FIBA

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[coachedward]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Spain scarily good

There will only be two tickets for London up for grabs at this summer's EuroBasket in Lithuania and one of them seems almost pre-stamped for a scary good Spanish squad.

Of course favorites don't always pan out but in Spain's case, there are so many factors in their favor, you just have to bow down to their excellence.

Let's take a look at those factors in the light of their three easy wins against France, Lithuania and Bulgaria to start off their preparation for the upcoming Eurobasket with a bang!

By the way, in those three wins coach Sergio Scariolo played the piano with his roster, limiting the playing time of his biggest stars who were still quite efficient.

He can afford to bring them along slowly in order to reach peak form during the elimination round. For example, Juanca Navarro scored 19 points in 12 minutes in the latest win v Bulgaria on five of seven shooting from three-point land.

Wow! This golden generation of Spanish players has come of age together around the Gasol brothers, Navarro, Rudy Fernandez and Calderon to name a few, and Scariolo had so much talent on hand he left the excellent Barcelona center Fran Vasquez at home.

I know a few national team selections where he would have been the best inside player!

Since this generation has played and won together for so many years, their team chemistry is off the charts and they circulate the ball and hit the open man with their eyes closed! These guys don't take many forced or bad shots and that is the sign of a champion. It's like they have an internal honor code for the group and bad shot selection is just not acceptable.

Okay, you might feel I paint too rosy a picture because in the recent past, sometimes Juanca and Rudy would be competing to be the top dog offensive threat from the wing, but this is only natural in such an elite hyper-competitive setting. Everyone will keep their ego in check for the greater good as they usually do because of the dominance and leadership of Pau Gasol, the ultimate go-to player in European basketball.

Now that his brother Marc is as good as he is, Spain has a double-whammy inside presence and you can make that a triple with the arrival of Serge Ibaka to bring athleticism and shot blocking to the already powerful mix. Not since the golden generation of Yugoslavia ( Divac, Radja, Kukoc ) have we seen such an impressive trio of in the paint superstars.

Spain has all the answers for upcoming defences in Lithuania and a seductive, fan pleasing, spectacular style to boot!. They can play really fast thanks to their quickness and steals on defence or slow the game down and pound the ball inside while surrounding the Gasols ( excellent passers ) with dead-eye three point shooters.

About the only tactic left for opponents is to leave Ricky Rubio open and zone up around the big men with alot of help from Rubio's defender.

That's when Scariolo can go to Calderon, a much better shooter and so on and so forth. This team has no weakness, ah, except maybe one... or two...

They must avoid getting overconfident or complacent and they must avoid arrogance and constant complaining with the referees which we have regretted in the past.

Of course, an upset is always possible but frankly, after lining up all these factors in Spain's favor, I have a hard time believing they won't get a direct ticket to the London Olympic games in September!




by George EDDY from FIBA

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[kevinpiter]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

FIBA clears NBA players to play abroad during lockout

FIBA has confirmed it will approve the transfer of players under contract with the NBA deciding to play for clubs of FIBA affiliated leagues during the on-going lockout.

During a lockout NBA players who continue to be under contract with an NBA team are free to play anywhere they want, whether for their national teams and/or for club teams.

If an NBA player requests to play for a club of a FIBA affiliated league, the NBA will not object but will state that the player will have to return to his NBA team as soon as the lockout ends. Consequently, FIBA will deliver a letter of clearance subject to the receipt of a declaration signed by the player, stating that he will return to his NBA team when the lockout is over.

“As the world governing body for basketball, we strongly hope that the labour dispute will be resolved as soon as possible, and that the NBA season is able to begin as scheduled,” said FIBA Secretary General and IOC member, Patrick Baumann.

“In view of our role to promote basketball worldwide, we support any player wishing to play the game, wherever and whenever. We do so while obviously taking the interests, rights and obligations of all parties into account,” he added.

“We are delighted to see that, in spite of widespread doubts related to the lockout, National Teams competing in this summer’s Olympic Qualifiers will be able to count on the participation of most of their NBA stars.”

Any NBA player deciding to play during the lockout, does so at his own risk, notably if he sustains an injury.

FIBA has stated that it is up to the clubs to decide whether or not they shall sign a waiver clearing them of any responsibility towards the player in case of injury and other reasons preventing him from returning to the NBA and from fulfilling his obligations vis-à-vis his NBA team.




from FIBA

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[pregunton]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Here come the batmen!

At the beginning of the third quarter of the Euroleague quarter-final decider between Real Madrid and Power Electronics Valencia on Thursday night, an 11th player entered the game.

A bat began to dart this way and that, dipping as low as eye level for the players.

The ball flew through the air, but so did the bat.

Valencia's players might have believed that was a good sign for their team because the bat is the symbol of their city.

There are bats on manhole covers in Valencia, above the town hall, on team shirts - everywhere.

What they may not have realized, though, is the affinity Madrid's players have with that winged creature.

"That's our lucky bat," Clay Tucker said.

"We practiced with bats all week long.

"Once the bat came, I told everyone we were going to win."

So, while Manu Ginobili swatted a bat to the court while playing for San Antonio last season in an NBA game and earned the nickname Batman, there was no chance of his Argentina teammate, Real Madrid point guard Pablo Prigioni, doing the same.

Maybe the bat just wanted to be a part of history because Madrid wrote a famous chapter in theirs by beating Valencia 66-58 on Thursday to win the five-game series, 3-2, and reach the Final Four.

The last 10 minutes were something you won't soon forget, but would like to.

It was ugly.

Like an NFL game at Soldier Field in Chicago on a bitterly cold Sunday in January, it was a defensive struggle with the last period ending 8-7 in favor of Madrid.

All that mattered for Madrid was their victory.

It had been 15 years since the famous club had reached the Final Four.

The coach everyone expected to take Madrid to Barcelona was Ettore Messina, but he upped ship and left after a home demolition at the hands of Montepaschi Siena at the end of the Top 16.

The loss didn't impact Real Madrid in the standings as they had already clinched top spot, but Messina rightly pointed out that if fans are going to spend time and money to watch the team play, they deserve the best the players have to offer and against Montepaschi that night, maybe they hadn't given their best.

Messina's departure could have done two things.

It could have sent the club into a tailspin, or helped unify the players and fans, which is what he said he hoped would happen.

As the 3-2 series triumph over Valencia suggests, Messina's exit did the latter.

It brought everyone closer together.

"Messina's a great coach," said Tucker, one of the players left stunned by the coach's departure.

"He's a great person on and off the court and you can't take anything away from that.

"He made the decision to walk away from the team and we couldn't do anything about that.

"We respected his decision.

"But it did help us mentally in coming together as a team.

"With that happening, it prepared us for this (five-game series) and we were ready to get through it."

The man that deserves a lot of credit for Madrid reaching the Final Four is Emanuele Molin, Messina's longtime assistant.

Instead of leaving with his boss and good friend, Molin told Madrid he wanted to finish the job that Messina had started.

"It was a very strange situation for him," Tucker admitted.

"Messina and Molin had been together for what, 20 years?

"The one thing about Molin stepping in and taking his place, we kept the same system.

"Had another coach come in, it probably would have taken us a little bit more time to get used to it.

"So we were fortunate to have Molin step in."

One other thing that saved Madrid is the passion that exists at the club.

Madrid basketball is historically important, and you felt that during this entire five-game series.

They won two of the three games at the Caja Magica and also came from behind and won Game 3 at Valencia.

Everyone was at Game 5 on Thursday night, including club president Florentino Perez and football superstar Ronaldo.

The most important figures, though, were the banner-waving, drum-beating Madristas.

They created an awesome, ear-splitting atmosphere.

It was loud, intimidating.

The noise was continuous and gave the Madrid players a lift.

There were also the journalists of Madrid, some of whom Messina took a parting shot at when he left the club.

There were hugs in the mixed zone because those journalists had seen the basketball team play second fiddle to Barcelona for so many years.

"It made a huge difference," Tucker said.

"The fans really came out and supported us.

"We packed the house tonight and like you said, that ugly fourth quarter got us through."

At least one aim has been accomplished for the season.

Madrid has ended their long spell without a Final Four appearance.

"With the way this club is, and the surrounds, I'm amazed they haven't been to the Final Four in such a long time," Tucker said.

"But every team goes through a stretch where they don't get any championships, in the Super Cup or the ACB or getting to the Final Four.

"Now that we've got past that stage, it's up to us to go and try to win the Final Four."




Jeff Taylor from FIBA

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[coach_C]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Tucker sees how coaches come and go

If Real Madrid guard Clay Tucker has learned anything the past few weeks, it's that coaching is a volatile profession.

The 30-year-old guard watched one of the best coaches in Europe, Ettore Messina, walk out the Madrid door at the beginning of the month and on Monday, Tucker’s friend and former University of Wisconsin-Green Bay coach, Bruce Pearl, was fired by the Tennessee Volunteers.

Players come and go, and so do the men that lead them.

Pearl, who turned the Vols into one of the best teams in the SEC, endeared himself to his players and students at Tennessee with a gung-ho attitude that was impossible to dislike.

More than anything, he got people excited about men’s basketball at Tennessee, a school best known for a powerhouse football program and a rich tradition in women’s basketball.

Handed the reins five years ago, Pearl went 145-61 with Tennessee.

He made headlines off the court, too.

Pearl, with his players, once showed up at a women's basketball game with his body painted orange.

For that night, Pearl was like any other fan on the Tennessee campus, rooting on women’s coach Pat Summitt and her nationally ranked team.

Pearl was known for something else after big wins.

He’d charge into the locker room and high-five his players.

Pearl was immortalized at Tennessee in a video that shows him running into the locker room after one big win when and ripping off his shirt and doing an Incredible Hulk imitation before hugging his players.

"Bruce is probably any player's ultimate dream coach," Tucker said.

"He's into the game, he brings energy.

"He's never negative no matter what the situation is.

"He keeps the team positive."

Pearl knew his stuff during the game, too, according to Tucker.

"On the X's and O's, he's perfect," Tucker said.

"He scouts like no other coach.

"He can tell you any out-of-bounds play that a team is going to run for a last-second shot, or early in the shot-clock.

"But for me, he's best at motivating his team to get ready to play."

Tucker thinks Pearl will be working again soon.

"It all depends on what his buyout was," Tucker said.

"I'm sure if something good comes along, he'll step up and take it."

If it was uncomfortable watching Pearl be shown the door by Tennessee, Tucker was much closer to an unexpected turn of events at Madrid.

Messina, with Madrid having qualified for the Euroleague quarter-finals, decided to leave the team after a heavy home defeat to Montepaschi Siena in the Top 16.

"It was shocking,” Tucker said.

“He came into the locker room after the game we'd lost here and told us.

"But we've moved on. We have to play as professionals and do our job."

Emanuele Molin, Messina’s long-time assistant, was put in charge of Madrid for the rest of the season.

Tucker did not go into the Valencia series in the best of shape.

He was hurt in Madrid’s weekend defeat to Unicaja Malaga but played through the pain barrier and appeared in both games.

Tucker winced on more than one occasion in Tuesday’s game.

“I was in terrible pain the other night, but it's no excuse,” he said.

“It's a physical sport.

“I tried to fight through it and help the team get the win. We got the win on Tuesday but we came up short the second time.”

On Thursday night, Valencia bounced back from the 71-65 defeat and won 81-75.

The two games against Valencia at the Caja Magica have reinforced Tucker’s belief that he is playing basketball at a very high level, a fact that might not be appreciated back in the United States.

A native of Ohio, Tucker said: “People back home don't understand how real basketball is in Europe. And in my opinion, it's a lot more serious.

“They take it more seriously than NBA basketball.

“In the NBA, they play 82 games and a lot of guys don't play until the fourth quarter of some games and then they really pick it up.

“And a lot of teams don't pick it up until play-off time.

“Here, every game counts. You have to bring it every game or you can come up short like we did today.”

Madrid and every one of the teams in the Euroleague quarter-finals are in the same situation.

Each best-of-five series is knotted at 1-1.

Tucker knows it’s going to be a real dogfight the rest of the way.

"Valencia is a great team,” he said.

“They struggled at the beginning of the year.

“They switched coaches (dismissed Manuel Hussein and appointed Svetislav Pesic), found their stride and they're playing excellent basketball on both ends of the floor.

"We knew coming in that they were going to give us their best shot. They did, they came out successful and now it's our time to go to Valencia to try and steal a game there.”

Games 3 and 4 will be played in Valencia TODAY and Thursday.




Jeff Taylor from FIBA

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[badref]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

The draw for EuroBasket 2011 maps out tough routes to medals and Olympics

VILNIUS (EuroBasket 2011) The draw for EuroBasket 2011 took place at the National Drama Theatre in Vilnius on Sunday evening with tournament hosts Lithuania being drawn in the same group as Spain.

With only two automatic Olympic places and three to four Olympic Qualifying spots on offer, a top five or six* finish will be essential for any team with Olympic ambitions.

But making it beyond the first round, from which only the top three of each group qualify, will be a challenge in itself for some of the countries with big ambitions and strong basketball pedigrees.

Group A looks especially daunting, with defending Champions Spain drawn alongside World Championship silver and bronze medallists Turkey and Lithuania.

Great Britain, who should now be able to count on at least two NBA stars, are seen as the dark horse in the group, while Poland and an additional qualifier complete the lineup.

Some have already singled out group A as the 'group of death', but the strength of European basketball is such that none of the other three groups will leave respective players, fans and coaches particularly comfortable.

Some of the most talented young players in World Basketball will be on show in group B, with Serbia, France and Germany headlining the show.

Israel, Italy and Latvia will provide stiff competition, and will hope to do more than just battle it out between them for the fourth and final second round ticket.

Group C has a distinct regional flavour to it, with all but the as yet unknown qualifier hailing from the Balkan peninsula.

European heavyweights Greece are joined by Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina and FYR Macedonia with the second of the three additional qualifiers completing the lineup.

Russia and Slovenia look to be the heavy favourites in group D where they are joined by Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia and Ukraine.

The Additional Qualifying Round will be disputed by Finland, Hungary and Portugal.





*The number of European Olympic Qualify places will be three if Great Britain are awarded an automatic place in London, otherwise it will be four. The decision will be made by the FIBA Central Board on 12-13 March 2011.

from FIBA

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[englandBBALL]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

London 2012 Olympics the goal for GB as Luol Deng returns in EuroBasket qualifiers

Luol Deng, having been prevented from appearing in the warm-up matches by an insurance dispute with the NBA and the Chicago Bulls, finally reappears for Great Britain tonight as they kick off their qualifying campaign for the 2011 European Championships against Hungary in Szolnok.

Luol Deng will return for Great Britain's basketball team against Hungary in the Eurobasket qualifiers that will determine whether the team plays at

Deng, who averaged nearly 18 points and six rebounds a game for the Bulls last season, last appeared for Great Britain during their successful EuroBasket 2009 qualifying campaign but was forced to miss the finals in Poland with a stress fracture of the leg.

His reassuring presence is timely because Great Britain face a tricky qualifying tournament, playing eight matches in the next three weeks with home and away fixtures against Hungary, Ukraine, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia.

GB go into the tournament without the injured or resting trio of Joel Freeland, Rob Archibald and Andrew Betts who have been outstanding in recent seasons while the debut of the Detroit Pistons' Ben Gordon has been delayed again after he failed to recover from ankle surgery.

On a more positive note Pops Mensah-Bonsu has been able to attend the training camp and warm-up matches and a clutch of Britain's most promising talents - Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Ashley Hamilton, Justin Robinson, Dan Clark and Ogo Adegboye - are about to get an extended campaign to prove their worth.

"We still have a strong squad and it's the best opportunity some of the young players will ever have to step up and become part of that Olympic dream," said coach Chris Finch. "We have nucleus of players who have been on the programme for the last three years or so and the new talent coming in can provide fresh impetus. They played with a lot of excitement in our warm-up games.

"If we had everybody available I would say we would be strong favourites to qualify automatically - certainly we would be the scalp others would looking for - but it's probably a bit more even now. We have got a big job to do but I am enjoying the way things are coming together."

"I'm not the slightest bit worried by the interesting road trips we have. We have lived on the road for the last three years, it's part of what we are and we have produced some very good performances and results under pressure in hostile arenas. I see that as a positive."

For every other team sport at the London 2012 Olympics Great Britain have been granted an automatic right to field a side but basketball's world governing body FIBA are making life as difficult as possible for the new kids on the block.

In fairness there are probably 15-20 teams who fancy they might just have a shout at a medal in the 12-team Olympic tournament so a place in the competition is highly prized and not given away lightly.

FIBA have already moved the goalposts once, however, going back on a previous assurance that reaching last year's European Championship Finals in Poland would be deemed sufficient evidence of Great Britain's "competiveness". There, weakened by injury, they lost all three games in a 'Group of Death' but did lead world champions and subsequent European champions Spain with less than three minutes to go. GB were nothing if not competitive.

"We need to know that the basketball family in the UK has a clear view of where it wants to go when the Games are finished," said FIBA secretary Patrick Baumann recently. "How is the game going to be structured? What are they going to be doing over the next four to eight years to make themselves competitive with other nations? If these things come together, there's no reason why GB should not be at the Olympic Games."

Which all seems a bit beyond FIBA's brief. This is the Olympics, not the world championships which is their fiefdom. And the last time the Olympics was held in a non Basketball nation - South Korea in 1988 - the hosts were included from the off and aquitted themselves with honour in both the men's and women's competitions.

Finch is well aware of the bigger picture. "We have got three plans running concurrently. There is the 2010 plan - qualify for the European Championships and secure Olympic inclusion. There is 2012 itself and our target of a quarter-final place and then there is 2016 and beyound when we want Great Britain to be genuine medal contenders in all major competitions."


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Great Britain Eurobasket 2011 qualification fixtures

Aug 2: Hungary v GB (Szolnok)
Aug 8: GB v Macedonia (Northumbria University, Newcastle)
Aug 11: Bosnia-Herzegovina v GB (Novi Grad)
Aug 14: GB v Ukraine (Birmingham NIA)
Aug 17: GB v Hungary (Birmingham NIA)
Aug 23: Macedonia v GB (Skopje)
Aug 26: GB v Bosnia-Herzegovina (Liverpool Echo Arena)
Aug 29: Ukraine v GB (Dnipropetrovsk)

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[eurocoach]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Is Rubio going to be the next star out of Europe?

Merhaba! Yes, you may hear it all before, but it's undeniable that this kid out of Spain could be elevating himself to a legitimate star if he succeeds in the World Championships this year.

The 19-year old (!) point guard already proved to belong to the best by winning the Euroleague-title a month ago and his team Regal FC Barcelona is also on route to be crowned champions of the domestic league.

Now the sole question is, will be Ricky able to lead the Spaniards to a surprising win over the heavily-favored U.S. Americans?

If he does, even without the support of Pau Gasol, then Ricky should be considered as the next big star out of Europe following the footsteps of players such as Drazen Petrovic, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker or Dejan Bodiroga.




His next goal would have to be winning the NBA-title to prove doubters wrong. Compared by many to legendary "Pistol" Pete Maravich, the speedy Catalan is acting calm and relaxed under the circumstances given.

Needless to say, that he loves being at home surrounded and protected by his family in Catalonia after turning down to play for the troubled Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA and opted instead to join Barca to snatch "Euroleague Rising Star" honors this year.

With a backcourt consisting of Barcelona-teammate Juan Carlos Navarro and Rubio, along with NBA-center Marc Gasol, NBA-guard Rudy Fernandez and charismatic forward Jorge Garbajosa, the Spaniards should be having no problems to advance at least to the quarter-finals if not the final itself.

The month of August and the World Champs are just two months away, but after checking out the highlights of Ricky on the videos below, I wish they would start within some minutes.













I'm out like doubters.

Kris Santiago from FIBA

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[eurofan]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

Italy - Bargnani ready as Italy prepare for ‘group of death’

Andrea Bargnani would prefer to compete for a world title this summer.

Instead, he’ll have to settle for being the talisman in the Azzurri squad when Simone Pianigiani’s men attempt to qualify for EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania.

Bargnani held a press conference in Rome to remove any doubts about his availability this summer.

“We are going through a difficult time and I feel that responsibility but there's also the willingness to return to enjoy myself having an important role at international level,” he said.

Italy received a wild card to play at the 2006 FIBA World Championship and advanced from the Preliminary Round, but they failed to reach the Quarter-Finals of EuroBasket 2007 in Spain, which knocked them out of contention for a spot at the 2008 Olympics.

They also didn’t qualify for EuroBasket 2009 in Poland.

The Italians will take on Latvia, Israel, Montenegro and Finland in a Division A ‘group of death’ this summer.

Sitting alongside Italian Basketball Federation president Dino Meneghin, Bargnani said: "I didn't need to be convinced by Dino Meneghin or by coach Simone Pianigiani.

"My decision (to play) has been spontaneous at a time when Italian basketball is going through a period of an ugly crisis.”

Italy have been a hugely important team on the international stage over the years, but Bargnani says no side deserves to have anything given to it.

"It's right that this new cycle brings the Azzurri back to the level it merits,” he said.

As far as the intentions of his Toronto teammate, Marco Belinelli, Bargnani said: "Belinelli? I cannot speak for him, but I obviously hope that he also returns to the national team."

The other player in the NBA Italy would like to have is Danilo Gallinari of the New York Knicks.

Injuries have kept him out of action for the Italians dating back to before EuroBasket 2007 in Spain.

Italy will play eight games in three weeks as they attempt to reach EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania.




FIBA

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[eBAstats]

EuroBasket and European Tournaments • Torneos Europeos y Eurobasket

This topic intents to provide information about all  Basketball around Europe.

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Este tópico intenta dar cabida a toda la información referida al Baloncesto Europeo.

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keywords= basketbal,basketball statistics, basketball analysis,statistics,european basketball