Back from Mannheim where I have spent the day in the MWS Halle in order to see the 8 other teams. And the least to say is that these two groups are a step below in terms of general playing level compared to what is played at the US Sports Arena.
- The day started really bad with the game between China and New Zealand which were probably the two worst teams of the tournament. Not a lot to say except the nice PG Shi Hongfei on the Chinese side who did what he wanted against a weak New Zealand team. A game to forget about.
- What looked to become another blowout was however a nice game as Japan fought really well against a Brazilian team that never could secure the game totally. The two Japanese guards Takaya Sasayama and Takumi Mitsuyama did a great job during their minutes on the court, Sasayama created several times the necessary space for Mitsuyama to get the open looks. However, Brazil managed to get their first win as the physical presence in the paint of Cristiano Felicio and Chandler Chaves could never been matched by the Japanese team that however gained a lot of respect through their performance.
- The best effort of the day came probably from the German U17 team that rallied back from a 11 point deficit in the final quarter and finished its group unbeaten. It was Jakob Krumbeck that advanced to become the match winner as he scored 24pts being nearly perfect from the field with 4/5 3s and 4/5 2s as well. He got excellent support from Besnik Bekteshi who made 14pts coming of the bench but also added 7rebs, 4stls and 2blks. Italy was lead by Andrea Traini who did a nice job running the PG but also adding some scoring with 20pts. But it was not enough to beat a German U17 team that totally exceeded all expectations by moving on to the next round, even if it was in the weakest group.
- Germany U18 followed the result of the U17 by remaining unbeaten against a Turkish team that was really playing poor basketball with two guards trying to run the show, nearly all for themselves. Safak Edge and Can Korkmaz maybe finished top scorers of their team but both took more than half the Turkish shots and combined for a poor 32% field goal percentage. The absence of any real inside presence may explain this but it was awful to watch during stretches as both guards over dribbled and nearly no passing game was set up. But the Turkish team still managed to stay in the game as the German guards had lots of trouble to defend the Pick and Roll situations created on nearly every offense. In front of 2000 spectators in the MWS Halle, it was Bill Borekambi that lead the Germans with a hard fought 13pts-11rebs effort while Philipp Neumann scored 14 but forced a lot of shots (3/11 FG). The German inside player seems to have a different approach while playing with the National team compared to what we have seen with his club team during the NIJT in Belgrade. Lars Wendt did a nice job coming from the bench to score 13pts and playing good defense on the Turkish guards. This victory gives Germany excellent chances to advance for the first time to the semi-finals for 23 years.
- The games in the US Sports Arena had their own drama and it is especially the result between Croatia and France that raised some eyebrows as the French defeat meant a quick elimination for Les Bleus from the race to win the tournament. Evan Fournier could not lead his team to a third victory as the Croats played a nearly perfect third quarter where they crashed France 27-7. Greece won its first game against Israel while Spain beat Australia despite a thirteen point halftime deficit. In the closing game of the first three days, USA beat Argentina and qualified also for the Top 8 groups.
- On Tuesday, there will be no games and Wednesday, the Groups will be crossed for the second phase. The victories from the first phase will be taken over so that a first group will include Germany U18 and Germany U17 (both 1 victory) with Italy and Turkey (both 1 loss) and the second group of the Top 8 will be composed of Spain, USA (both 1 victory), Australia and Croatia (both 1 loss). France has to play versus Greece and Israel to finish at best at the 9th place.
More articles on Day 3.
- US Team reaches Gold Medal round (Stars and Stripes)
- Germany U18 fights down Turkey (German federation)
- German U17 boys advance to Quarterfinals (German federation)
- Spain defeats Australia and remains unbeaten (Spanish federation)
2 responses so far ↓
1 Aki // Apr 6, 2010 at 9:50 am
hey there,
it s sad that the french team is out- they could have played for the title-
the two groups in mws arena are like a present for the german teams – imagine u17 would play in group c they would lost all their game with at least -15. and in group b they won their group-
so basically they organization wanted the german teams to advance- and play against each other- in the end the german u18 will play the semifinal-
anyway it s still a nice tournament-
cheers
2 can // Apr 6, 2010 at 6:54 pm
NO MORE TOFAS STAFF!!! there are much better coaches in turkey.mustafa derin always calls 4-5 players from his club(tofas) but can’t be champ even in turkish youth tourn.we should get rid of tanjeviç , nihat iziç and his tofas staff.ENOUGH!
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