European Prospects

On Saturday, Australia won the 25th edition of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim in front of a sold-out crows in the Sports Arena at Benjamin Franklin Village in Mannheim. The German U18 finished at the 2nd place while the German U17 managed to beat Team USA and reached an outstanding 3rd place. Here is a short review on yesterday’s action.

• The day started with a game between Croatia and Turkey in a still half-empty gym at 9 o’clock in the morning. And it was the Turks that had the better start and led 36-28 at halftime. But Croatia played once again an excellent third quarter (22-6) where they took over the lead and held it until the end. For Turkey, Safak Edge continued his shooting show with 17pts but 7/22 FGs while Ugur Dokuyan had 19pts and 8rebs. For Croatia, Dario Saric had 16pts, 7rebs and 3asts while Antonio Boban had 15pts and Marko Ramljak had 9pts, 11rebs but 7tos.
• Spain easily dominated Italy afterwards with a good team effort. Italy tried a late run with a press-defense in the last quarter but it was nothing more than cosmetics for the final result. Angel Aparicio had 17pts and 12rebs while Albert Ventura scored 18 and Pierre Oirola had 14 with 11rebs. For Italy, it was all Andrea Traini as the PG scored 31pts but added also6rebs 4asts and 3stls.
• The surprise of the day came once again from the German U17 team that surprised a lot of people and finished at an excellent third place. It is certainly the team that has made the most out of their situation and had a major confidence boost for the upcoming World Championships. Even without their seven-footer Bogdan Radosavljevic, who broke his arm, the team of Frank Menz controlled the USA through an excellent defense and rebounding and a controlled offense. Besnik Bekteshi lead the German scorers with 17pts and 6rebs while Julius Wolf had 10pts, 9rebs and 3asts.
• The Final was a real physical battle between Germany U18 and Australia where the Emus took over the lead in the final quarter when the German team stopped to resist against the highly aggressive Australian playing style. While the Germans remained in the game in the beginning as they accepted the battle with Philipp Neumann and Mathis Mönninghof, the constant high defensive level and fast break play of the Australians took over as Germany U18 could not answer the attacks of the Emus. 15 offensive rebounds and a Mitchell Creek who was in a MVP day (20pts , 7rebs, 4asts, 3stls, 1blk and 0 tos) assured the Aussie win in the final quarter where the German resistance was broken. Neumann could not raise his level against the physical Australian defense and the rest of the German team looked too impressed by the superior athleticism and hard-nosed play.
• The official All-Tournament team is the following: Jackson Aldridge (AUS), Evan Fournier (FRA), Hugh Greenwood (AUS), Mitchell Creek (AUS-MVP) and Philipp Neumann (GER). The award for the most talented player went to Dario Saric (CRO).
• My personal All-Tournament team was the following: Joan Creus (Spain), Jakob Krumbeck (GER U17), Anthony Drmic (AUS), Mitchell Creek (AUS), Philipp Neumann (GER).
• In the next days, there will be a lot more on the tournament right here on europeanprospects.com with interviews, player profiles and updates on the Generation Rankings.

More articles on the Final Day of the tournament

• German delight at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament 2010 (FIBA.com)
• Australia claims Schweitzer championship (Stars and Stripes)
• Loss to Germany leaves US empty-handed (Stars and Stripes)
• Australia, the champion in Mannheim (eurohopes.com)
• Emus win gold at AST (Basketball Australia)
• Australia deserving AST Champ 2010 (German federation)