Today, the French federation published the names of the 8 teams that will play during the Nike International Junior Tournament in Paris from the 6th to the 9th May 2010. 4 teams were known already and the 4 other participants are no big surprise either.
Next to the defending champion FMP Belgrade, the tournament winners from Roma, L’Hospitalet, Belgrade and London are qualified. As FMP won the tournament in Belgrade, an additional free spot had to be distributed and 4 Wildcards have been handed out. And according to the Press Release of the French Federation, those Wildcard went to the Finalists of qualification tournaments with the exception of London where the 2nd placed USK Future Stars Prague did not get the Wildcard. Lietuvos Rytas was invited instead of the Czech team.
So the 8 participants are:
- FMP Belgrade (Defending Champion and Belgrade Tournament winner)
- Zalgiris Kaunas (Città di Roma Winner)
- Cajasol Sevilla (L’Hospitalet Winner)
- Union Olimpija Ljubljana (London Winner)
- Benetton Treviso (Città di Roma runner-up)
- Unicaja Malaga (L’Hospitalet runner-up)
- Centre Fédéral INSEP (Belgrade runner-up)
- Lietuvos Rytas (Wildcard)
- KK Split (Croatia)
The tournament will be played with two groups of 4 teams where the two group winners face each other in the Final. Group A features FMP, Lietuvos Rytas, Benetton Treviso and Unicaja while Group B features Ljubljana, Zalgiris Kaunas, INSEP and Cajasol Sevilla.
N.B.: Please note that the Euroleague has not officially confirmed these groups and participants yet.
UPDATE: The Euroleague published officially which teams will be present. The only change between the original French federation Press Release and the official announcement is the replacement of Lietuvos Rytas with KK Split.
10 responses so far ↓
1 albiongate // Mar 4, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Damned, I just learned that Djordje Micic (Olimpija) is still injured and that he may miss this tournament too. 🙁
2 aaa // Mar 6, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Yes, he is out for rest of the season.
3 albiongate // Mar 6, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Really sad news. I was hoping to see him and Dusan Bogdanovic at the U17 world championship in Hamburg. Unfortunately, both are injured.
4 Green // Mar 7, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Djordje Micic started with training and he will play F8 in Paris and for Serbia U17 World Championship.
5 albiongate // Mar 7, 2010 at 5:12 pm
🙂 two good news in a row.
6 Boris // Mar 20, 2010 at 12:52 am
I don’t have twitter or facbook so I will answer here why Split? I don’t know why Rytas won’t play but why Split? Split is 3 time euroleague champion, two time Korać cup winers and one more Euroleage finalist. Besides Partizan no other team in Europ gave more NBA players from their schooll (Kukoč, Rađa, Tabak, Šundov, Ukić) , and also so many great basketball players. Skansi, Šolman, Tvrdić, Sobin, Perasović, Mršić, Prkačin, Vujčić, Lončar…to name few. Last player from their school Mario Delaš was MVP of U-19 world championship, sold to Žalgiris so club could surevive. Even if club is in deep finacial crises they still deserve lot of respect for their name and huge contribution to europeian basketball. And besides that their junior team even if it is not loaded with so called ” NBA potentials” is still very good, one of best in europ.
7 Christophe // Mar 20, 2010 at 9:47 am
@Boris
I totally agree with the first part of your answer. However, it was more interesting to me (in a short term basis) to see Lietuvos Rytas as the have Jonas Valanciunas. But as he probably would nothave been with the team, it was a a reasonable choice to leave them out.
But I was surprised by the selection of KK Split as they have not competed in any of the qualification tournaments. This was the surprise for me.
8 can // Mar 20, 2010 at 12:42 pm
why don’t they invite any turkish club efes or fenerbahce?
9 Boris // Mar 20, 2010 at 3:40 pm
they did compete in Spain, and Toni Katic (PG 185) was one of best players there even he played injuerd.
10 Christophe // Mar 20, 2010 at 3:52 pm
thx boris for your infos
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