European Prospects

Today started the FMP Junior Tournament (City of Belgrade Tournament ) in Belgrade. The tournament is also a qualifying event for the Nike International Junior Tournament to be played in Madrid during the Final Four. We took a look at the different rosters and the first results.

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Before returning to Mannheim for the Finals day tomorrow, here are some important facts of the last two days.

• The Final will be the awaited Greece – Turkey clash. It will be loud and rowdy in the US Sports Arena tomorrow.
• Nikos Pappas is the absolute favorite for the MVP trophy. The Greek guard went for 39pts and 10rebs today in an overtime win over Australia.
• Call-up for Maik Zirbes. The German Center, who is playing a very interesting tournament in Mannheim will replace John Whorton in the rotation of TBB Trier. The last one got fired and head coach Yves Defraigne will probably use Zirbes as back-up center right away.
• Irving Walker was very close to a triple double on Thursday in the spectacular win of the US team over Spain. The tiny PG went for 32pts, 8rebs and 9asts.
• The places from 9-16 are now attributed: 9th Germany, 10th Croatia, 11th France, 12th Italy, 13th Russia, 14th New Zealand, 15th Israel and 16th Netherlands.
• The schedule for tomorrow is the following (all times CET): 9h00 Sweden – Spain; 11h Canada – Argentina; 14h USA – Australia and 16h Turkey – Greece.

Our reader Guillaume Althoffer has sent us a quick report on the most promising prospects in this year’s edition of the Cholet Mondial Basket tournament. Here are his notes on the players.

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Besides the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim, there were a lot of other Youth competitions during this weekend. Here are some of the most important results.

• The 4th Memorial Graziano Barila’ for Under 17 teams has been played in Italy from the 20-24th March. The tournament has been won by the team from Olimpija Ljubljana which beat Ohio in the Final 80-69. The third place went to Benetton Treviso which defeated Urspring Academy from Germany in the game for the third place. The top scorer of the tournament was the 1992 born Benetton Fribourg player Stefan Petkovic who already saw some minutes in the ULEB Cup this season.
• The Junior (U19) tournament in Lissane has been won by Benetton Treviso which won against Vardar Skopje in the Finals. Niccolo Martinoni went for 27pts in the Finals and grabbed also 14 rebounds for the Italians while the 2m07 tall PF Bojan Krstevski came up with 19pts and 8 rebounds for the FYROM team. The third place was for the Greek team of PAOK Salonici  where the shooter Charis Giannopoulos was the man of the weekend.
• The Villagarcia Basket Cup for U20 club teams has been covered live by Solobasket this weekend. You can find all the news and stats on their specific website for this event. The winner of the tournament was Unicaja Malaga which beat Khimki in the Finals.
• Finally the Cholet Mondial Basket Tournament has been won by the Serbian team of KK Zemun which defeated Le Mans in the Finals. The Czech team of Ostrava went for the third place in front of Unelco Teneriffe.

Today there are no games but here are the picks about yesterday’s action in Mannheim.

• Kostas Sloukas has joined the Greek team and when he is fully integrated, he will probably form the best backcourt of the tournament.
• Staying with the Greek team, Nikos Pappas was unstoppable by the US team despite always doing the same move. Penetration with the left hand and scoring layups with his left hand. This was the best individual performance I have seen so far in the tournament.
• France is really the big disappointment so far for me. Besides showing no will and arrogant play, the team totally fails to attack a zone. Unsteady playmaking and even no defense pressure make the poor showing perfect. There is a lot of work for Philippe Ory and his staff before the U18 EC in summer.
• Despite a unlucky start, Mangisto Arop showed why he is considered as the best prospect in the Canadian team. Excellent fakes and good athletic abilities round up his good shooting and al-around skills.
• The qualified nations for the Top8 are: Turkey, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Argentina, Greece, Spain and the USA. Sweden and Canada may have been considered as a surprise before the tournament but their performances totally are worth to assure the qualification in a tournament that until now really misses a true super star potential (at least at a NBA level).
• Unfortunately, I can not be in Mannheim during the week and will only go back on Saturday for the Final day. Any reports by present persons can be send to me and I will publish them.

Before heading off to Mannheim, here are a few picks out of yesterday’s action.

• Spain is dominating its group. After a 40pts success against New Zealand, the team from Iberia also demolished Croatia by 38. And it was once again a nice team effort with 5 guys in double figures. Title candidate?
• Some nations are already out of the race for winning it all: New Zealand, Netherlands, Israel, Croatia, Russia and France. The two later ones disappointed so far, especially Russia who had two big defeats.
• North America is doing very well as both Canada and the Team USA are undefeated so far. Canada is led by the Sudan born Mangisto Arop and the rest of his 12 man from the National Elite Development Academy.
• By beating Germany by 13 points, Sweden is close to sure in the Top8. With the return of Alexander Lindqvist (13pts 3rebs 2asts) and especially Victor Holmberg (18pts 5rebs 3asts), the team of coach Tommie Hansson is showing his potential.
• The other story of the tournament so far is Greece. Without their team captain Kostas Sloukas who should join the team these days, they won over France in a defensive battle and totally destroyed Israel yesterday.
• The top scorers after two days: Andreas Person (Sweden) 21ppg and Irving Walker (USA) 21ppg. They are followed by Mangisto Arop (Canada) and Femi Oldipo (Germany).
• The rebound section is led by Maik Zirbes (Germany) with 13rpg and Mangisto Arop (Canada) who has 12.5rpg. The ranking is continued with Wally Judge (USA) and Tomislav Zubcic (Croatia).
• The leader of the Assist category is Irving Walker from the USA while the best ball stealers are Daniel Perez (Spain), Vladimir Jankovic (Greece) and Alexis Tanghe (France)
• Today, I will follow the games at the US Sports Arena.

• The team from New Zealand looks not the be among the top teams. However Dion Prewster was everywhere for them with 11pts, 12rebs, 6asts and 8 turnovers. The athletic forward is probably the best prospect of the team together with SG Brook Ruscoe and 1991 born 2m07 guy Robert Loe
• Spain won their opener easily with a nice team effort with 6 players above 10 points and their most talented prospect, SF Alberto Jodar only with 6pts in 18 minutes.
• Tomislav Zubcic is probably one of the most talented players in the tournament. The 2m10 forward can do everything on the court, also disappear during long stretches. He tried to win the game for his team against Argentina but his efforts in the money were not crowned by success.
• Argentina has a great scoring and shooting backcourt, but their PF Pablo Orlietti is among the best big men of the tournament for sure.
• Sweden features some interesting 1991 born players. However, one of their most talented guys, Alexander Lindqvist was not playing. He will however be on the court in Sunday’s action.
• Enes Kanter was dominating during  the Türk Telekom Tournament for U16. He is dominating inside here at the U18 level too. We have here already a clear cut favorite for the MVP trophy of the upcoming U16 European Championships.
• Denis Kiligli looked like a man among boys. With surprising athleticism, the Turkish forward was doing a lot of damage to the Swedish frontcourt in the second half.
• The German inside players are really big. Between the very long Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann and the thick Maik Zirbes, you also have a promising PF in the person of Erik Land.

Today, I will have a Live chat about the upcoming tournament. Your questions and infos are welcome. Be ready for 14h CET.

We just got the news that the International Roster for the Nike Hoop Summit has been announced. You can find it here. From the European side, there will be Zygimantas Janavicius, Alexander Kolchenko, Tim Ohlbrecht, Alexis Ajinca and Boban Marjanovic while European based Internationals Diego Gerbaudo and Serge Ibaka while also join the International team. I will come up with more infos about this roster in the next days. The Hoop Summit will be played on the 12 April in Portland.

Tomorrow Friday at 14h00 CET, I will go for a 1h Live Chat here on the site about the upcoming Albert Schweitzer Tournament. Actually, I am seeking some experts to join the discussion but every reader of this website is welcome to add their comments or questions. [Read more →]