European Prospects

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.