European Prospects

Yesterday started the first ever U17 World Championship in Hamburg. As europeanprospects.com will only be present during the last three days of the tournament, we will do some kind of Press Review of every game day before hand. So here we go for Day1.

The first game of the day was between Lithuania and China. The Baltic team had some problems to start into the game but took over the lead in the second half and brought home their first win. Lithuaniabasketball.com reports on the game.

A 19-2 run allowed Lithuania to catch up and then pass their opponents taking the driver’s seat in this game. Team Lithuanian increased the advantage even more and led 73-52 at one point in the game.

All the games of the day can be followed on the Twitter Account of Eurohopes and they also have a good statistical recap of the whole day 1. The main game of the opening day was of course the match-up between Argentina and Team USA. Draftexpress tweeted throughout the game live from the arena and gave an unofficial MVP trophy to Michael Gilchrist.

Game over. USA beats Argentina 82-70. Michael Gilchrist was spectacular with 22 points, playing phenomenal one on one and team defense.

Actually Michael Gilchrist had 24 points, to go along with 15 (!) rebounds & 3 assists. 9/14 from the field, 6/6 from the free throw line.

Maxpreps also reports on the game and gives quotes from the game.

“We had too many turnovers to really put Argentina away early,” USA and Mid-Prairie head coach Don Showalter told FIBA.com. “Overall, I like the way our team played together as a unit.”

The same Media outlet cites also the Tournament as one of the Top5 recruiting destinations for College Coaches in July.

The FIBA U17 World Championship – which starts today in Hamburg, Germany – doesn’t fall into the recruiting spectrum, but the first-time event could broaden horizons by helping identify the best players in the world at an earlier age.

The United States is favored, but China is considered an intriguing challenger. The Chinese roster includes six players 6-foot-8 or taller, including 7-footer Zhelin Wang.

USA Basketball reports on the first game against Argentina.

“Obviously Michael is a great player and when he came in he gave us a little bit of ball handling, a little bit of size, as did Marquis Teague. I thought both those players came in and gave us a real shot. I think it was a one or two point game when we put Michael and Marquis in the game and our press got to working and we stole some passes as our quickness picked up a little bit,” US coach Showalter commented.

Poland afterwards confirmed their status as a potential Semi-Final candidate by beating Australia. Australia Basketball reports on their website.

Overrun in the second and fourth quarters, the Australians fell to Poland 71-54.

Before the competition started, spox.com spoke with Malik Müller from the German team about his expectations for the future. Find here the report of the German and the Canadian federation on their tournament opener.

“It was a painful loss in our opening game,” said Canada Coach Rana. “I don’t think we played very well but still managed to stay in the game. I give full marks to the German team — they are tough, made tough shots, and played well together. We had two open looks and couldn’t get them to fall, that’s just how the game is sometimes.”

Read the report from the Spanish federation on their opening win against South Korea.

The official website of the tournament is of course stuffed with Game Reports, Quotes and Picture Galleries, everything is available in English.