Some Random Thoughts On International Basketball

[Durbansandshark]

Uzbekistan is your winner out of Middle Asia as the the last qualifier for the Asian Championships. It soundly defeated its neighbor and fellow former Soviet Socialist Republic Turkmenistan 81-59 in Navioy, Uzbekistan. That was really the only game for the "Stans" in that region. Afghanistan, a revelation at the 2006 Asian Games basketball competition in Doha, Qatar, was supposed to play with those two, but the Uzbek foreign ministry failed to authorized visas for the Afghan basketball delegation to travel to the tournament.

Uzbekistan will play with Iran, Chinese Taipei, and Qatar in Group B, which is really a tough group when you think about it given that those three are far higher in the Asian basketball pecking order with two of the three played in international tournaments outside of Asia in recent years. Like the WCs and Olympics.

[Durbansandshark]

Canada plays a two-game weekend series of friendly basketball against Eurobasket-bound Belgium (aka the Black Knights back home) tonight and tomorrow afternoon at Toronto's Ryerson University and Humbert College, respectively, for the 2011 Jack Donahue International Basketball Classic. The Road Warriors in this go-round will feature three Canadian NBA players on their roster for coach Leo Rautins in Joel Anthony, Leo's son Andy, and rookie Corey Joseph. The San Antonio Spurs rookie Joseph is excited to make his senior national team debut in Toronto donning the maple leaf red. Also, including Joseph, five players on the team call the Greater Toronto Area home: Denham Brown, Jermaine Anderson, Javohn Shepard, and Jeff Ferguson. In the case of the last person Ferguson, this is great for his appearance represents the nascent National Basketball League of Canada as a member of the Saint John Mill Rats and the IBL's Edmonton Energy as the only domestically-based player on the team. Shame fellow Canadian NBA rookie Tristan Thompson will not take part, though it would certainly help him in his high-level skills and keep them sharp as he waits on the lockout. Be intriguing as the Canadians get ready for London starting with the Americas Tournament.

For Belgium, Didier Mbenga-Illunga is the lone NBA rep from the New Orleans Hornets. Many of his teammates (most of them Flemish with a few French ones), as you will check out the rosters on the later links, are overwhelmingly based domestically in Belgium's top pro league like Oostende, Antwerp, Cantu, and Charleroi with a couple based in Spain and Italy.

Live streaming is available at http://www.sportscanada.tv/ .

http://basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=5315
www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=5321

[Durbansandshark]

Wednesday is the start of the African Basketball Championship in Antararivo, Madagascar. Angola, the odds-on favo(u)rite again to represent Africa in the Olympics again, just triumphed in the Stankovic Cup over the Boomers. Meanwhile the Elephants from the Ivory Coast lost their two games in the Tunisia. It will be the Ivory Coast against South Africa to start things followed by Nigeria-Mali, hosts Madagascar against Mozambique, and finally Egypt-Cameroon to round out the day. Angola won't play until the next day when they face African debutants Chad on that day's final game.

[2sc945]

OMFG, I can't believe it. The one and only Angola loses to Senegal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_FIBA_Africa_Championship)!

[Durbansandshark]

We're now in the semifinal stage of the African Basketball Championships. Angola, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Tunisia are your semifinalists. The Angolans just had to come back from a 17-point deficit to beat a Cameroon team that features Milwaukee's Luc Mbah e Moute in OT. For Angola, this championship edition has proven itself to be its most challenging in a very long time. Senegal, one of the favorites, crashed out of the quarterfinals by Ivory Coast. The Ivorians didn't just beat them they thrashed them 75-59. When the Elephants are on in games that matters, anything's possible for them. And they will face Tunisia in the semis as a somewhat battered and tired Angola squares off against Nigeria. I'm starting to think the Angolans will not be champs this time.

A more detailed recap of the African Basketball Championships (along with the Asian Women's Championships in Japan) will arrive next week.

Brazil will come into the Americas Championship an essentially starless team despite having Thiago Splitter now serving as the leader. Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, and Nene all passing on the opportunity. Coach Magnano reveals his 12-team squad.
www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/48898/arti.html

Dirk and Chris Kaman return to suit up for Deutschland in time for Eurobasket 2011.
http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/12/olym/news/p/nid/48782/article.html

As we gear up for the upcoming Eurobasket 2011 in Lithuania, I think it will great to take a look at the small host nation that such a love, a history, and a passion for the roundball like no other European nation does. It helps and rare to be such a European nation where soccer's popularity isn't as large like it is there and produce really good basketball players and teams for years--even the recent winners of the U21 world championship team got rock star love back home. Just think of Sabas, Marcilionis, Kurtinaitis, Karnishavas, Kleiza, and Jascikivcius. Even the women have been solid in Europe but the international potential they got is off the charts. Did I mention its president has a basketball background in her own right? In this regard, Lithuania can be compared to Indiana in many accounts about basketball. Yes, the other Baltic nations like Estonia and Latvia loves basketball but never to the Lithuanian's level--Latvia has a stronger winter sports tradition but is ahead of Estonia in basketball internationally of the two. This SI article about this such strong Lithuanian love for basketball shows that. What, no love Kurtiniatis?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1189174/index.htm

Yeah, Eurobasket 2011 is right around the corner. Hope to get started in the next week, even if things just get underway, schedule permitting.

[Durbansandshark]

Due to my insane work schedule particularly this week--I am working for the next 14 consecutive days--I unfortunately won't get to go in-depth on these boards as I much as I would like. So things would have to wait for the most part.

Tunisia will make their Olympic basketball debut in London for thirst time what has been a very interesting year for the French and Arab speaking North African nation. They beat Angola, the African champs for 10 out of the last 11, 67-56 to get the ticket for London out of Africa. Tunisia is the first north African nation to be in Olympic basketball since Egypt in 1988, when there were two African nations in it (Central African Republic was the other).

Don't worry about Angola; they get another chance to go to London in the reprechage with the Nigerians next year.

[Durbansandshark]

Argentina's Golden Generation makes their third consecutive trip to the Olympics with a gold-medal winning performance in their final against the next Olympic hosts and longtime bitter rivals Brazil 80-75 at the 2011 FIBA Tournament of the Americas in Mar Del Plata, Argentina on Sunday. Luis Scola scored 32 points and won Tournament MVP honors with his teammate Manu Ginobili joining him on the All-Tournament team.
http://www.mardelplata2011.com/en/noticiasread4.asp?r=7B1891543872433CA8DFDA8CE6D93E DA

Just before returning to the US and focusing on his duties sadly on the resurrected NDCELE NBDL Chapter, Venezuela coach Eric Musselman wrote an exclusive blog to FIBA about his team in the said tournament. Mission accomplished for them to nab the fifth and final spot for the Olympic qualification tournament out of the Americas to join Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic next year. You can read his final blog entry and then link to his earlier ones here (http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/colu/p/newsid/49317/arti.html).

But what I really want to talk here for now is the fact that Canada sadly won't be joining them next year. It finished a disappointing sixth in Argentina. Make that at least 16 years before the Canadian men return to the Olympics! the Road Warriors took a very severe hit when they lost to Puerto Rico (http://basketballbuzz.ca/international/puerto-rico-ends-team-canada-2012-olympic-basketball-hopes/). They later beat Uruguay but its London Olympic dreams got shattered when they shocking lost to Panama 91-89 (needed the said Uruguayans to beat Venezuela, didn't happen) to go through. Panama has only one NBA player in Gary Forbes who tore into the Canadians with his 39 points through the paint. With that elimination from even the Olympic qualification tournament next year, that prompted Canada's head coach Leo Rautins to submit his resignation papers to Canada Basketball (http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/article/1051079--leo-rautins-resigns-as-head-coach-of-canada-s-men-s-basketball-team). So no "go Canada go" again. Almost four years ago, Canada qualified for the pre-Olympic basketball tournament in Athens and performed respectively with little star power. Now many of the players there apparently regressed in Mar Del Plata. Nonetheless, fans up there are thrilled he's gone.

How can we look at Rautins' six controversial years as Canada's head coach? It seems as though Rautins never was granted a fair shot in the job after Canada Basketball wrongfully fired Jay Triano, who is among Canadian basketball's Mount Rushmore figures and took them to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Funnily enough, Rautins as an analyst criticized Triano's international coaching, which did its part to get Rautins succeed Triano, even though the man never previously held a coaching position ever. When Triano was fired and in stepped Rautins, the outcry from many in the Canadian basketball community was immense and harsh. If an American coach came in instead, the anger would never happened. Rautins shouldn't be faulted for the firing, but he was scapegoated for it when he accepted it. It was classic case of "wrong coach, wrong nation, and wrong time" (http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=375520). We may not truly know for sure that Rautins was the best choice as coach. If you read a lot of the Canadian basketball websites and mainstream Canadian sports websites like TSN.ca, whenever Leo Rautins gets feedback, it's downright critical as a lightning rod: He can't coach (nor was he a good TV analyst for the Toronto Raptors). He's a poor recruiter and assembler of Canadian international talent. He doesn't know how to manage the clock effectively. He doesn't know how to deal with Canadian NBA players, who may act like prima donnas, and scares them away. He's naive and inexperienced on the way of the international level. Personally, I think Rautins had a lot to learn on how to deal with all of that; there's something to be said about getting prior experience as a coach. I DO think he was mediocre--his Canada international coaching record reflects that.

A defining moment of his time surely came from Athens when Rautins kicked off Sam Dalembert of the national team as one of the two NBA Canadian players on it (Joel Anthony is the other). When the two had their off-court incident then, for those who don't know, Dalembert then-recently became a Canadian citizen in 2007 being originally from Haiti and had a press conference to celebrate that with Rautins happily presenting him a Canada jersey and passport in time to join them for the qualifiers. The scorn from Canadian basketball fans rained on Rautins was incredibly vicious and cemented his negative rep. Rautins felt he was laying a foundation of oneness with the team with no player being bigger than that. A coach, when something like this arises, has to work through the issues between them. Looking back at it, I don't think Dalembert was acting like a prima donna. He did something similar regarding Denham Brown to a lesser degree, if I read correctly. Ironically, with not a lot of Canadian NBA talent to tap into or interested and with international basketball teams increasingly resembling more like NCAA recruiting for players, it was that he wasn't the right recruiter for Canada Basketball. Consequently, Rautins didn't have the best basketball players Canada has to offer at his disposal as head coach when they played.

If Rautins had the best talent, maybe things would be different for Canada Basketball. Who knows? But we'll never know if he would have better circumstances because, the fact is, no coach ever has ideal circumstances. Steve Nash publicly says he thoroughly enjoyed his time being coached by his good friend Jay Triano on Nash's time with the national team from 1993 to 2004. Nash doesn't owe anybody from Canada Basketball anything further. His presence and leadership in the locker room and as team spokesperson would've helped immensely in a lot of facets; it could've brought along Jamaal Magloire and Tristan Thompson to the national team. The Toronto Raptors would also benefit from Nash's visibility too. No, Rautins didn't resign because of Nash's lack of presence on the team. Must make that especially clear.

A more important question is where does Canada Basketball go from there. Canadian basketball is at a better plane and structure-wise now than where it was six years ago thanks to some significant cash in recent years from Bell Media Canada and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Toronto Raptors--TSN2 aired all of Canada's games in the just-completed Tournament of the Americas. Interestingly, it all comes at a time when we're starting to witness the fruits of Canada's successful grassroots basketball movement. There's a bright future ahead. Basketball is more accessible than it has ever had in Canada. The quality of play in high school, college, and professional is higher. And, much to the great joy of Canadian hoops fans everywhere, there finally will be a domestic pro basketball league in 17 years in the form of NBL Canada tipping off in November. It promises to give Canadian basketball players an outlet to continue in basketball. There's some good young talent emerging in the rebuilding with a focus on Rio De Janerio 2016 like Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, Kyle Wiltjer, Myck Kabongo, Khem Birch, Andrew Wiggins, Jevon Sheppard, Kevin Pangos, and Kelly Olynyk. Next year when CTV and Rogers Sportsnet will beam the 2012 London Olympics to Canadians, it is almost a certainty, though not yet official, that the Toronto Raptors TV broadcast duo of Matt Devlin and Jack Armstrong from TSN will be locked, loaded, and ready to rock and roll in calling the Olympic basketball from London, but Canada unfortunately won't be a part of it. Interest would definitely high. Also, I have a suggestion to a successor to Leo Rautins: Carleton's Dave Smart (http://basketballbuzz.ca/international/dave-smart-its-much-better-coaching-the-national-team-than-in-the-nba/link/5469/). He more than proved himself in the CIS game as a coach with all those multiple W.P. McGee titles, but is he willing to perform both duties? He was an assistant under Rautins and knows the Canadian talent pool and is widely considered the best coach in all of Canada.

As for the Canadian women, they have a good shot in theirs with no USA in their midsts. With their international experience last year, they should fare better than the men in their Americas tournament in Neuva Huila, Colombia. It all beings on the 24th against Mexico. In their group only Brazil is a threat. They should at least make the Olympic qualifying tournament. NBA TV Canada is visiteing them for doc. Visit their Road to London/Canada Women's National Basketball Team blog (http://canadaball.blogspot.com/).

[Durbansandshark]

BREAKING NEWS: A basketball-loving nation is shocked and saddened, and so is its players. Lithuania gets a heartbreaking loss as hosts in the quarterfinals to Macedonia 67-65 in Kaunas, the home of top EuroLeague powerhouse Vilnius Kaunas. The Lithuanians have less than 24 hours to regroup themselves and gets themselves a chance to make the top six for pre-Olympic qualifying next year.

http://www.eurobasket2011.com/en/coid_4Cqb-EbyJaAGEqz-rCCdW1.articleMode_on.html

[agd7777]

Qatar loses its first Asian Championship game to Uzbekistan by default. With only seven players on their roster, all starters fouled out in the first six minutes of the game...

http://www.fibaasia.net/NewsDetails.aspx?id=1336

[2sc945]

Qatar loses its first Asian Championship game to Uzbekistan by default. With only seven players on their roster, all starters fouled out in the first six minutes of the game...

http://www.fibaasia.net/NewsDetails.aspx?id=1336



A Sarcastic Day for Asian and World Basketball!


Here is the real situation:

Qatar was under investigation by FIBA for overusing naturalised players. Later, it was found that Qatar has 6 naturalised players in their Asian Championship squad despite FIBA rules clearly stated that only 1 naturalised player is allowed per each national team. As a result, 5 of the Qatari players have been banned from the tournament. Two of the remaining seven players, due to various reasons*, did not suit up for the game against Uzbekistan, that left only 5 Qatari players eligible to play.

As a way to protest FIBA's decisions, the Qatari head coach ordered his players to "foul out" the game. Four of the Qatari players fouled out in the first six minutes of the game and the Lebanese referee was forced to call off the game due to Qatar having no second player to receive the ball in out-of-bounds plays.

Uzbekistan won the game by default. They were leading 27-12 with 4:02 left in the first quarter when the game was called off. Uzbekistan had 22/31 FT.

Boxscore (http://www.fibaasia.net/UserImages/GPDF01201191544244.PDF)

Hilarious.


* Ali Turki Ali was injured, the reason for Omar Hammam not suiting up is unknown, probably he is still under FIBA investigation.

[Durbansandshark]

Spain grabs the gold at Eurobasket in Lithuania yesterday over France 98-85 in Kaunas as both automatically qualify for London. Russia takes bronze over the surprising Macedonians earlier. Russia and Macedonia will have hosts Lithuania and Greece join them for the repechage tournament set for July 2-8 out of Europe.

Spain and France joins hosts Great Britain, USA, Tunisia, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia as automatic qualifiers with the Asian champs yet to be determined in Wuhan, China. Lithuania has expressed interest in hosting the World Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournament along with Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

Canada Basketball and its women's coach Allison MacNeil announced the 12-women roster (http://www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=5412) that will reperesent Canada in Colombia later this week and playing in tuneup games in Puerto Rico prior to that. For veterans Therese Gabriele, Kim Smith, and Shona Thorburn, they desparately want to make the most of this last chance for the Olympics (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/basketball/canadas-womens-basketball-veterans-take-one-last-shot-at-olympics/article2165404/) as the backbone of the Canadian women's team.

[Durbansandshark]

The Canadian women are currently in the Tournament of the Americas semis with a 66-49 win over Jamaica to finish 3-1 in their group, as they finish second to heavy faves Brazil. Either Cuba or Argentina will face them there. I think the Canadians match up better with the Cubans.

China unsurprisingly wins both the men's and women's Asian Basketball Championships to earn direct entry to London.

In African women's basketball unlike in the men, it seems nobody wants to reign as the continental champions for an extended period. One year it could be Nigeria. Senegal in another. Mali, the reigning champs and hosts this year, was the African reps in Beijing. Those those two are the most dominant in recent years if you can call it that. On other hand, it's good in the sense that it is wide open, something, unless proven otherwise in future years, that makes one of the things interesting about it. Despite some progress made, it illustrates there's not enough spending and organization from their national basketball federations on the women's game--and it shows in the varying competition levels. Could Angola reign supreme this time and go to London? So far the games have been decent on a competitive level, except whenever the Ghanian women hit the court and that's where the blowouts hit--like that 101-23 drubbing to the Ivory Coast, a rising team, and 20-0 forfeit to Tunisia. Those, and Senegal's blasting of Guinea 99-32. Tunisia is already out, so they can't emulate their male counterparts this year to go to London. Onward to the quarterfinals with Nigeria, Dr Congo, Senegal, Mozambique, Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Mali. If I get more time, I'll delve into these more.

[2sc945]

It was an easy win for Brazil in the FIBA Americas women's tournament final while Angola won their first FIBA Africa women's title. Again, we will have a new women's representative from Africa in Olympic basketball next year.

[Durbansandshark]

So the qualified stages for the men and women in London next year looks like this:

MEN:
Great Britain
United States
Tunisia
Australia
Spain
France
China
Argentina
Brazil

WOMEN:
Great Britain
United States
Russia
Angola
Australia
China
Brazil


The Pre-Olympic Qualifying tournament fields for next year will look like this:

MEN (three spots available):
Greece
Russia
Lithuania
Puerto Rico
Venezuela
Angola
New Zealand
Nigeria
South Korea
Macedonia
Dominican Republic
Jordan

WOMEN (five spots up for grabs):
France
Turkey
New Zealand
Canada
Argentina
South Korea
Japan
Croatia
Mali
Senegal
Cuba
Czech Republic

[Julian]

The Pre-Olympic Qualifying tournament fields for next year will look like this:

MEN (three spots available):
Greece
Russia
Lithuania
Puerto Rico
Venezuela
Angola
New Zealand
Nigeria
South Korea
Macedonia

Plus:

Dominican Republic
Jordan

[Durbansandshark]

D'Oh! Just re-edited my last post to include them.

Sure it's early to make predictions about who will get those precious spots for London. Because of that, predictions coming from me is going to be subject to change up until they hit. This is preliminary one from me considering the makeup of the fields.

MEN:
Greece
Puerto Rico
Lithuania

WOMEN:
France
Canada
Czech Republic
New Zealand
Argentina

Teams that could sneak in--Men: Dominican Republic, Women: Turkey

[2sc945]

My picks:


MEN

Russia
Lithuania
Greece


WOMEN

France
Czech Republic
Turkey
South Korea
Cuba


Teams that could sneak in--Men: Puerto Rico, Women: New Zealand

Dark horses--Men: New Zealand, Women: Japan

[Durbansandshark]

Latest on the next year's Olympic qualifying tournaments for London 2012. Angola, Lithuania, Macedonia, and Venezuela are up for the bidding in the men's tournament from July 2-8. Argentina, Czech Republic, and Turkey are in line for the women's version on June 25 through July 1. It would be a great thing for basketball if FIBA awarded the 2012 Olympic men's basketball qualifier to Angola for it has proved itself not just being an African nation that can hold its own internationally but also has solid organization and experience with hosting international basketball tournaments with very nice and modern facilities from when Angola hosting the 2007 African basketball championships that are suited things like this. It would be great to see that African support there for basketball! Realistically, that might not happen. Macedonia has that Boris Trajovski Arena (named for the late Macedonian president who died in a plane crash years ago) in the capital of Skopje. Venezuela would be interesting. No word on any new venues being built. And we all know about Lithuania's feverish love for basketball.

I think Turkey will get the women's version.

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/presRele/p/newsid/49901/presReleArti.html

[Durbansandshark]

With all of the massive social insecurity in Greece with its abysmal economy that led, among other things, the resignation of Socialist (PASOK, the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Party), US-born Prime Minister George Papandreau (his dad Andreas was a two-time Greek President and was an Economic Dean at Cal-Berkeley), it's amazing in some ways that Greek basketball, soccer, volleyball, and even water polo are still going on without a hitch. On the other hand, somebody WILL benefit in this dysfunction, even some club basketball teams. The big clubs like Panathinaikos, Olympiakos Pireas, AEK Athens, Panionios, Aris Thessaloniki, Peristeri, and PAOK are capable of withstanding this crisis for they have deep pockets and can pay their top Greek players, several from the former Yugoslavia (mainly Serbs for they are close to the Greeks culturally), and American imports. I was told by a Panathinaikos employee that some clubs ARE indeed struggling financially. Panathinaikos is the class of the Greek Basketball League with its record 32 Greek titles and 12 Greek Cups to go with its record of 6 Euroleague titles, making its notably passionate fans very pleased over the years including now.

The Greek League, A1 here, has just started last week with several, but not all, of the clubs playing two games already (Maroussi has yet to play in the 26-game season). Clubs must have a home venue capacity of at least 1000 seats for Greek domestic matches. Next season, that goes up to at least 3500. Several Greek clubs use two arenas, one for domestic games and another Euro competitions. Minimal seating for Euroleague games is 5000 seating and Euro Cup is 3000, but next year the Euro Cup minimum will be raised to 5000. I'm slowly getting myself into this more seriously, and I don't get to look into Greek basketball as much as I like.

[Durbansandshark]

Canada Basketball seems to be calling Jay Triano to be their head coach again. With him and Steve Nash, who wants to be involved more in Canada Basketball when his playing days wind down. Both are good friends. Right now, Canada is not in any rush to get somebody following Leo Rautins' resignation with no meaningful games coming. Triano, after his Toronto firing, now zeros in on being a part of the TEAM USA basketball staff. As I mentioned previously, one of the reason Rautins was seemingly set up to lose for he is not Triano--a beloved Canadian basketball icon. Canada Basketball's future is going to be bright internationally with its deepest if young talent ever rising like Andrew Wiggins, ready to climb up the FIBA chain in future years. I'm all for Triano to return, but I would like to see Carleton's Dave Smart to get a nice look at least. If Smart can't get hired, hopefully he would be kept on as an assistant to learn the international game further.
http://basketballbuzz.ca/international/trianos-job-to-lose/link/5902/

During the lockout, he spent time offering his coaching expertise to young Canadian basketball coaches:
http://basketballbuzz.ca/international/jay-triano-shares-expertise-with-young-canadian-basketball-coaches/link/5669/

[Durbansandshark]

Austria--not Australia, I mean this! :)--and basketball do not instantly come to mind or come together. Outside of soccer, handball, and a few Olympian medalists in individual sports (think swimmers Markus Rogan and Mirna Jukic and runner Stephanie Graf), Austria is far more of a winter sports powerhouse. Basketball definitely has fans among the younger Austrian set with the NBA being shown on satelitte like on SKY Deutschland and Sport 1, but languishes far behind soccer and ice hockey as far as the domestic leagues goes in coverage. Even the Austrian nation soccer team (OFB-Team, there's really no national team nickname) languishes well behind the top European, Asian, African, and Americas nations in the FIFA rankings. Even when they were in Eurobasket in their earlier editions, they weren't strong, often being among the lower tiered nations. Eurobasket eludes them since 1977, to say nothing of the World Championships and the Olympics, and presently resides in Eurobasket Division B with the likes of Sweden, The Netherlands, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Albania, Luxembourg, and Romania. At least Switzerland has a stronger and more lucrative league for players with clubs like Vevey Basket. And can happily claim an NBA player in Thabo Sefalosha with Oklahoma City. Austria can't say that in their own background on both counts. Austria is right now tied at 75th in the FIBA rankings. At least they're still plying away unlike Norway.

Since it's not a major basketball power even in Europe, its Osterreichische Basketball Bundesliga (formerly the A-League until 2005), sponsored by Admiral Sportwetten, is small time compared to the major European basketball nations. Therefore, they obviously can't compete with the major bucks they provide. The talent level in that league is comparable to the new NBL Canada. Americans make up most of the imports for the teams. Austrians naturally make up the majority of the players. There are 12 teams in the league with each of them playing each other twice in a 22-game schedule with the top 8 going to a round robin playoff. Aside from Vienna and Graz, most of the clubs are in small towns. So Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Tirol, and Salzburg aren't a part of this yet for they are more winter areas. The Reds have a lot of work to do in hoping to punch above their weight. Can't see any notable young Austrian talents that will break through and become a reliable NBA player or even in US college on the horizon.

[2sc945]

Uzbekistan is your winner out of Middle Asia as the the last qualifier for the Asian Championships. It soundly defeated its neighbor and fellow former Soviet Socialist Republic Turkmenistan 81-59 in Navioy, Uzbekistan. That was really the only game for the "Stans" in that region. Afghanistan, a revelation at the 2006 Asian Games basketball competition in Doha, Qatar, was supposed to play with those two, but the Uzbek foreign ministry failed to authorized visas for the Afghan basketball delegation to travel to the tournament.

Uzbekistan will play with Iran, Chinese Taipei, and Qatar in Group B, which is really a tough group when you think about it given that those three are far higher in the Asian basketball pecking order with two of the three played in international tournaments outside of Asia in recent years. Like the WCs and Olympics.


Based on Uzbekistan's poor performance in the Asian Champs, I thought Afghanistan would have a real chance against the Uzbeks. Shame on the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.

[2sc945]

Austria--not Australia, I mean this! :)--and basketball do not instantly come to mind or come together. Outside of soccer, handball, and a few Olympian medalists in individual sports (think swimmers Markus Rogan and Mirna Jukic and runner Stephanie Graf), Austria is far more of a winter sports powerhouse. Basketball definitely has fans among the younger Austrian set with the NBA being shown on satelitte like on SKY Deutschland and Sport 1, but languishes far behind soccer and ice hockey as far as the domestic leagues goes in coverage. Even the Austrian nation soccer team (OFB-Team, there's really no national team nickname) languishes well behind the top European, Asian, African, and Americas nations in the FIFA rankings. Even when they were in Eurobasket in their earlier editions, they weren't strong, often being among the lower tiered nations. Eurobasket eludes them since 1977, to say nothing of the World Championships and the Olympics, and presently resides in Eurobasket Division B with the likes of Sweden, The Netherlands, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Albania, Luxembourg, and Romania. At least Switzerland has a stronger and more lucrative league for players with clubs like Vevey Basket. And can happily claim an NBA player in Thabo Sefalosha with Oklahoma City. Austria can't say that in their own background on both counts. Austria is right now tied at 75th in the FIBA rankings. At least they're still plying away unlike Norway.

Since it's not a major basketball power even in Europe, its Osterreichische Basketball Bundesliga (formerly the A-League until 2005), sponsored by Admiral Sportwetten, is small time compared to the major European basketball nations. Therefore, they obviously can't compete with the major bucks they provide. The talent level in that league is comparable to the new NBL Canada. Americans make up most of the imports for the teams. Austrians naturally make up the majority of the players. There are 12 teams in the league with each of them playing each other twice in a 22-game schedule with the top 8 going to a round robin playoff. Aside from Vienna and Graz, most of the clubs are in small towns. So Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Tirol, and Salzburg aren't a part of this yet for they are more winter areas. The Reds have a lot of work to do in hoping to punch above their weight. Can't see any notable young Austrian talents that will break through and become a reliable NBA player or even in US college on the horizon.


WoW, u r doing b'ball reports all over the world....

[Durbansandshark]

BREAKING NEWS: FIBA announces that Turkey will host the women's Olympic qualification tournament (June 25-July 1) with Venezuela will host the men's version (July 2-8, 2012). Not bad choices on both counts. I'm thinking Istanbul and Caracas will be the cities. FIBA apparently did not want both tourneys to be in Europe like it was last time for Beijing (Madrid and Athens). Would not be surprised to see Turkey's organizers turn to the 2010 World Basketball Championship people for consultation.
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/50139/arti.html

[Durbansandshark]

Wanna get schooled with some more info on Austrian basketball? Check these websites out, all of them are in German, of course. You may not understand it all (I took German in all of my four years at high school). But here they are:

http://www.oebl.at/ (Austria's Admiral Basketball Bundesliga League)
http://www.basketballaustria.at/ (Basketball Austria or Osterreichscher Basketballverband)
http://www.fullcourtpress.at/ (new Austrian basketball magazine)
http://www.awbl-basketball.at/ (Austrian Women's Basketball League)

Spalding is the official athletic outfitter for the Austrian national teams. Other known teams it outfits include Belgium (as seen in Eurobasket) and The Netherlands.

Guess I'll bring back the beloved Yugoslavian team again to get some attention. This time it's for a debate. Yugoslavia vs. Spain. That would make an incredibly interesting one over who was better. I'm talking about pre-breakup civil war Yugoslavia--you know Kukoc, Petrovic, Divac, Radja, Djordjevic, Vrankovic, Danilovic, Paspalj, Horvath, Zdov, and legendary coach Dusan Ivkovic. Spain now is very much like the beloved Yugoslavian team of yesteryear, except they are more athletic with Gasol (both brothers), Vasquez, Garbajosa, Fernandez, Rubio, Calderon, Ibaka, Navarro, Claver, and Llull. Like to hear your thoughts on this one.
http://www.ballineurope.com/national-teams/spain-yugoslavia-greatest-all-time-9259/

You can call the following "the African Hoop Dreams". A new documentary came out that played in film festivals in the southwest US. When you go to Dakar, Senegal, you witness the incubator of a growing presence of prospective players from the West African nation of Senegal in all of the rickety rims and cracked concrete that resemble a secondhand basketball court. This is where you see West Africa's most promising players learn to hone their skills in the aim for a scholarship for US prep school and hopefully a NCAA D1 school in suburban America, visa in hand. It's called Elevate, directed by Anne Buford, the younger sister of San Antonio Spurs GM RC Buford, who knows some things about African basketball himself. She tells the heart-warming story of four Seengalese teenage boys going through the ups and downs of succeeding from the SEEDS Academy in Dakar to challenging one another to get noticed by recruits, adjusting to the American prep-level of basketball, learning English, and dealing with all of the cultural shocks, language barriers, and ignorance they face as Africans and Muslims (French and Wolof-speaking Senegal is overwhelmingly Muslim) in America with lots of laughs along the way. See the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz0fqXucf5Q

[Durbansandshark]

Next year--it's already 2012 over where many of you mates are--promises to be a big year for international basketball. We'll definitely cover that as we go into the new year.

To start with, can you really believe it's going to be 20 years since the Dream Team captivated, dominated, and schooled basketball fans worldwide with their play?! Oh, what a calvary of legendary riders who seemingly came from another galaxy that graced their way to Barcelona! Everybody wanted to see these rock stars who were instead of staying at the Olympic Village but at a downtown Barcelona hotel with the camera lightbulbs flashing at the Badalona Sports Palace. Yes, even their opponents. There definitely will be references up to London and some honorings to them: they're already enshrined at the Naismith Hall of Fame, no surprise there. To start with, I'll post up the Seeven Network's coverage of the famous debut Olympic game in Barcelona against the poor Angolans 116-48 with Graham McNaney and former Melbourne Tigers (and Boomers) coach Lindsay Gaze doing the colo(u)r commentary as part of 7's coverage of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. We'll never see anything like this again in our lifetimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H3s3LsuoDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Uicgz9HSU

[bobsuncle]

wow 20 years gone so quick https://imageshackau.com/sports/131/b/happy.gifhttps://imageshackau.com/sports/133/b/happy.gifhttps://imageshackau.com/sports/138/b/happy.gif
https://imageshackau.com/sports/123/b/happy.gifhttps://imageshackau.com/sports/52/b/happy.gifhttps://imageshackau.com/sports/134/b/happy.gif

[Durbansandshark]

Moscow 1980 has been on my mind again here. Got some more 1980 Moscow 1980 Olympic basketball footage. This one from the men's Olympic basketball medal round between eventual gold medalists Yugoslavia, led by Drazen Dalipagic, Kresimir Kosic, Dragan Kicanovic, and Mirza Delibasic, and their Soviet hosts with Alex Belov, the torch lighter. The final score was 101-91 that disappointed the Soviet faithful who were expecting gold (the Soviet women did that later on) playing at the mammoth Olympiski Sports Arena Complex, a venue that simultaneously hosted Olympic boxing with large curtain dividing both because of the size. The Soviet Union later won bronze over Spain. Soviet fans whistling during this. Taken from Yugoslavian state TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ChzNdFNxSk

In a roundabout way, I'm dedicating that in memory of former Boomer Michael Turner, who played on that 1980 Olympic Boomers team that finished 7th.

I also have Network Ten's footage of the 1988 Boomers bronze medal game with the USA, an important moment of course in the development and popularity of Australian basketball still impacting to this day. From where I am in the States, that game came live in the morning on NBC as I was getting ready for school, already upset at the last Olympic team of college all-stars, many would become NBA stars like David Robinson, Hersey Hawkins, Dan Majerle, Willie Anderson, Charles Smith, Danny Manning, Mitch Richmond, Stacey Augmon, J.R. Reid, and Bimbo Coles. We didn't get the full game here since it was a blowout and people here were disappointed about what happened with the Soviets in the semis, a team filled with players largely from the Baltics (with another notable player on that team, Alexander Volkov, being Ukrainian, so I think was Tikhonenko) that precipitated the Dream Team's arrival four years later. From what I can recall, we Americans didn't get the gold medal game between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union on NBC due to the mass disinterest with no Americans, save for the highlights. Wow, check out the lovely mullets on Ray Borner, Mark Bradtke, Larry Sengstock, Luc Longley, and the receeding hairline on Phil "The General" Smyth (and the jerseys that says nothing but Australia on the back not their names)! Too bad Rob Sibley couldn't play. Phil Lynch and likely Debbie Spillane with the call from Seoul's Chamsil (now spelled Jamsil) Gymnasium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pLSWkj0EhU

The final moments in the 1996 Olympic quarterfinal game between Australia, featuring that golden generation, and Croatia, still reeling from the Drazen Petrovic tragedy, in Atlanta's Georgia Dome, that propelled the Boomers to go into the semifinals for the first time since 1988 to face the USA and then Lithuania. The pass from Andrew Gaze to Tony Ronaldson getting fouled by Dino Radja with his jumper to win it for the Boomers. Some of that footage you may have seen on 7's promos for Sydney such as them celebrating from the bench. Too bad this is not from 7 but from Croatian broadcaster HRT. There actually, we all know, an Australian portion in the Croatian diaspora. Croatia hasn't been to a quarterfinal in any important international basketball comp since 1995.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbcrLRHmcAg

[Durbansandshark]

NZ really dodged a serious bullet with the Olympic qualification draw took place in their grouping. Its only real threat in their group to advance lies in Angola, which has been to give nations like Germany trouble in recent times. I don't think they'll qualify for London largely of the fact the Tall Blacks are still undersized when pitted against the likes of Russia, Greece, Lithuania, and the Dominican Republic. Too bad their Commonwealth cousins the Canadians couldn't join in on the party, because it would've help them further in the transition on the long road back to international respectability. As for Nigeria and Angola, the African nations didn't get any quarter from this. Angola, being the far more experienced and organized internationally of the two despite not ever having any NBA player, will give it their to make two African teams in Olympic basketball since Seoul 1988 (Central African Republic and Egypt) with Tunisia already there. If you want to know who I think will make it to London now with this draw, it will be Lithuania, Greece, and Russia. The Dominican Republic can make it instead of Russia if Al Horford can get healthy in time for Venezeula.

Found more footage of the men's basketball in Moscow 1980. Both involving Brazil in the final round for the medals. Brazil didn't make it among the four vying for the medals out of the six that did as among the top two in each of the three groups--it heartbreakingly lost to Yugoslavia in their last game to deny them their third win in it. It came out of Group A with leaders the Soviets. One notable game had the Brazilians blast India for a Dream Team-like game 137-64. However, it was the Olympic debut for a legendary career of one, young Oscar Daniel Bazerra Schmidt, the Holy Hand. Simply Oscar here, he of the offensive prowess that we had seen for many, many years that includes five consecutive Olympics from Moscow to Atlanta. It's all in black and white because apparently that's how the TV this guy has was recorded. Brazil had color TV since 1972 but with full-time color transmission six years later. So the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics was fully broadcasted in color on Brazilian TV. What is so interesting back then was the country was under military rule, while many Western Hemisphere nations joined the US-led boycott, which included several Latin American nations ruled by the military. Yeah, they were sporting their traditional green and gold vertically striped jerseys and green short shorts. All at the mammoth Olimpiski Sports Complex, and the Luiz Noriega call sounding like it was on a telephone.

Brazil narrowly edged Cuba in the first one 94-93 (Brazil is wearing yellow jerseys with green numbering or its trimming here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEDnxWQLcc0

Brazil bests Italy in their second-to-last final game for each in the final round 90-77
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNp6EraWcQs

[Durbansandshark]

Canada's women gets a solid draw in the Pre-Olympic Qualification tournament to be held in Ankara, Turkey in late June, where they face heavy faves France and Mali. Canada is currently 11th in the FIBA World Rankings. Do like Canada's chances for a spot. Other groupings are:

Japan, Puerto Rico, Turkey

Argentina, Czech Republic, New Zealand

Croatia, South Korea, Mozambique

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/basketball/canada-learns-olympic-qualifying-hoops-draw/article2339918/

[Durbansandshark]

Nice story that just came up online. Another woman has joined the gradually-growing ranks of women coaching men's teams with Ashley McElhinney and Olga Hrycak. We talk about Jeremy Lin now as an Asian-American basketball trailblazer. What's makes even more unique here lies in the fact it's going on in the land of her grandparents and speaks nothing in the native language and is not widely regarded as a huge basketball power or pro league--Japan and near Tokyo. Injuries cut short her basketball career that emerged from UCLA but she turned to coaching. She's even got former NBA coach Bob Hill's recommendation.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/first-female-basketball-coach-japan-eyes-nba-075205673.html

In commeration of the 20th anniversary of the Dream Team, Nike, the official outfitters of USA Basketball, is putting out all the stops for it in London. Three days ago, the Team USA jerseys for the London Olympics were made public going the same route as the soccer jerseys in terms of using recycled plastic bottles (http://dimemag.com/2012/02/nike-unveils-team-usa-basketball-uniforms/) under the Hyperelite banner. The numbering are the same from Beijing but the USA font is different--which is why I like the four years ago look better. The company also unvieled the Team USA Basketball apparel and sneaker line (http://dimemag.com/2012/02/nike-unveils-dream-team-collection-of-sneakers-apparel/) bridging the past with the present by including bringing back past basketball sneaker models used in past Olympics with the red, white, blue, and gold.

[Durbansandshark]

Team GB's new Olympic basketball unis for London 2012 in their first Olympic basketball sojourn since 1948 designed by Stella McCartney unvieled today:

http://www.mvp247.com/2012/03/gb-olympic-kit/

[boz_novocastrian]

Not too bad of a design

[Durbansandshark]

Diana Tuarasi not unexpectedly joins Geno Auriemma's Team USA women's basketball roster for London

Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)
Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever)
Swin Cash (Chicago Sky)
Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx)
Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky)
Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks)
Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun)
Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream)
Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx)
Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx)

Not sure who will be the last player chosen by Auriemma and his staff. Obviously will be a WNBA star. Can't see All-Americans Britney Greiner, Skylar Diggins, let alone Elena DelleDonne for this. They haven't even tasted consistent top level professional basketball or international play yet. You best be sure they will become shoo-ins for Rio. Team USA will be deep and tough again.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4375013

[Durbansandshark]

I don't just get it. Yesterday at the 100-day Olympic mark before London, FOXTEL outlined its 2012 London Olympic broadcasting plans (http://www.foxtel.com.au/about-foxtel/communications/foxtel-unveils-broadast-plans-for-london-2012-olympic-games-168116.htm) for Australian customers in the most comprehensive Olympic TV coverage ever in Australia with 8 channels. But basketball doesn't have a channel devoted to its own. Never mind the fact that both the Boomers and the Opals have been at the top level for at least 30 years now internationally and built a very respectable pedigree with a strong following of fans down there. Maybe this reflects the still semi-marginal appeal the sport has down there in comparison to swimming. As an American here, I can understand that and see that basketball is much stronger in appeal where I'm at than in Australia and New Zealand.

Also, I noticed that Andrew Gaze is calling the commentary in London and apparently only him over there. For both FOXTEL and Nine. He's not the only one sharing duties with the Nine Network. Even Eddie McGuire's doing both as host. But I can expect Drewy covering for FOXTEL since of course he does NBL games games for FOX Sports Australia, so there's some synergy involved. Why can't Steve Carfino join in? Then again he never donned the Boomers green and gold. Olympic basketball competition alternates with days for women's and men's basketball. There has been no announcer for the women's games. Would FOXTEL and Nine consider having the likes of Rachel Sporn or Michelle Timms calling Opals and other Olympic women's basketball games? FOXTEL did say basketball will be on many of the channels competition time permitting.

Though it hasn't been officially announced yet, I can expect from my part of the world we would have again like with Beijing 2008 NBC Universal having an Olympic Basketball Channel (and another one solely for soccer) with Team USA games on the recently-rechristened NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus and OLN before that), designated as the premier hub for Olympic sports on all the NBC Olympic family of networks--NBC proper, NBC Sports Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, and Spanish network Telemundo. Save for the gold medal game on NBC, all of the Team USA games will go towards NBC Sports. The OBC will also have USA games. That's the basis I'm going by on all this.

In Canada, I don't know yet officially what networks involved in the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium will get involved with basketball, among them--CTV, TSN, TSN2, Rogers Sportsnet, Sportsnet ONE (?), OLN (English), RDS, RDS2, RDS INFO, V (French), APTN, OMNI, and ATN (multilingual). Though I'm thinking TSN and RDS2. More TSN because of Matt Devlin, Jack Armstrong, former Canadian national team member Sherman Hamilton, and Leo Rautins who cover the Toronto Raptors games on TSN's portion of the coverage. Those three outside of Hamilton just helped out on TSN's March Madness coverage. If the Canadian women do qualify later, maybe Stacey Dales could join them.

[Durbansandshark]

The London Olympics basketball draw took place today. And it was interesting. I was SO hoping for a USA-Australia group play match like in Athens. Team GB's got it tough in their group. And I think the Boomers too, though I admit seeing the Boomers facing Team GB in their Commonwealth birth mother's home would be quite interesting and a sight to see.

MEN:
GROUP A
Argentina, France, Tunisia, United States, Olympic basketball qualifier 1, Olympic qualifier 2

GROUP B
Australia, Brazil, China, Great Britain, Spain, Olympic qualifier 3

Great Britain starts their Olympic campaign with that ever-tough Spain.

WOMEN:
GROUP A
Angola, China, USA, Olympic qualifier 1, Olympic qualifer 2, Olympic qualifier 4

GROUP B
Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Russia, Olympic qualifier 3, Olympic qualifier 5

Again here, Team GB gets no favors as a host. What they're getting is likely a suicidal group with those three. But under coach Tom Maher, they will get meaningful international experience; if the women manage to make it to the quarterfinals, Maher had accomplished his job. I hope Canada makes it into Group B by finishing either third or fifth out of Turkey. Meanwhile, if the French women make it, they'll likely be the only real threat to the USA in their group. Look for me to talk about more Team GB soon.

[Durbansandshark]

Last piece of the Team USA women's team was filled when former UCONN star Asjha Jones got called to Geno's squad, making her part of three-fifths of the famed UCONN's TASSK Force (Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and Keirsten Walters) over a decade ago on Team USA. Obviously, size, length, and defense are definitely not going to be issues though Geno went on record admiring Britney Greiner. But for all her size, skills, and NCAA success, Auriemma gave the nod to someone at her peak and already familiar with the FIBA rules by overseas professionally and earning lucrative bucks at it during the WNBA offseason.
http://www.fullcourt.com/lee-michaelson/5887/asjha-jones-rounds-out-2012-us-olympic-team-roster

Full disclosure to what I was talking about all the Olympic coverage, I also write posts for an Olympic Games website, where I generally discuss about the media developments. I still use my moniker there as I do here. Right now, London gets the nod: check it out here (http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/topic/18486-london-2012-olympic-media-updates/). I still do the Vancouver one from two years ago (http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/topic/13548-vancouver-olympic-media-updates/page__pid__197747#entry197747), and did Beijing's (http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/topic/8436-some-more-olympic-tv-updates/page__hl__%20beijing%20%20olympic%20%20media%20%20 updates). Go check them all out to see the worldwide coverage that we do. I know you'll like them! :)

[Durbansandshark]

Last time I brought you the Dream Team USA first Olympic game in Barcelona versus African champs Angola, it wasn't complete with its Australian coverage from the Seven Network that ended with Sir Charles' elbowing. A shame for I liked the coverage from Lindsay Gaze and Graham McNaney. Here is the full game from NBC live that was on Sunday afternoon US time with Albert and Fratello that features beforehand members of the ill-fated 1988 US men's team recalling their failure in Seoul.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O1kUku4iWU

Croatia and the Boomers quarterfinal game from Barcelona taken from Croatia's HRT TV network. Drazen Petrovic had 25 points in their 98-65 blowout win over Australia, who later lost to Brazil for fifth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCxWKX370nc

Dream Team's third game in the Barcelona Olympics with Germany starring Detlef Schrempf in its entirety. Don't you think a very young Dirk Nowitzki was watching this back home on either ARD or ZDF and studying it? Back then, NBC, fully aware this was going to be a blowout, would end up going away from many Dream Team games until the very end (or, heaven forbid, something interesting developed). That's how it was for us here in the US with almost all of the Dream Team games unless you were among those who managed to order the infamous Olympic Triplecast on your cable system. Live from Spain's TVE 2. The following year Germany would go on and win the European Championships as hosts sans Schrempf with the likes of Harnisch, Koch, Rodl, Gnad, Welp, and Jackael.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fP43DWt88Q

This is the enshirement of the 1992 US Olympic Men's Basketball Team at the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield. Only thing Chuck Daly wasn't there to enjoy the moment too with his passing. But this was not unexpected. Everyone still looking good from that team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qWv8f4Pijs
(following taken on someone's video camera with a wider angle from the raftters to see the reactions of many from Larry's speech, which is why I selected it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6sQdgVzdDY

In a related story commemorating the 20th anniversary of the beloved Dream Team, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group will have Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, and David Robinson will appear on retro-style soda cans from Sunkist, 7UP, A&W Root Beer, Canada Dry, and Sun Drop starting very soon on May 15. Michael Jordan, of course, already has a deal with Gatorade. Christian Laettner is a Vitamin Water pitchman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZZIKsQiPl0), a Coca-Cola product via Glaceau. So neither can their likenesses in them. Don't know about the others.

[Durbansandshark]

Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four 2012 in Istanbul's Sinem Erdem Dome this weekend is going to be huge with CSKA Moscow battling defending Euroleague champs Panathinikos with 2010 Euroleaguie champs FC Barcelona facing the preceeding winners in 2009 Olympiakos Pireaus. With being the faves comes immense pressure to win for CSKA Moscow with Andrei Kirilenko (staying put at home because of the lockout at the time), Nenad Krstic, and Milos Teodosic. CSKA has just been terrific this season. But never count out the Greens with their vast experience.
http://www.mvp247.com/2012/05/euroleague-semis/
http://www.euroleague.net/
http://www.euroleague.net/final-four/istanbul-2012/main-page

Canada's favo(u)rite basketball player Steve Nash becomes the GM of the Canadian men's basketball team to be the same kind of person Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman successfully have been with Canada Hockey. Yet, he's still active in the NBA. With its youth teams, Canada is on the upswing.
http://www.canada.com/sports/basketball/6588370/story.html

Now let's talk about the latest exploits on Olympic hosts Team GB, shall we? :)

Been a while since we last talked about them. Didn't get to them much during their Eurobasket endeavors, Would've liked to. But anyway, Robert Archibald, among many on the team, was happy to focus on London for the British after Eurobasket in Lithuania and getting some wins (http://www.mvp247.com/2011/09/2275/), especially for him fresh off the birth of his child. Pops Mesah-Bonsu headed to one of Turkey's top teams Besiktas (http://www.mvp247.com/2011/12/pops-besiktas/), a team had Deron Williams and supposedly later Lamar Odom, following an injury last season playing in French club ASVEL. Joel Freeland extended his contract with Unicaja Malaga in Spain (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/02/freeland-malaga-extension/). But of course, here on these boards, we discussed Loul Deng's sustained wrist ligament damage sidelining him for several weeks (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/01/deng-injury-a-worry/). But Charlotte Bobcat Byron Mullens finally got the paperwork and the passport to play for Team GB (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/02/mullens-for-gb/) by virtue of his Middlesex-raised mother. The British men's training camp in Houston in June (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/03/gb-men-schedule/), where head coach Chris Finch acts as an assistant to Kevin McHale's Houston Rockets, will feature them facing Russia and Lithuania twice before heading in early July to France and Spain to face those teams. Then back to British soil with exhibition matches headlined by the USA in Manchester, which no doubt will have the fans packing, but later in Sheffield with Tunisia and then Portugal and Belgium at the latter. Unfortunately, they will have to soldier on minus the popular Flinder Boyd, a San Francisco-born player, who decided to call time (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/03/flinder-boyd-retires/) on his career that includes 34 international caps to his name because of injuries. So too without Will Neighbour with his shoulder injury and Andy Betts not reconsidering his retirement (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/04/neighbour-out-olympics/). But Neighbour is only 21. Following all that, check out the initial Team GB men's roster devised by Chris Finch and his staff that includes London-born NBA star from the Detroit Pistons Ben Gordon ( http://www.mvp247.com/2012/04/gb-initial-squad/) finally getting to make his long-awaited mark on the team.

As for the Team GB women, Australian coach Tom Maher and his British women were handed a gruelling 18-game schedule from May (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/03/gb-women-schedule/) through Europe and to China (back and forth from the UK to July to culminate it) against many of the teams they'll likely face back home to get them Olympic-ready and internationally-experienced as hosts in the hopes of ultimately getting to the quarterfinals. Hope they won't get spent come late July. You can Tom Maher's thoughts on his immediate tune-up opponents here (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/03/gb-women-face-tough-warm-ups/) and here (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/03/gb-women-preview-part-2/), culminating with USA also in Manchester like the men. After that though, Roz Mason, Jo Claydon, and Mairi Buchan were omitted from the squad when Maher brought in some younger, rising players after trimming the roster down to 20 (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/03/gb-women-squad-20/). Rose Anderson aims to fight for a place on the Team GB roster (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/04/anderson-gb/) at training camp while Sarah Naylor and Bonnie Samuelson both got dropped (http://www.mvp247.com/2012/04/gb-women-to-18/) to make it down to 18.

Basketball top brass also met in Orlando to discuss what its future plans are in February.
http://www.mvp247.com/2012/02/gb-chiefs-orlando/

At least both British squads have managed to avoid the US.

Some really rare footage here. Michael Jordan and Team USA winning gold at the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. Kinda fitting that was last time USA won gold in men's basketball in those games. The call was live from CBS with Gary Bender and Billy Packer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFZakGAvf1c

[2sc945]

WOMEN:
GROUP A
Angola, China, USA, Olympic qualifier 1, Olympic qualifer 2, Olympic qualifier 4

GROUP B
Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Russia, Olympic qualifier 3, Olympic qualifier 5

Again here, Team GB gets no favors as a host. What they're getting is likely a suicidal group with those three. But under coach Tom Maher, they will get meaningful international experience; if the women manage to make it to the quarterfinals, Maher had accomplished his job. I hope Canada makes it into Group B by finishing either third or fifth out of Turkey. Meanwhile, if the French women make it, they'll likely be the only real threat to the USA in their group. Look for me to talk about more Team GB soon.


I can't believe it. Who made the draws? If I were the head coach of one of teams that will contest the 3rd place playoff, I'd order my team to lose intentionly so my team can finish 4th and be drawn into an easier group.

[Cram]

Brazil seems to have all of their big guns in the running with Nene, Splitter, Barbosa and Varejao all being named to their 15 man squad. They also seem to have most of their other top players available meaning they're gonna be a very tough out in our group. Right now the Boomers are looking at being 3rd (behind Spain and Brazil, ahead of GB and China). Of course the 3rd place qualifier will likely be a strong contender as well.

I would expect the Euro teams to dominate the qualifying tournament and probably take all three places (Greece, Lithuania and Russia) with all being able to make noise in the main tournament once there. Puerto Rico and New Zealand would have to be considered chances depending on form etc, but I really think the Euros will sweep it.

In reality, we HAVE to beat China and GB to progress to the quarters and need to win at least one of the other games to make sure we dont get the 1st place of group B (likely USA) in the quarters. That will take our best effort.