Good morning! So without further ado, here’s a roundup of some recent stories relating the Europe, basketball, and European basketball.
• What is the Euro Step? It’s The Continent’s contribution to NBA basketball! Here’s a great story on how a European technique – Sarunas Marciulionis is credited with its introduction to American hoops – has been adopted by the likes of Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo and John Wall.
• As though the prospect of an NBA lockout in 2011 weren’t bad enough, is the 2013 Eurobasket tournament itself now in danger as well? According to the Associated Press:
“The cash-strapped Slovenian government has delayed a decision on whether to support the country’s bid to host the 2013 European basketball championship.
“The government is expected to pay governing body FIBA €6.5 million for the hosting rights.
“The state-run news agency STA says cabinet members discussed the issue on Thursday, but put off a decision as Prime Minister Borut Pahor sought more detailed financial figures.
“Slovenia is the only candidate for the championship and if the government agrees to pay the fee, FIBA is expected to award it the championship on December 5.
“Slovenia is struggling with the effects of the financial crisis and has been looking to cut its expenditures.”
• Brandon Jennings back to Italy in 2011-12? That might be scary…
• The headline on this one says it all, really: “West Virginia’s Deniz Kilicli says NCAA Unfair to Foreigners.”
• And speaking of foreign ballers in American college play, add Team Germany’s Enosch Wolf to the list: The 7’1” Goettingen resident will be with no less than University of Connecticut after a year with prep school Wilbraham & Monson Academy.
• Now the basketball coach at St. Andrew’s in Maryland, Terrell Myers in the late 1990s/early 2000s played for the Sheffield Sharks and CB Murcia, among other squads on this side of the ocean. In the videos below, Myers amuses and amazes with tales of a bright-eyed American lad who had never even seen a sheep before touching down in England…