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British Basketball announces 21-man national team roster, dubbed “strongest Team Britain ever”
Head coach Chris Finch and the British Basketball Federation today released a preliminary roster of 21 players to compete for spots on the host team’s 2012 Olympic team. Given the fairly short modern history of FIBA-level basketball on the ‘Isles, the claim from the federation that this is the “strongest-ever preliminary GB men’s squad” isn’t […]
Sam vs. the Future: Basketball predictions for 2012
It’s always a good time for some predictions, eh? Sam Chadwick, Ball in Europe’s man in the UK, today dusts off the Official BallinEurope Crystal Ball in looking forward to another year of top-quality basketball in the world’s top competitions. Who does Sammy like in the NBA, Euroleague, college ball and the Olympics? Read on […]
EuroBasket power rankings, post round one edition
The 2011 FIBA EuroBasket tournament gets things started again today, after the 12 advancing teams get in a couple days’ worth of hard-earned rest. With the dust now settled, BallinEurope takes a look at how the dozen sides look going into the second round of play (numbers in parentheses represent each team’s win-loss record brought […]
Live blogging Eurobasket 2011: Great Britain vs. Lithuania
So, what to look for in this game? BallinEurope sat in one some of the Great Britain practice session today and must say the team looked pretty loose, but will imperviousness to pressure be enough? After all, the specter of the missing Ben Gordon (and, as Ogo Adegboye pointed out to BiE yesterday, Pops Mensah-Bonsu) […]
Eurobasket 2011 Power Rankings: First take
As just nine days remain until Eurobasket 2011 tips off in Lithuania, BallinEurope today takes a look back at the performances of the two dozen teams slated to compete in the big tournament and deploys some good old power rankings – and lotsa highlight clips from friendlies and tourneys played throughout The Continent. Once again, […]
European Vocation: Early fallout from NBA lockout
The NBA fan’s nightmare came to pass yesterday with the expiration of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the players, the concomitant announcement of a player lockout, and fresh new fear that professional basketball in 2011-12 might not even happen in the ‘States. BallinEurope’s gut reaction, at least on a visceral Eurocentric level? Cool! Bring […]
Baumann of FIBA/IOC levies more demands on British basketball
Despite the fact that Team Britain has managed to qualify for 2010 Eurobasket tournaments on both men’s and women’s sides, FIBA secretary-general/International Olympic Committee member Patrick Baumann has placed yet another condition to be met in exchange for bids at the 2012 Olympic Games. According to today’s Scotsman newspaper via a letter sent from Baumann […]
Interview: The Man Who Would Save British Basketball
While much of international basketball fandom is anticipating the 2010 World Championship and the powerful teams’ backers dream of glory, one national team is fighting for its very survival against what some feel is an unfair burden placed upon them by FIBA and the IOC: Great Britain. Great Britain held on for their fifth consecutive […]
FIBA’s Baumann frets about British basketball post-2012; Spice reassures
UK-based Sporting Life recently posted an couple of articles regarding the odd state of the national program and which insinuate FIBA’s greater concern with basketball in the country. On Monday, the ‘paper presented a long interview with FIBA secretary-general/International Olympic Committee inspector Patrick Baumann. Among other issues, Baumann spoke at length about what he and […]
Best of the (basketball) net: Food-and-retro edition
For your edification and amusement, Ball in Europe presents seven stories, interviews, blog entries and whatnot definitively worth a little of your time on a Sunday. Read on, compliments of us and a bunch of hard-working writers out there. The Los Angeles Times was intrigued enough by the blogging activities of Coleman Collins – he […]
Vanderbeken chooses Great Britain over Canada
Team Britain may not be playing EuroBasket 2009 with Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, but at least they’ve got … Jamie Vanderbeken. Vanderbeken’s decision was actually something of a lifetime commitment: The 23-year-old was feeling a bit pressed to choose between his father’s home country of Canada and Britain, due to his Scottish’s mother’s citizenship. […]
Doomed Britannia? Deng will not play in Eurobasket 2009
Bad news for fledging Team Great Britain’s Eurobasket 2009 chances: Luol Deng joins former Chicago Bulls teammate Ben Gordon in the “out” category. Deciding that his stress fracture injury has not yet properly healed, Deng decided to sit this one out. Gordon decided as early as last August that he wouldn’t be joining the makeshift […]