FIBA 348
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: October update
Got the vitriol brewing? All right, then, with BallinEurope now caught up on some preseason basketball viewing, it’s time for another edition of BiE’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings. Just one quick note for irritated fans (we’re looking at you, Olympiacos, Žalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas backers): Remember that these rankings are first totally subjective and secondly […]
FIBA Women’s Worlds: USA takes title, Czechs’ run “a dream”
Congratulations this morning from BallinEurope to both the USA’s and the Czech Republic’s women’s teams after last night’s FIBA World Championship final. The Stars and Stripes overcame the homers, 89-69, but the Czechs can certainly take pride in a fine tournament performance. Hana Horokova was named tournament MVP. Official FIBA writeup follows.
Team Czech Republic's biggest fan
With the FIBA World Championship for Women title game just minutes away, BallinEurope pays tribute to a man who must be the biggest women’s basketball fan in the world. Or at least in Europe. Definitely in the Czech Republic. Rostislav Pav, to whom it seems the women’s game “is better than the men’s game” will […]
FIBA slaps fine, penalties on Union Olimpija; more to come?
FIBA has slapped Union Olimpija with a €100,000 fine and has prohibited the club from signing any further players, due to non-payment of players Vlado Ilievski, Sašo Ožbolt and certain staff members. The penalty could even get worse, as further €100,000 fines could be assessed, FIBA warned, and at the extreme end the club could […]
FIBA Women’s Worlds continues today
After an off day Sunday, the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women restarts today with some notable matchups – but figure the real fireworks to come on Wednesday night. Today, defending FIBA world champions Team Australia and Olympic titlists Team USA are still undefeated and are both facing teams characterized as desperate for wins and […]
FIBA Women’s World Championship: Giants cruise, pool play ends today
Another full slate of games is going on today in the Czech Republic with the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women entering game three of pool play. Team Canada and Team Japan managed to turn in the first surprises of the tournament yesterday in overcoming China and Argentina, respectively, but otherwise it seems like business […]
Interview: Baumann on British basketball
A few days ago, BallinEurope noted some of FIBA secretary-general/International Olympic Committee member Patrick Baumann’s new demands for British Basketball vis-à-vis getting the team into the 2012 Olympic games to be held in London. The folks at Britball Media gave BiE the heads-up yesterday on an interview conducted by MVP, the “UK home for basketball” […]
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 […]
Serbian suspicion confirmed: Photo shows Tunceri stepped out
All Joey Crawford jokes and half-kidding aside, BallinEurope tries not to fault referees for blown calls too often. Nor does BiE want to get into the habit of blaming the zebras for losses; for a long time, the rant from yours truly has been something along the lines of “Well, your team shouldn’t have been […]
FIBA World Championship final: What to watch for in USA-Turkey match
And now, the conclusion of the 2010 FIBA World Championship. In hindsight, it looks like a meeting made inevitable by destiny: Hosts Turkey riding their home advantage and deploying its strongest roster since 2001 (if not ever) to meet the world’s basketball public enemy no. 1, Team USA. Since no one needs reasons to watch […]
Twelve takes on the FIBA World Championship final four
BallinEurope can hardly believe that the final four round of the 2010 FIBA World Championship is here … this fascinating and fun tournament wraps up this weekend, and BiE is happy to see The Continent well-represented and definitely well self-acquitted. Without further ado, here are twelve bits ‘n’ bites to enjoy going into the Lithuania-USA […]
FIBA World Championship semi-finals: Of Lithuanian fight songs and Fearless Predictions™
With the informal Turkish national fight song “Oniki Dev Adam” getting lots of media play thanks to the stirring renditions performed by hometown crowds at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, BallinEurope thought it would be a good time to give props to Lithuania’s own popular sports anthem.