Jonas Valanciunas 84
Kestutis Kemzura names 20 to preliminary Team Lithuania roster
Team Lithuania coach Kestutis Kemzura this morning named 20 players to his preliminary squad in advance of the Eurobasket 2011 tournament. The home team will be returning seven players from the side that took bronze in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and including one NBAer – but not Linas Kleiza. Returning from the surprise of […]
Lietuvos Rytas 68, Panathinaikos 67: How do you say “Khalid El-Amin rules!” in Lithuanian?
Forget Jeremy Pargo, Vassilis Spanoulis and even mighty Sofoklis; instead consider: Could Khalid El-Amin have been the best Euroleague free-agent signing of 2010-11? The former U. Conn Husky/journeyman of Turkey and Ukraine once again applied the dagger with two free throws for his 10th and 11th points of the game, beautifully facilitated ball movement and […]
Vesely named FIBA Europe young player of 2010
[Editor’s note: BallinEurope apologizes for a previous edition of this piece which incorrectly identified Jan Vesely as having rights owned by the Oklahoma City Thunder. This was a grievous error of which you surely need not know details. Rest assured that the infinite number of monkeys formerly ravaging the BiE headquarters are now under control […]
Prospect Dovydas Redikas signs with Lietuvos Rytas over Žalgiris Kaunas: Here’s why
A number of players from Team Lithuania’s 2010 European Championship U18 squad have been moving on the market lately, but few have caused disquiet among Žalgiris fans as Lietuvos Rytas’ recent acquisition of SG Dovydas Redikas out of Marciulionis Academy. Tournament MVP Jonas Valanciunas is already officially with Lietuvos Rytas, and his all-tournament teammate Deividas […]
Hope for the future: Young Lithuanians crush Russia, 90-61, take U18 European title
Congratulations go out this morning to the Lithuania under-18 team, which capped an undefeated romp through the 2010 FIBA U18 European Championship with a 90-61 crushing of Russia in Vilnius. A crowd of 13,000 – the all-time record for a youth game in Europe – contributed their efforts as 13th man. While not much is […]
Representing the Continent in the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit
Portland, Oregon, will tomorrow see the tipoff of the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, a showcase event featuring 20 of the world’s greatest youth basketball players going head-to-head in the 11th annual match between USA and “World” teams. As the official site and concomitant PR material likes to point out, the Nike Hoop Summit […]
L'Hospitalet: Round two of Nike Junior Tournament qualifiers tips off
Tipping off today is the 31st Torneig de Básquet Júnior “Ciutat de L’Hospitalet,” a.k.a. the second Euroleague Nike International Junior Tournament qualifiers. The L’Hospitalet tournament pool consists of 12 junior teams, including eight from Spain: DKV Joventut, Basket Valencia, and KK Split will square off in Group A; Alba Berlin, Regal FC Barcelona, and Estudiantes […]
The European Player of the Year nominees are…
The nominees are in over at FIBA Europe and, with the exception of one (or two, thanks to Rubiomania) categories, voting could be pretty tight in the FIBA Europe Player of the Year 2009. Yes, Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio are on the list in a threat to become repeat winners in the Male POY […]
FIBA U18 men, U19 women tournaments wrap
FIBA’s U18 European Championship Men and U19 World Championship for Women wrapped this weekend, with Serbia topping France in the former, 78-72, and Spain succumbing to Team USA in the latter. In Metz, France, Serbia repeated their success of 2007, when their U18s won this tournament. In breaking pattern with the typical games of the […]
U18 Finals: France vs. Serbia; consolation match pits Valanciunas vs. Kanter
Over in France in the U18 European Championship Men, it’ll be France and Serbia duking it out in the finals today after both squads used teamwork to overcome a potentially devastating individual performance. Team France held off Lithuania, 68-63, again allowing the opposition to claw its way back in the fourth quarter yet holding on […]
Final Four set at U18 European championship: Turkey, Serbia, Lithuania, France
The FIBA U18 European Championship Men tips off its semifinal round with four teams keeping title hopes alive: Lithuania, Serbia, Turkey, and France. All the teams played the quarterfinals games yesterday, with Turkey pulling off the notable upset over Spain. Today’s games pit Turkey against Serbia at 6pm CET and Lithuania against France at 8.15pm. […]
Euroleague Final Four: FMP wins the Junior tournament again
The Serbian basketball school is still dominating European Youth basketball. The team of FMP Belgrade won the Nike International Junior Tournament, this year in its seventh edition, by beating the Lithuanian team of Lietuvos Rytas in the finals.