Pops Mensah-Bonsu 59
CSKA Moscow-Zalgiris Kaunas: The history, the highlight clips
Though CSKA Moscow and Žalgiris Kaunas have never met on a opening day before, this matchup of perpetual Continental powers makes for an appropriate inauguration for the 2011-12 Euroleague season. Since the 2001-02 edition of the big league, both sides have appeared in Europe’s top basketball competition, building up something of a rivalry (albeit a […]
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) […]
Pops Mensah-Bonsu talks England v. Ghana
Those of you who are fans of that other roundball sport they play in Britain and other parts of Europe, i.e. football a.k.a. soccer, will definitely want to check out the video clip below. On the occasion of next Tuesday’s historic first-ever meeting between England and Ghana’s national teams, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, he of the “Olympic-bound […]
FIBA grants Team Great Britain its Olympic bid for 2012 Games
Congratulations from BallinEurope go out tonight to Luol Deng, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and the boys of Team Britain tonight; the message came across to BiE via Facebook and read simply: “FIBA Central Board has GRANTED Team GB an automatic host place at the 2012 London Olympics.” We’ll see you in London, guys!
British Basketball: What they're saying on the eve of The FIBA Decision
If it hadn’t been for all the personality-cult stuff surrounding a certain King James, the fateful FIBA committee vote scheduled for Sunday would more rightly be known as “The Decision”: In Lyons this weekend, the final determination will be made as to whether Team Britain receives for the 2012 London Games the traditionally-granted automatic qualification […]
Basketball Dreaming: Will Taiwan Phenomenon continue?
Now something of a personal story, if you’ll allow BiE. One of the great things about working a blog such as BallinEurope – after getting proper press seating for stuff like Euroleague Final Four and FIBA World Championships, of course – are the people you meet as a journalist. BiE’s not talking about hobnobbing with […]
The Eurocentric 2010-11 NBA Preview (or How the Hoops World revolves around Europe)
With the 2010-11 NBA season tipping off tonight, BallinEurope marks the occasion in the best way possible: By overrating the league’s Continental players and making a few offhand Fearless Predictions™ in the guise of a preview column. Brief notes and snarky remarks on all 25 NBA teams follow. (Yes, BiE said “all 25.” Since the […]
Pops and Pargo to New Orleans Hornets
Aaaaaaaand already BallinEurope needs to change the official list of European players in the NBA: The New Orleans Hornets have signed a couple of Euroleague regulars with which to start training camp. Yesterday, the Hornets announced that Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Jannero Pargo would be joining the team for the preseason. Pops may be the slightly […]
European players in the NBA for 2010-11 (or, Come on, Raptors, sign Primoz Brezec already) [UPDATED]
With NBA teams starting to get warmed up for the regular season tipoff, BallinEurope figured it high time to take stock of the European players prospectively set to take the court in America for 2010-11. In considering the expanded rosters for each of the 30 NBA teams, BiE counted 50 players from The Continent plus […]
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 […]