Rimantas Kaukenas 24
Euroleague Power Rankings: 2012-13 Opening Day Edition
All right, it’s that time again! With hours to go before the 2012-13 Euroleague season tips off, BallinEurope breaks out its first power ratings for the big league. Whereas normally a disclaimer to the effect of “the following ratings are based on current trending only and are not necessarily based on the overall quality of […]
Romanov hit with key Žalgiris question: “Will Plaza be sacked as quickly as Zouros?”
Over at Russia-based Sport Express is a lengthy interview with Žalgiris Kaunas basketball/Heart of Midlothian football club owner Vladimir Romanov. Popularly Sometimes known as “Mad Vlad,” the Ūkio Bankas man weighed in on quite a few topics related to his basketball team, including the Sonny Weems departure, the state of Russian basketball and just what […]
Is Jonas Valanciunas the problem for Team Lithuania?
And here’s a second question: Shall composition of the requiem for Lietuva’s 2012 Olympic bid begin now? Sadly, it doesn’t look good for our heroes with Team USA on the slate tomorrow and a first-round date with presumably Spain or (BiE’s pick) Russia in the knockout stage – and this in the 20th anniversary year […]
2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament Preview: Lithuania
The 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men tips off in Venezuela today at 11am local time (11.30am EST, 5.30pm CET) with the Russia-South Korea match. Of the 12 national teams competing, four are European. The last of BallinEurope’s previews of these qualifiers features an assessment of Lithuania. Roster: Tomas Delininkaitis, Paulius Jankūnas, Mantas […]
Lithuania “struggles” in 77-68 loss to Russia: Kaun nets 21; Valanciunas gets 12, eight boards
For lack of YouTube clips and FIBA posts, BallinEurope directs you to Lithuania Basketball for a brief writeup on the Russia-Lietuva friendly in Houston last night. The general gist: Despite taking a 37-35 lead into halftime, Team Lithuania struggled enough in the third quarter to take a 77-68 loss. In fact, “struggle” appears to be […]
Kemzura releases extended Team Lithuania roster: No to Lavrinovic brothers, yes to Kleiza
National head coach Kestutis Kemzura has released his list of 18 candidates who could be suiting up for Team Lithuania in the 2012 Olympic qualifiers and beyond. On paper at least, the selection looks pretty good – particularly compared to the Eurobasket 2011 version of the team which included a single true no. 3 after […]
On the demise of Lithuanian Basketball
BallinEurope is not exactly sure what led our man in Lithuania, the enigmatic Y., to contemplate the fortunes of his country’s national team … but who are we to question a Lietuva hometowner when it comes to basketball? Y. goes back eight years to figure out where things went so terribly wrong and unfortunately finds […]
Jordan Farmar nets Euroleague Player of the Week honors
Locked-out New Jersey Net Jordan Farmar continued his personal drive to history in impressive fashion against Real Madrid on Thursday night. Farmar contributed a huge 35 overall performance index rating based on 27 points on 10-of-12 overall shooting to go with five assists in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 88-82 win. The official Euroleague writeup on the […]
Official Fearless Predictions™: Spain vs. Slovenia, Lithuania vs. FYR Macedonia
Now things are getting interesting. Eight teams remain in EuroBasket 2011, and tonight two will be eliminated from contention for the European championship. These teams will join with the losing teams of Thursday play in a playoff round to determine the all-important no. 5 and no. 6 finishers; this two sides will join nos. 3 […]
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, […]
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 […]
“We are the best team in Europe”: Euroleague Final Four sound bites
The Euroleague officially opened the festivities for the 2011 Final Four yesterday with a squall of press conferences, publicity and media events – but BiE will give you the short version, as presented in video form by the big league itself.