In a game tournament officials are calling “very scorching,” consisting of “forty tremendous minutes of pure basketball,” tourney MVP Luka Maksimovic tallied the two clutchest shots of the Rinus de Jong final. Maksimovic tied the game at 74-74 with 0:01 remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter to send the teams to OT, and drove the lane for a layup to score the game’s final points.

Placing third was U.S.-based Wilbraham & Monson Academy prep, while hometown Eiffel Towers den Bosch finished fourth.

In the U18 final, undefeated VEF Riga took on Canarias, whom they’d destroyed in game two of pool play, 80-58. This “attractive match” stayed close until the fourth quarter, when Riga finally managed to pull away after threes from Davis Geks and Kristaps Gluditis; the Bulgarian side ultimately won by a final score of 77-66. Gluditis was good for 20 points, and Netherlands players Shane Hammink and Floris Versteeg were top scorers for Canarias, with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

For third place, IBA Tel Aviv went off on Atletas Kaunas, winning 106-79 for the bronze.

Top scorer of the tournament was Boris Bojanovsky of CBA’s U21 side; the best defensive player went to Janis Berzins of VEF Riga; and Riga’s Ivars Rihards Zvigurs was named the “most talented player.”

Does Vassilakopoulos have a secret plan?

The rumor first popped up a couple of days ago on Talk Basket and an intriguing bit of gossip it is, too. According to that website, the Hellenic Basketball Federation (EOK) and former FIBA Europe president George Vassilakopoulos are advancing the idea of a Mediterranean basketball league which would include teams from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Serbia, and Turkey.

This is an excellent idea indeed in BallinEurope’s opinion, for, as Talk Basket points out, most of the domestic leagues in the above-listed nations are dominated year in and year out by a select team or two. We’re talking perennial championship teams like Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Efes Pilsen, Fenerbahçe Ülker, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Partizan Belgrade, Montepaschi Siena and Apoel Nicosia: Franchises which would appear to have evolved beyond fair competition in their leagues.

Unfortunately, this story is thus far highly unsubstantiated beyond some shaky forum mutterings. No reportage on the prospective Mediterranean Basketball Association has been printed on the websites of the Greek Basketball Federation, the Greek League (which under the theoretical plan would shed altogether four top-division teams that would be devoted full-time to MBA play), or Greek-language sports media site Sport.gr.

Just in case you were wondering, the MediterraneanLeague.com domain name is already taken and cleverly redirects surfers to SportVideo.gr.

Of course it’s totally possible that Talk Basket has a clean scoop on this story: The folks there have bagged some big headlines previously. For the present, however, BiE readers would be prudent to take this story with a grain of salt or two – after all, this league might be too logical, too rational, too exciting … and maybe even a bit too competitive for some of these perpetual runaway championship clubs…?

If you hear/read anything on the MBA, please give BiE a shout.

Just two days after bringing home the Eurohold Balkan League title, Papazov repeated his promise to have his team go all out with four games remaining in the season – a pledge now made more meaningful and yet more futile now that Levski is three games behind Lukoil Academic.

Papazov – who stated after winning the Balkan League title that he’d be happier if he’d won the Bulgarian league championship – took the referee corps to task for his team’s loss 86-77 loss to Rila Sport. Titi essentially charged the zebras with changing the complexion of the game after handing Eurohold 2010 MVP Stefan Georgiev a technical foul late in the game.

And corrections to Balkan champion Levski’s play, declared Papazov, will be made, “No matter who play in the quarterfinals or semifinals.” (“…Ние ще играем все мач за победа и дай Боже да бием. Твърдо заявявам, че ще сме коректни. Няма значение с кой ще играем на четвъртфинал или на полуфинал.”)

Levski next game pits Titi’s boys against eighth-place Cherno More Varna (6-19) on Tuesday.

Bulgaria
Group: D
In brief: The word is “plucky.” With Team Bulgaria’s one bonafide superstar, Ibrahim Jaaber, out, all the pluck in the world won’t get this undermanned team a win in a tough group.

Missing pieces: Jaaber

Expanded roster: Dimitar Angelov (Lukoil Academic Sofia); Bozhidar Avramov (Pamesa Valencia); Tencho Banev (Lukoil Academic Sofia); Vassil Evtimov (Khimik OPZ Yuzny); Stefan Georgiev (BC Levski Sofia); Zlatin Georgiev (BC Levski Sofia); Aleksandar Georgiev; Deyan Ivanov (Premiata Montegranaro); Kaloyan Ivanov (Vive Menorca); Chavdar Kostov (Lukoil Academic Sofia); Ivan Lilov; Boyko Mladenov (BC Levski Sofia); Hristo Nikolov; Andre Owens (Crvena Zvezda Belgrade); Earl Rowland (Telekom Baskets Bonn); Stanislav Slaveykov (BC Levski Sofia); Todor Stoykov (Lukoil Academic Sofia); Asen Velikov; Filip Videnov (CB Granada).

BiE take: Bulgaria hasn’t been a threat in this tournament since the 1970s (and haven’t won a game in Eurobasket since ’89); with a FIBA ranking of no. 55, they’re just happy to be here.

Croatia
Group: A
In brief: The checkerboards are stacked, healthy and coming off a dominant run in the recent Efes Pilsen World Cup tournament. This is one sweet roster, with names like Nikola Prkácin, Zoran Planinic, Marko Popovic, Davor Kus, Roko Ukic, Marko Banic, Nikola Vujcic, Mario Kasun playing incredibly well together and each making contributions to this well-balanced squad.

Missing pieces: None significant.

The roster: Zoran Planinic (CSKA Moscow); Marko Popovic (Unics Kazan); Roko-Leni Ukic (Milwaukee Bucks); Davor Kus (Cibona Zagreb); Marin Rozic (Cibona Zagreb); Marko Tomas (Real Madrid); Nikola Prkacin (Cibona Zagreb); Krešimir Loncar (Unics Kazan); Marko Banic (I.Bilbao Basket); Sandro Nicevic (Benetton Treviso); Nikola Vujcic (Olimpiacos); Mario Kasun (Efes Pilsen); Ante Tomic (KK Zagreb); Mario Stojic (Vive Menorca); and Damir Rancic (KK Zadar).

BiE take: Croatia should go far – perhaps into the final four – and these guys might well be the biggest threat to Greek supremacy in this entire half of the bracket with some nice matchup advantages.

France
Group: B
In brief: After messing around a bit in the Additional Qualifying Round with losses to upstarts Finland and Belgium along the way, Team France reestablished dominance in destroying Belgium in the AQR final, 92-54. A slight inconsistency of roster and fairly significant inconsistency in performance make Les Blues the heart-attack team of this tournament.

Missing pieces: Despite the dings and mileage accumulated by Tony Parker and Nicholas Batum recently, Team France goes into this thing at full strength. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The roster: Nicholas Batum (Portland Trailblazers), Yannick Bokolo (BCM Gravelines), Nando De Colo (Valencia), Boris Diaw (Charlotte Bobcats), Antoine Diot (Le Mans Sarthe), Aymeric Jeanneau (ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne), Alain Koffi (Joventut Badalona), Ian Mahinmi (Austin Toros/San Antonio Spurs), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Florent Pietrus (Valencia), Ali Traore (ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne), Rony Turiaf (Golden State Warriors).

BiE take: France is considered the favorite to take Group B, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see La Republique take a “surprise” loss in pool play and finish second. These guys could get bounced in the first knockout game or be a final four contender; we’ll hedge no bets here.

Germany
Group: B
In brief: The downside of Dirk Nowitski’s pro career, a top league in which foreigners are dominant, and a completely rebuilt national team roster – It all signals the end of a Golden Era in German basketball, right? Well, not if coach Dirk Bauermann has anything to say about it; Team Germany looked pretty good in the World Cup, particularly in the championship game against host Turkey.

Missing pieces: Herr Nowitski, of course. And coach Bauermann passed on Chris Kaman this time out, too.

The roster: Robin Benzing (Ratiopharm Ulm), Patrick Femerling (Alba Berlin), Demond Greene (Brose Baskets), Elias Harris (Gonzaga University), Yassin Idbihi (New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig), Jan Jagla (Joventut Badalona), Tibor Pleiss (Köln 99ers), Heiko Schaffartzik (New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig), Sven Schultze (Olympia Larissa), Lucca Staiger (Iowa State University), Konrad Wysocki (Deutsche Bank Skyliners).

BiE take: Deutschland is the big question mark of the tournament, but a win over Russia or France – completely possible, if these guys can hum along as they did in the Ankara tourney – could spur them on to final 16 play and put these newbies on the map.

Great Britain
Group: C
In brief: Of all competitors, fledgling Great Britain has the most to lose and/or gain in Eurobasket 2009, with the International Olympic Committee having waived the traditional automatic qualification for the host team in the 2012 Olympics has been waived in Britannia’s case. The team must put up or shut up in at least one major international competition before then.

Missing pieces: Everyone viable, i.e. Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. To make matters worse, Pops Mensah-Bonsu was not at 100% health for friendly matches in July and August.

The roster: Kieron Achara (Angelico Bella), Robert Archibald (Unicaja), Andrew Betts (Aris Thessaloniki), Flinder Boyd (Beirasar Rosalia), Daniel Clark (Estudiantes), Germanyne Forbes (BBC Nyon), Joel Freeland (Unicaja), Nick George (Gravelines Dunkerque), Jarrett Hart (Keravnos), Mike Lenzly (Harem Scafati), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Toronto Raptors), Nate Reinking (Dexia Mons-Hainaut), Justin Robinson (Rider University), Andrew Sullivan (CSK VVS Samara).

BiE take: BallinEurope.com sponsor Paddy Power is currently offering 1/3 odds on Great Britain to lose all its Eurobasket games. That’s a safe bet.

Tomorrow: Briefs on Greece, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, and Poland

– written by Os Davis

• Kristian asked if Pete Mickeal will play as Petko Mihailov in the short-term future. Well, the name change was shortened dramatically to only three days, as Spanish newspapers tell us that Mihailov’s Bulgarian passport is wrong. Let’s hope that Mickeal did not pay too much already to his Balkan intermediaries to get him the sesame.
• Arturas Jomantas hits the buzzer-beating three to send Game 4 of the Lithuanian finals into overtime.
• In the ACB Playoffs, Real Madrid started highly spectacularly, while the bad news is that Ricky Rubio got injured.
• Eurobasket.com reports that Zagreb may be a candidate for the Euroleague Final Four 2010, with the main opposition coming from London and the O2 Arena. While the second option is, of course, favored by Euroleague partner AEG, it looks like Euroleague officials tend to favor a city with more basketball tradition than London and could choose Zagreb.
• The Italian playoffs finally start this Monday after protests lodged by Fortitudo concerning its last game against Teramo. So the Italian League had the time to set up a nice playoff preview in PDF format with a multitude of stats from 1976 until today. You can find some interesting stats there, including most FTs made in a playoff game (Petar Naumoski with 23 in 2003); most turnovers (Frank Brickowski with 11 in 1982); and the highest gameday revenue (€418,062 Euro for PAF Bologna in 2001): This is a superb document that should be mandatory for every European League.
• Former NBA coach Don Casey gives his blog to Dan Peterson, coaching and commentating legend in Italy, to speak about the differences between the NBA and the Euroleague. Nothing really comes out of the discussions but Peterson made a nice statement: In fact, on the 10-man All-Euroleague team, there was only one American, Terrell McIntyre of MPS Siena. Recently, I tried to pick a 10-man all-star team of US players in Europe. Know what? I could not come up with 10 stars! That says a lot right there.
• This remembers me a bit of the discussion I had recently with my fellow blogger friend Gruebler from Germany. We tried to name five current players of the roster of Walter Tigers Tübingen, a German Bundesliga team. We did not succeed. And this was not the result of too many Rothaus beers…
• Not the typical Top 10 this week, but what about a season Top 30 dunks from former Missouri Tiger and current EWE Baskets Oldenburg player Rickey Paulding. Looks good, but the team also published a Top 10 of dunks for their center Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje.
• If you are more into nostalgia, you can see the various Top 10s in dunks, assists, alley-oops and tip-ins, tough shots, blocks and coast-to-coasts from the last 20 years of French finals. Be prepared to see some high-flying action from all-time greats like Richard Dacoury, Alain Digbeu, Boris Diaw , Conrad McRae (R.I.P.) and David Rivers.

I would like to know what qualifies Mickeal to get a Bulgarian passport. Can he trace his roots back to the country or has he been married to a Bulgarian woman for some time? Is Rock Island, Illinois, a Bulgarian enclave within the United States? Probably not … but someone knows someone in the Bulgarian Ministry that can help him out, as long the cash flows (Rumor has it that such a passport costs around <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> €200,000). At least I assume that’s what happened in the cases of players such as Priest Lauderdale, Bryant Smith, Ibrahim Jaaber, Roderick Blakney and Keydren Clark.

Lauderdale and Smith at least stayed in the country, played for Akademik Sofia and were supposed to dress for national team play as well (though they never did and left town quickly), while the other guys mentioned above may never have set foot on Bulgarian soil before getting the passport.

Blakney and Jaaber recently represented the Bulgarian national team in some games, but it’s still strange to see these guys in the Balkans (FYR Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina have also naturalized US citizens) and the Caucasus (Georgia) although having no real connection to the country’s people, culture and traditions.

Many basketball fans are witnessing this kind of procedure, and certain teams’ GMs openly support this kind of “shpiel” to cheat the rules set by the local leagues, but no institution is stepping in to stop this foul play these days. When football player Ailton, a Brazilian striker that once played in Germany, announced that he would play for the Qatari national team (Qatar has a long history of naturalizing players and giving them Arabic-sounding names to hide any previous affiliation with other national teams), FIFA stepped right in and denied the request by stating: “FIFA’s emergency committee ruled on Wednesday that players must have a ‘clear connection to that country’ if they wished to wear the colors of a nation other than the one of their birth.”

But this was solely about playing for a national team, not a club team, so FIBA would have no jurisdiction over specific rules and regulations regarding “extra-community” (The word is being used in Spain – Extracomunitarios) players in Europe’s national leagues. We can expect more US citizens to get Eastern European passports through loopholes as long as the shady governments of the respective countries are granting these kinds of requests.

I’m proposing that the European leagues make pressure to require a certain number of local players to be on the court, which would diminish the number of Bosman-A/B/Cotonou/Import players on most rosters. Most larger European leagues already restrict the number of Import- and Bosman-players, but rules should be made even stricter to secure playing time for local players who are lacking, due to the potential fielding of five US players with various passports at a time.

Also, I would suggest copying the FIFA rule regarding naturalization of a player. A player that received his European passport after the 18th birthday should be treated differently than one who has had a passport since birth. It would make this whole passport-buying phenomenon rare, and a possible new league ruling could look like this: Six local players (nationals or the so-called homegrown players) on the roster plus two non-European players and four Bosman-A players (only one of them naturalized). This kind of change won’t be coming anytime soon due to the financial crisis, though.

With US players demanding less money compared to most European players, teams will argue against rules like these because of the enormous financial straits they are currently experiencing. Only time will tell if the leagues or ULEB itself are going to react, and for now we will be watching Petko Mihailov along with John Lucas and Chris Fitch in the ACB playoffs or Ibo Dzaberov alongside Brandon Jennings and Andre Hutson in Italy. I’m just wondering if these guys will give Bulgarian TV an interview in Bulgarian (“As sam Bulgarin, be!”) once they win the championship…

I’m out like Hristo Svetijakov.

written by Kristian Santiago

With the win in Finland this weekend, Italy will determine its own fate as to whether the team finishes second in their group. The decisive game will be played this Wednesday at home against Bulgaria, in which Italy must win by at least 2 points to take any potential tiebreaker with Bulgaria in the final standings. This scenario is quite possible, as Bulgaria’s final game in the group phase is against Serbia; Bulgaria could fall back into third place with two consecutive defeats.

The injury of Filip Videnov further hurts the team, as the Bulgarian roster is particularly shorthanded at guard, with only Videnov and Jaaber playing consequential minutes. So it will be the game of the year for Italy this Wednesday in Torino, as a defeat would mean that they must enter the additional qualifying round next summer; on the other hand, this would not necessary be a disadvantage, with the team coming out of this round to be particularly fired up.

In Group B, the top two finishers have already been determine. Presently, Latvia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have two games each against other pool opponents to win the top spot in direct qualifying. Should the teams have the same number of victories, the tiebreaker goes to FYROM over Latvia by 1 point.

In Group C, France has a super important game on Wednesday against Ukraine; the team must win in order to remain in the race for second place. Turkey already looks like the sure winner of the group, and by beating Belgium at home can secure them first place. So all eyes will be on France and Ukraine, with both teams still competing for that precious second place.

The last group is still very open and current leaders Great Britain can qualify for Eurobasket 2009 by going for one more win; the team plays its last two games against their direct opponents. The difficulty of the task is that the games are abroad; plus, both the Czech Republic and Bosnia-Herzegovina are known as tough places to win a game. And the real misery in the Great Britain story is that, since GB only beat Israel by less than 11 points, two defeats could mean a last-place finish in the group.

• A new hymn for Gran Canaria from Spain. Amazing…
• Even funnier are the Spanish classes that players on Cajasol take these days to improve their knowledge of the local language.
• Greece won the preparation tournament for the Olympic qualifiers in Bamberg by beating Puerto Rico in the finals. This final also marked the big return of Big Sofo, who scored 14 points in 17 minutes. Sofo did shoot an awful 2 of 8 from the free-throw line, however. Germany secured third place with a win over Slovenia.
• Speaking of Germany, Chris Kaman will most likely join the team during the week and see his first minutes with the Mannschaft in a friendly against Canada. This all depends on the Los Angeles Clippers agreeing to allow Kaman to play.
• Todor Stoykov, Jamie Arnold and Mario Austin are the three all-time best players in which competition? According to eurobasket.com, they have the most efficiency points in ULEB Cup history. Nice and congratulations…
• Berlin is ready for the Euroleague draw on Tuesday.

The champions of the respective countries may be found in bold when the final is already decided. And the MVP cited is the Finals MVP, if such an award has been given.

Albania: ?

Austria: Fürstenfeld Panthers 3-2 Oberwart Gunners

Belarus: Vitalyur Minsk 3-0 OZAA Osipovichi

Belgium: Spirou Charleroi 3-0 Euphony Bree

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bosna Sarajevo 2-1 Igokea Partizan Aleksandrovac

Bulgaria: Lukoil Academic 3-0 Balkan Botevgrad

Croatia: Zadar 3-2 KK Split

Cyprus: Keravnos 3-2 Apoel Nicosia

Czech Republic: Nymburk 4-1 Geofin

Denmark: Bakken Bears 4-0 Svendborg Rabbits

Estonia: Tartu Rock 4-0 BC Kalev (MVP: Brian Cusworth)

Finland: Honka Playboys 3-1 Kouvot Kouvola (MVP: Akeem Scott)

France: SLUC Nancy 1-0 Chorale de Roanne (MVP: Jeff Greer)

FYR Macedonia: Feni Industrija 4-3 Strumica

Georgia: Energy Rustavi 3-1 Avia Tblisi

Germany: ALBA Berlin 3-1 Telekom Baskets Bonn (MVP: Julius Jenkins)

Greece: Panathinaikos 3-2 Olympiakos

Hollang: Myguide Amsterdam 4-3 Eiffel Towers (MVP: Peter van Paassen)

Hungary: Falco Szombathely 3-1 Kormend

Iceland: Kevflavik 3-0 Snaefell (MVP: Gunnar Einarson)

Ireland: Abrakebabra Tralee Tigers 1-0 DART Killester (MVP: Michael Quirke)

Israel: Hapoel Holon 1-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv

Italy: Montepaschi Siena 4-1 Lottomatica Roma (MVP: Terrell McIntyre)

Kosovo: Sigal Prishtina 3-2 BC Peja

Latvia: Barons/LMT Riga 4-1 ASK Riga (MVP: Armands Skele)

Lithuania: Zalgiris Kaunas 4-1 Lietuvos Rytas (MVP: Marcus Brown)

Luxembourg: Sparta Bertrange 2-0 Musel Pikes (MVP: Larrie Smith)

Malta: BUPA Luxol 2-1 Compleet IS

Moldova: ?

Montenegro: Buducnost Podgorica 3-0 Mogren Budva

Norway: Asker Aliens 3-0 Harstad Vikings

Poland: Prokom Trefl Sopot 4-3 Turow Zgorzelec

Portugal: Ovarense Aerosoles 4-3 FC Porto Ferpinta (MVP: Graham Brown)

Romania: CSU Asesoft Ploesti 4-3 UMobitelco Cluj

Russia: CSKA Moscow 3-0 Khimky Moscow (MVP: JR Holden)

Scotland: Edinburgh Kings

Serbia: Partizan Belgrade 3-1 Hemofarm Vrsac

Slovakia: Pezinok 3-1 Inter Bratislava

Slovenia: Olimpija Ljubljana 3-1 Helios Domzale

Spain: TAU Cerimca Vitoria 3-0 AXA FC Barcelona (MVP: Pete Mickeal)

Sweden: Solna Vikings 3-0 Sundsvall Dragons

Switzerland: Benetton Fribourg 3-0 Lugano Tigers

Turkey: Fenerbahce Ülker Istanbul 4-1 Türk Telekom Ankara

Ukraine: Azovmash Mariupol 3-1 BC Kyiv (MVP: Robert Archibald)

United Kingdom: Guildford Heat 1-0 Milton Keynes Lions

Aside from all champions and runners-up, it’s always nice to hear the names of teams I am not that familiar with and of course, I have my favorites: the Svendborg Rabbits and the Abrakebabra Tigers Tralee.

Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia will participate in this upcoming competition set to start in October 2008. Of course, the league won’t feature the top teams from these countries, but mid-level teams that have not qualified for international competitions will join. The league will feature most likely 10 teams, two from each of the five countries.

The project has been launched by former FIBA referee Shay Shtriks who explained the requirements to enter the league in a tête-à-tête with the bulgarianbasket.com website:

In the beginning middle-placed clubs in the domestic championships will participate, clubs that want to try themselves on the European stage without being supposed to spare a lot of time and extra money from their budgets.

I can’t wait to see what will come out of the meeting this weekend in Sofia. On the other hand, I have some doubts about this new league. What is the goal beside giving the opportunity to mid-level teams to play some kind of European cup? The Adriatic League features the best teams from the Balkans and gives them high-level competition which they cannot find in national competition. But this league? Well, good luck to the organizers; we will follow your project!