BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Another antagonist has been added to the nightmares of Tartu University/Rock fans: namely, point guard Tanel Soku. Already back-to-back title-holders with nine consecutive wins in Estonian league championship series over Rock, BC Kalev/Cramo Tallinn made it 10 last night thanks to Soku’s heroics.

In a back-and-forth game, Rain Veideman was ultimately sent to the free-throw line as Rock held a one-point advantage with about three seconds remaining. Unfortunately for his side, Veideman hit just one of the two FTs to give the challengers a 71-69 lead but leaving Tallinn with no timeouts.
And then this happened.

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What can be said about the Estonia-Serbia game that hasn’t been already? Once again Serbia gave up a halftime lead; once again the team was forced to try and dig out of a fourth-quarter hole; once again the lack of communication on offense was evident (Would you believe just five total assists?); and once again Milos Teodosic self-destructed in the fourth quarter…

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I mean, besides him...

O, what the heck, BiE’ll go ahead and list them all with home countries and current Estonian team in parentheses: Curtis Allen (USA, Voru KK); Richard Anderson (CAN/Jamaica, BC Rakvere Tarvas); Casey Archibald (CAN, TTU/Kalev Tallinn); Andrew Arnold (USA, TTU/Kalev II); Osby Bambale (USA/Senegal, TTU/Kalev Tallinn); Anthony Brown (USA, Valga/CKE Inkasso); Michael Dunigan (USA, Kalav/Cramo); Callistus Eziukwu (USA, Tartu Rock); Matthew Hall (USA, BC Rakvere Tarvas); Brett McGee (USA, BC Rakvere Tarvas); Armands Skele (LAT, Kalev/Cramo); Andrais Thornton (USA, Voru KK); Georgi Tsintsadze (GEO, Tartu Rock); and Derek Winston (USA, Valga/CKE Inkasso).

The survey considered some 349 clubs in 29 European domestic leagues, omitting associations playing a “fairly low level” of basketball, such as Armenia and Norway; also not considered where the leagues of the former Yugoslavia, as citizenship issues have made the whole foreigner/homegown question fuzzy in cases of dozens of players.

Some key findings included the following.

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Europe’s dunk of the week may well be the posterization that went down in perhaps Europe’s upset of the week, namely BC Kalev/Cramo’s 77-70 VTB United League win over Euroleague side Asseco Prokom on Wednesday night.

To make matters worse for the Polish side, Ratko Varda (and Prokom’s entire half-court D, essentially) was caught completely flatfooted by speedy Gert Dorbek. Check out the video below: You can’t really blame the defense too much for not seeing this one coming…

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BallinEurope has established a list of all National Champions in the various European leagues as they are known so far. If you have results to add or know who was named Final MVPs in a European league, feel free to add this in the comments so that we can update the list.

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So the first team we are talking about is the Estonian squad from Tartu Rock. For the team of head coach Ullar Kerde, it is the first ever participation in a European Final phase. We will check a bit what are the main forces of the team and why they can eventually go for it all.

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After a little break, we are back with some more smoke from around the European basketball universe.

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• Nicolas Batum announces that he will be in the NBA Draft this upcoming summer.
• The first Bundesliga basketball game in the German Free-TV for three years was a blowout win by ALBA Berlin in Bamberg. However, we saw one of the nicest plays of the season so far.
• The 22nd edition of the World Junior Tournament will be held from June 18 to 22 in Douai, France. Former players that showcased in Douai are Carmelo Anthony, Tony Parker or Andrei Kirilenko
• Vote for the Adriatic League All-Stars and the German Bundesliga All-Stars
• Second player of the month award for Vladimir Stimac in the Baltic League
• Curtis Borchardt wins the MVP of the Day in the Spanish ACB
• After being waived by Prokom Trefl, Eugeniusz Kijewski is now rumored to become Polish NT headcoach
• Alpella, which is a club formed to let young players develop, beat Efes Pilsen this Saturday. Apparently, they have developed too much that they have beaten the two Euroleague competitors from Turkey. Omer As?k is putting his names higher and higher in the Mock Drafts by another monster game 25 points, 14 rebs. and 6 assists vs. Loren Woods and Andre Hudson! (Thanks for the hint, Kerem)

Today, the former Estonian NBA player Martin Müürsepp celebrates his 33rd birthday. The 2m08 forward from Tallinn is actually playing for the Melbourne Tigers in the Australian Basketball League. His season down under will start on the 28th with a game against the Adelaide 36ers. Continue Reading…