After spending most of his career in Hungary’s domestic league, Horváth got with PAOK for the 2008-09 season, but had been playing this season with Falco KC Szombathely. Horváth put up huge numbers of 21.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in the Hungarian league this year.

In Eurobasket 2009, the big guy helped the surprising Magyars to an impressive showing in the tournament, helping them reach Division A for 2010 with a twelve-point, nine-rebound effort against Estonia in the competition’s final match.

Condolences and messages are requested to be left at the team’s Facebook page.

As a long-time player with Team Croatia, Vrankovic was with the team in Atlanta for the 1996 World Games and played at Eurobasket 2001 in the soon-to-become familiar country of Turkey.

Though this move had been expected for nearly two weeks, the decision was only officially announced yesterday. FIBA press release follows the break.

(FIBA) – Josip Vrankovic will lead Croatia at the 2010 FIBA World Championship after being appointed as the replacement for Jasmin Repesa.

A former national team player himself, Vrankovic had worked as the Croatia B team boss since 2008.

He led them at the Mediterranean Games this summer.

Vrankovic has taken over a team that underachieved last summer in most people’s eyes.

Just last year, Croatia earned a spot at the Beijing Games via the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and reached the quarterfinals.

At EuroBasket this year in Poland, fans had hoped the team would get to the podium and possibly challenge for gold but instead they suffered a quarterfinals exit at the hands of Slovenia.

It wasn’t that long ago that Vrankovic played the game. His last season was with Siroki back in 2006, and the last time he represented Croatia was at EuroBasket 2001 in Turkey.

As a coach, he led Siroki to the title in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007 but left for Cibona, only to part ways with the club in the middle of the season.

He returned to Siroki to coach and was also appointed boss of the Croatia B side.

Drazen Anzulovic, an assistant to Repesa, was also considered for the national job but lost out.

One player who wasn’t with Croatia this year was emerging center Ante Tomic of KK Zagreb and his time could be coming soon.

“I’m glad that Ante Tomic has continued to have good games to build the maximum confidence, but it’s still too early in the season for some generalizations,” Vrankovic said.

Ivkovic: "Košarkaškog saveza Srbije skandalozni"

Maybe something was lost in the translation, but the English-language version of the Serbian edition of Blic reports that Team Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic and all-time great Vlade Divac have leveled some serious verbal fireworks in the direction of the national association.

Today at Blic.rs, Serbia Basketball Association honorary president Bora Stankovic fires back at Ivkovic and, by association Divac, who reportedly backed up the coach on his assessment of “scandalous relations” within the group leadership.

Calling the comments “laughable and sad,” Stankovic assures that Ivkovic’ “accusations simply don’t stand” while defending the record with “the people at the Association must be doing something right. Especially now, when Serbia, a nation which got its independence as recently as two years ago, is back on the European basketball map.”

Stankovic went on the deflect the blame for what Ivkovic and Divac see as problematic onto the individual Serbian professional basketball clubs.

On his part, Divac is reported to have stated that “u Savezu sede neradnici,” a phrase the Blic folks translated as “the Union are slackers.” (Can a Serbian speaker confirm this phraseology…?)

Ivkovic, mostly recently exonerated again back home by squeezing out an astonishing second-place finish at Eurobasket 2009 from a refashioned group of mostly youngsters, an achievement that is among the greatest in his long career.

It was simply a result that we could take for granted: Spain at the top of Europe, with silver medalist Serbia beaten by 22 points in the Eurobasket final, almost the same gap between Scariolo’s boys and other “pretenders” such as France (who lost to Spain in the quarterfinals, 86-66) and Greece (82-64 losers to Spain in the semifinals) were supposed to be.
It was a Eurobasket in some ways boring, featuring little advancement from the tactical perspective, with many teams focused on the abused pick-and-roll play, few squads able to run, and one team (Spain, who else?) very, very distanced from the other national teams, even just in terms of a talent base that is embarrassing to compare.

Today, with Eurobasket behind us, a look at what national teams are lacking, where they have failed, and are the scenes set for the future.

SPAIN
Absences: J.M. Calderon, Sergio Rodriguez, Fran Vazquez.

Sergio Scariolo found perfect harmony after some hesitation, but with that material it was impossible to fail, especially at a Eurobasket without strong stars that marked the end of one generation of players with the rise of another one, best represented by Serbia. Sometimes Ricky Rubio hasn’t shown the abilities required of an NBA lottery pick, but Rudy Fernandez’ return was enough to cover a way of play too slow and too dependent on Pau Gasol in early appearances. It seems easy to say of Spain that “tomorrow never comes,” because this team will probably lose only the decadent Jorge Garbajosa (who shot 6-of-23 on three-pointer!) and the bull Carlos Cabezas, but beyond the absences, there’re also players like Fernando San Emeterio, Sergi Vidal, and Antonio Bueno still available.

Interesting names to watch: guard Carlos Suarez, forward Pere Tomas, center Pablo Aguilar, center Xavi Rey.

SERBIA
Absences: All those considered “big.”

Serbia thanks Ivkovic

Not the Euroleague titles, not the national championships, but this medal is the absolute masterpiece of Dusan Ivkovic. Driving a youthful team to the last appointment of a crocodile competition like Eurobasket, Ivkovic has made the Italians conscious that young players can mature and become competitive only by playing. Stefan Markovic, Ivan Paunic, Miroslav Raduljica, Nemanja Bjelica, Milan Macvan: Do they have Continental status? Milos Teodosic, Uros Tripkovic, Kosta Perovic: Are they more than Euroleague role players?

Excepting the Novica Velickovic-Milenko Tepic duo and the unique threat of Nenad Krstic against the Gasols’ dominion in the paint, this Serbia was a “work-in-progress” team. Great credit to the coach, who built a defensive structure excellent at controlling rhythm and stingy in breakaway points, but thanks to Milos, Novica and the rest: the future is yours.

Interesting names to watch: forward Marko Keselj, forward Dragan Labovic, center Dejan Musli, center Boban Marjanovic.

GREECE
Absences: Dimitris Diamantidis, Theodoros Papaloukas, Kostas Tsartsaris.

Spanoulis drove Greece

Here’s another example of how youth coaches and programs have worked well during recent times. Maybe it’s the sunset of a wonderful generation, but the reservoir is so full of good and *ready* players that the Greek situation risks being even better than Serbia’s. Vassilis Spanoulis has demonstrated the ability to guide the team while scoring (14.1 points and 4.2 assists per game), while the 1983-1986 products (Nikolaos Zisis, Efstratios Perperoglou, Georgios Printezis) will be a guarantee during the short-term changes, and there’s the same Jonas Kazlauskas who has immediately to find out what’s the identity a tough team as Greece has always had and must maintain. However, the high point was the rehabilitation of Sofoklis Schorstanitis, a big man who can make the difference near the basket. Waiting for Diamantidis’ return, that will better balance an offense often put under the cares of forwards and centers, the Greek run is far off knowing a stop.

Interesting names to watch: guard Nikos Pappas, guard Kostas Sloukas, guard/forward Kostas Papanikolau, forward Giorgios Bogris.

SLOVENIA
Absences: Sasha Vujacic, Beno Udrih, Sani Becirovic, Emir Preldzic.

No doubt Slovenia was the most important surprise of Eurobasket. It started its race without three main characters in the backcourt, and during the competition lost flag-bearer Matjaz Smodis and useful Goran Dragic; despite the obstacles, Slovenia fell just one overtime loss short of the final and a single point away from the podium. A true shame, if we recall that Slovenia lost only one other game, making Spain sweat in an inside-out game.

Coach Zdovc painted one of the most beautiful playbooks we’ve seen in Eurobasket, one not so fixated on pick-and-roll plays but careful to serve Nikola Vujcic’s heir, Erazem Lorbek. Plus, Zdovc revitalized Domen Lorbek and Uros Slokar, whose help was decisive in achieving the fourth-place finish – A result that will make people think about the old question: Does fewer all-star players equal better team chemistry?

Interesting names: guard Mirza Sarajlia, guard Zoran Dragic.

Tomorrow: A look at France, Croatia, Turkey, Russia and the rest.

The coach

Presenting yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr BallinEurope Alternate EuroBasket 2009 All-Tournament Team!

• Ersan Ilyasova, Turkey. Possibly the best Eurobasket performer not to make the official All-Star squad, Ilyasova was a disappointment only for those who had hearts set on seeing The Hedo Turkoglu One-Man Show. Showing prowess behind his 22 years, FC Barcelona’s young Turk put in 16.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game from the three-spot while shooting a nice 44.8 percent from three-point land and a nearly perfect 18-of-20 on free throws. Ilyasova’s all-around contribution is perhaps summed up in the team’s exiting OT loss to Greece, wherein he produced a line of nine points, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. Fear this guy playing at home in the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

• Tony Parker, France. Aside from maybe Manu Ginobili, is there any single player in the world so critical to his national team’s success? OK, so Monsieur Parker took no one by surprise, but what was thrilling for Eurohoops fans was the evolution of Team France from one-trick pony to all-around solid team. And playing with Parker may have turned Nicolas Batum into a living advertisement for playing in international competition over training with the NBA franchise in the off-season; young Batum’s game advanced well further than it might have in an Oregon gym. Next step for Les Bleus: incorporate a few more youngbloods onto the squad to play with Parker before summer 2010.

• Ioannis Bourousis or Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Greece. The men in the middle for Greece put the team head and shoulders (so to speak) above smaller competition, particularly in the early rounds of Eurobasket play. Sofoklis was again the huge force he has earned a reputation for contributing in international play, acting as a magnet for fouls underneath while controlling the boards and dunking repeatedly for a 58-plus percent shooting percentage. When Schortsanitis was on the bench – more often than the Greeks would’ve liked, to be sure, at over 3.5 fouls per game – Bourousis took over the big-man-on-the-floor role and ended up averaging 10.4 ppg and 7.3 rpg. Sofoklis Bourosis, anyone?

• David Logan, Poland. If there were an award for Eurobasket Import All-Star, it would have been Logan. Incredibly, Logan ended up fifth in scoring per game for the tournament at 15.5 points founded in his 13-of-33 shooting from beyond the arc. Yet, new citizen Logan was no ballhog, dishing out 4.5 assists as well to give Team Polska more than a one-dimensional game based on twin towers underneath.

• Marcin Gortat, Poland. While the 13th man was doubtlessly key to a dream run by Poland, which entered Eurobasket ranked no. 18 in Europe and no. 55 in the world by FIBA, so too was its Magic Man Marcin. Though Poland only managed two wins in the tournament, the team’s big men usually kept them close and the hometown fans on the edges of their seats. In the end, Gortat’s average line read 15.5 ppg and 10.8 rpg: With a lot less to work with, this big man’s numbers were comparable to MVP Gasol’s 18.7 and 8.3.

• Dusan Ivkovic, Serbia. As wonderful as was Team Russia’s defense as taught by David Blatt, old hand Ivkovic showed why he’s routinely listed among the world’s greatest active coaches in taking his unheralded just-past-youth squad into the finals. Though Ivkovic first started collecting medals in 1988 for international team play and his Eurobasket 2009 silver makes his seventh top-two finish, he may be most proud of this team, who accomplished so much with what appeared to be so little. In his first trip to the podium in 13 years, Ivkovic might just earn the European Coach of the Year title he last bagged in 1997.

“It’s going to be waaaaaaaay closer than people think,” proclaimed this blog yesterday in predicting the outcome of the Spain-Serbia final of last night, but damn was it not. Spain finished off the dynamic and surprisingly polished youngsters of Serbia early — not quite as early as those USSR teams in the 70s and 80s (those guys often had the final wrapped up before the tournament started), mind you, but it was a quick death for Serbia.

How quick? The BiE notebook reads, “7:20.” In the second quarter, that’s when the failed inbounds pass turned into Ivan Paunic desperately fouled a Ricky Rubio threatening to blow past him into the lane yet again. Moments thereafter, Spain had a 20-point lead and showed no intention of giving this one up.

Was anyone else struck by the desperate style of play Serbia employed from the go? After a minute or two (probably right after Serbia relinquished its last believable lead of the game at 5-4) of play, it was clear that this was induced by Spain, who fearlessly jacked up the tempo with total disregard for the youthful advantage of Serbia.

In fact, Spain’s triumph was a reflection of not just experience at the highest levels of basketball, whether that be NBA, ACB or Euroleague, but in transforming that wisdom into a team game. Early on in this tournament, a few sources (ahem) dogged Spain for playing like that nightmare Team USA of 2004 – all flash and no substance. Yet, these old dogs (Rubio excepted here, of course) kept up with the new tricks and incredibly improved throughout the competition. Winning their final half-dozen games by an average of 16 points against the likes of Lithuania, France, and Greece before pummeling Serbia last night earned these guys worldwide respect, even awe, at their mad skills.

And an extra toast to Pau Gasol who, after putting in perhaps the best individual season by a European player in the NBA in 2008-09 with the Los Angeles Lakers, took Eurobasket 2009 MVP honors. Gasol the Elder’s feat of playing on Eurobasket and NBA champions in the same year is unmatched in recent history (if ever). In fact, you’d have to go back to 1991 to even compare Gasol’s personal glory: In that year, Vlade Divac and Team Yugoslavia took the European championship while Divac’s Lakers were vanquished in the NBA finals by those Chicago Bulls.

Kudos, then, to Spanish basketball: You deserve it. Let’s just hope this team sticks together for the 2010 Worlds. BiE can’t wait to see these guys go up against those dudes named LeBron, Kobe, Carmelo, Dwyane…

How hopeful?

That’s the lead quote over at the Eurobasket 2009 official site, and it’s good enough to lead here at BallinEurope.com as well on the morning of the final game. Firstly, congratulations to Spain and Serbia for getting into the final game after a seriously hard-fought tournament.

And now the big question: Can Serbia beat the prospective champs? The gut reaction is, of course, “no way, man. The youngest team in all of Eurobasket overcoming a team of world-class all-star level household names? Dream on.” On the other hand, as supporters of Team Greece and Team Spain itself already know from as “far” back as Euroleague 2007 that, well, upsets do happen in this tournament.

So how can the upstarts overcome the Spaniards? Glad i asked. Serbia can win tonight if…

• …Spain forgets history. Since the Iberian nation rose to the forefront of basketball superpowers in the late 90s, the team has managed to rack up three golds and a bronze in this tournament (to sit in the trophy case with Eurobasket medals from 1973, 1983 and 1991). The championship-game loss was particularly egregious in 2007, as essentially the same team as this tournament’s went up against Team Russia as a double-digit favorite only to be exposed as slackers on the boards. The most memorable thing about that finals game was the stunning lack of initiative and stamina on the part of Spain, a bugaboo that could come back to haunt them today.

• …youth wins out. Sheer energy and dynamism – combined perhaps with a universally-acknowledged underdog’s attitude – propelled Andrei Kirilenko’s boys past Spain two years ago, and Serbia brings more of the same today. As has been well-publicized, the oldest player on this roster is Bojan Popovic, all of 26 years old. If nothing else, a higher energy level from Serbia will erase any advantage Spain might have held with Serbia having played a tight late contest last night, while Spain received the benefit of an early-hour blowout.

• …Serbia brings a surprise. Last night, Milos Teodosic was the shocking stud for Serbia, with perhaps the best single-game performance in this tournament thus far. (“”Milos Teodosic is one of the best point guards in Europe,” proclaimed teammate Novica Velickovic in the post-game. Really? At 22? He certainly was last night…) Against swarming Russia in the quarterfinals, Uros Tripkovic led all scorers while second-string center Kosta Perovic came off the bench for another 13. In knocking out Lithuania, Serbia brought a barrage of threes while multi-purpose Nemanja Bjelica crushed underneath. While Spain brings the megastars, Serbia brings a team; if the latter manages to bring the unexpected player to the forefront – recall a key clutch player in the game one win for Serbia was 19-year-old Milan Macvan – it will be a long night for Spain.

The targeted one?

• …Serbia can exploit matchups against Jorge Garbajosa. If any one player on Spain has not lived up to the hype recently, it’s Garbajosa. Perhaps the surgeries of 2007 are catching up with the 31-year-old or maybe he just hasn’t found his niche on this particular national team, but when on the floor, Garbajosa has been the Achilles’ heel of this team. His shot selection has been timid – except from the three-point line, where he’s just 5-for-19 in this tournament – and he’s been a non-factor in the passing game, with *all* outlet passes seemingly coming from Juan Carlos Navarro and Ricky Rubio (you’ve heard of the triangle offense; call this one “the square”). Sure enough, in the previous Serbia-Spain game, Garbajosa’s anemic shooting performance kept Real Madrid’s new acquisition on the bench for most of the second half. Another show like that could account for the margin of victory.

• …the game comes down to a battle of game plans. Dusan Ivkovic or Sergio Scariolo: Which would you choose to coach your team? That’s what i thought.

• …Serbia channels 2007 Russia – like they did in the opening game. Eurobasket 2009 comes full circle with the matchup in the finals, repeating the most memorable game of day one. Serbia shocked all observers with the solid win over the prohibitive favorites; this team out, they won’t nearly be as big a surprise for Spain, but no matter. Spain was shut down through a combination of tough defense, tougher rebounding, and winning the individual battles at guard. With the exception of Pau Gasol, you’ve gotta like any Serbian player over his Spanish counterpart in terms of sheer defensive skill. And this youthful bunch has shown it has the will to play with the best.

BiE fearless predictions: Nah, i’m not willing to take a barrage of criticism here, nor am i willing to wedge with the serious underdogs in this one; let’s just say it’s going to be waaaaaaaaay closer than people think. In the qualifying matches, let’s go Slovenia over Greece, France over Croatia, and Turkey over Russia.

Jumping right in, then…

France vs. Turkey. Former 5-0 teams meet in what could be the funnest game of the day. Until running into the Spanish buzzsaw, Team France really looked like the best team in this tournament. Since Les Bleus still have the 2010 FIBA Worlds well in mind while Turkey’s spot in that tournament is automatic as host nation, BiE will fearlessly predict the French sense of urgency gives them enough to win this game.

Russia v. Croatia. The defensive stalwarts take on another shoot-first-ask-questions-later squad in Croatia. Admirable though it is, the tenacity of Team Russia wasn’t enough to beat Greece in game two and the Reds are probably still tuckered out after the track meet Serbia subjected them to on Thursday. BiE fearless prediction: Expect lots of transition game and a Croatia victory.

Spain v. Greece. The pre-tournament favorites meet while experiencing momentum in mirror-opposite fashion. After blowing through the competition through four games, Greece fell against Russia, then France, and, had the heretofore clutch Ender Arslan’s shot gone through, if he’d found Hedo Turkoglu, or if a certain 24-second clock hadn’t been quite as dodgy, could easily be playing France today.

Spain, which started the tourney getting smoked by Serbia and later had troubles with Great Britain (!), is on a serious roll, is firing on all cylinders, and in short currently looks like the team Europe feared going into this thing. BiE fearless prediction: Vassilis Spanoulis goes for another monster game, but Spain overcomes.

Serbia v. Slovenia. Rebuilding, you say? Don’t describe Team Serbia as such anymore; they may be the youngest team in the tournament but, whoa, these guys can play. Blessed with a top-to-bottom roster and playing with attitude, this team will be scary for years to come.

But perhaps not this year: Slovenia has been *the* surprise of Eurobasket, beginning the tournament with the Sasha Vujcic conspiracy and the Beno Udrih injury, then proceeding to become the first Eurobasket team to six wins. The comeback last night against Croatia showed the Slovenians to be capable of outsmarting the opposition while again clamping down on a scoring machine when it counted most. BiE fearless prediction: Slovenia takes it, thereby officially registering the country’s highest-ever finish in Eurobasket.

Happy viewing, everybody! Today’s gonna be a great one…

Look out, they're coming...

As far tonight’s games, the BiE fearless predictions say Turkey and Slovenia advance. Of course, as some readers suggest, that means these 5-1 teams will be going down…

Reason #3

With all due respect to Turkey and Slovenia, two teams which have often gotten the short of the stick in the BiE fearless prediction series in Eurobasket 2009, what fun is making picks if you don’t mix in some upsets? And taking France to win the tournament right now is quite the stretch, for two reasons: 1) the sportsbook has Les Bleus as 2/1 underdogs in this game, and 2) for France to win Eurobasket gold, they’ll have to have run the table.

But let’s take these games one at a time, as the jockspeak cliché goes. The BiE fearless prediction has France over Spain, for the following reasons:

• Team Spain may have looked good – really good – last night in beating Poland, 90-68, but, um, gee, it’s Poland. And by mercilessly pouring it on in the late-third and fourth quarters against the overmatched Poles, the once-again swaggeringly cocky Spain will surely invoke the wrath of the basketball gods for unsportsmanlike play.

• While Spain has spent the entire tournament trying to gel as a team, France has become a solid unit that is squeezing every ounce of basketball skill they can from these guys. Just look at the synergy between Rony Turiaf and Boris Diaw. And check out how the multi-faceted attack has been benefited…

• Nicolas Batum, in another case of burgeoning superstar blossoming on an international stage. Batum has totaled a nice line of 9.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting a nice 60% from the floor and 35.7% from three-point land. Call Nicholas the X Factor in the game tonight. Here’s to thinking this stud – for which Spain will have no answer – makes the difference. (And boy, are Portland Trail Blazers fans happy.)

• Tony Parker won’t let France lose. Think Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro will be pulling that fancy-schmancy extra (unnecessary) pass stuff against Parker? Ha! The dude hasn’t run up 14 steals in this tournament for no reason. And Parker’s getting it done all over the floor, too, with 18 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 3.7 apg. Once a team that stood around to let Parker create has become a team on which Parker makes everyone better – maybe even better than their Spanish counterparts when given a chance to set the half-court offense.

• The turnover edge is all France’s. Spain is allowing 14.5 turnovers per game, highest among the remaining eight teams and fully one more per game than second-worst Russia and two more than France. Take out last night’s game, in which Team Spain gave the ball up to Poland 11 times, and that average goes up to 15 per. Now, if you were a France backer and were told you’d probably get a plus-three turnover differential in your favor in a close game, would that buoy your confidence a bit?

Right. So let’s go further and even give you a score on this one: France 70, Spain 65. Hey, they aren’t called “fearless” predictions for nothing.

Oh yeah, and there’s that other game as well: Russia vs. Serbia. The first question here is, “Whoa, who woke up Team Russia and reminded ‘em they’re the defending Eurobasket champs?” Question no. 2: Kelly McCarty (14.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.7 spg) – who knew? The Russians enter this game on a three-game winning streak and with continued admirable shutdown defense; Russia has held five of six opponents under 70 and for a team living and dying by sharpshooting like Serbia, this spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

BiE fearless prediction: Russia advances over a frustrated Serbia as Coach David Blatt conducts another smart win, Timofey Mozgov starts getting mention in All-Eurobasket team talks, and, 11 years after his NBA debut with the Denver Nuggets, Kelly McCarty is discovered in America.