BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

In hopes of capitalizing on recent success in FIBA tournament play, the burgeoning women’s basketball program in Armenia may be able to add a pair of college ballers from the diaspora currently enjoying some success in the U.S. in the college ranks.

Kate Kevorken is playing her senior year with the University of Nevada, producing nicely for the Wolfpack after cracking the starting lineup in her second season with the program. The two guard bagged her first Western Athletic Conference player of the week award on December 19 thanks to a 25-point (including the game-winner), 11-rebound show against Oregon. Ten days later, “The Encyclopedia” broke her personal scoring mark with 27 points in a losing effort to Mississippi State.

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It’s always a good time for some predictions, eh? Sam Chadwick, Ball in Europe’s man in the UK, today dusts off the Official BallinEurope Crystal Ball in looking forward to another year of top-quality basketball in the world’s top competitions. Who does Sammy like in the NBA, Euroleague, college ball and the Olympics? Read on to find out (and see plenty of highlight clips).

This year sees the London Olympic games, a shortened NBA season, another year of Euroleague basketball and the NCAA Final Four – what more could we possibly ask for? Happy new year…

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With semesters coming to a close in European universities (well at least here in BallinEurope’s Budapest headquarters), BiE’s mind turned to the U.S. college game and specifically the European ballers playing in the NCAA. Below therefore runs some recent news – and video clips, natch – on 12 players plying their wares in the ‘States this season; starring Elias Harris, Denis Kilicli, Patrick Heckmann, Brice Massamba and more.

• Patrik Auda, Czech Republic; Seton Hall. In his sophomore year, Auda has earned the starting lineup for the 7-1 Pirates to produce an impressive 8.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game; in early December, Auda went for a career-high 17 points – all in the second half – against Auburn.

Auda has fit perfectly with the Seton Hall speedy offense this season, though it must be said that the Czech and his teammates haven’t met a true test against an NCAA superpower yet: That’ll come on December 28 when visiting current no. 1 Syracuse.

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Kind enough to give BallinEurope a nice extensive interview is Cameron Rundles, currently plying his trade with the Leicester Raiders in his rookie season as a professional. Rundles made a name for himself ‘Stateside in his junior and senior years at Wofford College in taking the NCAA’s Southern Conference and earning NCAA tournament bids in consecutive years. (And he was even once a Mighty Unicorn!)

Rundles chatted with BallinEurope’s British basketball specialist Sam Chadwick about his love for football, playing in the NCAA tournament, and the importance of Andrew Sullivan, among other topics. And judging by Rundles’ apparent enthusiasm within his responses, he can’t help but get noticed along the way to playing pro hoops “in as many countries as I can.” This guy knows how to bring the exclamation points.

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Seriously hardcore readers of BallinEurope (plus possibly Azusa Pacific University alums and Armenians) may faintly recall the name Mike Danielian. Danielian nicely pumped up his CV with his play in the Fifth Pan Armenian Games in Yerevan, capping the show with a ridiculous 49-point performance for the L.A. side in the championship basketball game.

Good news for Danielian today then, as his signing with German club SG MTV/BG 93 Wolfenbüttel (or “Wolfenbüttel” for “short”) was announced. Congratulations go out to Mike from BallinEurope!

Official press release (and video) follows.

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Denmark is one rarely associated with great basketball; indeed, the men’s national team is ranked no. 111 in the current FIBA standings, putting them well behind basketball powers such as Liberia and Togo.

Despite it all, suggests Tom Schad in the Copenhagen Post Online, “Denmark could become world beaters in basketball.” Citing the examples of Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki and Yao Ming, Schad argues that it only takes “one great player to give a country hope” in its national basketball program, and “For Denmark, maybe that player is about to arrive.”

That would be Anton Larsen, currently with Old Dominion University.

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All right, time for more speculation. To wit: Which European team could be most in need of a locked-out point guard itching to play some minutes?

The CV of the player in question includes turns on the gold-medal Team USA of the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in addition to performances in the Nike Hoop Summit, the McDonald’s All-American Game, and the Jordan Brand Classic – all in 2010. Beyond these, he’s got about a half-season with Duke University under his belt with a stat line including 17.4 points and 5.1 assists per game.

We’re talking about no less than Australian-American Kyrie Irving here, the no. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft currently on lockout and getting frustrated. Today, on yet another day of reckoning for labor relations in the big league, the former Blue Devil tweeted:

“if a deal doesn’t get done soon … overseas here i come”

Well, we’ll welcome you, Kyrie. And, just to get things started, BiE understands Virtus Bologna may have some money to throw around…

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The "beautiful, enigmatic bastard"

Lazy Sunday? Great: BallinEurope has just the thing to occupy your time! Below run some quality articles and gawk-worthy YouTubes from the week that was in European basketball and NBA lockout land for your perusal. The bullet-point format is in effect and the show stars Danny Green, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, Walter Szczerbiak, Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson. Enjoy!

• For an excellent and thorough piece on the Real Madrid offense (and concomitant weak interior defense) in light of Thursday night’s Euroleague loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, check out this work at In The Game. Figures writer Rod Higgins in part: “…it is doubtful that [Real’s] current style will serve them particularly well once the regular season is over. Madrid get most of their wins by simply outscoring their opponents. This means that they have to improve defensively; Bilbao, Milano and Maccabi have repeatedly exposed the weak interior defense of the Merengues earlier in the season…”

• Hey, some positivity for the Lithuanian fans! Roll the top 10 plays by Lietuvos Rytas in October!

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Some news from organizers of the upcoming interesting Holland-based EuroJam 2011 tournament, which pits NCAA men’s and women’s sides against European national teams.

Confirmed for the tournament are NBA Dutchmen Francisco Elson of the Utah Jazz and Dan Gadzuric of the New Jersey Nets – BallinEurope can’t help but speculate as to whether the latter will be using his off-time during the tournament to field offers from European clubs, what with the mass exodus of Nets to the Continent. (NetsDaily hints that Gadzuric’s appearance in the tournament may depend on insurance issues.)

The Sacramento Kings’ Omri Casspi is slated to play for Team Israel in the tourney as well; more on this below.

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The most interesting basketball tournament happening in Europe before Eurobasket? Check out an event called EuroJam 2011 going down August 12-14 in Almere, Holland.

As what is slated to be the first in a series of Europe-based international tournaments, EuroJam will feature six men’s teams and two women’s teams to play over the three days of the event, which also promises an entire “Sport Experience” for fans and professionals.

Competing on the men’s side of the bracket will be national teams from Georgia, Israel and the Netherlands; this quartet will be joined by the Villanova University squad. The women’s “tournament” actually consists of two games pitting the Netherlands’ team against the Boston College Eagles.

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