European basketball leagues and the NBA may be coming to a close for 2010-11, but there’s still plenty of hoops to keep up with – and even more online video clips for the watching! BallinEurope starts your Sunday with a dozen clips shot in the U.S., Greece, Spain, Israel and other locales. Enjoy today’s action (Olympiacos-Panathinaikos! ACB semifinals!) … after checking out BiE’s playlist, of course.
May
Apr
0
Getting Mistie over Bass-Williams, Fleischer, Challes-les-Eaux
The most musical of pro basketball teams? It could well be Challes-les-Eaux of the Ligue Féminine Basket. Television network France 3 recently picked up on an interesting factoid regarding star Mistie Bass-Williams: She is in fact the daughter of Chubby Checker, né Ernest Evans, he of “The Twist” fame in the early 1960s.
Meanwhile, reports 3, Jennifer Fleischer is a none-too-shabby flautist herself. Check out the piece on these “basketeuses et musiciennes” in a story they just had to call “Challes-es-Eaux dans le bon tempo!”
On the court, Bass-Williams turned in a monster season for Challes in 2010-11, contributing 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game – good enough numbers to win her the Foreign MVP. The former Duke Blue Devil is under contract with the Chicago Sky in the WNBA.
Apr
1
Spanish president congratulates champions Halcón Avenida
For posterity’s sake, BallinEurope.com passes on the message from Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero sent to the new Euroleague Women champions, Halcón Avenida, which defeated Sparta & K last weekend for its first-ever Continental title. The telegram (really?) read as follows.
Apr
0
Video clips: Championships, cheerleaders, Carroll crushes, Barcelona loses (again)
Happy Monday, everyone. To get that week started right, BallinEurope has compiled a healthy-sized video play list at which you may goggle over morning coffee. From all corners of Europe (and Portland, Oregon) came the action last week as the barrage of title-awarding begins on The Continent.
• First up: BiE offers congratulations to Žalgiris Kaunas, who took the Baltic Basketball League title over VEF Riga, 75-67. Tadas Klimavicius was the stud for the “Green White Boys” with a team-high 15 points to go with nine rebounds; Trevon Hughes was game high scorer, contributing 16 for Riga as well as five boards.
The BBL is infuriatingly short on video coverage – even on YouTube – but, um, here’s a swell clip of some rabid fans in that distinctive mode of European basketball…
Apr
0
Nike Hoop Summit, Euroleague Women Final Four on FIBA TV
A quick reminder, just in case you’re an utter hoops fanatic (or up in the wee hours of Sunday morning for some reason): FIBA TV will be showing the Nike Hoop Summit live online for free from Portland at 10pm EST – that’s right, that means 4am CET.
FIBA TV will also be broadcasting a pair of Euroleague Women Final Four games on Sunday with online afternoon broadcasts of the third-place game and 2010-11 final.
First up, Candace Parker, Maria Stepanova and Cappie Pondexter try to overcome UMMC Ekaterinburg’s “heartbreaking” loss in the semifinals in the consolation game versus Spain’s Ros Casares at 12.45pm CET.
In the finals, Sue Bird and renamed Russian superpower Sparta & K Moscow Region take on Alba Torres and Halcon Avenida at 3pm CET.
Click here to watch any of the games live on FIBA TV.
Mar
0
Elitzur Ramla 61, Arras 53: Israel’s first-ever European women’s champion crowned
Slightly belated congratulations from BallinEurope go out to the women of Elitzur Ramla for their recent coronation as 2011 FIBA Eurocup Women champions by dint of a 61-53 victory over Arras Pays d’Artois in France.
In the match, second leg in the two-game playoff format, Elitzur dug themselves an eight-point hole early but stormed back with a 20-2 run in the first half. Elitzur’s Laine Selwyn and Le’Coe Willingham led all scorers by contributing 15 points each. Teammate/Team Israel and former New York Liberty/University of Marylander Shay Doron accounted for 14, including 10 in the first half.
Israeli hoops pundits are welcoming home the squad while proudly noting Elitzur’s status as “the first Israeli women’s basketball team to lift a European title.”
Official FIBA Europe game writeup follows; apparently, no video of this final is really publicly available online…
Mar
1
British Basketball: What they’re saying on the eve of The FIBA Decision
If it hadn’t been for all the personality-cult stuff surrounding a certain King James, the fateful FIBA committee vote scheduled for Sunday would more rightly be known as “The Decision”: In Lyons this weekend, the final determination will be made as to whether Team Britain receives for the 2012 London Games the traditionally-granted automatic qualification given the host nation’s hoops team.
On the eve of British basketball facing what even FIBA Secretary-General Patrick Baumann has called “the biggest decision in its history,” pundits, players and the powerful are all weighing in on the impact of “The FIBA Decision.” BallinEurope rounds up a few stories and such from the interwebs for your perusal.
(As for BiE, of course we’re backing the British bid. How can you not give it them?)
• First and foremost is Pops Mensah-Bonsu. BiE dares say that no one represents the pride and hopes of this team better than Pops, and the man’s passion for winning with Team Britain is matched by few.
Jan
1
Letter to WADA from Fenerbahçe fans: Free Taurasi!
Diana Taurasi may be facing a two-year ban from competition outside the United States and has already been released from Fenerbahçe, but some of her fans in Turkey aren’t giving up the fight to get allegations of doping overturned.
The following letter was recently sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by an unnamed group of supporters (the epistle even appears in media without closing or signature) complaining of some unfair charges levied against she who is/was formerly thought to be among the all-time greats:
Dec
1
Diana Taurasi flunks drug test, suspended in Turkey
Perhaps a worrisome Christmas it’ll be for women’s basketball great Diana Taurasi and backers of her Fenerbahçe side. In the wee hours of the morning, ESPN reported that a drug test on Taurasi had come back positive for an unspecified illegal stimulant.
Said Taurasi’s lawyer Howard Jacobs, “We’re taking it one step at a time,” Jacobs said. “I’d rather not say what it is at this stage, they’ve only tested the ‘A’ sample. Somehow it leaked over in Turkey.” (Pun surely unintentional.)
Taurasi has been suspended from the team by Turkish basketball officials in an unfortunately timed punishment: The former U Conn Huskies leader has missed the three games with the team.
Despite Taurasi’s absence, Fenerbahçe stands at 8-0 in FIBA Euroleague Women qualifying round play, having spent the offseason building a monster squad which also includes Team Serbia’s Ivana Matovic, Team Australia’s Penny Taylor, and Team Hungary’s Anna Vajda.
Oct
2
FIBA Women’s Worlds: USA takes title, Czechs’ run “a dream”
Congratulations this morning from BallinEurope to both the USA’s and the Czech Republic’s women’s teams after last night’s FIBA World Championship final. The Stars and Stripes overcame the homers, 89-69, but the Czechs can certainly take pride in a fine tournament performance. Hana Horokova was named tournament MVP.
Official FIBA writeup follows.
