BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Is this officially “viral” yet? A few days ago, BallinEurope stumbled upon and posted an, um, interpretation of the Harlem Shake as presented by the roster of Bundesliga-leading Brose Baskets Bamberg. Days later, FC Bayern Munich’s lot YouTubed their own ‘Shaking…

…and today it seems the phenomenon has spread to Spain’s basketball world as well: Check out Asefa Estudiantes’ Germán Gabriel, Jaime Fernández, Kyle Kuric, Daniel Clark, Edgar Vicedo and Jayson Granger plus a whole gaggle of would-be Harlemites getting down.

Right, then, European basketball squads: Who’s got next?

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Ball in Europe contributor Francesco Cappelletti contributes the second part of his look at the ACB with briefs on a dozen teams who won’t exactly compete for the Spanish league title, but certainly compare with most European competition. Part one can be read by clicking here.

One step behind. These ACB teams aren’t worthy of a title drive; despite this, their value is surely greater than other European mid-level teams. With at least seven or eight really good players apiece, they’re readier to exploit every possibility than richer and more ambitious clubs can. For example, Gran Canaria 2014 is coming off a monster season in which it finished the regular season in sixth place (ahead of Valencia) and was eliminated by Unicaja Malaga in the quarterfinals. Gran Canaria is now without Carl English, Mario Fernandez and Joel Freeland, who are testing themselves in top teams; however, the newly arrived Jaycee Carroll from Teramo and Will McDonald are noticeable names for a non-Euroleague team, and they fit perfectly into this team’s scheme thanks to men very similar to them. The skeleton is nearly the same as last year: Joshua Fisher and Marcus Norris comprise a duo that provides veteran attitude and intangibles, while Melvin Sanders, Sitapha Savane and James Augustine carry a strong presence on both ends of the floor.

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Team Britain may not be playing EuroBasket 2009 with Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, but at least they’ve got … Jamie Vanderbeken.

Vanderbeken’s decision was actually something of a lifetime commitment: The 23-year-old was feeling a bit pressed to choose between his father’s home country of Canada and Britain, due to his Scottish’s mother’s citizenship.

Vanderbeken reportedly chose to side with Team Britain due to the opportunity to “launch his international career immediately,” and the medium-term goal is to play for Team Britain in the 2012 Olympics. He also was pumped to be playing with Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Robert Archibald.

The forward is currently at Iowa State, where he last season went for 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.

In addition to Vanderbeken, Team Britain’s expanded roster for EuroBasket 2009 includes Kieron Achara (Angelico Biella); 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); Randall Hanke (Providence College); Jarrett Hart (Keravnos); Mike Lenzly (Harem Scafati); Steve Leven (West Brabant Giants); Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Toronto Raptors); Nate Reinking (Dexia Mons-Hainaut); Justin Robinson (Rider University); Andrew Sulivan (CSK VVS Samara).

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