Finland 64
Eurobasket: Slovenia and Croatia progress, Spain win
We know half of the teams through from Group F after a wild Saturday. Two Balkan teams locked up their places in the quarter-finals with wins today while Spain cruised to their first win in the second phase. Damn that crowd makes a difference. Slovenia and Greece delivered one of the ugliest first quarters of […]
Open Thread: Eurobasket Group F gets under way
The second day of action in stage two sees the Group F teams take centre stage. Here’s the docket for today and our picks. Finland (1-1) vs. Croatia (1-1) – 14.30 Greece (0-2) vs. Spain (1-1) – 17.45 Slovenia (1-1) vs. Italy (2-0) – 21.00 The bookies favour Croatia (-4.5), Spain (-6.5), and Slovenia (-3.5). […]
American Vikings: Emmanuel Holloway and Allen Durham starring in Finland
BallinEurope just got the word on a couple of American ballers plying the trade in Finland, namely Emmanuel Holloway and Allen Durham of the Salon Vilpas Vikings. Sure, BiE’ll give ‘em some space! A former Illinois State Redbird, Holloway came to Vilpas after stints with Basketbol Brno of the Czech Republic and Germany’s Pro B […]
11-for-11: BallinEurope’s Most 11 popular stories from 2011
So 2011 may have been few people’s favorite year personally, European basketball fans have certainly got to be taking solace in the fact that the past 12 months featured a seriously great run of Continental-flavored hoops. To wit, in 2011, we enjoyed: • an exciting round of Euroleague playoffs which included FC Barcelona’s surprising tournament-round […]
Ron Artest to play in Finland. No, really.
BallinEurope just received word from Hippo Taatila (via BiE pilgrim father Christophe, now of European Prospects) that Ron Artest may have topped himself in wackiness yet again – and this within a week of the announcement of his imminent name change to Metta World Peace. Reports Taatila: “Finland’s top league Korisliiga will witness some serious […]
How many Americans (and foreigners) play in Europe, anyway?
Estonia-based newspaper Õhtuleht yesterday posted results from its number-crunching survey of European basketball, vis-à-vis the number of foreigners – and specifically those carrying US passports – in most Continental domestic leagues. The home country itself is one of the more sparsely-foreigner populated, with just 14 foreign players on eight EMKL rosters or just over 1½ […]
No dunks please, we’re Finnish (or, The Greatest Offensive Foul of All-Time)
Theron Wilson, formerly of Bradley University, has found a nice niche in Finland with the Salon Vilpas Vikings, though perhaps someone should have informed him of the stinginess of Korisliiga referees. It appears that, unlike the Ukrainian ball Wilson was with in his rookie professional season last year, Finland’s zebras just aren’t accustomed to play […]
List of 2009-10 European basketball champions
League play is now accelerating to a close all over The Continent, and BallinEurope’s “List of European Champions” page gets more updates. Most men’s domestic leagues have completely closed up shoppe for 2009-10, but BiE has also listed a few details on where other leagues stand at present; links are provided where possible. If no […]
And the Oscar (Robertson) goes to: The year in basketball movies
It’s Academy Awards time on the other side of The Pond tonight, Hollywood’s celebration of itself (approximately 96% of a given broadcast) and movie magic in general (the remaining 4% minus obligatory sponsor plugs). So, on Tinseltown’s holiday, BallinEurope takes stock of the major international and, um, not so-international basketball-related cinematic releases of 2009. We […]
Quotebook, results from FIBA EuroBasket 2011 qualifying draw
The draw for FIBA EuroBasket 2011 Qualifying Round games in the men’s and women’s competitions is over, and the reactions are pouring in. The men’s half will consist of three groups of five teams each. Group A has Finland, Israel, Italy, Latvia and Montenegro; Group B is Bosnia & Herzegovina, Great Britain, Hungary, FYR Macedonia […]
Ball in Europe’s 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009
Like any blog, Ball in Europe would ultimately mean nothing without its readership; you are the ones for whom our website is for. In the general taking stock of the year that was, Ball in Europe today presents the top 10 most popular posts on the website in 2009. These are the stories that captured […]
Happy Treaty of Lisbon Day! (Now how does this affect basketball?)
December 1, 2009, will go down in history as the day the Treaty of Lisbon was put into full effect, thus “complet[ing] the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam [1997] and by the Treaty of Nice [2001] with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the […]