BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Cinderella, March Madness, instant history, the excitement of college hoops, etc. etc. So Florida Gulf Coast University destroyed what was left of BallinEurope’s NCAA Tournament bracket after the (sigh) University of New Mexico debacle plucky Harvard victory on Thursday with a thrilling 78-68 win over heralded no. 2 seed Georgetown. Unfortunately, the troika of FGCU’s European players didn’t do much, but who cares? The basketball upset of 2013 has been accomplished.

Therefore, the immediate YouTube-based reaction and clips, for posterity’s sake.
First off, let’s give props to a guy named Hebrew Hammy. Ol’ Hammy went on something called Collision Sports Talk a couple of nights ago, making the truly fearless prediction of the Eagles overcoming the mighty Hoyas. At least this part of the guy’s bracket ain’t broke…

And sure, here’s the dunk everyone’s gonna be discussing, posting, tweeting and retweeting today. Welcome to your 15 seconds of viral fame, Mr. Chase Fieler!

After trawling the rosters of teams invited to the 2013 NCAA Tournament, a.k.a. The Big Dance, a.k.a. the cause of March Madness, BallinEurope has decided to divide its loyalty among three European-accented college squads.

And you? Who do you like in the big bracket? Vote below, vote early, vote often. And let the Madness begin!

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Can Harris, Gonzaga continue to ride the wave?

The easy choice for the European basketball fan would of course be Gonzaga. With a realistic shot at winning the whole enchilada and having perfected that up-tempo style for which this basketball program has become known, why not get on the bandwagon? After a topsy-turvy season during which it felt like a new no. 1 topped polls weekly, the Bulldogs finally emerged atop the ratings, only to see that ranking immediately erased thanks to bracket-building.

Of course, one could eliminate the Zags from contention for your Tournament-time devotion on a technicality. Guy Landry Edi’s hometown according to the NCAA and media sources is Paris, France. However, serious followers of FIBA ball will recall that, after playing with Team France in the U16s, he then suited up – thus changed his eligible nationality in FIBA terms – for Côte d’Ivoire in the 2010 FIBA World Championship (and subsequently the 2011 FIBA Africa Championship).

So could it be that Edi is finally worn down? Or, put another way, what happened to this guy in 2013? Since the New Year’s Eve game at Oklahoma State, Edi has totaled nearly as many personal fouls (11) as points (16, including seven in the Seniors Day Game blowout against Portland). Heck, he hasn’t scored a point since January 24, since going 0-for-13.

BiE wonders if we’ll ever see this player again (and thinks, yeah, maybe in Pro A next season):

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OSU’s Della Valle: It’s gotta be the hair…

Fans of international ball will be pleased to note the distinct foreign accent in the 2013 NCAA Tournament: 47 of the 60 sides with spots clinched in the competition list non-U.S. players on the roster. And while Canadians and Australians (including three on Albany and two with Luc Longley’s alma mater the University of New Mexico) lead the bunch, 18 European players remain on tourney team rosters.

Below runs a brief look at the first half of Europe’s representatives in the big bracket; with the other nine set to play for one of three tournament teams, BallinEurope will pay particular attention to these guys in an upcoming article.

First up: The two guys listed on rosters who will not see action. Notre Dame’s Eric Katenda (France) announced this summer that he was ready to get onto the court for the Fighting Irish after suffering a freakish potentially career-ending eye injury while still officially a recruit. Unfortunately, this comeback story has only a bittersweet ending thus far: While coach Mike Brey has stated that Katenda’s scholarship will be honored, the Frenchman did not suit up for the team this season.

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Sure, BiE’ll help out a longtime player, if only for his awesome and audacious marketing skills. An email arrived in the BallinEurope inbox entitled simply “The Best Unsigned Basketball Player Alive: Dre Baldwin” (has Allen Iverson heard about this?) and included quite a nice résumé compiled over seven years.

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Auda “will be a big factor” for Seton Hall

O’Connell has written for NCAA basketball for the Associated Press since 1978 and has just recently completed his 3,000th game writeup for the wire service. His CV is way too long to detail here, but let’s just say it culminates with entry into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Hall of Fame in 2002.

So who better, BiE figured, to get some insight from on a handful of European prospects in American college basketball in 2012-13? Below run O’Connell’s insights into Patrick Auda of the Czech Republic; Patrick Heckmann and Elias Harris of Germany; Deniz Kilicli of Turkey; and Will Yeguete of France – plus video clips!

(Teaser: O’Connell reckons one of these guys is destined for an all-American-level year…)

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In celebration of certainly still the most significant year in international basketball history, BallinEurope today begins the “Twenty years ago today” series in which we’ll peer back in time through the lens of YouTube to that era of morphing European national teams and Dream Team dominance.

In the wake of that Greatest Basketball Team Ever Assembled, much of the 1991-92 professional seasons themselves get the short shrift in the history books, but some quite interesting stuff was nevertheless happening on the Continent.

• The Euroleague boasted a cliffhanging thriller in Partizan Belgrade vs. Joventut Badalona. Badalona brought Harold Pressley (with averages of 20.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per EL game) and Rafael Jofresa, while the Black-and-Whites boasted local products Predrag Danilovic and Aleksanda Djordjevic. It was the latter who’d deliver the European championship to the storied franchise for its first and, to date, last such title ever.

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Head coach Chris Finch and the British Basketball Federation today released a preliminary roster of 21 players to compete for spots on the host team’s 2012 Olympic team. Given the fairly short modern history of FIBA-level basketball on the ‘Isles, the claim from the federation that this is the “strongest-ever preliminary GB men’s squad” isn’t very debatable.

Said roster draws on quite an international reach, consisting as it does of NBA players Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls), Ben Gordon (Detroit Pistons) and Byron Mullens (Charlotte Bobcats); Liga Endesa’s Kieron Achara (Manresa), Robert Archibald (Zaragoza), Dan Clark (Asefa Estudiantes), Joel Freeland (Unicaja Malaga) and Devon van Oostrum (Tarragona); European professionals Ogo Adegboye and Kyle Johnson (Apoel Cyprus), Eric Boateng (Peristeri), Matthew Bryan-Amaning (Hacettepe), Mike Lenzly (CEZ Nymburk), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Besiktas Milangaz), Sullivan Phillips (Prievidza); the BBL’s Nate Reinking (Sheffield Sharks) and Andrew Sullivan (Leicester Riders); NCAA players Andrew Lawrence (College of Charleston), Alex Marcotullio (Northwestern), Ovie Soko (University of Alabama-Birmingham); and current free agent/San Antonio Spurs draftee Ryan Richards.

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For no good reason other than BallinEurope displaying pride in his alma mater, BiE today congratulates the University of New Mexico Lobos in winning their second-round NCAA Tournament match against the Long Beach State 49ers, 75-68. Drew Gordon, the Lobos’ potential NBAer – the Draft Express mock 2012 draft has him going to the Boston Celtics in round two – contributed an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double plus some excellent defense in the win.

And now, the angst.

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Speaking of Britain and basketball, BallinEurope this morning passes on a couple of Brit-centric clips…

Chicago Bulls fan/U.S. president Barack Obama yesterday displayed more of his trademark basketball diplomacy in taking his British counterpart, prime minister David Cameron, to the Mississippi Valley State-Western Kentucky NCAA tournament play-in game in Dayton, Ohio. Obama was proud to show a bit of the “great probable ‘swing state’ and thus 2012 presidential election-determining state of Ohio” to Cameron as the two enjoyed a furious rally by the Hilltoppers to upend the MVSU Delta Devils (sweet name, that), 59-58, and enter the Big Dance.

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