FIBA 352
Nike Hoop Summit 2012: World Select tops Shabazz Muhammad, Team USA; Dario Saric contributes double-double
For just the fourth time in 15 years, Team USA lost the marquee match at the Nike Hoop Summit to the World Select squad. Dario Saric, a.k.a. The Next Big Thing coming out of Croatia, put in a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds in the World’s 84-75 win, with the latter mark tying […]
News from Lebanon: Mohammad El Akkari goes for 113 points in a single game
No, the European Union nor FIBA Europe are ready to incorporate Lebanon into their ranks, but damn if the performance by Mohammad El Akkari yesterday doesn’t deserve mention on every single basketball-related website on planet Earth. El Akkari went for a mind-boggling 113 (that’s right) points in a Lebanon Division A final eight tournament game […]
Euroleague Women Final Eight: A Story of Yes and No
Eurosport Turkey basketball commentator Uygar Karaca was naturally on hand in Istanbul for the FIBA Euroleague Women Final Four tournament. Today, BallinEurope posts his impressions on the competition and what the future may hold for the contenders. After long, exhausting league play in Euroleague Women, the intense traffic of the Final Eight round has now […]
Why Andrei Kirilenko and CSKA Moscow must win the Euroleague
Regular readers of BallinEurope may recall a similarly entitled writeup on Montepaschi Siena on these pages from a long time ago – actually two weeks, but already it *feels* like quite a spell. Contributing writer Enrico Cellini was as surprised as any of us when Olympiacos began Siena’s ejection from the tournament, Facebook-messaging BiE with […]
Team Russia’s first opponent in 2012 Olympic qualifiers: Jetlag (really?)
With months to go before the London Olympic Games, some Russian media sources may already be panicking, based on concerns quoted from Alexey Shved vis-à-vis the FIBA qualifying tournament scheduled for July in Venezuela. The CSKA Moscow guard told Russia-based media service RIA Novosti that “Of course we’ll try. But flying for 15 hours changes […]
Lakers scout: “Germany biggest hope for European basketball”; L.A. interested in Maik Zirbes?
Former Real Madrid/current Los Angeles Lakers scout Antonio Maceiras visited Germany last week, including a stop in Bamberg to watch Brose Baskets destroy TBB Trier (no, seriously: Just look at this box score). Naturally, this gave BallinEurope contributor David Hein the opportunity to chat with the man about working for the Los Angeles Lakers and […]
Happy birthday, Team USA killer Oscar Schmidt!
BallinEurope wishes a happy birthday to longtime Team Brazil, Spanish League and Italian Serie A legend Oscar Schmidt, who today is 54 years old. Over a career spanning three decades and five Olympic Games, Schmidt scored a total of 49,703 career points, recognized by FIBA as the most-ever in a career. (The identity of the […]
Shocker (not): FIBA Europe names Dirk Nowitzki player of the year; Navarro, McCalebb runners-up
To no one’s surprise – certainly not BallinEurope’s, in any case – FIBA Europe today announced its men’s player of the year award would go to the longtime Team Germany/Dallas Mavericks superstar. Less than suspenseful, too, were the results of the top five finishers: Behind Dastardly Dirk came Juan Carlos “La Bomba” Navarro, Bo McCalebb, […]
Dirk Nowitzki: “Angela Merkel is nice”; “I want to top Sabonis.”
Surely to no one’s surprise, Gazzetta dello Sport gave its prestigious Euroscar Player of the Year Award to Dirk Nowitzki, he of the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Clearly the favorite to take FIBA Europe’s equivalent award, the Mav was bestowed with the honor on the same night he collected his bling-bling title ring in […]
Armenia’s Sarah Halejian, Kate Kevorken making their way in NCAA
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 […]
Peja Stojakovic: The BallinEurope tribute
Just days ago, Peja Stojakovic appeared to be a viable free agent for an NBA team with roster holes, a still-deadly long-range assassin at the age of 34, a 19-year veteran with gas enough in the tank for late-game daggers and smart D, a prototypical European baller with an American championship pedigree. “Couldn’t he drain […]
The official BallinEurope ballot for FIBA Europe Men's Players of the Year: Nowitzki, Navarro and…?
BallinEurope just loves season- and year-ending polls, and every December FIBA Europe offers hoops devotees the opportunity to participate in the naming the Continent’s Players of The Year. And while the winner of the award for 2011 – a.k.a. the Year of Dirk – is surely a no-brainer, the FIBA ballot calls for electors to […]