Team France 160
Joakim Noah: “I’m absolutely not ready,” won’t play for Team France in Olympics
Team France’s aspirations for Olympic success in 2012 have taken quite a hit today, as Joakim Noah announced that he will not after all compete in the London Games with Les Bleus. Noah made the announcement today, as reported in L’Equipe, explaining that “I’m absolutely not ready, not ready to run, not ready to jump. […]
2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament Preview: Lithuania
The 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men tips off in Venezuela today at 11am local time (11.30am EST, 5.30pm CET) with the Russia-South Korea match. Of the 12 national teams competing, four are European. The last of BallinEurope’s previews of these qualifiers features an assessment of Lithuania. Roster: Tomas Delininkaitis, Paulius Jankūnas, Mantas […]
2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament Preview: Team Russia
With the lengthily-named 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men tipping off in Venezuela on Monday, BallinEurope takes some time this week to catch up on the four European squads in the running for a trip to London and reckon on a brief assessment of each’s chances in the competition. First up is Russia, […]
Current rosters for 2012 European, USA Olympic teams [Updated]
Last Friday, FIBA released its first “power ladder” (a.k.a. “power rankings”) for 2012 Olympic basketball; BallinEurope therefore thought to post a list of the seven Continental team rosters – plus, as a measuring stick, the pool for Team USA – as they currently stand.
Quiz: The NBA- and Euro-centric year in basketball, 2011-12
Quick! Before those memories of basketball championships European and NBA fade completely, take a brief look back at the season that was – one crazy one on The Continent that began with Tony Parker, Ty Lawson and Mehmet Okur playing over here and concluded with titles taken by King James and Emperor Spanoulis. Get out […]
Miami Heat 121, Oklahoma City Thunder 106: Now onto the Olympics, future
Okay, okay, BallinEurope’s gonna do the traditional thing … congratulations out to the Miami Heat and its clear MVP Lebron James for their 2012 NBA Championship win. James’ triple-double in the decisive game five appropriately capped a playoff run during which he fought off criticism and doomsayers as much as the Oklahoma City Thunder. As […]
Joakim Noah: “Not quite ready” for Olympics, but “time is on our side”
In his first media appearance since the Chicago Bulls were eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers, Joakim Noah assessed his chances of suiting up for Team France in the 2012 Olympics. “Still a little sore” from his most recent ankle injury, Noah stated from Los Angeles that “I’m not quite ready. I […]
Nando de Colo “Waiting for” contract offer, expects Spurs’ call later
Today’s edition of France-based L’Equipe has a brief bit on Les Bleus/Valencia guard Nando de Colo with regard to his immediate future. De Colo was selected by the San Antonio Spurs at no. 53 overall in the 2009 draft and, now that the Valencia BC season has ended at the hands of FC Barcelona, the […]
Watch Albert Schweitzer Tournament live online: Turkey vs. Germany, Spain vs. Serbia
Youth basketball fans will definitely want to take advantage of Germany-based Deutscher Basketball Bund website’s generosity today: Live-streaming on the ‘site this afternoon the 3rd-place and championship game in the annual Albert Schweitzer tournament. At 2pm CET (8am EST), it’ll be Turkey versus Germany for the bronze-medal finish while at 4.15pm CET (10.15am EST), the […]
On the road to London: Describing Team France’s five-year plan
While much of the Continent enjoys Easter Monday and North America heads back to work, BallinEurope takes the occasion today to clear out a few items from the backburner. First up, here’s part four of the “On the Road to London” mini-documentary series on Team France’s leadup to the 2012 Olympic Games. This episode dedicated […]
On the Road to London: Zinedine Zidane, Yannick Noah ♥ Tony Parker
Now available online at YouTube and DailyMotion – not to mention embedded below – is episode three of the short documentary series “On the Road to London” featuring Team France in the runup to the 2012 Olympics. Le troisième épisode is entitled “La Star,” which might perhaps be best translated as “Tony Parker: The Love […]
Following Parker, Noah, De Colo and Team France “On the Road to Britain”
With about four months to go before the 2012 Olympic basketball qualifying round tips off, the Fédération Française de Basketball (FFBB) and director Benoit Dujardin have launched a series of short documentaries on Team France’s preparation for the London Games. Episodes in the 14-part “On the Road to Britain” series will be released on YouTube […]