Team Slovenia 61
Power rankings (already updated): 2010 FIBA World Championship
See, BiE secretly knew this would happen … you break down, make a few fearless predictions online and bam! The inconvenient fact of a loss – two losses in fact, one particularly egregious – goes down and you suddenly have to rework the whole damn post on 2010 FIBA World Championship power rankings. In the […]
Power ratings: 2010 FIBA World Championship
August is here and it’s full speed ahead for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey later this month. In coming weeks, we’ll be seeing the national teams competing in the tournament playing warmup games all over the planet – indeed, some have already begun play. With the last few big names having declared “yea” […]
2010 FIBA World Championship odds: Looking for a dark horse {advertorial}
So call BallinEurope kooky: While everyone else with an eye on basketball – even European basketball, for Arvydas Sabonis’ sake – is concentrating on the NBA free-agent market, BiE is all attention on the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men tipping off in Turkey in August. Naturally, bookmakers too are into it and the early […]
Top 10 reasons Americans should watch the ACB finals
Yes, yes, BallinEurope realizes that U.S. basketball fandom is currently enraptured with the NBA Championship, if only to determine just which team y’all hate more. But still: A true roundball supporter wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to tune into some top-level ball, would you? As Pete Mickeal once put it, “Hey, there’s a world outside […]
Sasha Vujacic is King of Slovenia: The video proof
BallinEurope’s official YouTube of the week? Not even close: It’s easily this video paean to the immortal Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic from the mad geniuses over at Lakers-Fan.com. Who says Laker fans hate Sasha? Everyone know Machine is king of Slovenia! (Click continue reading to witness 48 seconds of poetry and, um, highlights.)
On the origins of the Dragon-Machine feud
From the always-busy Whoda Thunk It Department comes a real mind-boggler of a statement regarding tonight’s Western Conference Championship game six: The matchup of Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic on Goran “The Dragon” Dragic matters. After the Phoenix Suns’ bench absolutely immolated the Los Angeles Lakers in game four of the series – The Dragon Was […]
Eurocentric highlights from last night’s NBA action
With 22 NBA teams going at it last night across the ‘States, the official website has a serious compendium of clips collected this morning. Several favorites from The Continent are featured and BiE has compiled this run of videos with which you can kill a good ten minutes of your morning this morning, easily. • […]
Vujacic’s eight points in 14 minutes = “FOR SALE” sign?
With only three NBA games going last night, the most surprising story of the American evening needn’t have been too mind-blowing, but Sasha Vujacic’s performance in the Los Angeles’ Lakers surprisingly easy 101-89 win over the San Antonio Spurs was among the more remarkable at least. Vujacic ended up with eight points on 3-of-3 shooting […]
Who and what to watch for in 2010s European basketball
Welcome to the 10s, everyone! Now, enough with the pleasantries: With an entire demarcated decade stretching out before us, Ball in Europe wonders about future headlines, about who’s coming up, about “Who’s Next” in ESPNspeak. Here’s to thinking we’ll be talking about some of the following this decade… • Enes Kanter. It’s impossible to tell […]
It’s Vrankovic for Team Croatia
Filling the big shoes of displaced head coach Jasmin Repesa when Croatia hits the court for the 2010 FIBA World Championship will be Josip Vrankovic. Vrankovic had served as the coach of Croatia’s “Team B” in international competition in addition to (briefly and contentiously) helming Cibona Zagreb in 2007. As a long-time player with Team […]
Euroleague team preview – Union Olimpija: Time to change destiny?
What to make of Union Olimpija’s chances for 2009-10, especially in light of the Euroleague-opening demolition suffered at the hands of Maccabi Tel Aviv? Guest writer Matjaž Žbogar, chief editor at Prostimet.si, gives us reasons for optimism about the green-and-white’s chances, together with a heavy dose of, um, realism. Slovenian powerhouse Union Olimpija was once, […]
Talking points for the Euroleague 2009-10 season opener
Happy Opening Day, Euroleague devotees! Though no one has yet devised a way to read tomorrow’s newspaper, here are some talking points sure to be addressed in coverage of tonight’s Maccabi Electra-Union Olimpija opener in Tel Aviv.