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Well since almost everyone started a topic for their home country, I think one for Bulgaria wouldn't harm anybody. We're in Group D with Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Belgium. I think that only Russia and Slovenia are the better teams in the group and the other four share the same possibility of going through to the next phase as being the third team in the group. However I think if our coach doesn't mess things up, we can play good and clinch the third spot as we have beaten all three teams in our meetings in the past years. We also have some losses against those, but that can be changed.



Once again Filip Videnov(196/1980/Prokom) will be the main figure for our NT. He signed with Prokom this year, after a strong season with Crvena Zvezda and FMP in Serbia last year, and he is doing pretty good so far. From all the new signings for the Polish side he was one of the few who weren't released at this stage. In the Euroleague he played 20:36 minutes per contest in 10 games and averaged 7.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists, shooting 47% for 2 and 41% for 3. He is playing strong in Poland and in the Baltic League.



Also we will rely on the twins Kaloyan and Deyan Ivanov - both 205-cm tall and playing 4/5. Kaloyan is playing with Cajasol in the Eurocup making 6.1 points and 3.0 rebounds in 17:51 minutes per game. His brother Deyan plays for Montegranaro in Italy, averaging 14.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 30.8 minutes per game, shooting 54% for 2.



We have a bunch of talented young guys from around our league, and also a bunch of players with BG passports - starting with Ibrahim Jaaber (Armani Jeans), Willie Deane (Nancy), Jared Homan (Virtus), Roderick Blakney (Unicaja), EJ Rowland (Cremona) and also Andre Owens who played for Manresa in Spain.

Mike Batiste (panathinaikos) has Bg passport hasnt he? Todor Stoykov will be 2011 ???

I remember Pini Gershon was the coach of the Bulgarian NT is he still their coach? I don't remember reading he left..

Stoykov retired from the NT, and things with Batiste's passport didn't work out. Yeah, Gershon made a quiet exit, but he should've stayed cuz he is great, it's our federation who are the idiots.

batiste can have greek, why go for bulgaria?

I was also curious, but there really was a speculation around the media that he will get a BG passport a couple of years back

[quote name='Akademix17' timestamp='1296848728' post='28393']

Once again Filip Videnov(196/1980/Prokom) will be the main figure for our NT. He signed with Prokom this year, after a strong season with Crvena Zvezda and FMP in Serbia last year, and he is doing pretty good so far. From all the new signings for the Polish side he was one of the few who weren't released at this stage. In the Euroleague he played 20:36 minutes per contest in 10 games and averaged 7.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists, shooting 47% for 2 and 41% for 3. He is playing strong in Poland and in the Baltic League.

[/quote]



VTB United League, not Baltic.

[quote name='Akademix17' timestamp='1296983579' post='28437']

I was also curious, but there really was a speculation around the media that he will get a BG passport a couple of years back

[/quote]



this is true. there was a talk about him getting a bulgarian passport. but now i cannot find a single reason for him to get it. if he was to get a european passport and play for a european nt, that would probably be greece. And he is 33 already.

I think Bulgaria will have a good team at Eurobasket. They will definitely fight to get to the next round.

It will be interested to see which of the other for teams expect Russia and Slovenia. it will be interested games between Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia and Belgium

[quote name='Kenneth23' timestamp='1297113718' post='28476']

I think Bulgaria will have a good team at Eurobasket. They will definitely fight to get to the next round.

It will be interested to see which of the other for teams expect Russia and Slovenia. it will be interested games between Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia and Belgium

[/quote]



i am not taking for granted that russia will advance

[quote name='suricata' timestamp='1297212121' post='28545']

i am not taking for granted that russia will advance

[/quote]

Are you joking? Russia will have 1 defeat maximum in this group.

Russia and Slovenia will finish in the first two spots, we will fight with the other teams for third place

Russia and Slovenia will finish in the first two spots for sure. It will be very interested games between the other four teams to go through to the next round. Each teams has his qualities and will do everything to advance to the next round

Our head coach Rosen Barchovski said that he might not use any American players for the EuroBasket. It's good because he can give a chance to some of the young guys, like Bozhidar Avramov. Avramov played great in the BG Cup final tonight, scoring 21 points (7/13 for 3) and adding 6 assists in 23 minutes off the bench.