Homepage
Facebook
X
Jul 12, 2011, 3:44 pm
(This post was last modified: Jul 12, 2011, 3:49 pm by Raze Lupin.)
Golden generation
Lietuva was the strongest team in the tourney. This was obvious before the event started. Congrats to Lieuva for grabbing gold. Jonas V. was impressive! I believe Lietuva U19/U20 aged squads are special. This could be a golden generation! I can't wait to see these guys battling Team USA in the future senior tournaments. Let's all hope that Jonas, Donatas and others continue to get better!
Serbia
I was very happy Serbia made it to the final. I would have liked a Serbia vs USA final. That would have been fun. :-D The Serbians look solid for the future. Let's hope the new Serbian basketball federation cultivates this young talent. So far the new federation has won SILVER in only a few weeks/months. That it a great start! GO SRBIJA!
Croatia
Surprise!! All of the doubters about this team being too young (look at previous post) was off. Dario Saric and company proved good enough to compete with guys 2 to 3 years older that them. Beating both Lietuva and USA in group play. They beat Lietuva by 15pts! Europe undoubtly has another golden generation on its hands. wow! Croatia was the most exciting team to me other than USA. They could win or lose to anyone. Young and dangerous!!
Poland
These guys are young like the Croats and also were competitive. Polands future seems to also be on the up!
USA
IMHO USA was the most impressive team in this tourney. No, Team USA didn't medal. They only achieved 5th place overall which is the weakest showing for an American team in recent years. What is so impressive is Team USA had only met 6 days before traveling to Europe! Most of the kids were perfect strangers(did not know each other). They came from different schools, playing styles, different experience. Only a few had international experience one player was from high school. To put this in perspective team USA spent more time in Europe together than they did in USA training. They spent 5 days in USA training 17days in Europe. In this short time USA was able to grasp 5th place beating both Serbia(silver) and Lietuva(gold) on the way. USA basketball has again shown its strength even in defeat. A USA B/C Team can practice for 5 days beat Lietuva golden generation and get 5th place. Amazing accomplishment!! I was really proud of these guys. I wonder what they could have done with one month practce...GOLD
Lietuva was the strongest team in the tourney. This was obvious before the event started. Congrats to Lieuva for grabbing gold. Jonas V. was impressive! I believe Lietuva U19/U20 aged squads are special. This could be a golden generation! I can't wait to see these guys battling Team USA in the future senior tournaments. Let's all hope that Jonas, Donatas and others continue to get better!
Serbia
I was very happy Serbia made it to the final. I would have liked a Serbia vs USA final. That would have been fun. :-D The Serbians look solid for the future. Let's hope the new Serbian basketball federation cultivates this young talent. So far the new federation has won SILVER in only a few weeks/months. That it a great start! GO SRBIJA!
Croatia
Surprise!! All of the doubters about this team being too young (look at previous post) was off. Dario Saric and company proved good enough to compete with guys 2 to 3 years older that them. Beating both Lietuva and USA in group play. They beat Lietuva by 15pts! Europe undoubtly has another golden generation on its hands. wow! Croatia was the most exciting team to me other than USA. They could win or lose to anyone. Young and dangerous!!
Poland
These guys are young like the Croats and also were competitive. Polands future seems to also be on the up!
USA
IMHO USA was the most impressive team in this tourney. No, Team USA didn't medal. They only achieved 5th place overall which is the weakest showing for an American team in recent years. What is so impressive is Team USA had only met 6 days before traveling to Europe! Most of the kids were perfect strangers(did not know each other). They came from different schools, playing styles, different experience. Only a few had international experience one player was from high school. To put this in perspective team USA spent more time in Europe together than they did in USA training. They spent 5 days in USA training 17days in Europe. In this short time USA was able to grasp 5th place beating both Serbia(silver) and Lietuva(gold) on the way. USA basketball has again shown its strength even in defeat. A USA B/C Team can practice for 5 days beat Lietuva golden generation and get 5th place. Amazing accomplishment!! I was really proud of these guys. I wonder what they could have done with one month practce...GOLD