2008 U20 European Championship

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http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/[/center]

Some preliminary squads have been revealed (do you guys know about more?):

Serbia captured gold as hosts of last year's FIBA U19 World Championship in Novi Sad under coach Miroslav Nikolic and now, most of the same players will try to duplicate the success in Europe.

This time, though, the players will be led by Slobodan Klipa, a man who has thrived as boss of FMP Belgrade.

While he is fully aware of how difficult this year's U20 European Championship will be in Riga, Klipa is nevertheless expecting big things from the squad.

"It is really great for our basketball that Nikolic created a new, successful generation from which several players are already candidates for our senior national team, and one is already in their preliminary list," Klipa said.

That player is Hemofarm center Boban Marjanovic, who is also still a member of under-20 squad.

"But, we are also in front of another huge challenge, and our task won't be easy this summer", Klipa said.

The new head coach of the Serbian under-20 team picked 25 players for a training camp.

Milan Macvan, the MVP of last year's U19 World Championship, is among the talented players in Klipa's squad.

"We want to achieve a good result at the European Championship, that's our task as team which came from Serbia," Klipa said.

After the training camp, which will finish on June 26, Klipa will trim his squad for three friendlies with Greece and the Borislav Stankovic Cup in China from July 17-20.

Serbia will eventually face Russia, Slovenia and France in Latvia.

Serbia preliminary squad for U20 European Championship: Miroslav Raduljica (FMP Zeleznik), Boban Marjanovic (Hemofarm), Milan Macvan (Hemofarm), Bojan Radetic (Borac), Slaven Cupkovic (Masinac), Marko Cakarevic (Asvel, France), Sava Lesic (Vizura), Danilo Sibalic (Vojvodina), Marko Krstic (Beovuk), Marko Keselj (Koeln, Germany), Petar Despotovic (Hemofarm), Nikola Koprivica (University of Washington, USA), Mladen Jeremic (FMP), Pedja Stamenkovic (Borac), Dusan Katnic (Mega Aqua Monta), Stefan Stojacic (Mega Aqua Monta), Stafan Sinovec (Vizura), Ilija Pavkovic (Vojvodina), Igor Krasnic (Crvena Zvezda), Aleksandar Radulovic (Masinac), Miljan Radisavljevic (Borac), Krsto Bjelica (Buducnost), Ivan Jovanovic (Zdravlje), Vuk Malidzan (Basket plus) and Nikola Maravic (Mega Aqua Monta).

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_ilCbrif-Iqg..._frontpage.html

Slovenia coach Miro Alilovic has picked a 17-strong preliminary squad for this summer's U20 European Championship in Riga and there are a couple of familiar names in it.

Klemen Lorbek, the younger brother of Slovenia internationals Erazem and Domen, has been included. Also named is Zoran Dragic, whose brother Goran last summer helped fire Slovenia into July's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece.

The group will gather at the Slovenia ski resort of Rogla to begin its preparations for the Championship in Latvia where they will take on Russia, France and Serbia in Group D.

The players that were invited are: Luka Lapornik (Alpos Sentjur), Dejan Mlakar, Sinisa Bilic, Zoran Dragic, Jakob Virk (all Geoplin Slovan), Klemen Lorbek, Daniel Vujasinovic (both Hopsi Polzela), Boban Tomic (Hrastnik), Matija Trampus (Ilirija), Dejan Milasinovic (Jance), Grega Jakhel Kolarevic (Kraski zidar Sezana), Miha Markic (Luka Koper), Ilija Gavric (Mario Primorac), Klemen Muha (Misel Postojnska jama), Dejan Cigoja (Rogla), Dejan Radojevic (Union Olimpija), Edin Alispahic (Zlatorog Lasko).

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_ckVDyFSiG2A..._frontpage.html

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Georgios Sigalas made his mark as a player with Greece's national team.

Now he has a chance to do the same as a coach.

Sigalas has been named boss of the team that will play at the U20 European Championship in Riga in August as a replacement for Manos Manouselis.

"It's a great honour and a great chance for me," Sigalas said.

"I begin a new effort in a team that has talented kids. It's a challenge for me.

"I know most of the players, but I will do my best to know each one better, so that I will not misjudge any of them."

Sigalas played 185 games with the men's national team and scored 1,487 points.

He will not be alone with the under-20 team.

"It's a field that I am going to need the help of the assistant, Yannis Eleftheriadis," Sigalas said.

"I want to give, to offer something to these kids while I am more than certain that I will gain a lot of them.

"I was always present when the national team called me and that hasn't changed. I always wanted to be a coach and I will try to offer something to Greek basketball in my new post. I want to help anyway I can."

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_FLbYwmb5IlU...cleMode_on.html

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'Coach Stefano Sacripanti called 15 players at the National Under 20 Team camp, to prepare tha European Championship 2008, scheduled for August 1-10 in Riga, Latvia. The camp will run from June 20 to 30 in Fermo (Ascoli Piceno). The list of the players called is as follows: Marco Ammannato (203-F/C-88) (Consum.it Siena), Giancarlo Ferrero (193-G-88, agency: Players Group) (Consum.it Siena), Pietro Aradori (192-G-88) (Lottomatica Roma), Daniele Bonessio (197-G/F-88) (Fileni Jesi), Giacomo Eliantonio (205-C-88) (Fileni Jesi), Lorenzo D'Ercole (190-G-88) (TD Shop.it Livorno), Marco Giuri (192-G-88) (TD Shop.it Livorno), Massimo Chessa (188-G-88) (Banco di Sardegna Sassari), Costantino Cutolo (199-G/F-89) (Everlast Firenze), Riccardo Castelli (202-F-88) (Tubosider Asti), Riccardo Malagoli (207-F/C-88) (Abc Castelfiorentino), Davide Rosignoli (202-F-88) (Robur et Fides Varese), Roberto Rullo (192-G-90) (Aget Imola), Giovanni Tomassini (190-G-88) (Edimes Pavia) and Valerio Mazzola (205-F/C-88) (Carife Ferrara).

http://www.eurobasket.com/ITA/ita.asp

[brzi]

Croatia candidates

Miro Bilan FC 2.12
Bojan Bogdanovic G 2.02
Franjo Bubalo PG 1.88
Ante Delas G 1.98
Ante Dugum C 2.10
Mario Filipovic G 1.93
Marijo Hajdic FC 2.03
Luka Klarica G 1.84
Igor Kralj
Filip Kruslin G 1.99
Pavle Marcinkovic G 1.97
Ivan Milekovic F 1.98
Teo Petani G 1.88
Luka Petkovic G 1.90
Fran Pilepic G 1.90
Zeljko Sakic FC 2.03
Marino Sarlija C 2.08
Jure Skific FC 2.02
Josip Sobin F 2.01
Toni Soda C 2.10
Karlo Vragovic G 1.91
Filip Vukicevic FC 2.02

[brzi]

not to talented croatian generation. most of them are 89. 88. is probably worst in new croatian history

intrestig players: Bojan Bogdanovic 89. 202 Real Madrid SG/SF, Filip Kruslin 89. 199 Cibona SG, Luka Petkovic 88. 190 Sibenik PG, Miro Bilan (probabley most talented) 89. 212 Sibenik PF/C, Marino Sarlija 89. 208 PF Zadar

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Spain coach Gustavo Aranzana has named a 14-strong preliminary squad for the U20 European Championship in Latvia.

Power forward/center Victor Claver of Pamesa Valencia and shooting guard Marc Rubio of DKV Joventut are in the group that will gather for the first time on Monday in Valdemoro.

The team will travel to Luxembourg for a warm-up tournament (July 16-20) where they will play against Russia, France, Turkey and hosts Luxembourg.

Aranzana's team will then travel to France for another tournament (July 23-25).

Once the squad has been trimmed to 12 players, Spain will go to Riga and compete in a group with newly-promoted Montenegro, hosts Latvia and Bulgaria.

Spain finished runners-up to Serbia at last year's U20 European Championship.

Spain's preliminary squad: Joaquim Colom (L'Hospitalet), José A. Marco (Polaris World), Jorge Fernández (CB Granada), Raimundo López (Unicaja), Marc Rubio (Joventut) y Alez Llorca (L'Hospitalet), Xavi Forcada(L'Hospitalet), Xavi Rabaseda (WTC Cornellá), Víctor Claver (Pamesa Valencia), Pere Tomás (Joventut), Sergio de la Fuente (Grupo Capitol Valladolid), Pablo Aguilar (Real Madrid), Javier Vega (CB Fuenlabrada) and Óscar Raya (WTC Cornellá).

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_clP-15IgIOo...cleMode_on.html

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Nick Calathes is relishing the opportunity to try out for the Greece Under-20 team.

A college basketball star in America with the Florida Gators, the 6ft 6in Calathes is a third-generation Greek who was the co-SEC Freshman of the Year and the SEC's Newcomer of the Year this past season after averaging 15.3 points per game while setting a school record with 221 assists.

He led the SEC in assists per game at 6.1 per contest.

The youngster is a good bet to make the Greek team that will play at the U20 European Championship in Latvia from August 1-10.

He is now in Athens and gave this interview to fibaeurope.com.

FIBA Europe: You are in Greece and you have your Greek passport. Tell us what you think about this whole situation.

Calathes: I am truly excited to be here. I think it's a great opportunity for me to represent my family and my grandpa who meant a great deal to me. He was born here and just to represent my family is great

FIBA EUROPE: Did you ever think that it may not happen when you didn't have your passport?

Calathes: Sometimes the situation was back and forth, back and forth and I didn't really know what to expect. I was hoping that everything would end up fine, I would get my passport and I was going to play for Greece, something that happened in the end. I am here. The Hellenic basketball federation was close to us all the time. My father was speaking sometimes four to five times a week with people from the federation, and we knew what was going on. They wanted to keep us posted so that we didn't have to worry because of the delay."

FIBA Europe: Your father is very proud of both you and your brother, Pat, who also plays basketball.

Calathes: He's proud of both of us because he knows that we are hard workers. He knows that we'll work very hard in order to achieve our goals. Both me and my father believe that this is an opportunity and a great honour to be here. And the same goes for Pat. Maybe he will get to play in the Greek championship. Who knows?

FIBA Europe: What do you know about Greek basketball?

Calathes: I know a few things. I know Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, that these are like the big teams here. I am not that good with names... (laughing). And about players, I know (Theo) Papaloukas and (Vasilis) Spanoulis who has played for the Houston Rockets. But I haven't seen many of them. I will learn, though. Of course I know about the success of the national team and that upset of the United States in 2006 (in the FIBA World Championship semi-final). There are a lot of people still talking about that game."

FIBA Europe: What do you think you will gain from your experience here this year?

Calathes: First of all, I really wanted to play for Greece. I believe that this experience will help me not only as a player but as a person, too. I will be alone here, I will get to meet people. It will be a different, special experience and I already like Athens and Greece. I am looking forward to getting together with my team, my team-mates. To get to know them, to get along and I want to be able to help them in their effort.

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_ZKltHya9Iio..._frontpage.html

[TalkBasket]

Marc Rubio - the brother of Ricky?

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Marc Rubio - the brother of Ricky?

That's right

[TalkBasket]

I wonder how talented he is. We see more and more brothers in basketball. Gasol's, Rubio's, Lavrinovic's, Jasikevicius' etc. It should be pretty fun if all Sabas sons become good players and play for NT. That should be unique - three brothers in one NT.

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Great performances in the opening day of the tournament.

Sergiy Gladyr scoring 38 (11/17 3pt ) + 6 rebs, although Ukraine lost to Lithuania 91-93.

Aleksei Shved had the other top performance by scoring 39 (8/14 3pt) + 5 rebs, but Russia lost to Serbia 75-84.

[TalkBasket]

Group E

1. Lithuania 4/1 9
2. Turkey 4/1 9
3. Italy 4/1 9
4. Ukraine 2/3 7
5. Croatia 1/4 6
6. Israel 0/5 5

Group F

1. Serbia 4/1 9
2. Spain 3/2 8
3. Montenegro 3/2 8
4. France 3/2 8
5. Latvia 2/3 7
6. Russia 0/5 5

Semi-final

Lithuania vs. Spain
Serbia vs. Turkey

So far it's a good summer for Lithuanian youth teams. Girls won European gold. U-18 won silver. Now U-20 are one of the main favourites to win gold too.

[TalkBasket]

Serbia 90:69 Turkey

Lithuania 96:79 Spain

Bronze medal game

Spain 91:72 Turkey

Final Lithuania vs. Serbia begins 19:45 CET and it will be broadcasted live here. Another link mms://infrontsp-EXTRA-10-01.wm.llnwd.net/infrontsp_EXTRA_10_01 (open your media player->File->Open URL and paste this link).

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In some years if everything goes right, Serbia will return to their superpower status at senior NT level. Congrats!