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European Basketball Signings

As we head into July some Europeans teams are starting to sign American players. Here's the initial list:

Israel

Derek Glasser (Arizona State) signed with Maccabi Haifa.

Jaime Arnold (Wichita State) signed with Hapoel Holon.

Chris Watson (Niagara) signed with Netanya.

Jeff Foote (Cornell) signed a 3-year contract with Maccabl Tel Aviv. They also signed Richard Hendrix (Alabama)

Spain

Sergio Rodriguez has left the NBA and signed with Real Madrid. Is Rudy Fernandez next?

Terrell McIntyre (Clemson) left Montepaschi Siena to sign with Unicaja.

Tariq Kirksay (Iona) signed with Cajasol for two years.

Jaime Jones (Portland State) signed with Ourense in LEB-Gold.

Turkey

A.J. Ogilvy (Vanderbilt) signed with Besiktas Cola Turkey of Istanbul

Josh Shipp (UCLA) signed with Galatasaray Istanbul

Michael Roll (UCLA) signed with Bornova.

Kevin Braswell (Georgetown) signed with Aliaga Petkim.

Seth Doliboa (Wright State) signed with Olin Edirne.

Italy

Ryan Toolson (Utah Valley State) signed with Benetton Treviso.

Germany

Derrick Allen (Ole Miss) signed with Alba Berlin.

Carl Berman is a Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball and can be followed on twitter @carlberman.

USA Wins FIBA U17 World Championship

The United States showed since the very beginning that it was the best team in the tournament. The American performance in today’s championship game was just a confirmation. Team USA won the U17 FIBA World Championship in Hamburg by crashing Poland 111-80. The great mix of athleticism, individual skills and defensive intensity couldn’t be matched by any team. The gold medal was well deserved.

The USA managed the whole championship game imposing its physical superiority at both ends of the court. Their sensational defensive job putting a lot of pressure on Polish ball distribution, stealing the ball as many as 15 times (5 steals from Wroten) and igniting fastbreaks.  Brad Beal balanced the offense with his outstanding outside shooting. Poland’s key players never felt comfortable against the American defense as Ponitka and Karnowski struggled finding open spots and clear shot positions.

European resistance reached the last minutes of the second period, when the USA broke the game for real. Two secondary players like Niedzwiedzki and Matczak paced their team and Mateusz Ponitka’s faith and skills found the way to the rim to cut the lead to 5 points (46-41) with three minutes to go in the second period.   The United States continued dominating the paint (46-28 in rebounds with 22 offensive boards) and forcing mistakes, running the floor consistently. And when they did that during the tournament, they always overwhelmed their rivals. Today wasn’t an exception, and a 12-0 run opened a 17 point gap before halftime.

Poland never could come back. The USA kept the level of the intensity and the high rhythm transition game, due to the deep rotation its roster allows, to cruise to the final victory in Hamburg. James McAdoo (pictured on left) led Team USA in scoring with 20 points and added 7 rebounds. Bradley Beal scored 19 with 5/9 from the arch. Gilchrist reached 16 points and Quinn Cook dished 11 assists. Tomasz Gielo’s versatility allowed him to scored 21 points, meanwhile Matczak and Ponitka contributed with 14 points each. Polish big guy Karnowski struggled against the American physical centers and only scored 3 points with 6 rebounds

In the bronze medal game, Canada beat Lithuania 83-81 in a nice team effort with six players in double digits.

Final standings:

1.         United States

2.         Poland

3.         Canada

4.         Lithuania

5.         Serbia

6.         Australia

7.         China

8.         Germany

9.         Argentina

10.       Spain

11.       Egypt

12.       South Korea

All tournament team: Kevin Pangos (Canada), Bradley Beal (United States), Mateusz Ponitka (Poland), James McAdoo (United States) and Przemyslaw Karnowski (Poland). Chinese guard Ailun Guo was the top scorer with 22.4 points per game.

These were great days of basketball in Hamburg. Among the young talents and good games, two generations shined with real bright. The United States factory is keeping the good work and we will see those World Championship players (Beal, Gilchrist, McAdoo, Cook....) in the NCAA very soon and Poland is dreaming with a golden generation led by Ponitka, Michalak and Karnowski.

NetScouts Basketball will be covering all the young basketball action in Europe this summer. Next station, the U20 European Championship, playing from last Friday in Croatia. We will keep you update on final round action. Stay tuned!

Alejandro Gonzalez is an International Scout and Correspondent with NetScouts Basketball.

USA Wins FIBA U17 World Basketball Championship for Women

United States complete U17 sweep.

The boys did it a couple of weeks ago in Hamburg. The girls beat France today in Toulouse to grab the gold medal and become u17 World Champions. With that, the United States confirmed its authority at this level.

Team USA has been way better than its opponent during the tournament and the championship game (92-62) was not an exception. The Americans started strong (28-16) before the one and only French attempt to compete for real in this game. The host team grabbed the momentum in the beginning of the second period and took the lead (30-31) with a 2-15 run led by Alice Nayo and Sara Chevaugeon.

But that was it.

The USA reaction came quickly. An Ariel Massengale three pointer and Elizabeth Williams inside job was the first blow. The Massengale "and 1" lay up at the buzzer to close the first half represented sort of an early knockout (50-38).

United States dominated second half playing solid defense and converting transition opportunities on offense to pull away.  The French, whose World Silver is a great improvement over their Eurobasket 09 Bronze were great hosts.  

A talented trio paced Team USA again.

• Ariel Massengale scored 20 points and dished 6 assists.
• Elizabeth Williams and Kaleena Lewis added 15 each.
• Sara Chevaugeon was French top scorer with 11 points.

China won the bronze medal after beating Eurobasket 09 runner-up Belgium in the third place game. The 15 year old Chinese sensational shooter Meng Li was named MVP of the tournament. Li, playing against older players, averaged 15.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and shot 43% from the arch.

Final standings:

1. United States
2. France

3. China
4. Belgium

5. Japan
6. Russia

7. Australia
8. Spain

9. Argentina
10. Turkey

11. Canada
12. Mali

NetScouts Basketball will keep travelling around Europe in order to cover all the young (U20) basketball action. Next stop will be u18 Eurobasket for men as final round of the tournament will be played next weekend in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Chris Denker, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball, and Alejandro Gonzalez each contributed to this post and can be followed on Twitter @chrisdenker and @netscouts.  Special Thanks to FIBA for the photo.

European Basketball Signings This Week

There were several big name signees throughout Europe from various NCAA, NBA, and Euroleague teams this week...

SPAIN

Barcelona resigned Pete Mickeal (Cincy).  Mickeal was a key contributor to the FCB success this past season.

CB Granada signed Russian forward Yaroslav Korolev who was a 1st Round Draft Pick (LAC) and recently played in the NBA Summer League Las Vegas.

Real Madrid signed center D'Or Fischer, last at Maccabi Tel Aviv.  This is a good pick up for RM.

Basquet Menorca signed 2-time MVP of LEB Gold, Joakim Donaldson.

Valladolid signed Jason Robinson, last with Melilla Baloncesto (LEB Gold).

Caja Laboral signed Marcus Haislip.  Hoping to ease the loss of All-EL performer Tiago Splitter who went to the San Antonio Spurs (NBA).

Gran Canaria 2014 signed Spencer Nelson, last at Peristeri.

Gran Canaria also signed Taurean Green (Florida) to a two-year contract.

Menorca Basquet signed Rafa Huertas, who last played at CB Melilla.

Murcia signed Taj Gray, last at Chalon in France.  A good sign for the LEB Gold team.

GERMANY

The Artland Dragons signed Boston College PG Tyrese Rice, a lefty scoring guard who last played for Panionios.  A good acquisition for the new coach.

The Dragons also signed Bryan Bailey who played last season for EWE Baskets Oldenburg.

Telekom Baskets Bonn signed Arizona’s Nick Wise.

ISRAEL

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv signed Alabama’s Mikhail Torrance who played very well in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

Nymburk signed Chester "Tre" Simmons, who had a nice season last year at Hapoel Jerusalem in Israel.

Galil Gilboa signed Tyler Wilkerson (Marshall)

Maccabi Rishon signed Denis Clemente (Kansas State/Puerto Rico).

Another note from Israeli basketball: The Tokyo Apache (Japan) signed former San Diego high school player Jeremy Tyler, who left school early and played a portion of the season with Maccabi Haifa in Israel.  He left the team late in the year after not playing very much.

ITALY

Siena signed point guard Bo McCalebb to a three year deal who is coming off a great season.

Verona (site of Romeo and Juliet's balcony) signed shooter/"point guard" A.J. Abrams from Texas.

Scavolini Pesaro has signed Morris Almond, last at Real Madrid...the experiment apparently didn't work out.

Montepaschi Siena signed Rimas Kaukenas, last at Real Madrid.

Montepaschi Siena signed former Oregon Duck and San Antonio Spurs SG Malik Hairston to a two year deal...he joins Maarty Leunen & Luke Jackson as Ducks in Italy.

Scavolini Pesaro signed USC’s Daniel Hackett.

Sutor Montegranaro signed Bobby Jones (UW). 

TURKEY

Bornova re-signed Tennessee’s Tyler Smith.

Aliaga Petkim signed Cal’s Jerome Randle who was MVP of the PIT in Portsmouth but curiously played for the Washington Wizards (John Wall) in the NBA Summer League Las Vegas.

Aliaga Petkim signed Houston’s Aubrey Coleman.

Efes Pilsen signed Lawrence Roberts to a one-year contract.  Roberts is coming off a nice year with Partizan.

Chris Denker is Managing Partner of NetScouts and can be followed on Twitter @chrisdenker.