Fiba u18 ec 2022

[Toruko]

I didn't find Turkish team very talented, but so much pressure from them and crazy crowd were too much for our weak guards. Krivas and Murauskas don't deserve to miss WC next year, but are close to that.

The problem is that many of the guys who are playing never experienced such pressure and have to get used to it. It is not like in LTU where players find time and role in teams. Secondly, the team is very badly coached. It can do better but Fikret Dogan the coach is not the right name.

[Toruko]

And the shot of Joyc was a shot clock violation.

[slice me nice]

Turkey dominated Lithuania in youth tournaments in the last decade. Both teams faced 19 times with each other, Turkey edged Lithuania 13 times in those games. Good track, but the point is transforming this domination into senior level.

[c-myers]

The game was quite annoying to watch since the coaching from our side is extreme mediocre all tournement long. Firstly we got tried to utilize the Yiğitoğlu'n post up as an essential offensive weapon but kid is very raw and as expected it did not pay off at all. As well as the selection of players is very bad for instance Konan did get enough time despite that having a great season endind with Beşiktaş. We did not utilize the post up of neither Konan nor Mestoğlu at all during the tournement. Both have very good post up weapon. Its just might be explain with inadequancy of the coach. We reached to semi final despite of worst coaching.

I would like to mention about Buyukcangaz. Kid has all tool to be solid pro, jack of all trades. I am very curious of his develoment over the next season. But he does not feel the supoort of coach and we did not utilize him either. Plus that gotta mention about Buyuktuncel he having a great tournement thus far. He is very serious candidate and might be fill the lack of proper PF in senior antional team.

The chronic problem of Turkish basketball still ongoing since we do not have decent pg in this generation too. But wings are quite good. I am also curious about Efe Demirel. He got glimpsed me to sort of version of Omer Asik polished with some offensive weapons.

Congratz to Lithuania too. They fought very hard down to the wire. Those two boys shined through the game.

[Miškinis]

Good win by Turkey. Sadly as expected our guard line of this generation is not up to the level needed for these type of games. That's kind of sad, because the group stage suggested that even with this shortcoming our youngsters can make some noise.

[Straight forward]

Congrats to Turks. Wish you to win some medal now.

As for Lithuania, 28TOs is unacceptable. I think it goes on coaching staff too. You have to be able to come up with something how to cross half court line. Make a screen, give the ball to Murauskas, anything. I don't want to go hardcore and so on, but this performance was shameful. Some turnovers were uglier than in high school games. Why Jocys didn't play much again? He didn't turn the ball over. Horrible backcourt, but also I'm not impressed with coaching staff either. The team was choking big time, coaches had no any answers or adjustments. If WC ticket slips out of our hands, these coaches shouldn't see any light of NT again. This would stunt Buzelis integration to the NT as well if we will miss U19 WC. Now it's clear that coaching staff and federation made huge mistake deciding to not to try integrating Buzelis in last days before the tournament. His ballhandling and creation would be total game changer for this crippled backcourt NT. First blow by our federation this summer.

[Dirtyh]

Division B became Nordic championship. So 3 Nordic teams in DivA next year. It's seems to possible that 3 ex-yu teams are going down. Strange world.

Portugal was pretty competitive in this age group too. Their program seem to have got better.

[Straight forward]

Kublickas is a turnover machine, by the best traditions of our PG scrubs. It's actually a miracle we have a bunch of high level PG prospects ATM, we could very well end up not having any knowing our BB school tendencies, and many other countrie struggles to find proper PG too.

Murauskas will be very nice addition to senior NT. He plays pretty smart, he's versatile, he seems to be maturing as personality. Everything's there pretty much.

Krivas is more talented than Blazevic. So assuming Sabonis still relatively young (26), Tubelis and Krivas should be two bigs that will complement Sabonis soon. It's nice to see some defensive bigs coming around.

[Straight forward]

Lithuania out from 2023 FIBA U19. This NT and coaching staff failed. Autrocious backcourt, but the team wasn't prepared for the knock out stage as well. It was obvious we have no preparation against pressing. This is huge upset for LTU, cause now we basically can expect to see Buzelis only playing for senior NT. U19 would had been perfect sense for him to get to know to LTU culture and to show himself on the world's stage. There's U20, but he probably will be looking at seniors at that time if develops as expected.

[Toruko]

Horribly coaching again. We started again with non shooting team and forced Yigitoglus low post game unnecessarily and got 13 point difference because we couldnt find our men. And why are we trying these full court pressure anyway. We are an excellent half court defending team? So stupid. Another point is our mental weakness making ft shots. It really has to do with experience. The only way to make players mentally stronger is to put them under pressure regularly.

Unfortunately, I saw many times Konan couldnt follow his driving opponent. He gets beaten too easily. Büyüktuncel on the other hand showed how kind of gravity passer he is. Very smart, can rebound, very active on the offensive glass, can defend on and off ball. He chooses his shots very wisely and I am sure this turn around fade away jumper has future. Gives me Gigi Datome vibes.

[slice me nice]

After trailing by 20 points at a point during the game, outscoring the opponent by 15 points indicates the strong character of a team at every level. Great game by Büyüktuncel. He managed to spark off his team's comeback. Apart from having very valuable tangibles in his game, I really like how Büyüktuncel leading his team. He is no way a selfish player, a kind of guy who does everything of floor, filling every part of stats sheet. We couldn't dream about a better combo forward prospect.

If we manage to win against Spain in the final today, this will be a remarkable victory and great reference for the draft stock of Büyüktuncel who is considered as a more Euro type of prospect, yet I believe him having good club season this year will lead him to NBA.

Spain had the most competitive game in this tournament against Turkey in group stage. We can give them good fight with our high level defensive potential. Just we should stay away from zone defense as Spain has few killer shooters that may hurt us.

[Straight forward]

Quite good summer for Spain:

U20 Gold
U18 Gold
U17 Silver

https://twitter.com/turkmarkoo/status/1556366654430449666

Congrats to Turks snatching medals.

[slice me nice]

Congrats to Spain. Well deserved another gold this summer. We had few chances to get into game, but Spain didn't let the game slip out of its pocket.

Good tournament for us overall. We have a target player for senior level and Büyüktuncel will have more load weight to justify his potential in pro level. It is Tofaş' turn to create a good development program for him. We can't let him be rotten.

[Toruko]

I have rarely watched such a character Turkish team. Technically, the team needed someone who can create his score but nevertheless great fighting team and I am sure that in a couple of years we will see many with the men's NT jersey. I dont care the loss and I also dont care the medal. We could have lost to LTU and could end up being sixth or seventh and I would write the same.

I expect Büyükcangaz, Büyüktuncel, Konan and Mestoglu surely reaching the next level.

One thing I have to mention here. I was against foreign youth players in the Turkish youth league but this tournament showed that we are lacking experience and quality. We must increase the Turkish youth leagues quality and force the guys to play more competitive games. Just like what the Spaniards have been doing all the time.