2017 U20 European Championship

[serbianhoops]

15-23 July, 2017 Crete, Greece
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Despite an average performance (7.9 Pts, 4 Reb and 2.7 Ast in 22.8 Min/Game) at the 2016 European Championship, 6'4" PG Stefan Peno ('97) should remain a key piece of Serbian side.

Due to the absences of several Barcelona first teamers who are on national team duties, Peno is practicing and getting playing time with the first squad.

In the latest preseason friendly game against Zenit Saint Petersburg, Peno scored 9 of Barcelona's 21 points in the last quarter and gave a major contribution to the 63-62 win. His team was 1 point down at the end of 3rd (42-43).

[serbianhoops]

It seems that Serbia is not an option for Austria-born 6'8" point guard / point forward Luka Asceric. He has been formally contacted by France U20 head-coach Jean-Aimé Toupane for the upcoming European Championship.

[serbianhoops]

2014 NBA Basketball without Border Africa Camp MVP and 2015 NBA Basketball Without Borders Global Camp attendee 6'4" combo guard Luca Lunnemann (late '97) from Johannesburg is practicing with Serbian 1st division side Beovuk.

At the international level, Lunnemann is eligible to play for South Africa, Netherlands (through his father), Serbia (through his mother) and FYR Macedonia (through his maternal grandfather).

[serbianhoops]

6'11 PF Pavle Cvetinovic (1997) set Slovenia 2nd division single-game record by grabbing 22 rebounds (along w/ 16 points & 6 blocks) in a Elektra Sostanj win over Branik Maribor.

[serbianhoops]

Bosnia & Herzegovina cancelled participation in the 2017 U20 European Championship division B.

[Dreamcatcher]

Bosnia & Herzegovina cancelled participation in the 2017 U20 European Championship division B.

Bosnia won't play at all? Because it's only B division?

[serbianhoops]

No, they won't play.

http://www.fiba.com/europe/u20b/2017

Simply because of lack of funding. The newly appointed management at the helm of the Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing a tax adjustement because of accounting irregularities caused by the previous general secretary (a legal battle has been engaged between them, ones accusing the other of tax fraud and personnal enrichment, while the other accuse them of defamation and false accusation).

So, the new management made the deliberate choice to disband the U20 men's national team in order to save some money.

[serbianhoops]

Serbian 6'8" combo forward with no macedonian heritage Stevan Gligorijevic ('97) will likely play for FYROM's U20 national team in B division European Championships this July in Romania. Gligorijevic moved last summer from home city club Zicer Bor (serbian 4th division) to AV Ohrid (macedonian 1st division).

[Srle]

How is that even possible without consent of Serbian Basketball Federation He should be ashamed of himself anyway.

[slice me nice]

Turkey announced the trial camp roster. The players on the first list will come into the first camp in Istanbul to be gone in for the extended tournament roster, if they impress the staff, which will take place in Bolu where all Turkish NTs make condition training. The players named in Bolu camp are already in extended roster, few players from Istanbul will be added into it next week and they will train together. I don’t see Korkmaz and Yurtseven joining. Still, a promising team with a lot of options at every position overall.

My prediction basing upon the overall performances of players through this season and possible absences:

PG: Ömer Utku Al - Alihan Deniz Genç (Arca Tülüoğlu or Kerem Aydan Özel)
SG: Enes Taşkıran - Rıdvan Öncel - Alp Karahan (Kaan Sarıaslan)
SF: Berkan Durmaz - Egehan Arna (Erkan Yılmaz)
PF: Barış Ülker - Yesukan Onar (Emircan Koç)
C: Görkem Doğan - Bora Can Işık - Mümin Tunç

u20.jpg

[Srle]

One of the coaches who have conducted training camp in Denver , for the Serbian college players in the USA, have mentioned that 4 player from Denver will be added to u20 NT training camp . I would like to see Luka Filipovic and Milos Apic in that group , Filipovic is a legit seven footer , he seems to be very mobile and solid athlete for that size, our generation born in 1997/1998 have really struggled with the size in the past , I hope this kid will be a starter at center position , he could share minutes with Pavle Cvetinovic another seven footer, please no more undersized centers, its shame that these two players were overlooked in the past by our basketball federation. Milos Apic is versatile PF, that can handle ball like the guard , because he played that position at his Serbian club, but he grown a lot since than , now he's 6"10 or 611, he could back up Simanic, I think Milos Glisic should be odd man out , he has least potential as the professional player, I hope Stepanovic is third PF in this NT selection.

[serbianhoops]

I watched the interview of Zoran Todorovic too (Editor's note : head coach of Serbia University/U23 national team). He adviced Vladimir Djokic (head coach of Serbia U20 national team) to pick 4 players from the Denver showcase for his team. He also deplored the absence of Nick Rakocevic who could have been a valuable help under the rim with his size and skills, and of Nikola Rakicevic who recently suffered a season (best case scenario) or career (worst case scenario) ending injury.

[Srle]

He clearly said that 4 players will go to Djokic selection , Todorovic is very impressed by Stefanovic, so I guess he's safe, my guess Filipovic,Apic and Sljivancanin are other three players, he also mentioned Koncar in that interview, that he was sorry that he couldn't participate in that camp. Also Lazar Nikolic will attend Colorado University.

[serbianhoops]

The mention of Konchar name was the weirdest moment of Todorovic's interview, totally in contradiction with feedbacks I received from other officials of the Basketball Federation of Serbia (Rakocevic, Kuzmanovic and Smiljanic). They clearly stated they aren't willing to grant him serbian citizenship. Contrary to Stefanovic or Skoko whose one parent was serbian citizen at the time of their births, Konchar would count as a naturalized player under FIBA guidelines.

[Srle]

The thing is , he actually said that our federation should concentrate hard on players who are born outside of Serbia , players of Serbian decent .