2018 3x3 Championships

[JGX]

This is going to continue to be a thing.

US senior championships are this weekend:

Men's teams: https://www.usab.com/3x3/3x3-open-men-nc/roster.aspx
Women's teams: https://www.usab.com/3x3/3x3-open-women-nc/roster.aspx

Will the women actually get to go to the World Championship this year? If FIBA wants this to be non-embarrassing at the Olympics they need to let the top countries into the tournaments.

U18 championships were a few weeks ago:

Men's champions: https://www.usab.com/news-events/new...-march-25.aspx
Women's champions: https://www.usab.com/news-events/new...-march-25.aspx

[JGX]

Oh, the World Championship draw already happened.

http://www.fiba.basketball/3x3wc/2018/news/fiba-3x3-world-cup-2018-pools-announced

Men
Pool A: Serbia, Netherlands, Romania, New Zealand, Kyrgyzstan
Pool B: Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Japan, Ecuador
Pool C: Russia, Brazil, Mongolia, Canada, Philippines
Pool D: Latvia, Ukraine, Croatia, Jordan, Nigeria

Women
Pool A: Venezuela, Czech Republic, Italy, Malaysia, Turkmenistan
Pool B: China, France, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Argentina
Pool C: Andorra, Russia, Iran, USA, Uganda
Pool D: Hungary, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Philippines

[carlo]

Just watched the US women's title game won by Oregon something like 21-6. Game ended on MVP Sabrina Ionescu 2-pointer hit well in advance to the final buzzer. It's strange how the losers could actually reach the final, they never were in the game. Low quality video streaming and audio.

[JGX]

There was a tournament in France last weekend:

https://play.fiba3x3.com/events/e65f1cdb-c995-4155-ac25-309e6692e7f0/schedule

USA beat France 21-19 in the women's final, possibly a preview of the this weekend's world championship final? Netherlands and Czech Republic were also there with their WC teams.

France beat Czech Republic 19-12 in the men's final, but neither team will be at the WC.

[JGX]

As expected US and Russia women won their first two group games easily. Neither team was really tested so it's hard to say what will happen when they play--US executed well on offense, but Russia's two-point shooting was much better, and US post players probably won't dominate as easily as they did against Iran and Andorra.

Entertaining men's game between Kyrgyzstan and Romania, with Kyrgyzstan and their tiny point guard rallying to win in overtime.

[JGX]

USA women beat Russia 21-13 to win the group. Early on the US had a hard time creating off the dribble, but they hit a few two-pointers to open things up and Ionescu had her best game of the tournament so far. Russians got in some foul trouble and started firing up tough shots once the US took control.

[carlo]

Italy to play the women's final vs Russia after edging China in o.t. 15-13 on a 2-pt of Marcella Filippi assisted by Rae Lin D'Alie. Tense game, with Italian women trailing but capable to tie the score thanks to the heroics of diminutive D'Alie (Wisconsin 2010) who has played as the tournament MVP so far.
Italy had previously upset favorite USA 17-14 with the perfect game at the right moment, while USA simply had a bad afternoon.

[carlo]

Well deserved women's title won by Italy, 16-12 over former champ Russia. Rae Lin D'Alie again led the charge, likely deserving the MVP award. France finished with a good 3rd place over a fading China.

[JGX]

Strong defensive showing by Italy. US players not quite versatile enough to create good shots.

[carlo]

Third straight gold for Serbia, with Dusan Bulut named MVP. Rae Lin D'Alie (ITA), perhaps the shortest player in the tournament, won the award among the women.

[Servinio]

THE NEW York Liberty selected 5’11” point guard Sabrina Ionescu of the University of Oregon sa the top pick of the 2020 WNBA Rookie Draft. Ionescu is the only female player to tally more than 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in her NCAA career. READ MORE