International 3x3 Tournaments!

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So the U23 Nations League Final was held September 17-September 18th in Bucharest:

Teams - U23 Nations League Final

Both Men and Women competed in their respective groups:

Game Scores - U23 Nations League Final

Poland, Russia, Romania and Lithuania which was competing with only three players made it to the semifinals:

Poland 20 Russia 18 (SF)
Romania 20 Lithuania 9 (SF)

Poland 21 Romania 17 (F)

The Romanian team did better than I expected by getting to the Final since Romania had qualified only because it was the host country.

It was:

France 21 Netherlands 7

in the Women's Final.

[Hepcat]

The U17 Europe Cup was held in Lisbon on September 17-19th:

Men's Teams - U17 Europe Cup

Men's Game Scores - U17 Europe Cup

Ukraine 18 Belarus 17 (QF)
Hungary 13 Germany 9 (QF)
Portugal 14 Estonia 12 (QF)
Slovenia 17 Serbia 14 (QF)

Ukraine 14 Hungary 12 (SF)
Slovenia 15 Portugal 12 (SF)

Hungary 16 Portugal 12 (3rd)

Slovenia 19 Ukraine 14 (F)

Meanwhile on the Women's side:

Belarus 14 Ukraine 10 (3rd)

Spain 15 Germany 7 (F)

[Hepcat]

The Prague Masters competition was held September 18-19th and included most of the best 3x3 teams in the world:

Teams - Prague Masters

Game Scores - Prague Masters

Liman 21 Marijampolė 19 (QF)
Pirot 21 Antwerp 19 OT (QF)
Utena 20 Riga 18 (QF)
Jeddah 21 Šakiai 18 (QF)

Utena upset world #2 rated Riga in the quarterfinal despite being undermanned. Gintautas Matulis could not join his 3x3 teammates in Prague because his Juventus team played in a not previously scheduled FIBA Champions League qualifier in Talinn on the evening of the 17th. He therefore couldn't make it to Prague for the tournament the next day.

Liman 21 Pirot 14 (SF)
Jeddah 22 Utena 12 (SF)

Jeddah 20 Liman 15 (F)

The real story of the tournament though was Jeddah. The team must have been created by Arab money interests. The Jeddah team trains in Serbia, is coached by a Slovenian and in Prague consisted of Frenchman Kevin Corre, Slovenian Dejan Mlakar, Serb Nemanja Draskovic and legendary Lithuanian 3x3 star Ovidijus Varanauskas who last played 3x3 for Pieno Žvaigždės in the 2020 Hoptrans tournament but hasn't played in an international competition for over five years. The play-by-play announcer was calling him "The Comeback Kid". Varanauskas scored 35 points over the five games second only to the 39 points scored by Nemanja Draskovic. He also drained the two pointer from beyond the arc that sank Lithuanian compatriots Šakiai Gulbelė in the last minute of their QF.

Jeddah Wins Prague Masters

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Several of the best 3x3 teams in the world competed in the Utrecht Challenger which was held September 19-20th:

Teams - Utrecht Challenger

Game Scores - Utrecht Challenger

Ub 21 Piran 17 (QF)
Bielefeld 21 Girona 18 (QF)
Princeton 17 Lausanne 12 (QF)
Amsterdam 22 Raudondvaris 15 (QF)

Ub 21 Bielefeld 17 (SF)
Amsterdam 21 Princeton 11 (SF)

Amsterdam 17 Ub 13 (F)

After winning two Masters in a row at Debrecen and Montréal, Ub got to the Final of this tournament but bowed to Amsterdam from just down the road.

[Hepcat]

FIBA's 3x3 rankings have seen quite a bit of change in the past year. Lithuania is #1 in the Combined ranking followed by the Netherlands and Russia:

FIBA 3x3 Combined Country Ranking

Serbia is #1 when it comes to only Men followed by Lithuania and Latvia:

Country Ranking - Men

Lithuania is #1 in the U23 Men category followed by Russia and Mongolia:

Country Ranking - U23 Men

The top five teams are Ub, Riga, Antwerp, Liman and Amsterdam:

Team Ranking

Serbians hold three of the top four slots in the ranking of Individual players:

Individual Ranking

[Hepcat]

Four of the top six rated 3x3 teams in the world - Riga, Liman, Amsterdam Talent&Pro and Šakiai Gulbelė - competed in the Perm Bionord Quest International Tournament in Russia October 20-21st:

Teams - Perm Bionord Quest

No really big upsets occurred and Liman defeated Šakiai in the final:

Scores - Perm Bionord Quest

Inanomo 22 Bielefeld 20 (QF)
Šakiai 21 Runa 13 (QF)
Liman 21 Graz 9 (QF)
Riga 21 Amsterdam 13 (QF)

Šakiai 15 Inanomo 12 (SF)
Liman 20 Riga 19 (SF)

Riga 16 Inanomo 13 (Bronze)
Liman 21 Šakiai 17 (F)

[Hepcat]

The five top rated 3x3 teams in the world and six of the top seven missing only Šakiai Gulbelė competed in a Masters event in Abu Dhabi on October 29-30th:

Teams - Abu Dhabi 2021

There were no real upsets. The Jeddah team that had surprised fans by winning the Prague Masters earlier in October lost its two games on the first day of play and failed to advance to the playoffs:

Game Scores - Abu Dhabi 2021

Ub 19 Princeton 16 (QF)
Liman 19 Ulaanbaatar 9 (QF)
Riga 16 Amsterdam 12 (QF)
Antwerp 22 Gagarin 12 (QF)

Ub 20 Liman 18 OT (SF)
Riga 21 Antwerp 12 (SF)

Riga 21 Ub 18 (F)

With a team of the same players that took the Gold medal in the Olympics, 2020 tour champion Riga emerged with its first Masters triumph of the 2021 season:

[lebipvid]

The Antwerp team that lost to Tauras in the QF was comprised of the same four Belgians - Rafael Bogaerts, Nick Celis, Thierry Marien and Thibaut Vervoort - that gave fits to both Lithuania and the United States at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz in late May and then succeeded in qualifying at the Universality Qualifying Tournament the following week.

[Hepcat]

The Antwerp team that lost to Tauras in the QF was comprised of the same four Belgians - Rafael Bogaerts, Nick Celis, Thierry Marien and Thibaut Vervoort - that gave fits to both Lithuania and the United States at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz in late May and then succeeded in qualifying at the Universality Qualifying Tournament the following week.

Interesting as well that a variant of the Antwerp team with Bryan de Valck and Joris Willem Eric Fauconnier replacing Thierry Marien and Thibaut Vervoort also played the previous day in the Elite Tournament for amateur teams but lost to AUCH in the SF.

So which tournament was this in which Antwerp was eliminated in the SF one day and the QF the next? Are you talking about the 19-20 June 2021 Final of the SAVY Lithuanian 3x3 Championships?

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Here are the latest FIBA 3x3 rankings in the Combined category:

Combined Federation Rankings

Here are the latest FIBA 3x3 rankings in the Men's category:

Men's Rankings

Here are the 3x3 Team rankings:

Team Rankings

The 2022 3x3 World Cup for national teams is scheduled to take place in Antwerp, Belgium July 21-26th:

2022 World Cup Games

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The 2022 3x3 World Cup for both Men and Women is now underway in Antwerp, Belgium:

World Cup Schedule