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September 10, 2010 - When Yugoslavia won the World Championship

The year is 1998 and Yugoslavia just won the FIBA World Championship held in Greece and return victorious to Belgrade where a massive outdoors party is staged and players are dancing alongside the fans. Yugoslavia won the title beating Russia in the final (64-62) with Dejan Bodiroga (showing some silly dancing moves in the video) being the MVP of the tournament. One thing is for sure. Serbs would love to re-live Similar scenes but so would the Turks. We will see tomorrow.

Special thanks to TalkBasket.

Shame in Vrsac. Serbian final series game 2 finished 3 on 3

Partizan Belgrade held off a stubborn Hemofarm Stada side 81-86 on Wednesday to take a promising 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Serbian League finals. Bo McCalebb scored 23 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished 5 assists and Aleks Maric added 18 points among five Partizan scorers in double figures. Partizan hosts Game 3 on Friday aiming to wrap up its ninth consecutive domestic championship. Hemofarm led 39-36 at halftime before McCalebb led Partizan on a third-quarter charge to give the visitors the lead. Hemofarm fought back and remained within striking distance and was still within 3 in the final minute after a Stefan Markovic triple, but Jan Vesely scored at the other end and Partizan walked away with the win.



2010 FIBA World Championship Mascot

Mascot Origins Bascat is a cat who no doubt is related to the Van Cat,hence he sometimes behaves a bit like a dog. But our cat is a special one because he represents the 2010 FIBA World Championship. He is a very close relative of the Van Cat and therefore has a unique look. No one knows exactly where he really comes from because he is always all over Turkey, he likes to travel, which is why he will be following the Championship in all Host Cities. Like any Van Cat our Cat is Loyal, Loving and Intelligent. (Fiba.com)

Euroleague announces 2010 Nike International Junior Classification Tournaments

Euroleague Basketball is proud to announce that as part of the eighth edition of the Nike International Junior Tournament, to be held in Paris next spring, a total of four classification tournaments will take place across Europe - in Rome, L'Hospitalet, Belgrade and London - as Europe's elite youngsters fight for the right to play on the biggest stage of all, the Final Four. Following the successful introduction of two classification tournaments in 2008 (L'Hospitalet and Belgrade), and a third in 2009 (Rome), the Euroleague has decided to add one more this season, in London. With these changes, Europe's best 18-and-under players will be present in Paris, and the team winning that tournament in May will be crowned the undisputed European Junior Club Champion. Read more here.

2010 Paris Final Four logo unveiled

The 2010 Final Four in Paris now has its own logo to show artistically how the world-famous French capital is embracing a signature event on the global sports calendar, Euroleague Basketball announced today. The logo features one of world's most emblematic architectural monuments, the Eiffel Tower, in a setting that conveys the importance of basketball in France. The "Grand Iron Lady" - also known as The "A" - has been created with coloured circles, representing basketballs, in a very trendy and modern way, wich makes the Tour Eiffel merge perfectly with the Euroleague brand values, while clearly linking the event to one of the worlds' most beautiful and historical cities in the world. Paris will host the Final Four on May 7 and 9 of 2010, at the Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy. "The Eiffel Tower is one of the world's greatest monuments, while the Final Four is one of the world's best sports events," Euroleague Basketball Marketing Director Pedro Galvan stated. "Also, the Eiffel Tower inspires everybody with feelings of grandeur and admiration, similar to the feelings that the Euroleague fans have toward their teams. This is why Paris and basketball make a perfect team, just as the Eiffel Tower and the Final Four do." The logo has been created by the Designers United team, based in Thessaloniki Greece. This is the third emblem the awarded team creates for Euroleague Basketball, after the Athens 2007 and Berlin 2009 Final Fours. "We are very proud that the Euroleague trusted us again with the creation of a logo of an event with such importance as the Euroleague Final Four," Designers United said. "We believe that this logo will provide the event with the necessary visual elements to show what it is all about, and of course make it clear that seeing a Final Four in a place like Paris is an opportunity not to be missed." Find more info about the 2010 Final Four in Paris at www.parisf4.com

EuroBasket 2009 Poland - short resume

It is over, after 14 days of Basketball. Congratulations to Spain, Serbia and Greece. But, Congratulations to all National teams who competed at EuroBasket 2009 for great performance, fair-play and for giving us so much pleasure in watching. What a Championship. This is first thing what we would like to say about it. Amazing games, amazing players. We were impressed about so many young players on this Championship. If you look at Serbia, Russia, Germany, Croatia and other teams. It is obvious that the most of National teams uses this Championship to promote their young players, to give them chance to have new experience. This is so positive and probably the most positive thing at this Championship. Look at Teodosic, Ilyasova, Mozgov, Eliyahu, Ukic, Benzing, Staiger, Batum, Vorontsevich, Bjelica, Macvan, Rubio, Asik. We will hear about those guys in future. Also, the most of National teams said that their goals are not medals, instead of that they have focused on qualifying to FIBA World Championship in Turkey 2010. What to say about medalists: Spain, outstanding performance during whole championship. With roster which looks amazing. With fantastic team spirit. They have deserved gold medal. Serbia, the youngest team with the oldest coach. Serbia comes back. They have surprised many other teams. probably, not many people gave them even chance to qualify to FIBA World, but silver medal, probably no one expected. But, so much talent, young players with so much Euroleague and EuroCup experience. Coach with outstanding experience. Key to success. Greece, with their ups and downs, they reached amazing third place. Most of people expected France, Russia, Turkey, Slovenia or even Croatia to fight for that third or second position. Everyone expected more from France, Slovenia, Turkey. But, that's Basketball. You can be perfect all tournament and not 100% at just one game, and you are down. That's why we love this sport. Such unpredictable, excited, beautiful. About referees. Huh... maybe some next time.

Meet Bison "Mieszko" the Eurobasket 2009 Mascot.

We are glad to present Bison "Mieszko" official Mascot for Eurobasket 2009 in Poland. We believe that we are all excited about coming Eurobasket 2009 in Poland. 6 National teams still fighting for one free place for Eurobasket 2009. Italy, France, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium and Portugal. They play additional qualifying round. Today August 8, 2009 is 2nd round and two games will be played: France - Finland and Bosnia and Herzegovina - Belgium. In 1st round France won against Italy, and Bosnia and Herzegovina won against Portugal. You can follow latest results and news about Eurobasket 2009 here. September 7 is pretty close, a lot of good and exciting games.

Jay Anderson died.

Passed after a long time of sickness. A true luminary within the Swedish basketball community has passed away. Jerome "Jay" Anderson--with a background in several Swedish basketball clubs, most notably the Sundsvall Dragons--died on Saturday morning after battling a long-term illness. HELSINGBORG, SWEDEN Not too many coaches have ever had their clipboards hung from the rafters, but Swede-American Jerome "Jay" Anderson is one of them. Jay Anderson, who played on the 1976 Boston Celtics' NBA championship team, has been one of the true greats in Swedish basketball. This is due most notably to his exploits in nine seasons as head coach of the Sundsvall Dragons, during which time Sundsvall made the move up to the highest levels of the "Basketligan", the top professional basketball league in Sweden. This is why there was great sadness in the city of Sundsvall upon the news that one of the Dragons' greatest personalities had passed away on Saturday morning after battling a long-term illness. In a press release, the Sundsvall Dragons organization writes: During a long rebuilding process, Jay came to lead and drive the Sundvall Dragons to a top-four position in the Basketligan. During those nine seasons with the dignified Jay Anderson as head coach, the Dragons established the foundation that enabled the team to bring now in 2009 a long-awaited championship to the club that Jay--during a coaching career where mutual respect was built between him and the club administration, players, and fans alike--has by default become a lifetime honorary member of. We know that Jay was very pleased that "his" team finally got that championship. After many seasons in the Swedish pro basketball league, Jay decided to try his coaching luck in neighboring Norway with the Ulriken Eagles, a team he lead with great success to the Norwegian championship. Jerome "Jay" Anderson was 56 years old.

"Bravo Srbija" and "Grattis Sverige" for U18 European gold medals.

August 2, 2009. Serbia won gold in FIBA U18 European Championship Men 2009, Division A and Sweden won gold in FIBA U18 European Championship Men 2009, Division B. We have watched Final game division B, Sweden vs. Poland. In fantastic atmosphere created by Polish fans (about 150 Polish Basketball fans in sport arena Mojmilo, Sarajevo) Sweden won gold in very interesting match. Congratulations to National team of Sweden. We hope so that we will have an interview with Swedish National coach Olle Lunden in next several days.

FIBA U18 European Championship Men 2009, Division B, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Today (August 1, 2009) part of our editorial staff have watched few games at FIBA U18 European Championship Men, Division B. Host of this tournament is Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We had great opportunity today to see many young talented players from Europe. We were really amazed how many young players are skilled and have a good chance to become good senior players some day. Of course it is long way, they need to improve their individual skills as much as possible and to learn that Basketball is team sport. It was fun to see them playing, fighting against other teams, but everything under fair-play rules. It is interesting that every National team who compete at this tournament have at least 2-3 or even more players who could be great players some day. It will be interesting to follow those young players and see them in next few years. We highly recommend to all coaches to check out below links and see statistics. Sarajevo doing pretty good job as host to this European competition. Congratulations. Read more about FIBA U18 European championship Men, division A, division B, and division C.

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