FICYMIs Nov 19: Aday Mara debut, ANGT dates, meet next CFBB stars, new Lebanon role model
FICYMIs Nov 19: Aday Mara debut, ANGT dates, meet next CFBB stars, new Lebanon role model
Friday In Case You Missed Its: Aday Mara becomes 2nd-youngest debutant for Zaragoza; Euroleague announces ANGT sites, Next Generation Teams; a look at the next CFBB stars; new Lebanon role model
Another week is just about done as we have reached Friday … and that means the Friday In Case You Missed Its when the Taking The Charge substack offers up a couple of items on the WWWs that you may have missed. This week: Aday Mara became the second-youngest player to debut for Spanish side Casademont Zaragoza, Euroleague Basketball has announced the dates and sites of the 2021-22 Adidas Next Generation Tournament season with a special extra detail; we found a look at three of the next stars to come out of the famed French CFBB program; and Lebanon has a new basketball role model for young fans - who is just 18 years old. Oh, and there is a little documentary at the end to watch.
2005-born big man Aday Mara makes Zaragoza debut
Casademont Zaragoza has never shied away from giving their young players a chance to debut at a young age. And the latest example is Aday Mara, a 2005-born big man who got into the team’s final group game of the FIBA Europe Cup against Reggio Emilia. At just 16 years and 7 months, the 2.18 meter center is the second-youngest player to debut with Zaragoza’s pro team. Carlos Alocén is the only player who debuted at a younger age. Mara picked up 2 points and 2 rebounds in 7 minutes against Reggio Emilia. Mara was one of the big relevations of the 2020-21 Adidas Next Generation Tournament season. Despite being two years younger than the rest of the competition, he collected 8.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in the ANGT Istanbul. His biggest game saw him pick up 18 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks against Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Mara has already debuted with Zaragoza’s second division LEB Gold team Huesca, picking up 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks against Castello on October 8 and then 4 points and 10 rebounds versus Almansa.
Euroleague announces ANGT dates, hosts; creation of Next Generation Teams
This week saw a big day for youth basketball junkies around the world as Euroleague Basketball announced the dates and sites of the four Adidas Next Generation Tournament qualifying tournaments. While the new nugget of the creation of Next Generation Teams was announced, the press release did miss a good portion of the meat as the participating teams were not disclosed.
Here the dates and sites:
Munich, Germany - January 21-23, 2022
Belgrade, Serbia - February 25-27, 2022
Patras, Greece - March 25-27, 2022
Varese, Italy - April 1-3, 2022
The four winners of the tournaments will reach the ANGT Finals, which will take place at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Berlin, Germany at the end of May.
The release said one of the eight teams at each of the tournaments will be a Next Generation Team, which will be selected by Adidas staff and made up of players not on clubs participating in the event.
Here the exact wording:
This leaves for plenty of spectulation. Will Adidas select players from various countries and team them together and run at one of the events? With Covid-19 still causing problems in many countries, this could be a problem. But we will just have to wait and see what Euroleague and Adidas come up with.
Meet a couple of the next stars from CFBB
The Centre Federal de Basketball or CFBB for short - which formerly was known as INSEP - has shurned out a number of great talents who have gone onto great things for French basketball. Here is a piece looking at three prospects to watch from the current group - Noah Penda (2005), Mael Hamon-Crespin (2004) and Melvin Ajinça (2004). By the way, CFBB’s team has already won three games this season in the French NM1 third division. And they have only lost their games by an average of five points.
Lebanon’s next young role model - Youssef Khayat
Lebanon will be playing two games against Indonesia in the up-coming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers. And one player will be making his debut with The Cedars - the 18-year-old Youssef Khayat, who is having a breakout season in the French U21 Espoirs league for Limoges CSP. Here is a look at the youngster’s journey from Lebanon to France to role model back home.
Documentary on Jason Williams - aka White Chocolate
YouTube is amazing … you will just be bouncing around and then something like a highlight reel of Jason Williams will come up. And what day is not a good day if it includes watching White Chocolate do his thing. Well, this documentary on Williams also came up and now it’s being passed along to you.
So, what do you do now? Well, if you liked this article or any of the other posts on the Taking The Charge substack, please click on the “Subscribe now” button. If you do, first off, we will be very happy. But you will too. Because you will not miss any post that is published. You’ll thank me later.
If you know of someone else who would enjoy this article, please share it with them.
Any thoughts or comments on the article? Please, leave a comment.