FICYMIs Dec 31: Youth European Championship dates announced; Should Joventut be ANGT favorites; Swiss 2006-born in Spain
FICYMIs Dec 31: Youth European Championship dates announced; Should Joventut be ANGT favorites; Swiss 2006-born in Spain
Friday In Case You Missed Its: The dates for the 2022 youth European Championships were announced; should Joventut actually be ANGT favorites; and a Swiss 2006-born in Spain.
It’s the last day of 2021 … and it’s a Friday, meaning the Friday In Case You Missed Its, where the Taking The Charge substack looks around the WWWs and lets you know some of the things you may have missed. This week: the dates for the 2022 youth European Championships were announced; should Joventut actually be ANGT favorites; and a Swiss 2006-born in Spain. Oh, and a wonderful documentary about a three-time NBA champion.
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Hosts for 2022 FIBA European youth Championships announced
Get your calendars out … it’s that time of the year, when FIBA Europe announce the hosts for the following summer’s youth European Championships. The biggest event of next summer will be the FIBA U18 European Championship 2022 - which will be played in Turkey from July 30-August 7 - since it will send five teams to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023. Montenegro will be hosting the FIBA U20 European Championship while North Macedonia hosts the FIBA U16 European Championship.
One other note from the announcement is that the hosts for the 2023 U20 and U18 tournaments have been awarded ahead of time - to Heraklion, Greece and Nis, Serbia, respectively for Division A.
Should Joventut be ANGT favorites after all?
Everybody seems to be saying Real Madrid will just cruise to the title at the 2021-22 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament - and win their third straight crown. But should more people be talking about fellow Spanish side - and 2013 ANGT champion - Joventut Badalona? After all, Joventut knocked off Real Madrid 80-79 in the final of the XXIV Fred Olsen Express U18 International Basketball Tournament in Tenerife on December 2019.
Impressive is that Joventut trailed by seven points with 2:30 minutes left in the game but came back to win. Ruben de Oliveira came up big with 21 points including a three-point play and a layin after two offensive rebounds to tie the game with 39 seconds left.
De Oliveira was selected to the All-Tournament Team along with teammate Jordi Rodriguez who had 19 points - including the game-winner - fast forward to 1:50:40 in the video for the start of Joventut’s final possessession. The others on the select team were Urban Klavzar and Papa Ababacar from Real Madrid and Abdou Ndiaye of Unelco.
Real Madrid will be playing in the first ANGT event of the season in Munich from January 21-23 while Joventut are playing at the ANGT Varese in Italy from April 1-3. Should the two teams meet again, Real Madrid will definitely remember this loss.
Swiss 2006-born Nathan Fernandez shining in Spain
Speaking of Espana … plenty of players from Lithuania, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Germany and other European countries head to Spain early on in their career to learn the game … why should Switzerland be any different. One of the future hopefuls for the Alpine nation is Nathan Fernandez, a 2006-born point guard who is spending his second season with the Torrejon Basketball School in Madrid. And it looks like Switzerland might have someone to watch at the FIBA U16 European Championship in 2022.
What was missing from “Last Dance” - Luc Longley’s story
So many people loved the Last Dance documentary. But for many, there was a chapter missing - a story untold. What about Luc Longley? Loved watching this documentary.
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