FICYMIs Feb 11: Albert Schweitzer 2022 cancelled, Spain, France up in new FIBA youth rankings, youth European draw Feb 15
Friday In Case You Missed Its for this week: 2022 Albert Schweitzer Tournament cancelled; Spain and France up - and Canada down - in new FIBA youth rankings, youth European draw on Feb 15
Friday is here once again and that means the Friday In Case You Missed Its, when the Taking The Charge substack looks around the WWWs and fills you in on some of the things you might have missed. This week: the 2022 Albert Schweitzer Tournament has been cancelled; FIBA has come out with the latest world youth rankings - as well as a new way of determining them; the 2022 European youth championships draws will take place on February 15; and an interesting hire in Spain.
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2022 Albert Schweitzer Tournament cancelled
It cannot be considered a surprised but it is a disappointment that the 2022 Albert Schweitzer Tournament has been cancelled. The German Basketball Federation (DBB) made the announcement citing the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. This is the third time the DBB has cancelled what will eventually be the 30th edition of the AST. Initially it was supposed to take place in 2020 and was pushed back to 2021, when it was then cancelled with the hopes of having it played from April 15-23. Covid-19 cases in Germany are still rising on a daily basis and there are still more than 200 people dying in connection with the virus, according to news reports. Many people believe those numbers will soon take a downturn in the coming weeks. It would have been interesting to see what the situation looks like in two weeks - if the DBB could have waited a bit longer. But there is loads of planning involved in implementing the event, and the uncertainty in Germany is still high enough to justify the decision made. Sure, it’s disappointing, but the health of everyone involved is much more important. Let’s hope we see this event next sprin.
USA still No. 1, Spain and France up with Canada down in latest FIBA youth world rankings
Don’t look now but there is a new system to generate the FIBA world rankings - with the latest edition of the World boys rankings - you can also break down rankings for the different regions as well (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) - seeing a couple of moves near the top. It’s no surprise that United States are the undisputed number one in the world. But Spain and France both jumped up one spot to second and third, respectively, with Canada falling two spots to fourth. A big reason for that fall was Canada losing to Argentina in the Group Phase of the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2021 and then to the United States in the Semi-Finals before taking the bronze medal.
The change in the system sees FIBA moving from a competition-based system to a game-based one. Only games from the past two editions of FIBA U19 and U17 Basketball World Cups will be included in the calculations as well as the two most-recent youth continental championships. This is a change from the previous ranking system which looked at the previous eight years. The change also could lead to teams running up the score as a part of the final weighting of a game looks at winning (or losing) margin. Here is a link to how the rankings work and some examples.
Youth European championships draw on Feb 15
European youth hoops fans will anxiously be awaiting Tuesday February 15 when the draws for this summer’s FIBA European youth championships will take place. There are 16 youth tournaments in three age categories and three divisions that will be drawn as well as for the Small Countries Championships 2022. The draw starts at 1100 CET.
Big coaching move in Spain … Unicaja hire Navarro
There was a big coaching move in Spain as Unicaja Malaga hired Ibon Navarro, who had surprisingly been fired at MoraBanc Andorra on January 23. The 45-year-old led Andorra to the EuroCup Semi-Finals back in 2019 after having guided UCAM Murcia to the Basketball Champions League Final Four in 2018 and taking third place.
Deep dive into MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg
That Murcia team beat MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg in that third place game in 2018 and there was a very nice piece about the German club from the guys at BasketNews.com and how it produces EuroLeague-level players. Click on the picture for the link.
Good news for basketball fans …. Alex Abrines is getting close to returning
Even if you are not a FC Barcelona fan, you have to be happy about seeing this … Alex Abrines is getting closer to being back on the court for the Spanish powerhouse.
Remember how great Charles Barkley was?
Many people might only know Charles Barkley as a TV personality, but here is a nice documentary to finish the week and help us all remember just how great of a player the Round Mound of Rebound was back in the day.
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