Who to follow at ANGT Zadar
Zadar will be hosting an ANGT event for the first time. Each of the eight teams have a number of interesting players to watch. Here is a rundown of the teams.
The first two stops of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament are in the books - with Real Madrid and Joventut Badalona winning in Munich and Patras respectively to book their tickets to the ANGT Finals. The third tournament will be played in Croatia in Zadar from March 3-5 and a third team will qualify for the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in May in Kaunas.
The seven clubs who will be competing for the title will be hosts KK Zadar, Casademont Zaragoza, FC Barcelona, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, Stellazzurra Rome and Helsinki Basketball Academy. The eighth team will be the selection of players for the Next Generation Zadar side, which will be coached this season by former Finnish great Petteri Koponen.
Here is a rundown of the eight teams at the ANGT Zadar
KK Zadar
The ANGT will make a stop in Zadar for the first time. The Croatian club will be playing in the competition for the third time and first time since 2009-10 when they went winless at ANGT London. Zadar will feature a couple of players who have already starred for Croatia at the youth national team level.
One of the top leaders will be forward Roko Lukic, who picked up 4.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists at the FIBA U16 European Challengers 2021. He averaged 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 blocks in two U19 ABA Junior league games. And he has had 8.8 points and 3.0 rebounds for Jazine in the second division Prva Liga. The 2006 French-born Michael Ruzic had 7.0 points and 5.4 rebounds for Croatia at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022, when Croatia were relegated to Division B. Ruzic, who is the son of Tomislav Ruzic, who played four seasons in the EuroLeague and four more in the EuroCup. had 18.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks in two U19 ABA games and 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds for Jazine. Michael was born in France in 2006 while his father was playing for ASVEL.
Jurica Zagorsak contributed 4.8 points and 4.5 rebounds on the U16 Challengers team and poured in 14.0 points in two U19 ABA games and 10.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.4 steals in the Prva Liga. Another 2006-born talent is Vito Perkovic, who was one of the leaders of the 2022 U16 Croatian team that went down as the top scorer with 13.7 points to go with 6.1 rebounds and comes from the family of professional basketball player Jasmin Perkovic. Josip Badrak collected 10.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in the U19 ABA league and has 3.7 points with Jazine. Zadar’s roster also includes 2006-born Domagoj Batur, Andro Mirceta, Toni Torbarina and Roko Zdrilic and the 2007-born duo Toni Josipovic and Luka Bicic. and
Casademont Zaragoza
Zaragoza are slowly becoming a regular with a fouth straight ANGT appearance - in the last four seasons. Zaragoza went winless back in 2019-20 in Kaunas and then grabbed two wins for fifth place at Istanbul 2020-21. Last season, the Spanishg side took fourth place at the ANGT Varese.
This season’s team will be led by two players in particular. Aday Mara will be one of the biggest attractions in the entire tournament. The center, who excels with his passing and shot-blocking, dominated at the ANGT last season with 8.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 3.2 blocks. This season Mara has averaged 5.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in nearly 11 minutes of 16 games in the ACB. Mara also starred at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 with 12.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocks for the finalists.
Lucas Langarita will be the Robin to Mara’s Batman, and the guard has shown he can be a leader. He had 5.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists in the ANGT last season after which he had 11.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steal at the U17 World Cup. Langarita has picked up 3 points and 1 assist in 8 minutes over two ACB games.
Another player to watch will be Swiss-born Bruno Vidarte, who also helped Spain finish second at the U17 World Cup with 2.2 points and 2.5 rebounds. The former Real Madrid player is averaging 8.2 points and 4.9 rebounds in the EBA. The 2006-born Ruben Valero helped Spain take silver at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 with 4.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists, and he is averaging 2.8 points in 16 EBA games.
Other players who played in the ANGT last season are Carlos Alias, Javier Urdiain, Kevin Peyrolon and Francisco Monreal. And one more name to watch is Felipe Minzer of the 2007-born Argentina generation and had10.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists at the FIBA U15 South America Championship 2022.
FC Barcelona
Barcelona captured the ANGT title in 2016 and has lost in the ANGT Championship Game three times: 2008, 2013 and 2021. The Spanish giants are competing for the 18th time and the 16th in a row, but they haven’t had loads of ANGT success of late. They went 2-2 in 2018-19 and 2019-20 in Valencia to finish fifth and fourth respectively. Barcelona won the ANGT Valencia in 2020-21 and then went came up just short of the title. But they went 2-2 once again at ANGT Patras in 2021-22 for a fourth place finish.
Roger Grimau’s Barcelona team is not overloaded with talent - and they will actually be one of the youngest teams of the tournament. They have two main weapons with Dame Sarr and Dayan Nessah - both 2006-born players. But then the team doesn’t seem too daunting. The Italian Sarr played last season at the ANGT with Orange1 Bassano and has taken well to the Spanish leagues. He averaged 13.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals in the EBA fourth division and also played for Italy at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022. Sarr is an excellent all-around talent with good scoring skills including a streaky stroke from outside. And he can defend. The main man playing alongside him is Nessah, who hails from Switzerland and averaged 13.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 steals in the EBA. Nessah, who averaged 9.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals last season in the ANGT, has a good solid frame and should be considered one of the Swiss’ biggest talents in the future - if he plays for Switzerland, something he has not yet done.
Barcelona’s third weapon will likely be Kasparas Jakucionis, yet another 2006-born non-Spaniard. The Lithuanian arrived from Vilnius and he helped Lithaunia to win the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 title. He has been playing in the EBA as well and averaged 7.0 points, 1.6 reboujnds, 1.0 assists and 1.6 steals. Two of the few 2005-born players who will contribute are Daniel Iruela, who averaged 8.0 points in the ANGT last season and is picking up 7.2 points on 37% three-pointers in the EBA; and Roger Fabrega, who chipped in 3.8 points and 3.8 assists in Patras.
Another super interesting name to watch is Adrian Mathis, a 2007-born American with Italian roots who is spending his first season with Barcelona. A Texas native, Mathis will retain his college eligibilty and has already played for Italy at the U15 national team level.
Another 2006-born player who should be on board will be Edgar Moure while Barcelona will be looking long term with some 2007-born youngsters. Raul Villar is the younger brother of Rafa Villar while the others are Eric Sanmartin, Daniel Balde and Mamadou Nimaga from Mali.
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi will be playing in the ANGT for the first straight season and 16th overall. The finalist in 2003, Maccabi won their group stage last season at ANGT Patras but lost to Stellazzurra Rome in the first place game. That was enough to get Maccabi a spot in the ANGT Finals, where the team went 0-3 in its seventh appearance in the final tournament. Other recent performances have seen Maccabi take fifth place at Belgrade 2020-21 and fourth at Belgrade 2019-20 after also reaching the first place game of Munich 2018-19 - back then with Deni Avdija running the show.
This Maccabi team will have five of their main players back from last season - Roi Behar, Ori Cohen, Shachar Doron, Omer Mayer and Ofri Naveh. Roi Behar averaged 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists last season at the ANGT. The forward played at the FIBA U16 European Challengers 2021 and picked up 4.0 points and 1.8 rebounds. Ori Cohen will be really needed for the tournament as Maccabi once again have a small team. The 2.00 meter forward averaged 5.3 poins, 3.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks last season at the ANGT after he collected 8.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.8 aasissts and 1.2 steal at the FIBA U16 European Challengers 2021. Shachar Doron is an excellent scorer - also from the outside - as he poured in 12.3 points to go with 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists at the ANGT last season. He picked up 7.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals at the U16 European Challengers 2021. Omer Mayer is a year younger at 2006 and he contributed 4.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists in Patras. Mayer twice played internationally at the U16 level, picking up 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.4 steals at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022. Ofri Naveh for his part used his great energy to collect 11.4 poitns, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.7 blocks at the ANGT last season.
Another player to watch for Maccabi will be another 2006 player: Amik Zuker, who picked up 4.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022. Oren Sahar, Beniamin Zabinsky and Yaron Goldman are all from the 2006 generation and Tamir Gold is 2007-born and could be important as he’s listed at 2.02 meters.
Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana
Believe it or not but Cedevita are making their 17th ANGT appearance, including the last five and 15 of the last 16 seasons. Ljubljana hosted a qualifying tournament for the first time last season and picked up one win for sixth place. The Croatia-Slovenia club registered the same result at Belgrade 2020-21 and took sixth at Belgrade 2019-20 with two victories.
Cedevita will be led by Lon Lican, who poured in 10.9 points with 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals at Slovenia’s debut at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022. Lican had 11.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.5 steals at the ANGT last season. Lican also had 22.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals in two U19 ABA league games this season. Luka Smitran only played 8 minutes per game at the World Cup but had a bigger role at the ANGT with 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists at the ANGT last season. The 2006-born forward Leon Zdravkovic chipped in 3.9 points for Slovenia at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022.
Marko Ljubicic and Alej Kump were both on the ANGT team last season while Toni Bilic picked up 10.0 points in two U19 ABA games. Also in the running for the team are 2006-born Slovenians Jure Sok, Jon Kozorog and Martin Tonejc; 2006-born Ivan Pavkovic of Croatia; the 2007-born Slovenians Mark Ivanusa Medjedovic and Mark Morano; as well as Senegalese Samba Gueye, who is listed as being born on November 2, 2008.
Stellazzurra Rome
Stellazzurra are making their 15th straight appearance in the ANGT. Rome hosted a qualifying tournament from 2008-09 to 2015-16. The club’s biggest highlight was reaching the 2018 ANGT Championship Game, where they lost to Rytas Vilnius. Last season, Stellazzurra finished first at the ANGT Patras for its first qualifying tournament title since 2014-15 in Rome. Stellazzurra have gone 1-2 at the last two ANGT Finals. They reached the 2020-21 ANGT Finals after getting a wild card as they lost to Real Madrid in the 2020-21 ANGT Istanbul first place game. Stellazzurra fell to Real Madrd in the 2019-20 ANGT Munich first place game as well.
As always, Stellazzurra will have a lot of interesting players - also from outside of Italy. The 2006-born Andrea Cecchi had a great ANGT last season for Orange1 Bassano as he collected 11.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.2 blocks. Deyan Kolev, another 2006-born player, did not play last season in the ANGT but he did star at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 Division B, where he averaged 9.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.4 blocks in helping his country reach the Semi-Finals alongside Aleksandar Gavalyugov from the Next Generation Team.
Axel Piccirilli - yet another 2006-born player, picked up 1.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals at the ANGT and followed that up wtih 2022 European U16 championship 9.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals for Italy at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022.
Sebastian Gonzalez is from the 2005 generation and in his third season with the club but will be playing in his first ANGT. The Venezuela native tallied 5.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists at the FIBA U18 South America Championship 2022.
It will be fantastic to see Marcus McDonald as the 2007-born American native played for Jamaica at the FIBA U17 CentroBasket 2021 and averaged 16.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 3.6 steals. Another interesting player is 2006-born Ben Altshuler, who left Israel after having won youth titles with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Matias Zanotto had 1.8 points and 2.5 rebounds at the ANGT last season after he had helped Argentina to second place at the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2021 with 1.8 points and 3.0 rebounds.
Tommaso D’Arcangeli - the son of head coach Germano D’Arcangeli - averaged 2.0 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 steals at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022.
Vitalii Kuznetsov of Ukraine had 0.8 points and 1.2 rebounds at the ANGT and last summer had 2.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 steals at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2022 Division B. Kuot Kuot Yak Deng is a 2007-born player from South Sudan, and there are two DC Congo bigs: Jerome Ntsourou (2006), who had 3.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks at the ANGT; and 2007-born Prince Lumena.
Helsinki Basketball Academy
Finland’s much-acclaimed HBA is back in the ANGT for a second season after they grabbed two victories in its debut at Patras 2021-22 and finished fifth - thanks in large part to Miro Little.
This team will feature five players that helped Finland take second place at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 Division B to get the country back to Division A. Olavi Suutela collected 16.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks at the U16 European tournament and is one of the few returning players from the ANGT, where he picked up 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds. Suutela is also playing in Finland’s second division and averaging 14.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Jelani Towa tallied 8.5 points 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists at the U16 tournament while Jonas Kaivos had 6.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.8 steals; Kalle Kuhalampi tallied 5.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 blkocks; and Kalle Koskinen contributed 3.1 points 3.1 rebounds.
Rasmus Lindberg also played last season at the ANGT and had 4.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Last summer he helped Finland finish third at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2022 Division B to get the country back to Division A. Lindberg had 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds. Another player of note is Abdullah Amzil, who is the younger brother of Moustapha Amzil, who played at HBA for many years and is now with University of Dayton in the United States.
NGT Zadar
The Next Generation Team Zadar promises a pretty balanced team with a lot of interesting players.
One of the leaders will be 2006-born Austrian big man Fynn Schott, who is already playing a big role in the Austrian first division with 5.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.3 blocks and last summer he averaged 14.7 points, 14.3 rebounds 1st 2.7 assists and 5.2 blocks at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 Division B, leading the tournametn in rebounds and blocks. The other expected leader will be 2006-born Bulgarian scoring ace Aleksandar Gavalyugov. The guard is playing with Balkan in the pro league and averaging 3.4 points and 0.9 assists in 8 minutes plus 5 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in 14 combined minutes in four FIBA Europe Cup games. Gavalyugov was the leading scorer at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 Division B with 21.1 points to go with 3.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.3 steals as Bulgaria finished fouth and just missed out on getting back to Division A for the first time since 2011.
Vit Hrabar teamed up with Urban Kroflic on the Slovenia team at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 and the 2006-born Baskonia wing averaged 11.7 points and 2.3 rebounds. Hrabar will have a Baskonia teammate with him in Zadar as Russian Aleksandr Savkov was invited as well. He averaged 5.6 points and 1.4 rebounds at the FIBA U16 European Challenger 2021.
There are two other teammate pairs on the NGT Zadar team: 2006-born Austrian Imran Suljanovic - 19.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.5 steals at FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 Division B (with Fynn Schott) - and his Reggio Emilia teammate Mouhamed Faye, who had 18.2 points, 13.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks for Senegal at the FIBA U18 African Championship 2022; and 2006-born Wamba Ngouateu, who had 10.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.2 steals for Netherlands at FIBA U16 European Championship 2022 Division A and his Netherlands compatriot and Orange Lions teammate Ryan Van Eyck. Yannick Pinas from the NGT Patras team was also with the Orange Lions program.
The ANGT Zadar will also include an Iranian as Mohammad Amini plays for Monaco and averages 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals in the French U21 league. Amini, who participated at the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp at the NBA All-Star Weekend, domianted the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2022 with 22.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 4.6 steals. He followed that up with 19.2 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.0 steals at the FIBA U18 Asian Championship 2022.
The NGT Zadar team will include another French player as 2006-born Noah Badibanga from Chalon was in the running to play for France at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022. The other players are Mali big man Adama Traore Mali of Fuenlabrada and Viktor Lukic-Gavric from Sweden who plays for the GBA in Czech Republic.