There is such a common phrase: “There is a first time for everything.” I really wouldn’t like to see that said about the Russian national team in a couple of weeks. At the European Championships she can achieve any result. From gold in 2007 to a humiliating 21st place at the tournament three years ago.
- a completely different matter. Here we have already been taught that there will certainly be a result. Participated six times - six times reached the final round. And each time with a new coach. Now the seventh helmsman is taking over - 51-year-old Sergei Bazarevich, who has long dreamed of leading the national team. They finally met him halfway. Now it's time to show off the product. “Sport Day by Day” highlighted two key moments of the short-lived qualifying tournament for the 2017 European Championship.
Kirilenko's order
St. Petersburg is a special city for Andrei Kirilenko. It was here that he was molded into a Russian basketball star. A week ago, on the banks of the Neva, Kirilenko was re-elected president of the RFB. It's time to share plans for the future. “We have one desire: for both teams to qualify for the 2020 Olympics,” Kirilenko said. Let's leave the girls alone. They have their own European Championship and their own selection, where Evgenia Belyakova and the company confidently deal with all their rivals. Four matches - four victories. Alexander Vasin's team is unlikely to miss out on a spot in the finals. And he will be in good standing there.
You can’t say the same about Bazarevich’s team yet. There are four matches ahead that will decide whether she will play at the European Championships. If not, then you won’t have to hang around idle either. In late autumn 2017, selection for the 2019 World Championships will begin (this tournament has now been shifted to odd-numbered years), where the winners of the first Olympic berths will be determined.
But first we need to get to the World Championship itself. 12 trips have been offered to 32 European teams. Anyone who does not play at EuroBasket 2017 will probably be put in a difficult group. Like a weak team. If the Russian team does not want to create unnecessary problems for itself, it needs to pass the European Championship qualification with a bang and finally make some noise at the tournament itself. Our latest results, 21st and 17th places, are not at all conducive to a trip to Tokyo.
They were shown under the leadership of Vasily Karasev and Evgeny Pashutin - believed to be two of the three promising Russian coaches. The third is Sergei Bazarevich. He has never hidden the fact that he wants to lead the main team in the country, but his turn has only come now. At a meeting of the executive committee of the RFB, Bazarevich was elected unanimously. This means they believe him. They won't remove you the first time you fail. And Bazarevich himself is unlikely to run away from the national team, as his predecessor did. The same one that almost failed the selection for the previous EuroBasket. Pashutin's team even managed to lose to Switzerland, but then corrected itself by pulling out a difficult match in Italy. Bazarevich doesn’t seem to be in for such a roller coaster. His team performed well in friendly matches, and Sweden and Bosnia are unlikely to create serious problems. Especially in Perm and Krasnodar, where our team will play home matches. “This is absolutely inconvenient for us, but good for Russia,” Sergei Bazarevich did not prevaricate. “We have a big country, and there should be basketball everywhere.” Preferably in combination with a decent team.
|Opinion
Former head coach of the Russian national team Stanislav Eremin: Shved's injury helped Karasev
Of course, I expect the Russian team to be the favorite in the debut qualifying match against Bosnia. The opponent is weakened by injuries, and our team will be helped by our native walls. Perm is a holy place for Russian basketball. The first official game of the season is the time to show maximum concentration. The coaching staff of Sergei Bazarevich must eliminate the slightest nervousness in the team’s actions. I like the style of the new team helmsman. I like his aggressive basketball with a quick transition to attack and his tendency to encourage players’ initiative in decision-making.
Unfortunately, the summer friendly matches did not sufficiently show the capabilities of the Russian national team, since its opponents left much to be desired. I would like to see stronger sparring partners. It is clear that Bazarevich prefers to freely rotate the squad, without getting hung up on seven or eight main players. In the summer he tested many young guys.
It’s interesting how Sergei Karasev opened up after Alexey Shved’s injury. While the Khimki defender was healthy, Karasev Jr. noticeably faded. As soon as his direct competitor dropped out, Sergei began to act much more successfully. I'm worried about the point guard position. Dmitry Khvostov plays decently, but needs support. Sergei Bykov looked weak in the first summer games, but he showed off in St. Petersburg in the match against Finland. I would like to believe that the position of the “number one” will not sag, and the Russian team will win its group. Of course, Bazarevich’s team needs to fight for first place and not think about the chances of qualifying for EuroBasket from second place. Despite the injuries to Shved and Vitaly Fridzon, the Russian team has a good chance of achieving its goal.
|By the way
The leader of Bosnia did not dare to fly to Perm
The Bosnia and Herzegovina national team arrived in Perm for the first EuroBasket 2017 qualifying match without two leading players. Naturalized American point guard Alex Renfro announced that he will miss the entire qualifying tournament “for personal reasons.” Milwaukee power forward, captain and main trump card of the Bosnians Mirza Teletovic will perform only in home matches. After his illness, doctors do not recommend long-distance flights for him. Thus, the choice of Perm brought good luck to the Russians. If Sergei Bazarevich’s national team had played in Moscow or St. Petersburg, Teletovich might have risked his health and taken a flight ticket.
In the final match of the EuroBasket group tournament, the Russian team met with the Great Britain team. Basketball in Foggy Albion is second in popularity even to hockey, not to mention football or rugby. For a long time they could not even assemble a single British team. The teams of Scotland and Wales generally preferred to play in the third division of European basketball with such formidable opponents as the teams of Moldova and San Marino.
How to pacify jumping guys?
Before the home Olympics, in order not to lose face, the British searched all over the world for players with the necessary passports. Even NBA star Luol Deng, who is considered the most underrated player in the world's strongest league, was persuaded to play. The British played well at the London Olympics, but since then they have been unable to gather the strongest players under the banner of the national team. So they brought to Istanbul a rather motley group of foreign players playing in the championships of Germany, Greece, Spain and France, two basketball players from the Scottish Glasgow Rocks and defender Kyle Johnson from the London Lightning team. True, this “London” is based in Canada.
The British lost all four previous matches in Istanbul, and even a sensation in the meeting with the Russian team would not have helped them stay at the EuroBasket. They could only slam the door. Sergei Bazarevich's team definitely needed a victory in order to take first place in the group with the help of the Turkish team.
The rest day was beneficial for our players. The satiety with basketball, which was noticeable at the end of the match with the Latvian team, has gone away. The team looked fresh, and our opponents did not pose any serious challenges to our basketball players. In the starting five, along with Andrei Vorontsevich, were the classic “third” and “fifth” numbers Nikita Kurbanov and Timofey Mozgov. The UK team is dominated by dark-skinned jumping guys. So Sergei Bazarevich decided to release more “big ones”.
The fans chanted: “Don’t relax!”
The British looked good in attack. Especially Murray. Just don't think that tennis player Andy has changed his sporting specialization, but in Scotland it is a popular surname. So Garrett Murray found a place in the British team. The British didn't play defensively at all. They allowed our team to shoot from behind the arc without resistance, deliver the ball under Mozgov’s shield, and play combinations with a free player getting a shot.
In such a game, Alexey Shved and his partners feel at ease. By the big break, the Russian team scored 9 three-pointers with a 53 percent hit rate. True, we won by only 12 points. At certain moments, Russian basketball players played to the public. Bazarevich even raised his voice to stop this “Harlem Globetrotters”. Spectacular things can be done at “+30” a minute before the final siren.
Russian fans also provided assistance in educational work to the coaching staff. They chanted: “Don’t relax!” Moreover, they helped Vorontsevich return to the game, for whom not everything worked out at first. But by the big break, Andrei had three “threes” to his credit. The same as the Swede.
In the third quarter, the British improved their defense a little. In any case, they didn’t allow Mozgov to score slam dunks like in the NBA. Taking into account the fact that not all long-range shots were successful, as in the first half, the advantage of the Russian team began to melt away. The fans again chanted: “Don’t relax!”, and Bazarevich, with the score 54:48, took a time out and released such proven fighters as Semyon Antonov and Vitaly Fridzon onto the court. The British, meanwhile, reduced the gap to three points. Now they have started making long shots.
Kirilenko refused the mascot
The Swede was seated on the bench, and the Globetrotters stopped. The Russian team improved in defense, began to value the ball in attack, and Mozgov grabbed rebounds on the opponent’s backboard several times. By the last break, Bazarevich’s team led with a difference of only “+7”. Although she could have already removed all questions about the winner of the match.
The fan sector was even forced to adjust the instructions. Now the stands were chanting: “Let’s play calmly!” But what kind of peace is there when the Swede’s shots didn’t go well?! Five and a half minutes before the siren with the score 64:60, Bazarevich was again forced to take a timeout.
There was no calm. Vorontsevich's technical foul cost the Russian team dearly. In one attack, the British scored 5 points and reduced the gap to a minimum. At this difficult moment, Shved’s “three” came to the rescue. Two minutes before the end of regulation time, the British coach took a time out to explain how to win back the five-point deficit. At this time, the EuroBasket mascot was trying to persuade Andrei Kirilenko to shoot... at the basket of the Russian team. The RFB President did not show the British what to do in the end.
But Bazarevich explained how to defend himself.
In general, a completely valid ending was avoided. They even ensured a double-digit difference in the score by the final siren. True, by this time the Russians were no longer demonstrating Globetrotters-style feints.
Istanbul
results
Europe championship. Men. Group tournament. Group D (Istanbul, Türkiye).
4th round. Russia - Great Britain - 82:70 (23:16, 20:15, 18:23, 21:16)
Kurbanov 11 Murray 10
Vorontsevich 6 Clark 21
Mozgov 11 Olaseni 19
Khvostov 5 Okereafor 5
Fridzon 14 Mockford 2
Zubkov 5 Nelson 4
D. Kulagin 0 Boateng 2
Antonov 0 Akhara 0
It was initially planned that the tournament would be hosted by Ukraine, which was unable to do so in 2015. However, ongoing instability in the country has forced FIBA to reconsider its plans.
In December 2015, it became known that EuroBasket will be held in four countries at once. The preliminary round matches will take place in Finland, Israel, Romania And Turkey, and the playoff stage including the final will be organized by Türkiye in Istanbul.
It is noteworthy that in Istanbul there are two arenas - Sinan Erdem Daum with 16 thousand seats and Abdi Ipekci Arena with 12 thousand seats. The games will also take place in the capital of Finland Helsinki, in Israeli Tel Aviv and Romanian city Cluj-Napoca.
EuroBasket 2017 cities
Qualifying tournament
Türkiye, Romania, Finland And Israel got to the European Championship automatically, and for Romanian basketball players this will be the first participation in the continental championship in the last 30 years.
Spain, Lithuania, France, Serbia, Greece, Italy, Czech, Latvia And Croatia successfully performed at the previous EuroBasket, so they also did not qualify, but received automatic tickets to the upcoming tournament.
They won in their qualifying groups Russia, Belgium, Hungary, Slovenia, Germany, Poland And Georgia.
Another four places went to the teams that took second place in their qualifying groups. This Montenegro, Iceland, Great Britain And Ukraine.
The Russian national team wins a ticket to EuroBasket 2017
Tournament format
The European Championship will begin with the group stage. The 24 teams are divided into four groups of six participants each. Based on the results of five rounds played, four teams from each group will receive tickets to the 1/16 finals. Starting from this stage, the traditional playoffs begin. The losers of the semi-finals will compete for bronze.
The group stage lineup is as follows:
Group A: Poland, Greece, France, Finland, Iceland, Slovenia.
Group B: Ukraine, Israel, Lithuania, Georgia, Italy, Germany.
Group C: Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, Montenegro, Romania, Hungary.
Group D: Great Britain, Russia, Serbia, Latvia, Türkiye, Belgium.
All NBA players who will play at EuroBasket
De Colo and his NBA partners
The main favorite of Group A is the French team, which will be led by CSKA players Nando De Colo And Leo Westermann, as well as such NBA basketball players as Boris Diao, Evan Fournier, Geoffrey Lauvergne And Timothy Luwawu.
In addition, the French team is complemented by Barcelona players Kevin Serafin And Thomas Ertel, which will try to replace Tony Parker, who received a serious injury during last season.
The Greek team looks a little weaker, as it will not have Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee, but his older brother will be there Thanasis. Also for the Greeks we would highlight a young center Georgios Papayannis, the rights to which belong to Sacramento.
The top three strongest teams are completed by the Slovenian national team, in which the Miami defender is the undoubted leader. Goran Dragic, who has already announced that he will end his international career after EuroBasket.
The teams of Finland and Poland have approximately equal chances of clinging to the playoffs, although the Finns will have an advantage, because they will play with the support of their home crowd.
Well, the weakest squad here is the Icelanders, in whom no one believes except their fans, who are already flocking to the capital of Finland en masse.
Strong Lithuanians
In Group B, basketball players from Lithuania stand out, who became vice-champions at the last EuroBasket and, it seems, are determined to at least repeat their achievement this year.
The composition of the Lithuanian team has not undergone significant changes. Most of the players play in the strong Spanish championship, but there are also representatives of the NBA - Jonas Valanciunas, Donatas Motiejunas And Mindaugas Kuzminskas.
The German team also has a good chance of competing for medals, having experienced a separation from Dirk Nowitzki and began to build around promising Dennis Schroeder.
Italy is strong with its coach Ettore Messina and renowned advocate Marco Belinelli. What she will miss is the striker Danilo Gallinari, who broke his arm during a brawl with an opponent from the Dutch national team in a friendly match.
The Israeli national team should not be discounted either, because it will play on its native soil. Its captain, by the way, will be the Golden State newcomer. Omri Kaspi.
Georgia and Ukraine are outsiders of the sextet, although let’s not forget that the Georgian team has an NBA champion Zaza Pachulia.
Current champions
The Spanish national team is the favorite not only of Group C, but also of the entire European Championship. The composition of the current continental champions is indeed very strong. Only from the NBA they will come Pow And Marc Gazoli, Ricky Rubio, Alex Abrines, Juan And Guillermo Hernangomeza.
Let's not forget the CSKA defender Sergio Rodriguez And Juan Carlos Navarro from Barcelona. Unfortunately, I was injured Sergio Llull from Real Madrid.
The Croatian national team will try to compete with the Spaniards, in which they stand out Boyan Bogdanovich And Dario Saric.
Montenegro and the Czech Republic also have good chances to compete for getting into the top four teams in this group.
But Hungary and Romania have not achieved success in basketball for a very long time, so we are unlikely to see them in the playoffs.
Russian hopes
The composition of the Russian national team for the current EuroBasket consists of players from the national championship with the exception of Timofey Mozgov, who arrived from the Brooklyn Nets. Last NBA season, the center received little game practice, so he will have a chance to prove himself at a major international tournament.
CSKA sent six players to the national team - Vitaly Fridzon, Semyon Antonov, Andrey Vorontsevich, Dmitry Kulagin, Mikhail Kulagin And Nikita Kurbanova. We would also note the defender Alexey Shved from Khimki, who has experience playing in the NBA.
Sergei Bazarevich's team has a chance to reach the playoffs, but they are not as high as we would like. Probably, for third or fourth places we will have to fight with the Belgians and Latvians, while Great Britain needs to be beaten in any case.
This month alone, the Russian national team played nine control games, but it is very difficult to judge the team’s form only from them, because they included victories over the Germans and Finns, as well as defeats from the Poles and Serbs.
Well, the favorites of this group will be Serbia with Bogdan Bogdanovich And Boban Marjanovic, and Türkiye, the backbone of which consists of basketball players from the local championship.
Broadcasts
Matches of the European Basketball Championship can be seen live on the TV channel "Match! A game".
At the same time, the games of the Russian national team are planned to be covered by a public television channel "Match TV".
The 2017 European Women's Basketball Championship will take place in the Czech Republic. The best basketball players in Europe will compete in Prague and Hradec Kralove from June 16 to 25.
Sixteen teams take part in the European Women's Basketball Championship, which are divided into four groups:
Group A: Hungary, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Spain
Group B: Belarus, Türkiye, Slovakia, Italy
Group C: Serbia, Slovenia, France, Greece
Group D: Latvia, Belgium, Montenegro, Russia
The winner of each group advances directly to the quarter-finals, while the second and third places in each group will play in the 1/8 finals.
2017 European Women's Basketball Championship schedule:
13:30 Belarus - Italy 60:80 (16:18, 12:20, 12:26, 20:16)
13:30 Belgium- Montenegro 66:64 (25:13, 15:18, 12:15, 14:18)
16:00 Latvia - Russia 59:71 (17:12, 7:22, 19:19, 16:18)
16:00 Türkiye- Slovakia 69:58 (26:18, 19:15, 11:12, 13:13)
19:00 Serbia - Greece 60:69 (11:19, 19:16,21:18, 9:16)
21:30 Hungary - Spain 48:62 (8:18, 13:12, 10:13, 17:19)
21:30 Slovenia - France 68:70 (9:18, 24:16, 15:14, 20:22)
13:30 Slovakia- Belarus 68:59 (15:16, 17:17, 19:11, 17:15)
13:30 Montenegro - Latvia 55:76 (23:15, 14:23, 12:14, 6:24)
16:00 Russia - Belgium 75:76 FROM (15:29, 17:17, 17:15, 19:7, 7:8)
19:00 Greece - Slovenia 56:59 (14:12, 19:11, 14:21, 9:15)
19:00 Czech Republic - Hungary 70:74 (20:24, 18:14, 12:17, 20:19)
21:30 Italy - Türkiye 53:54 (17:12, 13:18, 12:15, 11:9)
21:30 France - Serbia 73:57 (15:19, 18:15, 19:9, 21:14)
13:30 Latvia - Belgium 58:62 (10:16, 23:19, 18:9, 7:18)
16:00 Belarus - Türkiye 74:88 (14:20, 23:27, 11:19, 26:22)
16:00 Serbia- Slovenia 88:69 (21:30, 23:11, 18:17, 26:11)
19:00 Montenegro - Russia 54:78 (18:21, 16:17, 15:19, 5:21)
19:00 Czech- Spain 67:63 (17:17, 11:12, 17:15, 22:19)
21:30 Slovakia - Italy 61:68 (12:16, 18:17, 13:22, 18:13)
21:30 France- Greece 70:63 (14:19, 21:11, 14:22, 21:11)
Playoffs:
1/8 finals
(25) 19:00 Ukraine - Slovakia 68:82 (16:22, 13:12, 27:23, 12:25)
(26) 19:00 Serbia - Latvia 70:75 (12:24, 20:10, 19:19, 19:22)
(27) 21:30 Italy- Hungary 49:48 (12:14, 17:7, 5:19, 15:8)
(28) 21:30 Russia - Greece 58:62 (15:19, 17:9, 4:22, 22:12)
1/4 finals
(32) 13:30 Belgium- Italy 79:66 (27:13, 19:20, 11:22, 22:11)
(30) 16:00 Türkiye - Greece 55:84 (15:10, 15:26, 10:21, 15:27)
(29) 19:00 Spain- Latvia 67:47 (27:12, 11:10, 12:14, 17:11)
(31) 21:30 France- Slovakia 67:40 (21:6, 18:18, 11:8, 17:8)
1/2 finals
19:00 Spain- Belgium 68:52 (20:11, 16:10, 16:12, 16:19)
21:30 Greece - France 55:77 (17:23, 13:12, 17:17, 8:25)
19:00 Match for 3rd place. Belgium- Greece 78:45 (24:15, 16:14, 21:7, 17:9)
21:30 Final. Spain- France 71:55 (21:18, 18:12, 17:10, 15:15)
Russian basketball players made it to the 1/8 of the 2018 European Championship.
The group stage of the 2017 Basketball World Cup is now in full swing. Based on the results of the matches played, the first leaders in their groups have already been determined. And Russia managed to lead Group D. On September 1, our basketball players beat the Turkish team with a score of 76:73, on September 2 they beat the Serbian team with a score of 75:72, and yesterday they beat Belgium with a score of 67:76. Today they will have a match with the Latvian national team. And on September 7, our basketball players will play with the British team.
Tournament table, game schedule, results of matches of the European Basketball Championship 2017:
The Slovenes are in the lead in Group A. Along with them, Finland, France, Poland, Greece and Iceland also fell into this group. In Group "B" first place in this moment occupied by Lithuania. Next come Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Georgia and Israel. Spain is in first place in Group C. Next come Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, the Czech Republic and Romania.
Playoffs of the European Basketball Championship 2017
It is already known that in the 1/8 Russia will have to play with the team that will take fourth place in Group C. This could be the Czech Republic, Montenegro or Hungary. And, according to experts, Bazarevich’s team can cope with any of these teams. Let's hope that the analysts' forecasts will come true and our team will return home with the winner's cup.
Belgium 67 - 76 Russia European Championship 2017 Belgium 67 - 76 Russia EuroBasket 2017
