My A to Z of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019 Qualifiers
NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) – It was absorbing as usual and here is my A to Z of the second window of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019 Qualifiers.
A is for All-Star Five and an interesting one of Stef Collins, Alina Iagupova, Marica Gajic, Alena Hanusova and Bernadett Hatar.
B is for Belgium without Ann Wauters. It is just not quite the same, is it? But they have to learn to play [and win] without their veteran legend as injury, foul trouble and of course retirement all make it necessary. Fingers crossed she is firing on all cylinders for Tenerife and the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2018.
C is for Czech Republic who are my team of the Qualifiers. They were on the canvas after their host nation implosion at FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017, but what a response. Credit to Stefan Svitek and his team who are 4-0.
So... @GajicMarica of @BFBiH @MersinBldSpor
— Paul Nilsen (@basketmedia365) February 15, 2018
WOW! 31 pts & 16 rbs v 🇮🇸👌#EuroBasketWomen
WOW! 39 pts & 19 rbs v 🇸🇰👌@EuroBasketWomen
One of best still to play #EuroLeagueWomen 👌
An exciting future #wnba Euro star 👌
Top 10 spot of own @FIBA 👉 https://t.co/4qpDCg5bpw 👌 pic.twitter.com/M5Kt36t5bv
D is for dazzling double-doubles from Marica Gajic. She posted a pair of jaw-dropping individual performances for Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is lighting it up in EuroCup Women too!
E is for expect the unexpected. Yet again the unpredictable nature of the women's game and these Qualifiers crashed into focus with results such as Slovak Republic winning in Montenegro and Slovenia sinking France.
F is for first wins for the likes of Germany, Netherlands and Romania. Even if qualification won't be forthcoming, it's always good to get wins on the board.
G is for got no explanation for Lithuania pressing the self-destruct button down the stretch again with some brainless decisions in Hungary. They lost the plot completely and you can file this under another failure when they could and should have beaten both Russia [last November] and Hungary on the road. Ridiculous. No potential derby in Latvia next year and no short hop for their fans. Disappointing for the neutrals.
This is what happens when you, over time, put the same amount of resources in women's sports as in men's sports in everything from youth development to marketing. The line to the fan zone for Sweden's national team. 5207 people in thr stands. #fairpay pic.twitter.com/OeoJD70Ke8
— Johannes Wohlert (@johanneswohlert) February 15, 2018
H is for home crowds in Sweden turning out in huge numbers with more than 5,000 watching their game with Croatia and then forming an epic queue after to meet the players!
I is for Israel and their emotional roller-coaster ride of winning a tight one against Greece and losing a tight one against Great Britain. It perfectly encapsulated the fine margins that make or break Women's EuroBasket dreams. At least they are still in with a chance and great to see Shay Doron back too.
J is for joy to watch Marine Johannes again. Even if France were beaten by Slovenia and steamed past Finland, she can still fill the highlights reel. Her game is just so easy on the eye.
It is a dream @EuroBasketWomen window for @gbbasketball - helped by @ksam44 who did not score on debut v POR but pulled some serious moves in tonight's win v ISR Showed her #wnba @LA_Sparks quality! #EuroBasketWomen #BritishBasketball pic.twitter.com/cIPGR5Yx0u
— Paul Nilsen (@basketmedia365) February 14, 2018
K is for Karlie Samuelson, one of the newly naturalized players in the competition and she showed her class and WNBA potential for Great Britain against Israel.
L is for legendary Laia Palau back playing in competitive games for Spain in the wake of her EuroBasket Women 2017 'retirement'.
M is for Massey. Yes, Billie Massey, the star of the FIBA U18 Women's European Championship 2017 in Sopron played in the Qualifiers and hit the senior trail with Belgium – prior to being named MVP at the Basketball Without Borders Camp at the NBA All-Star weekend. What an amazing chapter for the teenager.
N is for November and what will be an exciting and intriguing last Qualifiers window.
O is for one foot in Latvia and Serbia already for the unbeaten Czech Republic, Russia, Spain, Slovenia and Turkey.
P is for Poland who will miss another Women's EuroBasket Women and have fallen so far behind as a leading nation without the class of prominent past stars including Agnieszka Bibrzycka and Ewelina Kobryn.
Q is for question remains over how many young NCAA stars are missing out because of the Qualifiers during the season. This February window had even fewer of Europe's best young players than last November.
R is for a record breaking Russia who racked up 148 points against Albania.
When writing @fiba I've described @kzs_si as one of the most exciting teams in Europe. To beat @FRABasketball underlines it. To do it without Baric and @evalisec is sensational! One of most impressive #EuroBasketWomen results in memory. Mainstream Slovenian media must take note! pic.twitter.com/xGeDjO7OiQ
— Paul Nilsen (@basketmedia365) February 10, 2018
S is for Slovenia and arguably one of their most memorable wins in history as they defied the absence of injured starters ad EuroLeague Women stars Nika Baric and Eva Lisec to take down 2017 finalists, France. Rising star Annamaria Prezelj was absent too in this encounter!
T is for triple overtime between Slovak Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina. What a game that was!
U is for Ukraine who came so close to upsetting the holders yet again [after beating then champions Serbia twice en-route to EuroBasket Women 2017]. This time they were only just edged out in Kiev by Spain.
Let's save the money for a monument and get the GB squads on the court! @chemabuceta https://t.co/qfe58g0dU4
— Stef Collins OLY (@StefCollins6) February 16, 2018
V is for veteran Stef Collins who is happy to give up talk of a monument/statue in her honor, in favor of getting British Basketball some much-needed funding.
It was one of the best @fiba @EuroBasketWomen game days EVER! Here's why 👉https://t.co/YnV9iP8h8c #EuroBasketWomen pic.twitter.com/A0QPQr628t
— Paul Nilsen (@basketmedia365) February 12, 2018
W is for was Saturday, 10 Feb one of the greatest days in women's Qualifiers history?
X is for 'X-Rated' finish between Hungary and Lithuania. A complete mess in every way. Lithuania blew it by making a terrible decision and turning it over, Hungary's coach celebrated with his staff prematurely, completely unaware that one of his players had inexplicably turned it back to Lithuania, who then made yet another poor choice on the buzzer and missed the chance to force overtime by failing to dump it to the excellent Gintare Petronyte under the hoop.
Y is for your country's grade for their efforts and accomplishments [against expectation], what did I get right and what did I get wrong?
It's my favorite play of the @EuroBasketWomen window! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Behind the back assist from @Italbasket @familaschio ace @Ceci_Zanda - Wow! @minnesotalynx @Lynx_PR @WNBA fans must all be so pumped for the Regular Season this summer! #wnba #EuroBasketWomen pic.twitter.com/4IdyXhjcQc
— Paul Nilsen (@basketmedia365) February 15, 2018
Z is for Zandalasini and that assist for Italy against MKD which was just wonderful. Those WNBA fans must be licking their lips in anticipation that she will be with the Minnesota Lynx for the whole season this time.
Paul Nilsen
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