26/07/2018
David Hein's Eye on the Future
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My plea to keep the FIBA U20 European Championship

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Talk to some people at the FIBA U20 European Championship 2018 and they will say basketball leaders must do away with the U20 tournament. But look at some of the great storylines from the 2018 edition - among them Israel, Croatia and Germany - and you will see just how much this competition needs to be kept.

The U20 European Championship started in 1992 and ran biennially until 2004, when FIBA Europe officials made the tournament an annual event.

The rationale from some observers in Chemnitz was that some teams were missing some of their best players and that brought down the level of the competition. While the statement about some teams missing players is not false, it also provides other players to play for their country - something they would not have been able to otherwise.  But you cannot convince fans in Chemnitz that there was not plenty of drama - not to mention great basketball.

Yovel Zoosman guided Israel to the FIBA U20 European Championship 2018 title and won the MVP trophy.

Taking away the U20 European Championship would mean Israel would have never had a chance to win their first youth title. MVP Yovel Zoosman, up-and-coming 17-year-old star Deni Avdjia and the rest of Israel took the jump from last year they had hoped - returning to the U20 Final and then winning it this time.

Without the U20 Euro, Zoosman's 1998-born generation would have been left with the bitter end of their youth career two years ago when they were relegated at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2016 - having lost two games by one point, two games in overtime, and the decisive Classification 13-16 game on a buzzer-beater sending them to Division B.

A year after Israel reached the U20 Final in Greece, Zoosman and co. returned by playing some fantastic basketball - averaging a second-best 84.7 points a game while holding their opponents to just 64.7 per game, including just 35 percent shooting from the field and 27 percent from three-point range. It was truly fun watching Israel play in Chemnitz.

If you had bet on Croatia making the Final in Germany you could have made a lot of money. This was a team of non-stars who "feel like they are on a field trip with friends" - those were the words of Croatian captain Kresimir Ljubicic. But they came together as a team and played entertaining basketball and reached the final - giving Croatia something they had never had previously despite all their great young talents in history: a medal at the FIBA U20 European Championship.

Germany's 1998-born generation of Kostja Mushidi, Richard Freudenberg and co. grabbed the third spot on the podium, which is a huge deal for one of the most-emerging powers in European basketball. Germany lost to Italy in the U18 European 3rd Place Game in 2016 - with most of their stars on board - and were hungry for their first youth medal in 35 years after winning U16 European bronze in 1983.

Germany got the job done by beating France in the 3rd Place Game and now the next group of young star German talents have a generation to look up to which won a medal.

But those were just three of the storylines we will remember from Chemnitz.

The FIBA U20 European Championship 2018 started with a real shocker as Ukraine beat Spain - for the first time at the youth level in 24 years.

The first day of action saw Ukraine knock off Spain 82-79 and if you might be thinking that sounds pretty uncommon, you’d be right. It was Ukraine's first youth victory over the Iberians since an 86-83 win at the 1994 European Championship for Junior Men - Final Round Preliminary Round, a stretch of 12 games over 24 years.

The existence of the U20 European Championship - and its A and B divisions - allowed for Romania’s magical Division B title last summer and the team's chance to return to the top flight. Sure, the Romanians did lose all seven games in finishing last but they did have seven 1999-born bottom level players on hand to have that experience for next summer.

Don't tell Montenegro's Milos Popovic that you have to be close to 7-foot to win a rebound title.

This summer also saw Montenegro's 6ft 6in (1.98m) "big man" Milos Popovic lead the tournament in rebounding with 11.4 boards a game whle also scoring a second-best 21.0 points to finish tops in efficiency at 26.7. Who says you need to be close to 7-foot to be a great rebounder?

Chemnitz will also be remembered by Great Britain players and fans for their best-ever U20 showing with 10th place at a time when there is much turmoil going on back home in the federation.

It was really great to see Aleksandar Aranitovic wearing a Srbija jersey again!

And just one more … had it not been for the U20 European Championship, we would not have witnessed the feel-good story of Aleksandar Aranitovic, who made his return to the Serbian national team for the first time since the FIBA U18 European Championship 2015 after fighting back from two ACL injuries to the same knee. He averaged 12.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steals and showed he still is a high level prospect - one that we would have missed if the FIBA U20 European Championship was discontinued.

David Hein

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.

David Hein

David Hein

Walk into the media tribune of any major basketball event and there's a good chance you will come across David Hein. Having covered dozens of FIBA events, including numerous women's and youth events, there are few players Dave doesn't know about, and few players who don't know him. His sporting curiosity means he is always looking to unearth something new and a little bit special. David Hein's Eye on the Future is a weekly column digging out the freshest basketball talent worldwide and assessing what the basketball landscape will look like a couple of years down the line.