Best of the best come to forefront at Albert Schweitzer Tournament

REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) – Wouldn’t it have been great to have seen Arvydas Sabonis, Magic Johnson and Drazen Petrovic as junior U18 players?

Or Toni Kukoc, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker?

Well those are just a handful of the basketball’s biggest and brightest superstars who have graced the courts at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament since 1958. And new names are added every two years.

The biggest names from the 2010 AST were Dario Saric, Evan Fournier, Jaime Fernandez, Philipp Neumann, Linos Chrysikopoulos and Ryan Boatright.

And it’s just about time for a new bunch of stars to shine as the 2012 Albert Schweitzer Tournament tips off on Easter Saturday and finishes on April 14.

First off, there will be a new feeling to the tournament starting this year as the U.S. Army has pulled out of the event, which will leave spectators in doubt where to get their root beer, Dr Pepper and hot dogs.

The German Basketball Federation (DBB) recruited the city of nearby Viernheim to replace the U.S. Army gym as one of the two courts for the 16-team tournament. And the DBB is convinced the tournament will not lose any of the calling it has developed over the half-century since 1958 and even sees it as a chance to develop the event in different ways.

One thing is certain, the future stars will be there.

The defending champions Australia will once again have a team dominated by current Australian Institute of Sports stars. The top players from this year’s squad are Emmett Naar and Dane Pineau.

The 2010 runners-up Germany will again have a loaded team as the host nation continues in developing loads of excellent youth talent.

The top guy may be Paul Zipser, a do-it-all wing player who was the MVP of the recent U19 All Star Game in Germany. Guard Malik Müller will provide plenty of highlights as well.

But the German fans will get to enjoy two underage 1995-born point guards in Ismet Akpinar and David Taylor – the latter the son of a former American player in Germany. And there is even a strong low post presence in 1995-born Gavin Schilling who plays high school basketball in Chicago.

One of the biggest talents in Europe is Turkey point guard Kenan Sipahi, who proved a tremendous leader as point guard at last year’s U18 European Championship as a 16-year-old. The Turks will also have an excellent low post presence in Burak Yildizli.

Spain will be led by point guard Josep Perez and big man Ilimane Diop while Israel’s top player in Mannheim will likely be Naor Sharon.

Perhaps the best big man at the tournament could be France’s massive force in Mouhammadou Jaiteh while Serbia’s Nikola Jankovic will show fans that the Balkan nation still has plenty of top level talent.

Italy have two players who were also impact under-aged players at last summer’s U18 Euros in Matteo Imbro and Amedeo Tessitori.

Denmark power forward Rasmus Glarbjerg Larsen has been on NBA radars for some time now and this will be a big chance to showcase his skills in front of loads of scouts for an entire week.

Argentina will be lead by guard Lucas Chaves with Franco Barroso a low post defensive presence, while Greece still have not cut down their roster so it’s unclear which team they will have but two possible leaders are Diamantis Slaftsakis and Georgos Diamantakos.

China have a team exclusively of 1995 and 1996-born players at the tournament. But the Asian powers will have one of the tallest players in the tournament in 2.15m Zhou Qi. And the 16-year-old giant has already international experience in helping China qualify for the FIBA U17 World Championship.

Russia could challenge for the title as they have a good mix of top talent including Alexander Martynov and Alexander Gankevich – both 1995-born players in CSKA Moscow’s system – as well as point guard Serdar Annaev and 2.20m center Andrey Desyatnikov.

One of New Zealand’s main players will be Reuben Te Rangi, who played for the Tall Blacks at this event in 2010 and helped New Zealand to the gold medal at the 2011 3x3 Youth World Championship along with Tai Webster as well.

Sweden, a last minute replacement for Brazil, has not announced its roster but their top 1994-born player is Nicholas Spires, a 2.10m power forward playing in the Barcelona system. 

The U.S. team, which is not an official USA Basketball side, does not have much of the top level talent as there are various USA teams this spring and summer. One of the top players will be Kentucky-bound Derek Willis as well as future Indiana Hoosier Collin Hartman.

Among those players are undoubtedly the next Yi Jianlian, BJ Armstrong, Nicolas Batum, Andrew Bogut, Kyle Lowry, Ersan Ilyasova, Enes Kanter and Ramon Sessions.

Those are just some more of the famous names who have been exciting fans at Albert Schweitzer Tournaments over the past 50-plus years.

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.

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