DeShields and Dutch organisers shine at U17W, Arrojo and Zandalasini leave us wanting more

REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) – The United States clearly deserved to win the gold medal at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women. The Americans were the best team and were never really threatened in the tournament – despite beating Spain in the Final by “only” 13 points. Still, the event was full of great moments, top players and fine stories.

First off, I would like to congratulate the Netherlands for putting together a very strong event. Having been to a number of men’s and women’s tournaments – both senior and youth – the Dutch have every right to hold their heads high for the excellent hosting job they did. It was not evident in the very least that they had not hosted a basketball event before. The organisation was top and other than a couple of very minor gaffes – which happen at every event – everything went superbly and they did a good job of bringing fans to the games.

As far as the play goes, there was plenty of high level action to follow.

Even though she appeared surprised to win the trophy, USA forward Diamond DeShields not only was a worthy winner of the MVP award but she was by far the best player in the Amsterdam. DeShields, the daughter and brother of baseball players, is nearly unstoppable on offense, can finish excellently in transition, oozes athleticism and is as close to a walking highlight reel the women’s game has at that level.

Her teammate Linnae Harper was also a joy to watch, especially her hard-as-nails defense and her uncanny rebounding ability as she averaged 6.0 rebounds per game despite being just 1.70m (5'7"). She averaged 13 rebounds a game in high school in Chicago last season.

Spain reached the Final, but unfortunately Amsterdam fans only got to watch two games of star power forward Maria Arrojo, who missed the first five games with an injury and then played only three minutes in the Quarter-Finals against Italy.  She then scored 21 points in the Semis against Japan and had 9 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals against the USA.

It took bronze medalists Canada a while to find their game but they finished with five wins in the last six games – the loss being a Semi-Final defeat against the USA. The low post duo of Emma Wolfram and Emily Potter worked better and better over the course of the tournament, with Wolfram averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds in the final three games and Potter averaging 15 and 8.5 in the final two contests.

Canada also supplied fans with a bit of double-takes as they had one of two sets of identical twins – Audrey-Ann and Khalean Caron-Goudreau to go with the Australian twins Alicia and Keely Froling. The quartet proved to be good fun to chat with as well. Click here so see for yourself.

Japan took fourth place and saw two of their players make the All-Tournament Team – both undersized low post players in Yunika Nakamura and Evelyn Mawuli.

Nakamura is a left-handed big who can drive to both sides of the basket, hit jumpers, play tough defense and is all-but-automatic at the free-throw line. Mawuli – of Ghana descent – was a jumping bean on defense, grabbing rebounds and blocking shots while also playing solid offense. The duo was just worn down late in the tournament and could not deal with the bigger Spanish and Canadian teams in losing their last two games to disappointingly finish out of the medals.

Similar to Arrojo, we didn’t see enough of the real Cecilia Zandalasini from Italy. The 2012 U16 European Championship MVP had just found her game – averaging 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block against Korea and Belgium – when she landed wrong on a rebound against Spain early in the Quarter-Finals, injuring her ankle and ending her tournament.

The Dutch were a promise on the court as well, finishing eighth after a long and successful summer with other teams as many of the Dutch U17 players helped the Netherlands U18 team qualify for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women. And this experience will be great as seven of the Dutch players are 16 years or under including three who played at least 19.8 minutes - Laura Cornelius, Emese Hof and Janis Ndiba.

The tournament will be seen as a good success for Korea, who despite having three players aged 14-16 finished in ninth place with three victories. They placed ahead of the sole African team (Mali), a strong South American side (Brazil) and a traditional European power (Turkey).

Of course there was the magical moment of Mali beating Brazil for their first victory in two U17 World Championships. And Turkey will hope to forget this tournament as soon as possible after finishing last without a victory.

But the rest of those who experienced the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women will remember the event for quite some time – and rightfully so.

David Hein

FIBA

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