Netherlands to Zandalasini - 2012 an eventful year in youth hoops - Part 2

REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) – As the year draws to a close, it only seemed right to take a look back at all the excitement that happened in 2012 in youth basketball. Here is Part 2 of a breakdown of the year from A-Z.

Last week's Part 1 was A-M and this week is N-Z.

NETHERLANDS
For first-timers, the Dutch proved excellent hosts of a major tournament as the Netherlands put together a very strong 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women. The Dutch were a promise on the court as well finishing eighth. Seven of the team's U17 players had previously helped the Netherlands U18 team qualify for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women.

OLYMPIACOS
It was considered one of the biggest upsets in Euroleague history as Olympiacos and their trio of young Greek stars Kostas Papanikolaou, Kostas Sloukas and Evangelos Mantzaris helped the Greek club come back and shock CSKA Moscow for the 2012 crown.

PARKER
Jabari Parker has already been billed as the best high school player since LeBron James. He has had songs written about him. And Parker, who helped Team USA to the gold medal at the 2012 U17 World Championship, has an entire faith hanging on him becoming the next Mormon superstar. One of the most speculated recruiting processes in college basketball history ended when the 17-year-old Chicago talent chose Duke as the place for him to continue his education – on and off the court.

QI
The next hopeful of Chinese basketball emerged this summer as Zhou Qi came out and showed he’s got star potential. After playing at the U18 Albert Schweitzer Tournament, the 16-year-old Chinese big man helped China finish seventh at the FIBA U17 World Championship. Later in the summer he was a part of the Chinese team which won the FIBA Asia U18 Championship to qualify for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship.

ROMERO
Spanish guard Leticia Romero had a hugely successful 2012. First off she was with Spanish side Gran Canaria and played in the EuroCup Women Quarter-Finals. Romero headed to the Spanish U18 team and helped the Iberians qualify for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women and then took silver at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women as well as the 2012 FIBA 3x3 U18 Worlds.

SARIC
Dario, Dario, Wherefore art thou Dario Saric? The Croatian sensation had an amazing summer, guiding Croatia to gold at the U18 European Championship and then helping the senior national team to qualify for EuroBasket 2013. Then he lost months of playing time through a contract dispute. It was finally resolved, and basketball fans can look forward to watching Saric play with Cibona Zagreb.

TAKE
As in “Take my talents” – Nerlens Noel decided to go the route of LeBron James in his television announcement that he would play collegiate basketball starting this season at the University of Kentucky. His announcement went so: He turned to the live cameras of U.S. sports media giants ESPN and said: “I’ll be taking my talents for college to play at the university of ...” Noel then turned around and the “UK” logo of the University of Kentucky was shaven into the back of his now-famous high-top fade hairstyle. Wonder if he is wishing he could get a re-do on that like LeBron is with his decision.

USA
Almost everything Team USA touched this summer in youth basketball was golden! The United States took gold at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for men and women and claimed the titles at the U18 FIBA Americas Championships for men and women as well. Team USA also clinched gold at the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championship for Girls, but the Boys faltered in winning only silver as Serbia won 21-20 in the Final on Mihaljo Andric’s shot from beyond the arc that hit off the backboard and rolled in. The Americans did not play in the U18 3x3 mixed competition.

VALANCIUNAS
The 20-year-old Lithuanian star Jonas Valanciunas fulfilled his Olympic dream by playing at the London Games (averaging 4.2 points and 4.0 rebounds) and reaching the Quarter-Finals, where they were bounced by Russia. Valanciunas then headed to the NBA for his rookie season where he has held his own with the Toronto Raptors.

WIGGINS
NBA fans saw their timetable to Andrew Wiggins entering the league pushed up one year as the 17-year-old superstar Canadian talent reclassified his high school class to become the number one prospect in the 2014 NBA Draft class. In the summer, Wiggins helped Canada qualify for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship.

XV
XV as in the Roman numeral for 15 as in the 15 minutes of fame for Jack Taylor, the Grinnell College guard who set a collegiate scoring record with 138 points as part of the team’s run-and-gun offense. While Taylor is averaging 38.7 points a game this season, he has scored just 26.3 points per game if the record-breaking showing is taken out.

YACINE
Yacine Diop played a huge role in an amazing summer for Senegalese youth basketball as she was named MVP as Senegal beat Mali to win the 2012 FIBA Africa U18 Championship for Women – the country’s first gold medal in 27 years, booking their spot in the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women. The Senegal men followed suit by knocking off Ivory Coast for the gold medal – its first ever title – to reach the 2013 FIBA U19 Worlds men tournament.

ZANDALASINI
Cecilia Zandalasini was named MVP of the 2012 U6 European Championship for silver medalists Italy and then was just finding her game at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women before going out the rest of the tournament with an ankle injury in the Quarter-Finals.

David Hein

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