Stars galore as Euroleague NIJT field set

REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) – As rosters for high school showcases throughout the United States are busy being announced, the field for Europe’s elite youth competition has been set as the final four teams were granted wild cards for the 10th annual Euroleague Nike International Junior Tournament (NIJT).

And just like the U.S. games, there is no shortage of superstar talent on the rosters of the NIJT competition, which will be played out at the Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul from May 10-13.

First off, here are the eight U18 teams.

Defending champions KK Zagreb Croatia Osiguranje from Croatia booked their spot in Istanbul by winning the qualification tournament in Rome; Lithuanian side Lietuvos Rytas advanced from the Ciutat de L’Hospitalet qualifier; fellow Lithuania club Zalgiris Kaunas collected the spot allotted from the Kaunas event; and Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) Belgrade of Serbia won the NIJT event in Belgrade.

Joining the quartet of qualification winners were invited teams FC Barcelona Regal of Spain, who finished runners-up at the L’Hospitalet tournament, local Turkish sides Anadolu Efes Istanbul as well as Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul (second-placed finisher in Rome) and, for the second time, Team China.

Possibly the biggest talent in Istanbul will be KK Zagreb’s Dario Saric, who was MVP of the NIJT finals in Barcelona last spring with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in the 2011 final. Saric, who starred for Croatia at last summer's FIBA U19 World Championship in Latvia, doesn’t turn 18 until April 8.

He claimed MVP honors in Rome by collecting 21 points, 22 rebounds, four assists and two blocks in helping Zagreb beat Fenerbahce in the final. Overall, he averaged 19.8 points, 14.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.5 steals and 1.5 blocks.

Zagreb’s other main ace is Saric’s partner in crime Dominik Mavra, who collected 21 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. But Zagreb’s chances of winning the title will plainly fall on the shoulders of Saric.

Fenerbahce’s leader is James Birsen, who doesn’t turn 17 until April 6 and led the Istanbul side in scoring with 13.8 points to go along with 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals. The 18-year-old Umar Atin averaged 11.3 points, while Berk Ugurlu chipped in 8.3 points and 2.8 steals despite the fact that he won’t celebrate his 16th birthday until shortly before late April.

Lietuvos Rytas were somewhat surprise winners in L’Hospitalet with Barcelona and Real Madrid also in the field. But 17-year-old Augustinas Jankaitis led a balanced Rytas attack with 16 points and 6.2 rebounds per game including a monster 28-point, 13-rebound game against Real Madrid. In the end Rytas beat Barcelona in the final with a deep team, shown in that Tomas Galeckas came off the bench to average 11.4 points, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals and reserve Tautvydas Jodelis chipped in 10 points and 1.2 steals a contest.

Barcelona for their part are led by 17-year-old Kazakhstan forward Alexandr Zhigulin, whose double-double in the final was not enough but he still averaged 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds. Guard Josep Perez is a deadly shooter from the outside, having twice hit five three-pointers for 26 and 31 points in single games, while Sweden’s Ludde Hakanson, who turns 16 on March 22, averaged 9.2 points for the Spanish giants.

Zalgiris took advantage of their home court and beat Khimki Moscow Region in the Kaunas final with Tomas Dimsa leading the way with 20 points per game while Marius Grigonis showed his overall skills with 13 points, 6.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists (including 16 in the final) and 1.8 steals per game. Rokas Gustys averaged 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds while Justas Tamulis came off the bench for 14.8 points a contest.

Crvena Zvezda booked the final automatic bid by knocking off fellow Serbian powerhouse Partizan in the Belgrade final. Dusan Ristic was named MVP for averaging 17.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, but he got plenty of help from a supremely talented Crvena Zvezda side. Nikola Jankovic - who helped Serbia to a fifth-place finish at the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship in 2010 - averaged 13 points, 13.3 rebounds and blocked eight shots in the final while Nikola Rebic had 12 points and 4.5 assists and Brano Djukanovic chipped in 14.2 points.

Anadolu Efes did not play in any of the four tournaments but were granted an invitation. However, they will most likely be led by swingman Tayfun Erulku, point guard Cedi Osman and guard Ekefan Cosar.

The eighth team is Team China, which also was given an invitation to the 2011 NIJT tournament at the Euroleague Final Four.

The Chinese of course did not play in any of the qualifying competitions and it’s unclear at the moment what the Asian roster will look like. But the 1994-born Wang Zhelin - who represented his country in Hamburg in 2010 and in Riga last summer - would be eligible to come back to the event after playing in Barcelona in 2011.

The Chinese, however, may choose to bring a younger team to the tournament as they have announced a roster of players born in 1995 and 1996 for the Albert Schweitzer Tournament, which would be a 1994-and-younger tournament. On the preliminary Albert Schweitzer squad are 16-year-old 7-foot-1 center Zhou Qi and 6-foot-9 forward Liu Bo (turns 16 on March 10) – both of whom won the gold medal at the 2011 FIBA Asia U16 Championship.

So, there will definitely be no shortage of talent for basketball fans on display in Istanbul.

David Hein

FIBA

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