By George Orfanakis/info@eurohoops.net
The first phase of Eurobasket is over and everybody talks about the teams which qualified to the next stage of the tournament. Apart from the winners, though, there are also teams, which will not be equally famous, but deserve at least to be mentioned. Eurohoops.net stands out three teams which were eliminated from the tournament, but with their presence made a statement and were full of promises for the future.
Iceland
Iceland claimed the last place in the “group of death” and was the only team which didn’t earn a victory in the entire Eurobasket, but their presence in the tournament is more than positive. Craig Pedersen’s players were very competitive, played decent and of fast pace basketball, managed to fight against traditional leaders of the European Basketball (Germany, Italy) and came close to their first win against Turkey (102-111 in overtime). With the most well known player of the squad, John Stevenson (13.6 points, 5.8 assists), as the leader and with Hlinour Beringson (10.8 points, seven rebounds), Iceland made a positive impact on their first ever presence in the Eurobasket and proved they deserve a place in Europe’s basketball map.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands returned to the Eurobasket after 26 years and with their presence proved that they deserved to qualify to the tournament. The beginning was dreamy, as Tomas van Helfteren’s squad made the big surprise in the opening game, beating Georgia 73-72. In a quite demanding group, with clear favourites (Greece, Croatia, Slovenia), the Netherlands were not defeated in any game by more than seven points and fought for the win in every game. When the team was in the zone, it was very dangerous, but they would have been higher in the classification if they remained concentrated within the entire game. Their loss to Greece (65-68) prevented them from fighting for a greater distinction in the knockout games. Charlon Kloof, who was the team’s leader (16,2 points, 4,6 rebounds, 3,2 assists), with his explosive first step and the extraordinary performance, proved that both he and the Netherlands should be taken into serious consideration.
Estonia
Estonia came one…half away from the dream of qualifying to the Eurobasket Top 16 but they didn’t make it at the end. After the first two poor performances against the Czech Rebuplic (57-80) and Belgium (55-84), the team played extremely well in the next games. The 78-71 win over Ukraine was celebrated furiously and Tit Sok’s players were full of confidence afterwards. They didn’t finish the big surprise against Lithuania (62-64 at the buzzer) and everything would be on the line “in the final” against Latvia. In that match, Estonia lost a 15-point advantage and was eliminated due to the lack of consistency throughout the game, as the players were nervous and inexperienced in big tournaments. Talts (10.4 points, four rebounds) and Albert (11.6 points, 2,4 rebounds), who were the oldest players of the squad, may not play again for the national team but were impressive in the Eurobasket. Apart from that, Estonia is with no doubt the third team which was the surprise of the Eurobasket and full of promises for the future.