GROUP C
RUSSIA
Russian NT is
the team to beat in the tournament.
Despite their usual offensive shortcomings, they are the most solid team
and shouldn´t have any problem to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics. David
Blatt keeps the block of players that got the bronze medal in Lithuanian
Eurobasket 2011. Vorontsevich and Bykov are sidelined but C Sasha Kaun comes
back to help the team in the paint.
AK 47 Kirilenko
and Sergey Monya are the best pair of Forwards in the tournament. In the frontcourt,
the power and strength of Kaun, Mozgov and Khryapa will be a key factor in every
game. In PG, Shved and Fridzon will lead the team and will have to play many
minutes as Khostov and Ponkrashov, aren´t in the same level. Let´s see if the newcomers Voronov, Karasev
and Grigoryev can be helpful from the
bench.
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
Dominican
Republic wants to get a ticket to London. Together with Venezuela, they should
be among the underdogs of the tournament. Coached by John Calipari, they have
shown last week in Puerto Rico´s Centrobasket that they are absolutely ready
for this challenge.
With a fast
and attractive style of play, the Dominicans have a great starting five. The
electric PG Manuel Fortuna together with SG Juan Coronado will help talented
NBA SF Francisco García from downtown. Al
Horford, Atlanta Hawks PF, and Jack Michael Martínez are the big names in one
of the most powerful frontcourts of the tournament with Josh Asselin and Eulis
Báez coming from the bench.
If the Caribbean
team increases it´s deffensive attitude, be careful with them as they have a
lot of weapons to get into the semifinals.
KOREA
After
winning the bronze medal in last year´s Asiabasket 2011, Korea NT arrives in Caracas
thinking about the future with the big absences of experienced and
talented PG Yang Dong-Geun, SG Moon Tae-Jong (aka Jarod
Stevenson), F Cho Sung Min and PF Kim Joo-Sung.
In addition
to all these important sidelined players, Sang Beom Lee, Korean HC, will have the serious
doubt of Sek-eun Oh (the young talented C), with physical problems. The Korean team will try to play fast, with
many long range shots and being aggressive in deffense to compensate their lack
of physical power. SG Lee Seung-Jun will be the only offensive reference from downtown.
GROUP D
FYR OF MACEDONIA
No longer
underdogs, FYROM will play its first Official Tournament out of Europe after
their big achievement last year in Lithuania Eurobasket. Few months ago, Marjan
Lazovski became new Head Coach replacing Marin Dokuzovski. That won´t bring any
important changes as Lazovski has been working with FYROM´s NT since 2006.
Again, Bo
McCalebb will be the lighthouse of the Balkan team. One of the best PG in FIBA
Basketball will lead the offense helped by Vlado Ilievski and Stojanovski´s brothers
beyond the arc. In the frontcourt, one more time, the versatility of PF Pero
Antic together with the big centers Gecevski and Samardziski will be the heart
of the team.
They have
been quite irregular in the preparatory games as Bo McCalebb arrived late due
to the Italian Serie A Final Series. However, they´ll
give their best to get into the semifinals and we know that impossible means
nothing to them.
NEW ZEALAND
Hard times
for the Tall Blacks as SG Kirk Penney and PF Thomas Abercrombie won´t be
available for this tournament. HC Vucinic will be without two of his most important
players so New Zealand will struggle a lot in offense. New Zealand will fight
and try not to be trashed by their rivals but they are so far away of being
dangerous at all.
Lindsay
Tait will be the most important player in offensive terms while Vukona and
Casey Frank will add their experience and physical strength. In the paint, bic
Cs, Pledger and Lou should give something better for the team as they did in
previous tournaments.
ANGOLA
After being
defeated by Tunisia in the last Afrobasket 2011 final, Angola NT will need a
miraculous performance to qualify for London 2012 Olympics. With the scorer
Armando Costa in the PG, the Angolan offensive game will mainly pend on the
couple of Forwards formed by Carlos Morais and Joaquim Gomes. In the
frontcourt, the experienced Eduardo Mingas should help Paulo and promising big
Cs Moreira and Joaquim.
Angola NT is a limited height team, prone to disciplinary problems. However,
they have always been tough customers for any opponent. Dangerous in the
offensive rebounding, beware if they are inspired beyond the arc.
