February 08, 2012
Crowning Europe's Junior Club Champion
2008 NIKE International Junior TournamentThe sixth edition of the Euroleague Basketball Nike International Junior Tournament in Madrid promises to be the best yet, with four of the participating teams having booked their ticket as finalists of classification tournaments for the first time. The best teams and therefore the best prospects in Europe will be found all under one roof, competing against one another over four days in an event that is rapidly becoming a highlight on the age group basketball calendar.

Eight teams, all coming from countries that are rich in basketball history (Croatia, Israel, Lithuania, Serbia and Spain) will trying to emulate the achievements of Zalgiris Kaunas, defending champions from 2007. The action tips off on Thursday May 1st in the Magariños arena, and an amazing thirty players with national team experience will be on court.

For the first time ever, Euroleague Basketball included two classification tournaments during the season, taking a big step in the direction of creating a collection of tournaments so that each season one team can be the true European Junior Club Champion, having played against and defeated the best teams in Europe. The CB L’Hospitalet and FMP clubs were the organisers and hosts of the two events, with more to come in 2009.

The first classification tournament took place in L’Hospitalet from January 3rd-5th, where AXA FC Barcelona were edged 79-78 in the final by FMP. This was the 29th edition of the L’Hospitalet tournament, and later in the year a brand new tournament was created in Belgrade by the FMP club, taking place from March 28th-30th. A superb final was won 102-99 by FMP over Lietuvos Rytas, causing Red Star who had finished the event third to also book their ticket to Madrid.

Teams have been drawn into two groups, and will each play a total of three games in a round robin system from Thursday May 1st to Saturday May 3rd. Group games will be played in the Magariños arena (Calle Serrano 127) and entrance to all games is free. The two group winners will then face off in the final, which will take place in the Community of Madrid Sports Palace on Sunday May 4th.

Players to keep a close eye on include Nihad Dedovic (AXA FC Barcelona), Nikola Mirotic (Real Madrid) Donatas Motiejunas (Zalgiris Kaunas) and Dejan Musli (FMP). The tournament has in every edition seen players step up and make a name for themselves, with illustrious alumni now playing in the Euroleague or ULEB Cup including Omri Casspi (Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv), Nikita Kurbanov (Unics Kazan), Jonas Maciulis (Zalgiris Kaunas) or Milos Teodosic (Olympiacos Piraeus).

With the quality of the teams this year it is almost impossible to pick a favourite, however having won both classification tournaments in L’Hospitalet and Belgrade, FMP will be the team the others look to beat. One thing that is easy to predict is that there will be thirteen enthralling games played, making the 2008 Euroleague Basketball Nike International Junior Tournament the perfect complement of the Final Four.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Euroleague.net
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