By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Announcing the 2023-24 ANGT Finals field, Euroleague Basketball welcomed Overtime Elite to the annual tournament.
A team from the United States will participate in the Next Generation Tournament for the first time.
The ANGT Finals will be held from May 23 to 26 in Berlin, alongside the EuroLeague Final Four.
Per the press release: “The greatest talents in global basketball will converge on Berlin as the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Finals take place at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four. The ANGT Finals will once again open a new frontier when the games are played in the German capital from May 23 to 26.
The ANGT Finals, the world’s premier club-based junior basketball event, will once again feature eight teams, four of whom earned their spots through the qualifiers: U18 Real Madrid (ANGT Podgorica), FC Barcelona (ANGT Belgrade) and U18 ratiopharm Ulm (Dubai), U18 PFBB INSEP Paris (Paris).
The other four teams in the finals field for Berlin are wild card recipients: U18 Mega MIS Belgrade, U18 ALBA Berlin, U18 EA7 Emporia Armani Milan and U18 Overtime Elite. Mega took fifth place at the ANGT Belgrade, ALBA was sixth at ANGT Podgorica, and Milan finished second at ANGT Belgrade. Overtime Elite, meanwhile, will be competing in the ANGT for the first time with a team made up of a selection of U18 players from around the league.
Overtime Elite is an Atlanta-based U16 to U20 league with many of the top young talents in the United States and beyond. There are eight teams in the Overtime Elite league, which just completed its third season. Overtime Elite has sent 15 players to professional basketball around the world, including two top-five picks in the NBA Draft, brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson.
The eight teams in Berlin will be split into two groups. Milan, Mega, Real and Ulm will be in Group A while Group B is made up of ALBA, Barcelona, Overtime Elite and PFBB.
See the game schedule below. All games will be broadcast on the EuroLeague’s Youtube official channel
A combined eight U18 continental trophies have been won by the eight clubs involved in the ANGT Finals. Real is reigning champion and also claimed the title in 2015, 2019 and 2021. PFBB hoisted the trophy in 2010 and 2017. Barcelona was the champion of Europe in 2016. And Mega won its sole championship in 2022.
In Berlin, 12 group games will be played over the first three days – from Thursday, May 23, to Saturday, May 25 – at the Uber eats Music Hall, which will also host Sunday’s championship game between the two group winners.
Tickets for the ANGT Finals will be available for purchase starting on May 3.
Many of the biggest and brightest stars of basketball were seen first by an international audience at the ANGT. The ever-growing list of players currently on EuroLeague rosters who previously dazzled in the ANGT includes:
Gabriele Procida, Matteo Spagnolo, Malte Delow, Anton Nufer, Jonas Mattisseck, Ziga Samar, Dorian Grosber, Tim Schneider, Louis Olinde, Amon Doerries, Elias Rapieque, Linus Ruf, Kresimir Nikic (ALBA Berlin)
Melih Tunca, Burakcan Yildizli, Salih Altunas, Efe Demirel (Anadolu Efes Istanbul)
Matthew Strazel, Mam Jaiteh, Donatas Motiejunas (AS Monaco)
Vanja Marinkovic, Dani Diez, Khalifa Diop, Aleksandr Savkov, Vit Hrabar (Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz)
Milos Teodosic, Branko Lazic, Nemanja Nedovic, Stefan Lazarevic, Luka Mitrovic, Nikola Topic (Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade)
Nikola Mirotic, Diego Flaccadori, Giampaolo Ricci, Giordano Bortolani, Guglielmo Caruso, Samuele Miccoli (EA7 Emporio Armani Milan)
Willy Hernangomez, Rokas Jokubaitis, Joel Parra, James Nnaji, Oriol Pauli, Dame Sarr, Kasparas Jakucionis, Dayan Nessah (FC Barcelona)
Andreas Obst, Niels Giffey, Isaac Bonga, Danko Brankovic, Dino Radoncic, Niklas Wimberg, Nelson Weidemann, Ivan Kharchenkov (FC Bayern Munich)
Marko Guduric, Tarik Biberovic, Amine Noua, Metecan Birsen, Mert Eksioglu (Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul)
Noam Yaacov (LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne)
Omer Mayer, Yaron Goldman (Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv)
Nikola Milutinov, Veniamin Abosi, Anastasios Rozakeas (Olympiacos Piraeus)
Mathias Lessort, Marius Grigonis, Olek Balcerowski, Alexandros Samontourov, Eleftherios Mantzoukas (Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens)
Aleksa Avramovic, Ognjen Jaramaz, Danilo Andjusic, Savo Drezgic (Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade)
Mario Hezonja, Dzanan Musa, Alberto Abalde, Eli Ndiaye, Hugo Gonzalez, Ismaila Diagne, Egor Demin, Mitar Bosnjakovic (Real Madrid)
Damien Inglis, Xabi Lopez-Arostegui, Lucas Mari, Sergio De Larrea (Valencia Basket)
Alessandro Pajola, Rihards Lomazs, Ognjen Dobric, Ante Zizic (Virtus Segafredo Bologna)
Edgaras Ulanovas, Arnas Butkevicius, Lukas Lekavicius, Tomas Dimsa, Laurynas Birutis, Karolis Lukosiunas, Dovydas Butka, Danielius Lavrinovicius (Zalgiris Kaunas)”
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net