By Aris Barkas-Utkan Sahin / info@eurohoops.net
You can call them predictions, you can also call them educated guess, but with 24 teams entering the tournament, you would agree that they are not all equals.
The expansion of the Eurobasket format proved that there’s still a gap between the already established teams around Europe and the up and comers. The good news is that in recent years many nations which were not traditional powerhouses have entered the race and even more are expected to do this in the near future.
However, many injuries and the needs of NBA players kept many of them out of the tournament can make things a little more unpredicted than usual and here’s how Eurohoops assess the landscape, as the tip off is upon us.
Photos courtesy of FIBA
24 – Romania – Group C
Preparation period performance: 1/10
Staff Potential: 1/10
Despite being one of the four co-hosts, Romania is not ready for the tournament. The fact that naturalized Giordan Watson will be missing is also one more blow. They even lost to Estonia and Portugal during their training camp and those teams didn’t even qualify for the tournament. It’s going to be a struggle for them.
23 – Ukraine – Group B
Preparation period performance: 1/10
Staff Potential: 3/10
Four years ago Ukraine with coach Fratello on the bench and Pooh Jeter on the court was one of the surprise teams of Eurobasket 2013. Since then, everything went wrong. They lost the right to host Eurobasket 2015, the best players of the country turned their back to the national team and they don’t have a real chance in Group B.