By Rafal Juc

 

The big final of European Championship U16 have advanced with France and Turkey, undeniably the most physical teams of all tournaments. It is nothing surprisingly, especially that semifinal was the 8th game in last 10 days. Once again Federico Mussini (’96) led Italy to outstanding performance, however this time it was not enough to advance to big final of European Championship U16. Italians lost of their power at second half and lost 71:80 to France. This time our attention draw Antonie Wallez (’96). 6-7 forward finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assist and has left even better impressions. Wallez takes mainly advantage of his footwork and mobility, comes outside the paint really often to play 1-on-1 on dribble. He showed nice mechanically, but not enough efficient shoot with deep range,  however needs work to become more consistent. Really productive 16 minutes on court, before getting injured had got Lenny Charles-Catherine (’96), at the pic. With his 6-4 and filled-out well frame he can play almost on all position, except center, especially that he impresses with leaping abilities, all the time crashes the glass aggressively.

The second semifinal between Serbia and Turkey could be called without any disrespect to other teams as a “early final”. Both went into the game in fighting mean and in effect there were no easy points. Nonetheless the show was stolen by youngster Okben Ulubay (’97). Standing at 6-7 with almost already matured frame he plays on small forward spot and thanks to his brilliant explosiveness beats off dribble most of opponents easily. Left-handed forward is really gifted, not only in term of physical tools, but also of natural-born basketball talent. In Serbian team really good game had Vasilije Vucetic (’96), who went for 16 points and 6 rebounds. Even if 6-9 center is a bit tough, he impresses with body-coordination, ability to post up well on low-post and talent to get to under the same basket on dribble, being back to the basket. And turkish won (67-62).

Semifinals game lead to conclusion that physical tool is necessary to achieve a success early stage of career, while in this age not always "best player" means "most talented". Even if Serbia, Poland, Croatia or Italy were more talented than France and Turkey, however only last two teams made it to the gold medal game.

 

Twitter of the author: @rafjuc

 

Photo: FIBA Europe / Robertas Dackus