SPAIN REIGNS AT FUTURE STARS
07/13/2009
The highest-calibre international junior basketball tournament Britain has seen in years went down in London this weekend just gone, at the Future Stars event in Kingston-Upon-Thames.
Organised by Jack Majewski and Richmond College, the under 18 competition featured Israel, Italy, Spain, Poland, England and a "select" Richmond / London United team.
Having been involved in junior basketball since coming to England in the 90s, Majewski told 24/7 that he wants to up the level of the game here.
"The only way to improve English basketball on a permanent basis is to have on-going contact with European basketball," he said.
England U18 coach, Andre Alleyne, was also enthusiastic. "It's great for us to be playing against A-League teams...on our own doorstep...and see THIS is where you need to be at," he told 24/7.
England lost both their games on day 1 though - going down by 7 to Poland...and 28 to Spain.
Their standout player was 6' 10" Ryan Richards - who put 15 on Poland and 20 on Spain. We lost count of how many rebound he had in each!
 Photo courtesy Manoor Ahmed
"I don't think I'm wrong saying he's the most dominant natural talent in this tournament," Majewski said of Richards, who spent this season playing for National Team coach Chris Finch in Mons.
"Let's face it," said Alleyne "the guy is nearly seven foot, plays like he's 6' 6", does everything...and is a lefty to boot! He's got the whole package."
"He is the most gifted player that I've ever coached in my years...and I'm talking about when I was professionally coaching in the BBL."
Meanwhile, Richmond also lost both their first day games - taking a 17 point beating from Israel and coming off on the wrong end of an 89-71 result against Italy.
Diminutive point guard Caylin Ratopoulos had some hot shooting streaks though...scoring 16 and 12 respectively.
But Spain showed right from the outset that they were the team to beat, as they came out flaming against Poland in their first game. Before you had time to blink, they were up 10...and ended the first quarter leading 32 - 12.
Their team play was crazy. They moved the ball so well - and every score seemed almost effortless.
After beating Poland by 35, they faced England...and I for one thought we were dead. So I was pleasantly surprised when we were down only 11 at the half.
However, after the break the Spanish realised that our point guards were the weak link and put them under pressure. 5' 11" Nacho Guigou (below) shut our guys down and was great on offense too - as was 6' 6" combo-guard Miki Servera.
In the day's other game, Italy beat Israel 83 - 78.
The semi-finals saw Poland grind out a 70 - 68 victory over Italy, whilst Spain continued their dominance with a 78 - 69 win over Israel.
Having impressed me the most over the first two days, Spain's Nacho Guigou didn't suit up for the final...he told me he was sick (poorly, that is...I already knew he was sick!!!). However, their other PG - number 10 - did a great job running the one...and once again Spain raced out to an early lead.
But the game belonged to Servera. The '92 born baller (!!!) from Unicaja Malaga did everything - scoring, rebounding, running the point, playing perimeter defense...all with a certain Spanish swagger that suggested it was nothing to him. He was named MVP as Spain won the tournament.
 Photo courtesy Manoor Ahmed
The whole weekend was fantastic. It's rare you get to see such a high level of ball on these shores...and it was truly interesting to see the European teams in action, and to gauge where we stand in comparison with them.
Video highlights and picture galleries from the weekend coming soon.
Meanwhile, we have Servera's shirt - signed by him - to give away. To enter our competition, answer this question:
Who coached Spain's mens team to victory in the 2006 World Championship?
Answers, along with your name and address, to competition@basketball247.co.uk.
Competition closes 1st August.
Greg Tanner
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Stuart F - Tuesday, July 21st
Agree with Mark C, thought England looked very 2nd class. These are not the best players in England by far, I have seen better in Schools and National League clubs. so we have got it wrong big time in our talent ID and performance pathways.
A great tournament though with many congrats to John M and the team for bring such talented teams to the UK.
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Samad Sagir - Wednesday, July 15th
The coach for spain at the 2006 FIBA world championship was Jose Vicente Hernandez.
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marko jovanovic-italy - Tuesday, July 14th
england is and will never be a basketball country until it starts being more interested in european basketball...otherwise it will remain the weakest euro nation for ever which is strange for a wealthy country with 60 million people, who are certainlygood at some other sports
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Mark C - Monday, July 13th
Thought it was a great weekend. Good to see some good level of junior basketball, but the content delivered at the coaching conference was excellent. Especially from Pepu Hernandez.
No disrespect but I thought England U18 were terrible. Just comparing the offenses to the other european teams you could see the difference in quality of coaching and talent. How England lost to Richmond for 5th place I do not know, and thats not to take anything away from Richmond, they deserved the win. The turning point for me was when Alleyne scoldered one of his players for a defensive mistake.
One thing that amazed me was the fact that only one of the participating teams coaching staff failed to attend any of the seminars (Any guesses???). In my honest opinion it could of helped them alot. Offensively, Defensively and mentally!
However, I got more than my moneys worth this weekend and will look forward to more next year 
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