After a five-year wait, FIBA EuroBasket 2022 is finally upon us and the field of 24 teams is loaded with stars with several countries holding strong chances of dethroning Slovenia when it’s all said and done on September 18.
EuroBasket 2022 tips off on Thursday
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The 24 nations are broken down into four groups of six teams playing round-robin games in the group stage, which will take place in four countries: the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany and Italy. The top four from each group will advance to the knockout stage in Berlin, Germany, starting with the Round of 16 on September 10. The winner of the 41st EuroBasket will be crowned on September 18 at Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Here is a breakdown of the four groups:
Group A
Group A will be played in Georgia and the two favorites in Tbilisi are reigning world champion Spain and Turkey. Spain lacks some of its traditional firepower and will rely heavily on Juancho and Willy Hernangomez as well as Usman Garuba and Real Madrid swingman Rudy Fernandez. Maccabi Playtika Tel Avi point guard Lorenzo Brown will run the show and hope that Xabi Lopez-Arostegui, Sebas Saiz and Joel Parra can help carry the load.
Turkey will be a tough out with the trio of Cedi Osman, Furkan Korkmaz and Alperen Sengun leading the way alongside All-EuroLeague guard Shane Larkin of Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Sertac Sanli of FC Barcelona and Sehmus Hazer of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, among others. Group host Georgia suffered a major blow a week before the tournament when reigning 7DAYS EuroCup champion Toko Shengelia suffered a shoulder injury and was ruled out. The hosts still have chances in front of their fans as Montenegro, Belgium and Bulgaria are also with them a level behind Spain and Turkey.
Group B
Group B is the proverbial 'Group of Death' in which host Germany will welcome to Cologne the powerhouse trio of France, Lithuania and reigning EuroBasket champ Slovenia. Slovenia of course is led by Luka Doncic, who managed to convince 2017 EuroBasket MVP Goran Dragic to come out of national team retirement for a chance to run it back. But this Slovenian team is more than just those two stars, as Vlatko Cancar, Klemen Prepelic of Valencia Basket, Jaka Blazic and Mike Tobey of Barcelona among others know how to win.
France is missing a couple of pieces but the 2021 Olympic silver medalists still have Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, the Real Madrid duo of Guerschon Yabusele and Vincent Poirier, Elie Okobo of AS Monaco and Mouhammadou Jaiteh of Virtus Segafedo Bologna. Lithuania boasts the top frontcourt in the competition with the duo of Jonas Valanciunas and Domantas Sabonis. The Baltic side will also have new Zalgiris Kaunas signing Ignas Brazdeikis but will need a big tournament from Barcelona guard Rokas Jokubaitis.
Germany has one of its most talented teams in history with Dennis Schroder, Franz Wagner, Johannes Voigtmann, Nick Weiler-Babb of FC Bayern Munich and Maodo Lo of ALBA Berlin as leaders. Plus the Germans will have a boost from the home fans in Cologne. The two outsiders in the group will be Bosnia and Herzegovina, who will be carried by Real Madrid's Dzanan Musa and Jusuf Nurkic; and Hungary, who finally will see Adam Hanga, also of Real, return to the team.
Group C
Italy will host Group C in Milan and will face a top battle for the top spot from Greece while Croatia also has a chance. Italy has a rock-solid roster with the EA7 Emporio Armani Milan trio of Nicolo Melli, Stefano Tonut and Luigi Datome; Simone Fontecchio and Efes forward Achille Polonara. However, Italy lost star veteran Danilo Gallinari just before the tournament and will have to make up for his absence.
Greece will be a fierce challenger for the title especially with Giannis Antetokounmpo extra motivated. But the two-time NBA MVP will have plenty of help with Nick Calathes of Fenerbahce, Kostas Sloukas and Kostas Papanikolaou of Olympiacos Piraeus, their former teammate at the Reds Tyler Dorsey and Kostas Antetokounmpo of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, among others.
Speaking of stars, Croatia has its share of big names ready to compete with Bogdan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, Mario Hezonja of Real Madrid, Roko Prkacin, two-time EuroLeague champion Krunoslav Simon, Jaleen Smith of ALBA Berlin and Ivica Zubac. The other teams in the group are Estonia, Great Britain and Ukraine.
Group D
Another of the main favorites starts EuroBasket in Prague with two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic leading Serbia in Group D. Coach Svetislav Pesic’s Serbs have plenty of firepower alongside the star big man with former EuroLeague MVP Vasilije Micic of Efes, Nikola Milutinov, Nikola Kalinic of Barcelona and Bayern's Vladimir Lucic and Ognjen Jaramaz.
The Czech Republic will host the group and also is looking to take another step after reaching the FIBA Basketball World Cup quarterfinals in 2019 and playing at the Tokyo Olympics. Leading the charge will be Tomas Satoransky and Jan Vesely of Barcelona, Vojtech Hruban of the London Lions and Ondrej Balvin of Prometey Slobozhanske.
Israel will be hungry to continue its development with their hopes on the shoulders of Deni Avdija, Tamir Blatt and Yovel Zoosman of ALBA Berlin, Yam Madar of Partizan Belgrade, and Roman Sorkin and Guy Pnini of Maccabi. Also in Group D are Finland, Netherlands and Poland.