EUROPEAN  CHAMPIONSHIPS  UNDER  18  2002  -  ROSTERS   

Martynas Mazeika

 Lithuanian Junior National Team
Lithuanian junior (U-18) national team is preparing for the final round of EUROPEAN JUNIOR (U-18) CHAMPIONSHIP, which will take place in Germany on 12-21 July. Lithuanian U-18 national team is participating in an international juniors tournament in Kaunas, Lithuania. Lithuanian junior (U-18) national team candidates are split in two teams and they compete against rivals from from Latvia, Russia and Turkey. Lithuanian junior NT coach Raimundas Kairys has many candidates to choose from and the final roster of Lithuanian U-18 will be announced after tournament. Despite of many talented players Lithuanian U-18 NT wasn't playing very well earlier this year. In ALBERT SCHWEITZER tournament 2002 Lithuanian U-18 lost to Yugoslavia, Spain and Australia and with single victory against China finished in 10th position. In ALBERT SCHWEITZER tournament Martynas Mazeika (191-G-1985; Neptunas) and Paulius Jankunas (203-F-1984; Zalgiris-2) were leaders of Lithuanian team. Mazeika was leading scorer of the team with 13.5 points (2PT 19/34, 56%) in just 16.3 minutes per game. While Jankunas became the best rebounder of the tournament with 9.8 rebounds per game and he finished 2nd in a team in scoring with 12 points per game. But Lithuanian U-18 NT lacked a big and massive center Darius Silinskis (214-C-1984; Zalgiris-2) inside and other centers Paulius Joneliunas (208-C-1984; Sakalai) and Vilius Sumskis (211-C-1984; Zalgiris-2) were not able to substitute him. Joneliunas averaged 2 points and 5.3 rebounds and Sumskis 6.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. In the Challenge Round for European Championship for Junior Men 2002 Valdas Dabkus (202-F-1984; Zalgiris-2) led the team in scoring with 14.3 points and Darius Silinskis and Paulius Jankunas tottaly dominated under the boards. These Lithuanian U-18 NT frontcourt players had advantage against all teams as Silinskis averaged 11 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks and Jankunas had averages of 13.6 points (2PT 63.6%), 12.6 rebounds and 1 block per game. Namely Kaunas Zalgiris 2nd team leaders Silinskis and Jankunas are expected to be leaders of Lithuanian U-18 NT. But we can't forget other players, as some of them even have played in top division in Lithuania. Martynas Mazeika is the most likely to be starting point-guard of the team, as he has been playing in LKL since 2000 (he had become the youngest player ever to play in LKL). This season Mazeika averaged 4.9 points in 10 minutes per game for Neptunas and few times played as a starting point guard of the team. His teammates Petras Salvis (194-G-84; Neptunas) and Vaidotas Pridotkas (200-F-84; Neptunas) both have played for Lithuanian (U-18) NT. As Salvis participated in ALBERT SCHWEITZER tournament and Pridotkas was in a roster for Challenge Round games. Both are considered as a top prospects in Lithuania and have expierence in LKL. Pridotkas avareaged 3.6 points in 13.9 minutes this season, while Salvis had 4.5 points in 7.1 minutes per game for Neptunas this season. Futhermore Salvis had few great performances like in a playoffs match against champions Lietuvos Rytas he had 17 points (2PT 1/2, 3PT 3/6, FT 6/6) in just 17 minutes. Marius Prekevicius (197-F-84; Sakalai) and Paulius Joneliunas were solid contributors for the Sakalai Vilnius and has almost secured their spots in national team. Prekevicius averaged 8.1 points (2PT 72.7%) in 19.5 minutes while Joneliunas averaged 5.2 points (2PT 65.9%) and 2.7 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game in LKL. Stepas Babrauskas (195-G-Vilnius BS) who lead his Vilnius basketball school to the champions title in the Lithuanian junior league (U-18) and to the victory against Sarunas Marciulionis BS in the final is also very solid candidate. He has played for Lithuanian U-18 NT in ALBERT SCHWEITZER tournament and Challenge Round games. Linas Kleiza (202-F-1985; Montrose Christian HS), who was one the best players in European U-16 Championship last summer in Riga and was the leading scorer with 21.7 points and rebounder with 12.4 rebounds in the tournament, could be great support even for Lithuanian junior NT. Kleiza is a bigtime prospect and he is being recruited by all ACC Universities in the USA.

Maciej Lampe

 Polish Junior National Team
Polish team their first game at the European Championships for Juniors will play against Slovenia.
It's very important game for Poland, since they will take part in the tournament first time after 18 years.
The coach is Ryszard Pietruszak, who mentioned to Eurobasket, that his team is aiming to qualify to the quarterfinals, and he silently counts even for a medal place.
Polish group is relatively strong. Alongside with Poland and Slovenia, there are well-known teams from Latvia, France, Spain, and host team Germany.
It's worth to mention that Polish team qualified to the tournament without any game lost in the qualifications stage.
Whole team showed a very good shape. The leader could be Maciej Lampe (208-C-85), who play for Spanish Real Madrid. So far he played for the second team in EBA (Spanish 3rd division), but this year he finally joined first team in their games in Euroleague and Spanish top league ACB.
His experience should be the main asset the coach relies on. The other player worth to mention is Pawel Mroz (213-C-84), who currently went to Italian League joining benetton Treviso.
Pawel Adamczyk (186-G-84) - Glimar Gorlice
Krzysztof Szubarga (184-G-84) - Notec Inowroclaw
Pawel Mroz (213-C-84) - Unia Tarnów / next season Benetton Treviso
Marek Dzieciniak (201-F-84) - MKS Wroclaw
Piotr Otto (200-F-84) - Legia Warszawa
Maciej Lampe (208-C-85) - Real Madryt
Piotr Stelmach (205-F/C-84) - Spójnia Stargard/SMS PZKosz. Warka
Michal Wroblewski (203-F-84) - UKS 30 Lublin/SMS PZKosz
Pawel Malesa (194-G-85) - Start Łodz/SMS PZKosz.
Tomasz Kesicki (207-C-86) - AZS Lublin/SMS PZKosz.
Wojciech Barycz (206-C-84) - MOSM Tychy/SMS PZKosz.
Lukasz Koszarek (187-G-84) - MKS Wrzesnia/SMS PZKosz.
Kamil Wojciak (193-G-85) - Basket 2000 Sosnowiec/SMS PZKosz.
Head Coach: Ryszard Pietruszak

Raid Mostafa

 German Junior National Team
The hosting team can be one of the surprising team in the EC. In the last AST the team finished 8th, but with the support of the local crowd, the Germans dreams on a spot in the first 5.
The top star is Heiko Schaffartzik. He's doing everything for the Germans. He's the head of the team, he's scoring, he's running the game, and he's also the most experienced player in the roster. Schaffartzik signed with the German Champion Alba Berlin a few days ago. In the AST he averaged 17.4 pts, 3.4 as, 3.4 st and 3.2 to.
Next to Heiko you can find Edwin Ofori Attah. A pure athletic scorer that with Heiko creates big power for the Germans in the back court all the other players can play very well and score in double figures on a good day. And all other players are important part of team defense which is getting better and better every day. So it's not easy to prepare to play against Germany.
In the German team you can find 5 players with different nationalities. Attah's dad is from Ghana, Dominik Bahiense de Mello's father is from Brasil, David McCray has an American father, as well as Alex King. All of them were born in Germany. Raed Mostafa on the other hand was born in Egypt, but moved to Germany with his parents when he was young. It will be very interesting to follow how this mixture of nationalities and abilities of the German team.
The main goal is to make the quarter finals. This will be hard work. Of course everybody has in mind the big dream... to make the first five and to get a place for WC 2003 in Malaysia.
Alexander Hilbig (196-G-84)
Edwin Ofori-Attah (193-G-85)
Malte Rather (200-F-84)
Raid Mostafa (199-F-84)
Heiko Schaffartzik (181-G-84)
Felix Czerny (190-G-84)
Alex King (200-F-85)
Peter Krausen (207-C-85)
Dominik Bahiense de Mello (182-G-85)
Lutz Rutter (200-F-84)
Mirko Anastasov (205-C-84)
Julius Ducker (203-C-84)
David Mc Cray (185-G-86)

 Latvian Junior National Team
Rinalds Sirsnins (185-G-85)
Arnis Aizpurs (188-G-84)
Edijs Slesers (185-G-85)
Raimonds Gabrans (186-G-84)
Andris Biedrins (207-C-86)
Kaspars Berzins (204-C-85)
Gatis Jahovics (197-F-84)
Andris Gitendorfs (194-G/F-84)
Salvis Metra (192-G-84)
Edgars Cunda (195-F-84)
Klavs Bedritis (191-F-84)
Arturs Seinhofs (195-F-84)
Arturs Stalbergs (200-F-84)
Janis Bambis (202-F-84)
Kristaps Berzins (205-C-84)
 

Drago Pasalic

 Croatian Junior National Team
 

Roko Leni Ukic (188-G-84)
Hrovje Gasparac (182-G-84)
Marko Tomas (198-G-85)
Martin Previsic (182-G-84)
Davor Filipovic (199-G/F-84)
Luka Popovic (190-G-84)
Ivan Novacic (199-F-85)
Mario Kralj (190-G-84)
Filip Basljan (195-G-84)
Slavko Modric (201-F-84)
Drago Pasalic (210-C-84)
Marko Banic (204-F-83)
Frano Kastropil (210-C-84)
Mateo Kedzo (205-F-84)
Luka Zoric (210-C-84)
Head Coach: Josko Pulja

 Israeli Junior National Team
Itamar Rab (195-F-84)
Igor Simin (194-F-84)
Anton Kazarnovski (204-F/C-85)
Safir Shnayderman (192-F-84)
Lior Lipshitz (178-G-84)
Yotam Halperin (193-G-84)
Erez Kohansky (195-F-84)
Eilon Zagury (199-F-84)
Raviv Guy Limond (189-G-84)
Alexander Kvitnitsky (196-C-84)
Abraham Ben-Chimol (184-G-85)
Vladimir Ermichin  (200-F-84)
Head Coach: Erez Edelstein
 

Ulug Kacaniku

 Turkish Junior National Team
Turkish Junior Nt is a part of the progress in Turkish Basketball..Clubs usually invest in junior teams to bring the new names up to professional sports area..Junior NT also has some big hopes for future and their clubs oftenly co-operate with D1 teams and have the player got expereince by playing important minutes , not sitting on the bench and watching the games.In Albert Schweitzer Tournament they took the 5th place but everyone expects better in time under experinced coach Mete Babaoglu and his staff's management.Here we have the last roster
Caner Topaloglou (199-F-85)
Murat Ali Kaya (204-F-84)
Baris Ermis (192-G-85)
Engin Atsur (194-G-84)
Sukru Dogan
Ulug Kacaniku (203-G/F-85)
Halil Kutruza (193-G-84)
Gorkem Gurel (196-F-85)
Ibrahim Daloglu (202-C-84)
Gokhan Koroglu (200-F/C-84)
Selim Saygin (206-C-85) (206-C-85)
Goktur Akgor (194-G/F-84)

 Greek Junior National Team
The Greeks are going for a medal. That's for sure. And they sure have what it takes to get there. After all when you win the AST tournament, and have "Baby Shaq" in your roster, you can't think about anything less than a medal.
Sofoklis Schortsianitis (aka Baby Shaq). That's the name to memorize. This kid, originally from Cameron, is huge. It's not his height (206) but his size.  Like the big Shaq, it's almost impossible to stop him under the basket. He's just one level above all the other players in this level. He was the best scorer at the AST with 22.8 pts, 2nd in rebounds 8.8, and 3rd in FG% with 65.6%. The only way to get him out of the game is making him lose his temper. Schortsianitis gets mad too easily.
Another player to watch is Perperoglou. A small forward. Smooth shoot, Strong and when he decides to make the drive to the basket he makes no mistake. In his early years many people called him "little Kukoc"
In the back court of the Greek team there are two players to pay attention to. KostasVasileiadis is a great scorer, good dribbler, but not so great defender. He can kill any team with his hand from 3 point land. In Paok he wears No 7 and expected to be like the legendary Prelevic. The other player is Apostolidis. A tall playmaker, left handed and very quick.
Giorgios Apostolidis (197-G-84)
Vasilis Xanthopoulos (188-G-84)
Andreas Kanelopoulos (189-G-84)
Costas Vasiliadis (200-G/F-84, agent: Tsolis Akis)
Stratos Perperoglou (198-G-84)
Serafim Theos (202-G-84)
Vassilis Zevkilis (202-F/G-84)
Panayotis Vasilopoulos (202-F-84)
Nikos Lymparis-Psomas (210-C-84, agent: Tountouris Pashalis)
Nikos Angelopoulos (202-F/G-84)
Dimosthenis Agelopoulos (211-C-84)
Sofocles Schortsianitis (206-F-85)
Vasilis Giannoulakos (216-C-84)

Andrei Babitchev

 Russian Junior National Team
Feodor Dimitrev (204-F-84)
Peter Koutichichev (196-F/G-84)
Andrei Babitchev (208-F/C-85)
Viktor Ouskov (180-G-86)
Sergei Romanov (202-F-84)
Vadim Panin (200-G-84)
Oleg Bartunov (196-G-85)
Dimitri Sokolov (210-C-85)
Andrei Komarovski (195-G-85)
Egor Vialtsev (192-G-85)
Pavel Krykov (210-F/C-84)
Alexei Kchniakine (208-C-84)
Sergei Borodin (206-F/C-85)
Anton Ageev (190-G-84)
Head Coach: Nikholai Arkhipov
 

Erazem Lorbek

 Slovenian Junior National Team
Head coach of the Slovenian NT is Memi Becirovic. The father of Sani Becirovic who's playing for Kinder Bologna. The main goal is 5th place and ticket for WC but everyone in Slovenia expects a medal. Slovenia easily beat Spain on challenge tournament, as well as Yugoslavia, after leading by as much as 19 pts. The friendly matches were just as good. Last week The Slovenian team beat twice Croatia and both time they were ahead by 10 and more points.
As always there are many talented players in the Slovenian NT. Aleksandar Vujacic showed his potential in some of the games during the last season in Italy. He's the top scorer of the team. Erazem Lorbek is NBA potential. Something like Gregor Fucka or Toni Kukoc He can play on positions 3, 4 or 5 and next autumn he will join Michigan State University. His brother, Domen, is also part of the NT. The father of Erazem and Domen by the way is Radovan Lorbek – The sports director of Union Olimpija and director of the Adriatic League. Keep an eye on Danilo Smigic (Union Olimpija) – a very good playmaker. Real Madrid has already spotted this guy and wants him in their roster. Saso Zagorac (Union Olimpija) – is a forward/center, that was tested by Snaidero last month.
The history of the Slovenian Junior teams in the EC is pretty much the same as of the Men NT. Despite the big talents they aren't doing too well, and in their 3 ECs appearances the Slovenians never made it pass the 7th place.
Danilo Smigic (194-G-84, Union Olimpija)

PP Amagou

 French Junior National Team
The French team won the last Jr. EC but that was with a different generation. Tony Parker, Micheal Pietrus & Boris Diaw are getting ready for the Young Men EC, and if the new Jr. Team will make it to the top, it will be a big surprise. In the last AST the French came 11th out of 12 teams.
The French got 3 giants. Olivier Gouez (2m16), Yohan Petro (2m10) and Maxime Renaud (2m07). Gouez is still new to the game. His fundamentals are slowly improving and he is getting more aggressive on the court. Petro is only 16 yrs old, but an NBA potential for sure and a few big clubs in Europe has already spotted him. Maxime Renaud has the experience of playing for Pau's youth team (French champion this season), and he can also play the PF thanks to his outside shooting skills.
So Tony Parker won't be there this time, but Terence Parker (184), the brother of… Tony Parker will be there for sure. He didn't play in the AST, and he's fresh out from High School in the US. Not many people saw him play, but Tony keeps telling that his younger brother is far better than him. Pape Philippe Amagou (183) is already a very experienced player having been in Le Mans' pro A roster for the whole season, playing Championship as well as Saporta games.
Pape-Philippe Amagou (183-G-85)
Zainou Bah (182-G-84)
Yannick Bokolo (188-G-85)
Harry Disy (200-F-84)
Olivier Gouez (216-C-84)
Pierre-Yves Guillard (199-C-84)
Arnaud Kerckhof (192-F-84)
Terence Parker (184-G-84)
Jean-Richard Paul (189-G-84)
Johan Petro (210-C-86)
Maxime Renaud (207-C-84)
Sylvain Rosnet (190-G-85)

Fernando San Emeterio

 Spanish Junior National Team
Spanish Junior National Team looks forward for repeating the success of the Golden Juniors, a team formed by Gasol, Navarro, Raul Lopez and much others that conquered Europe and the World in 1999, reaching high successes also in pro basketball. Perhaps the 1984 generation is not as much talented as 1980's but they aren't bad, that's for sure. They were 2nd in the Mannheim's Tournament final only losing to strong Greece in the final. And Spain dominated for 38 minutes... Therte were some key players missing because of injuries and so happened in the Challenge Round, when Spain was really close to be knocked out. However, a big win over Milicic's Yugoslavia gave Spain the berth in the EC.
As it usually happens in Spain, the team has a solid and stellar backcourt but almost nothing in the frontcourt. Small guys, Alfonso Reyes like, fighters, bangers, tough guys who can do their job under basket but that are in problems to stop 7 footers or taller centers... and almost all teams have at least 1 or 2 players over 2,08. Spain has two famous names: Jan Martin and Marc Gasol. They are family of the two only Spanish that have reached the NBA. Jan is the son of the sadly dead (car crash in 1989) Fernando Martin, while Marc is brother of Pau Gasol and studies in the Lausanne High School of Memphis. He is willing to comeback, he has almost lost the year and reaches the tournament with overwheight.
However, despite the famous names, the big stars of the team are unknown surnames. Perhaps Fernando San Emeterio can be the leader. He is an all-around player, 1-2-3 ("1" in Forum, "3" with Spain), very strong and talented, that has big experience and also is the oldest of the championship (born on 1/1/1984). Together with him there's the most promising player in the NT, Rodolfo "Rudy" Fernandez. Brother of Spanish woman basketball star Marta Fernandez, he is from 1985 and although skinny there are heard first comparisons with Navarro. Experts say he even has more potential.
Then we have twins Urtasun, Jose Miguel and Alejandro. Jose Miguel or "Txemi" is the most talented one. Sharp scorer, can be the reference in the perimeter and start at #2. Strong, talented, a leader... very good player. Alejandro, as it obvious, feels fantastic together with his brother and can be also a very important player. Jose Maria Guzman, "Gusi", is another player worth to mention. Small playmaker, has the instinct for the pass and the assist. From Joventut, his ballhandling remembers Raul Lopez'.

Jose Maria Guzman (183-G-84)
Rodolfo Fernandez (186-G-85)
Rodrigo San Miguel (182-G-85)
Alejandro Urtasun (193-G-84)
Jose M. Urtasun (193-G-84)
Adrian Garcia (200-F-85)
Fernando San Emeterio (197-G/F-84)
Aleix Prat (195-G/F-84)
Miguel Feliu (201-F-85)
Alvaro Lombera (201-F-84)
Ramon Espuna (206-C-84)
Jan Martin (202-F/C-84)
Josep Ortega (201-C-84)
Marc Gasol (210-C-85)

Head Coach: Carlos Sainz de Aja