There’s been a lot of things going on during these past few weeks in Europe when it comes to all things youth basketball and there is more action about to follow before we wave goodbye to the Spring. (Photo – Hungarian Basketball Federation)
The big headline is that super shooter Barbara Angyal was crowned MVP of the Hungarian Championship as she carried Csata-DSE to the title. Most of you will be aware of Angyal already, a player who we have covered extensively at Blue Star Media in recent years.
Especially in 2018 when she lit it up at #FIBAU17 in Minsk and then starred for Hungary at #FIBAU18Europe. We will likely see the guard again this summer at the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand.
Csata beat another great Hungarian academy Vasas 70-62 in the Final by the way and the All-Star Five was a who’s who, of this talented Hungarian generation. The line-up was frequented by other well-known players at the FIBA level in the shape of Reka Dombai, Nora Wentzel, Reka Manyoky, Angelika Kiss and Aliz Varga.
All are players that we have tracked in past years. Also at the tournament were several names that we have covered in the past 6-12 months, emerging talents who have played in other competitions, such as the Champions Cup, which I attended in Sopron last year.
Only this time we are not going beyond the headliners. It is with regret that we have changed our approach, but sadly necessary due to rampant plagiarism from those who continue to take shortcuts with information from myself and my colleague Pierre Ploszajski that we gather for the esteemed Blue Star. Those names and the data are now only being added to the BlueStar Media pool of information behind the scenes, so we can continue to beat our rivals and indeed some global organizations to the punch with our knowledge and expertise when it comes to knowing all about the rising stars of the female game.
Talking of which, there is a growing factory of talent coming out of the Balkans and that is why there will be a lot of interest again in the WABA U15 and U17 Final Four – scene of a ‘lively’ tournament at the 2018 edition which was attended by Pierre. Long-term followers and readers will also note that Nika Muhl was playing there and she had a distinguished visitor to her home in Croatia recently.
This time around, the Final Fours will be hosted in Belgrade, Serbia. The U15’s will be hosted March 23 and 24, with KKK Crvena Zvezda, KK Tresnjevka 2009, ZKD Akson Ilrija and ZKK Cinkarna Celje taking part. The U17’s will be on April 13 and 14.
Oh, and we will also have the U13 and U14 Final Fours of the EYBL to think about too.
So, keep it locked to @Basketmedia365 and finally, if you normally come to our articles to cut and paste for your own benefit, your scissors just became blunt and your glue pot dried up. Go figure.
And, sincere apologies to those genuine followers for our slimmed down and headline approach! But we’re sure you know who to turn to get the complete lowdown!
