From December 12th to December 15th took place in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the 5th edition of the Balkanic Next Star Cup, a yearly get-together since 2014 for U16 NT’s from the Balkans. The line-up varies from year to year and title holders, Serbia, were not present this year to defend their trophy, instead the 2018 edition counted with the presence of the U16 NT’s of MKD, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. All teams battled it out and gave it all for the full four days of action.

The competition started with a group phase, with all teams playing each other once, leading to SF’s on the morning of Day 4, where the #1 ranked team at the end of group phase would face the #4, and the #2 & #3 would constitute the 2nd SF. The 3rd place game and the title took place that same Day 4 in the afternoon.

Unfortunately due to a last minute change of dates of the tournament by the Basketball Federation of Romania after all my travel details had been made, I ended up missing Day 1 of the competition, arriving to the lovely city of Cluj-Napoca, located in the northwestern part of Romania, some 280 miles from Bucharest, and 380 miles East of Budapest, Hungary, only in the evening. I still had a full three days of action where I was able to see all teams plays four times. Once again BlueStarMedia was the only media present on location to cover the new generation of basketball hopefuls and their coming into the international stage. The U15/U16 period is particularly interesting and crucial as few of the players are used to this level of games and seeing them adapt to what it takes, usually tells you a lot about the player’s characters, personalities and potential. The Balkanic Next Star Cup launched for all the federations participating their preparation to next summer’s FIBA Europe U16 championships, whether division A or B.

My first remark about the tournament would be that it was a very good one. And this for multiple reasons. Outside of MKD who came short-handed with talent and depth, all three other teams showed irregular but clear qualities, whether you would look from a team-play point of view or from the quality of the players alone.

Not much separated Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary as evidenced by Bulgaria losing only by 6 points on inaugural day against Hungary and then again giving that same opponent a very tough match-up in the semifinals. Romania suffered a heartbreaking last second loss by the smallest margin in the title game to Hungary, but not without having defeated them the day before in group phase in another very tight contest where they won by two points.

In the end both Hungary and Romania finished with a 4-1 record, Bulgaria 2-3 and MKD were the only winless team.

My second remark would be to stress that I opted not to care too much about the numerous turnovers and struggles with basic basketball fundamentals from the players, this in order to focus on overall type of plays and stricto sensu potentials. With the average of turnovers per team reaching 30+ to almost 40 a game (besides when facing MKD), it would have been too frustrating to focus excessively on it. I also remembered that last year at the same period I was in Zamora, Spain, totally desperate about Italy’s shape and form before seeing them totally transformed six months later, on their way to win it all in Lithuania at the FIBA Europe U16 Championship… This early in the season it is safe to believe that teams will only build more chemistry together and improve rather than reach even lower standards.

Third remark would be for the organizers. I am not convinced that it is necessary to have the teams play 5 games in 4 days, particularly having the SF’s and the Final on the same day. Maybe the SF’s were one game too much, particularly at 9am, the day after group phase ended.

Last remark would be to stipulate that besides for Hungary who came with half of their roster born in 2003 and the other half in 2004, all players were 2003 born (BLG, ROM, MKD).

Let’s have a look now at how each team has performed during the competition.

MKD (0W-5L) 4th

The smallest Federation of the four present in Cluj-Napoca, as you would expect, arrived to Romania with a clear lack of talent, their whole game depending on one sole player, a very good one for that matter, Marija Dimitrijevikj (2003, PG-G, 5’5), whom I included in my personal All-Tournament Team. MKD lacked size, fundamentals and shooting power, but what they had plenty of was fighting spirit, will, physical play, pride and Marija Dimitrijevikj! No matter how badly they were routed they never surrendered and always were a tough and physical opponent. Whenever their opponents would go off their guards or would use their bench more than their starters, MKD was even capable to make interesting bursts on the scoreboard. But shooting overall in the mid-20% and averaging 35+ turnovers a game was just never gonna do it at this level.

The one big positive note for them was the shape of the aforementioned player Dimitrijevkij who, regardless of the team she faced, could always score almost freely, off smart drives, after quality eurosteps or from distance. She score in double digits in all the games and had personal highs with 18pts & 22pts. No matter which defense was guarding her, she would not be stopped. I was surprised the coaches didn’t vote her in the ATT as they must have realized their teams struggled to stop her.

Bulgaria (2W-3L) 3rd

As I mentioned it in the introduction, not much separated the teams ranked 1 to 3 in this tournament and it wouldn’t have been that surprising to see Bulgaria won it all at the end of the day. If I think about it, Bulgaria was actually the more balanced team of all, counting on multiple players to contribute from different positions on the court. At moments their game was the most pleasing to the eye of all teams with beautiful ball movement, smart all-round players, outside efficiency and great court vision. It was clear in the first half of their semifinal against Hungary where they exploded for an early double digit lead before eventually succumbing due to fatigue, errors in boxing out and the talent of HUN’s Virag Pfeiffer. But overall it is a deep and balanced team that will certainly fare well next summer during the U16 European Championship. To underline this feeling, it is worth noting that, for a team who finished 3rd, they still managed to place 2 players in the All Tournament Team. Two players out of four who for me really stood out.

One player who made the ATT but didn’t make mine, but would have on sole propect-potential, is Mikaela Damynaova (2003, SF, 6’1). While for me she under-performed overall, it is clear that there will be much more coming from her in the future and Bulgaria should be very excited about having her. She is long, thin, athletic, has good ball-handling skills, is a capable shooter and has a strong feel for the game. It was enough for the coaches to vote her in the best 5.

The one player that also was in the ATT, both coaches’ and mine was their PF/C Iliana Georgieva (2003, PF, 6′) who is such a smart and solid glue player. She posted double-doubles repeatedly during the tournament and showed great maturity as how to find her teammates. She was a solid anchor down low, always drawing attention from the defenses, allowing her team to space the floor perfectly for their guards.

Talking of guards two were very promising: Radina Ilieva (2003, SG, 5’4) is not a player you would want to leave open behind the arc as she is a deadly shooter with beautiful shooting form, who can score back-to-back-to-back triples at any time, as she did several times during the tournament. On top of being very capable on that aspect, she is also very tonic, a smart driving force and very decent defender.

Finally a player who has not been used as much as possible but who was the most efficient of all once on the floor was G Valentina Veselinova (2003, G, 5’6). She would usually score as many points as minutes she spent on the court. If you also add Gergana Mincheva (2003, PF, 6′) to this four player rotation, an also promising big with huge progression margin, you have a very solid 5 that should take Bulgaria a long way next summer.

Romania (4W-1L) 2nd

The home team ended the tournament devastated by the last second winning three pointer by Hungary but showed they have a strong base on which to build in order to compete well at the international stage next summer. Their pick & roll game was really interesting and you could tell they spent many hours working on triangular offense using the P&R. To be able to do this they could count on the very nice and promising 1-5 connection between G Paloma Cucu (2003, G, 5’5) and Anisia Croitoru (2003, PF, 6′) both voted to the ATT.

Croitoru particularly impressed as she was the most consistent player for Romania in every game, displaying above age maturity and smartness. Whenever she had the ball, something good would happen for her team and she had double-doubles in almost every game. Cucu is a promising natural talent guard (ball-handling, P&R, defense) but somehow yet too unreliable and erratic. Time is on her side and we will follow her progression very closely.

The third player, maybe the most talented, but as for BLG’s Mikaela Damyanova, underperformed somehow given the potential that is visible in her, is Catalina Ion (2003, SF, 6′). She is the most promising player for her federation for sure, thanks to her interesting size for her age and her position. She’s very mobile, displays promising ball-handling skills, can shoot from distance and is active at both ends of the floor, particularly when an opportunity to reject a shot appears!

Hungary (4W-1L)

What a finish for Hungary! What a champion. They struggled quite some throughout the tournament, not really displaying the trademark Hungarian ball movement, their outside efficiency was medicore for most games, they didn’t always win the rebound battle despite a clear size advantage, but in the end, they had the individual talents to raise their level at the right time every time was needed! Particularly in the SF where they were down in double-digits against Bulgaria, but had special cameos coming from the bench (Kun, Andi) to cut the deficit, before the tournament’s MVP-to-be Virag Pfeiffer came clutch in the 4th quarter to seal a clear victory. The same Pfeiffer who drilled the buzzer beating three to win the championship..

Hungary arrived to Cluj-Napoca off a short 2 days camp, meaning the players had little chemistry, explaining most of their difficulties in Romania. The players were processing the infos received during camp and it will take some time before everything falls into place. The coaching staff opted not to come with their full U16 NT (12 2003-born players pool), using the tournament to evaluate the potential of their best 2004 born players. Of the 2004, one stood out completely, carrying her team on her small-sized shoulders, the aformentioned Virag Pfeiffer (2004, PG/G, 5’4). What a temperament, what a talent.

There is little doubt that Pfeiffer will be Hungary’s back-court conductor at youth level for the time coming. She displays such a maturity and easiness on the court, it is special. HUN’s coach used his rotations a lot in order to evaluatye his players so Pfeiffer didn’t necessarily get as much court time as would have been expected but whenever danger was present she was the one to turn to. Not only did she have the most solid tournament but she ended up being the savior for her team showing great mental strength to hit that last shot!

From the other 2004 players, the highly regarded Szonja Farkas (2004, PF, 6’1) had a tournament to forget. Besides for rebounds where her strong frame and good size worked, she was a non-factor most of the time, and didn’t look focused or concerned at all. Rebeka Holcz (2004, G, 5’5) will offer a dynamic, smart and percussive backcourt option in the future for sure. From the 2003 generation players, Rita Kun (2003, SF/PF, 5’8) was precious and brought solidity and stability through a unfancy yet impactful style of play.

Results
Day 1
HUN 58 – BLG 52
ROM 84 – MKD 40

Day2
ROM 55 – BLG 29
HUN 86 – MKD 34

Day3
ROM 52 – HUN 50
BLG 64 – MKD 43

SF
ROM 69 – MKD 31
HUN 65 – BLG 53

3rd place game
BLG 70 – MKD 42

Title game
ROM 73 – HUN 74


All-Tournament Team
Paloma Cucu (ROM)
Virag Pfeiffer (HUN)
Mikaela Damyanova (BLG)
Anisia Croitoru (ROM)
Iliana Georgieva (BLG)