Werder Report

[WerderBremen]

The U20 European Championship starts Saturday in two weeks. Both Conrad and Mount K made a 16 player roster that will be cut to 12 before the tournament. To prepare for the tournament both Lithuania and Spain will play in a four-team tournament (France and Germany being the other two). Two games will be played each day Friday – Sunday. Conrad will play Mount K tomorrow. You can watch the games here:

https://www.youtube.com/@BaloncestoESP/streams

Here is the schedule:

On Friday 28 Lithuania-France and Spain-Germany 9 and 1130am your time

Saturday 29 France-Germany and Spain-Lithuania 9 and 1130am your time

Sunday 30 Germany-Lithuania and Spain-France 8 and 1015am your time
 
I will try to watch all games and give feedback, but I have a very busy weekend and it might take longer for me to give some feedback.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

I will try to watch all games and give feedback, but I have a very busy weekend

[WerderBremen]

Just briefly a summary of what happened. As mentioned in the chat, Krivas hurt himself in the first game versus France. He twisted his ankle at the tip off, left the court, came back later, and hurt himself again. I could not tell what happened the second time. If it was his ankle again or possibly something else. I do know that he did not play in the fourth quarter and missed the next two games versus Spain and Germany. To be honest I am a bit worried. Needless to say, if he is okay, he will be a starter for Lithuania.

Conrad will most likely not be a starter but keep in mind he is joining the team that ended up winning the U19 world cup last year. Spain beat the two teams the US boys lost to. So tough to get minutes right away. He averaged around 16 minutes and 6 pts in the three games. Here are the boxscores:

https://www.feb.es/Documentos/Archivo/upload/domingo_esp_fra.jpeg?s=09

https://www.feb.es/Documentos/Archivo/upload/u20mesplitsabado.jpeg?s=09

https://www.feb.es/Documentos/Archivo/upload/u20mespale.jpeg?s=09

Spain will have another four-team preparation "tournament" starting this Friday. Not sure about Lithuania yet.

[KansasCityCats]

That sucks regarding Krivas...but thanks for the updates!

[WerderBremen]

Krivas:

No news yet. We won't have to wait much longer to be smarter though. Pretty sure the official rosters for the U20 European Championship will be posted soon. Lithuania also has a match to prepare for the tournament vs Poland on Wednesday. Hopefully Krivas is good to go. Fiba seems to think he will be. They posted this article on players to watch in the tournament and Krivas is on it:

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u20-eurobasket-2024/news/players-to-watch-who-will-stand-out-at-the-fiba-u20-eurobasket-in-gdynia

Conrad:

Spain has another four team tournament this weekend. They beat Greece yesterday, will play Italy today (1145am) and Slovenia (915am) tomorrow. You might be able to watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/@fipbasketv/streams

Not sure if it is worth it though. Conrad only played 6 minutes yesterday which is a lot less than last week and also the least of the team. Seems to me the coach was not happy with him. He did not score. Here is the boxscore:

https://www.feb.es/Documentos/Archivo/upload/u20mvierenesgrecia.jpeg?s=09

[WerderBremen]

I might as well use this thread to respond to this statement by Eurozona in the shoutbox:

"What these guys do overseas has zero relevance for the season. We know what they are by watching them last year."

Honestly don't know which part I disagree with more. The "zero relevance" or the "we know what they are" part.

This is college basketball we are talking about. Part of the attraction of college basketball is to watch the development of young men. To see the jump they more often than not make from one season to next. How they improve their skills and eliminate weaknesses. The list of players improving a lot from one year to the next is long. Koloko probably the most recent or most obvious example. So I don't get the "we know what they are part". We don't. This is one of the main reasons why the starts of the season are so exciting. To see where our boys are at.

Now, if you get to see them in the summer you obviously get to know more about where they are at. If Krivas gets bullied in a week, it is a fair assumption that he won't help us in the Big12.

Which leads me to the "zero relevance" part. This is just a short list of things I noticed last summer:

- Boswell was surprisingly slow and weak.
- Krivas has a nice looking shot, good moves down low, good rebounder
- Fili B shoots poorly from three
- Conrad is quick, has good court vision, good passer, struggles to score, liability on defense.
-.....

Any of that sound familiar? What you see in the summer is of course relevant to the upcoming season. It is far more likely that a player who sucks in the summer sucks in the season than the other way round.

[WerderBremen]

Conrad:

After only playing 6 minutes versus Greece on Friday, Conrad did not play at all versus Italy (Spain lost) yesterday. I figured he might be in the dog house and as a result possibly not make the roster for next week's tournament. But he did play today versus Slovenia (Spain lost again). I could not find a box-score yet. Probably have it tomorrow. Looked like Conrad had 9 points and maybe two assists. He should have had a lot more assists but his teammates missed about 10 open shots after he set them up. Conrad's three is not falling, which is an issue imo. For him to become a serious option he needs to be a threat from outside.

U20 tournament starts next Saturday. So I expect the official rosters to be posted soon and as a result maybe some clarification on Krivas.

[WerderBremen]

If you can't find anything on the website of the Lithuanian basketball federation, their Insta or twitter, just check out the website of today's opponent and you might just find something. Long intro short, Lithuania played Poland today as the final preparation match before the tournament begins on Saturday and guess who the Polish federation listed as the leading scorer for Lithuania? Some dude called Krivas had 20 points. Murauskas had 12. Lithuania won.

[WerderBremen]

Both Conrad and Mount K made the 12 player roster. The U20 European Championship in Poland will start on Saturday and will last 8 days.

All the important infos you can find here:

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u20-eurobasket-2024

And you can watch all the games here:

https://www.youtube.com/@FIBA

Spain will play Turkey, Belgium and North Macedonia and Lithuania will play Montenegro, Iceland and Slovenia in the group stage. All teams will advance.


FYI, Dame Sarr did not participate in the U17 world cup and it seems he is also not on the roster for the U20 and U18 European Championships. For me this could be an indication for things to come since he usually participates.

[WerderBremen]

The group stage phase of the tournament is done. Round of sixteen starts tomorrow:

Lithuania / Krivas:

Lithuania ended up second in their group. They beat Iceland and Montenegro but lost to Slovenia. They will face Turkey tomorrow at 1130 your time. Here are Krivas' stats so far:

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u20-eurobasket-2024/teams/lithuania/296877-motiejus-krivas

Spain / Martinez:

Spain won all three games vs Belgium, Turkey, and North Macedonia. They will face Montenegro tomorrow at 630 your time. Here are Martinez' stats so far:

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u20-eurobasket-2024/teams/spain/300487-conrad-martinez