2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship

[Euroleague]

You don't have to say that to me, you have to say that to the greek coach that took an entire half to grasp that he needed a more versatile team instead of playing with bigs

I saw Croatia-USA, they were banging them downlow while they could. Even Arapovic was posting up a lot more then he use to it.

A team that can defeat the full court pressure can defeat the US, we saw that today in the first half when italians were getting by the first line in defense but...

I don't know if anyone can keep up with US rhythm, they play with a lot of intensity especially on the defense, which leads to easy points on offense.

Turkey is my favorite team of the tournament so far, i like the way they play a lot even tho i just watch 2 games.

USA plays the same way in every game. The key to beating them is to have the lead at the 25 minute mark and then when they start to apply pressure not to get into their mind games. Because they foul you every time and the refs hold the whistle.

If you have the lead at middle of 3rd quarter then pressure shifts to them. Then when they start their serious fouling at that point, as they like to at last 15 minutes, and refs let them, then you have to just play through it and not let it get to you.

Eventually the refs have to make some foul calls. If you can get through that pressure defense and trapping defense with smart passing, hit some open shots, get some lay ups, then they will start to feel the pressure and they will most likely choke as the clock starts to tick away. Because then you can start to zone them up hard at that point, once you have the lead and the clock is against them in pressure time, and then at that point they won't hit those shots.

That is basically how every single team at every level has beaten USA, and it's also how every single team at every level almost beat USA.

But in order to get the win, you have to make your free throws and 3 point shots at a high percentage also. Because that is what allows you to get the initial lead.

[hawksdogsbraves]

I saw the tail end of the Italy-USA game today but couldn't really get a read on how the teams were playing because it was a 20 point game. Who all is on team-USA? Are these all kids about to be in college?

Isn't there another world tournament going on where Kansas is representing team USA?

[JimmyMcAdocious]

I saw the tail end of the Italy-USA game today but couldn't really get a read on how the teams were playing because it was a 20 point game. Who all is on team-USA? Are these all kids about to be in college?

Isn't there another world tournament going on where Kansas is representing team USA?

http://www.fiba.com/world/u19/2015/USA#tab=roster

Justin Bibbs - VT
LJ Peak - GTown
Chinanu Onuaku - LVille
Thomas Welsh - UCLA

Those are the college kids (to be soph). Don't think any of them are particularly good. Peak had some decent hype back in HS tho.

Caleb Swanigan - Purdue
Allonzo Trier - Zona
Jalen Brunson - Nova
Jawun Evans - OSU

Those are the incoming freshman. I think Swanigan is the only potential oad, and he's like a 6-7 center... Brunson got big time game. Not sure if it's the type that translates to the NBA, but I think he's going to be a great college player.

Harry Giles
Jayson Tatum
Josh Jackson
Terrance Ferguson

Those are the 2016 recruits. Giles, Tatum, and Jackson are the top tier of the entire class. And for the last 2 years, since these guys were freshman going to sophs in HS, this is supposed to be the next great high school class. Legit potential franchise players at the top, etc. Fwiw, 2017 is also getting the same hype with Ayton, Porter, Duval, Felton, and Trent Jr. Everyone builds up the youngins, unless it's obviously a class lacking talent (like this most recent one), and when they don't live to the hype it gets completely ignored and they do the same again. Not that I'm saying 2016 isn't forrreal..

[LAZERUSS]

http://www.fiba.com/world/u19/2015/USA#tab=roster

Justin Bibbs - VT
LJ Peak - GTown
Chinanu Onuaku - LVille
Thomas Welsh - UCLA

Those are the college kids (to be soph). Don't think any of them are particularly good. Peak had some decent hype back in HS tho.

Caleb Swanigan - Purdue
Allonzo Trier - Zona
Jalen Brunson - Nova
Jawun Evans - OSU

Those are the incoming freshman. I think Swanigan is the only potential oad, and he's like a 6-7 center... Brunson got big time game. Not sure if it's the type that translates to the NBA, but I think he's going to be a great college player.

Harry Giles
Jayson Tatum
Josh Jackson
Terrance Ferguson

Those are the 2016 recruits. Giles, Tatum, and Jackson are the top tier of the entire class. And for the last 2 years, since these guys were freshman going to sophs in HS, this is supposed to be the next great high school class. Legit potential franchise players at the top, etc. Fwiw, 2017 is also getting the same hype with Ayton, Porter, Duval, Felton, and Trent Jr. Everyone builds up the youngins, unless it's obviously a class lacking talent (like this most recent one), and when they don't live to the hype it gets completely ignored and they do the same again. Not that I'm saying 2016 isn't forrreal..

I appreciate the feedback. I'll be honest, I haven't read much hype on any of these USA kids.

And while I always felt Greg Oden was way over-rated, at least his name was repeatedly popping up in the sports news.

From what little I have seen, Giles looks good. He is 6-10 and listed at PF, but since their only center, Welsh, doesn't appear to have much talent, I would assume that Giles would probably be the primary defender on Papagiannis.

In any case, if Papagiannis is supposedly the best player on the Greek team, he is not highly ranked by the college scouting reports that I have read. Not sure if ESPN still has him listed outside of their Top-100, either.

If these players are supposed to be the best Under-19 players in the world, it is unlikely that very many will mak NBA rosters, and probably none of them will be stars in the NBA.

[Euroleague]

I appreciate the feedback. I'll be honest, I haven't read much hype on any of these USA kids.

And while I always felt Greg Oden was way over-rated, at least his name was repeatedly popping up in the sports news.

From what little I have seen, Giles looks good. He is 6-10 and listed at PF, but since their only center, Welsh, doesn't appear to have much talent, I would assume that Giles would probably be the primary defender on Papagiannis.

In any case, if Papagiannis is supposedly the best player on the Greek team, he is not highly ranked by the college scouting reports that I have read. Not sure if ESPN still has him listed outside of their Top-100, either.

If these players are supposed to be the best Under-19 players in the world, it is unlikely that very many will mak NBA rosters, and probably none of them will be stars in the NBA.

You have a sub 70 IQ.

"USA is the only country in the world", blah blah blah blah blah blah

[Euroleague]

Anyway, Team USA's games are being broadcast on ESPN3 also.

So you can watch the USA - Italy game on replay if you missed it.

And you can watch the USA - Greece game when it is on live and also on replay if you miss it.

The same with the next game.

[LAZERUSS]

You have a sub 70 IQ.

"USA is the only country in the world", blah blah blah blah blah blah

As always...you can't actually refute any of my claims.

Go ahead and post some more meaningless gifs.

[Euroleague]

The 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship semifinal between Greece and USA takes place today.

The game is available to watch on http://www.livebasketball.tv/ (you need to either have an account or to register one, or you can log in and watch with your Facebook account).

And it is also available to watch, if you live in USA and have a TV provider, on ESPN3 and Watch ESPN. http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index

In both of those, you can see the game live, and also on replay.

If you don't have access to either of those, you can also try watching the game live in sites like these:

http://www.stopstream.me/6-basketball.html

http://www.rojadirecta.me/

http://www.gofeed2all.eu/type/basketball.html

[Euroleague]

As always...you can't actually refute any of my claims.

Go ahead and post some more meaningless gifs.