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I could do write ups on Africa easily enough as well, in fact I think I'll do one right now just for the heck of it.

Africa, has only 8 teams and I'm not exactly sure how their qualifying tournament works, so somebody else can try to explain it if they wish. They start with a round robin and the top six teams advance.

Africa Pool A-In Al Maghrib

43.Misr(1-0)- An easy win over Ghana in round 1. Have solid balance and depth for an African squad, no real stars stand out and they look like a very versatile team. 16 players. Lock to advance to 2nd round.

46.Al Maghrib(1-0)- Another team with an easy first round win. With home court I might have to put them as the favorites so far. Led by backcourt mates 144k PG Gaudenzio Brenna and 155k SG Abdulah Yousif. 17 players. Lock to advance to 2nd round.

50.Nigeria(1-0)- Put up excellent numbers in their first round win over Senegal, winning every position. Are led by perhaps the continents best players 261k C Richmond Sadig and his side kick 185k SG Ben Usman. 16 players. Lock to advance to 2nd round.

93.Al Jazair(1-0)- Scored a big first game upset with higher effort over South Africa in their first game. 17 players. Looking at their roster they will have trouble with the higher ranked teams in this tournament with only one top notch player in 193k C Nacer Hamour.

68.South Africa(0-1)- Got surprised in their first game, but should bounce back and move on to the next round without too much difficulty. 18 players. Another team lacking any real stars along with having some GS issues with 5 guys at average or lower, including two inept.

92.Senegal(0-1)- Had no real shot against Nigeria in the first round and will have to pick their spots well if they want to advance. 15 players. Only one player over 24 years of age, so they are going with the youth movement and are likely to make drastic improvements over the next few seasons. Balanced very well, but no players over 43k in salary.

89.Tounes(0-1)- Another team overmatched in round 1 they look to be a bit stronger than Senegal and I believe they will advance on the back of their homegrown star. 23 year old 234k PG Talal Ben Chakroun may already be one of the continents best players and is likely to keep improving into the true superstar he can be.

90.Ghana(0-1)- Probably the only team with no chance to advance to the 2nd round. Look to be in pretty desperate shape having to call up two U21 guys, one 20 year old and the other only 19 years old. There is room for big improvement though as they have no players over 23 years old on their roster.

2nd Round of Games- Africa

Al Maghrib(2-0) 129- Al Jazair(1-1) 86: Al Jazair managed to hang with Al Maghrib down low, but had no answer to Al Maghrib's perimeter play and that was the difference in this one. Al Jazair did make a smart tactical decision here and appeared to go with the TIE in an unwinnable game, while Al Maghrib inexplicably went with a Normal. POTG: SF Bari Yousef Rahman 22pts, 6 rebs, and 5 assists in the victory.

South Africa(1-1) 112- Senegal(0-2) 83: South Africa pounded Senegal down low, posting a Prolific IS vs only an Average ID. SA also held a +17 advantage on the boards to further wear down Senegal. Equal effort from these 2 teams, hopefully for Senegal they were both TIE. POTG: A huge 19 pt, 19 reb performance from C Landuleni Mufamadi.

Nigeria(2-0) 102- Ghana(0-2) 56: Nigeria rolled again, using less effort they dominated this game from start to finish- jumping out to a 28-4 lead after one. The only area Ghana's superior effort helped appeared to be rebounding, where they posted an equal rating. POTG: SG Benson Osbon went 6-6 from the field and 2-2 from the line to go for 17 points in only 27 minutes at the PG spot to lead all scorers.

Misr(2-0) 119- Tounes(0-2) 83: Misr also took advantage of their superiority and rolled to a win on less effort. They won every quarter en route to a blowout. Tounes young PG Chakroun did his best to manage his team- finishing with 8 pts on 4-6 shooting to go with 6 assists, but unfortunately he needed to do much more than just manage his team to have a shot at victory vs a strong Misr squad. POTG: 24 pts, 15 rebs, and 6 asts by Sulayman Yousef helped to power Misr past Tounes down low.

2nd Round of Games- Asia Pool A

Indonesia(1-0) 102- Saudi Arabia(0-2) 92: Saudi put in the extra effort and nearly came away with a victory until being outscored in the 4th by 14 pts. Indonesia won the inside battle with a sensational inside offense and a +13 rebounding margin. POTG: Elie Farid posted the game of the tournament so far, going off for 39 pts on 18-24 shooting and grabbing 20 rebounds.

Taiwan(2-0) 131- Hanguk(0-2) 88: Both teams went with exactly the same strategy; RNG, MtM, same effort level- and it was clear which team was superior. Taiwan had great balance, with 8 players finishing in double figures. 214 total shots were taken in this game:D!!! POTG: First time to give it to a player on a losing team, but Jae-Suk Kim really gave it his all going for 22 pts and 17 rebs.

Philippines(2-0) 131- Prathet Thai(1-1) 92: Philippines looks like the team to beat in this group with this easy win over Thailand. Thailand kept the first three quarters close before getting blown out by 21 in the 4th. A Wondorous rating on inside scoring is what seperated the men from the boys in this one. POTG: Not only am I going to have my first tie it's going to be a 3way tie. From the Philippines it has to go to the inside combo of C Wilmer Musa and PF Andrew Solima who combined for 47 pts and 31 rebs while each having a 40+ +/-. For Thailand it goes to SF Zhang Yuncheng who went absolutely ham with 41 pts including going 7/11 from three.

2nd Round of Games- Asia Pool B

U.A.E.(1-0) 106- Vietnam(0-2) 103: A thriller of a game Vietnam gave it their best effort at a comeback but came up just short. U.A.E. is lucky to come away with a W in a game they put less effort into than Vietnam. The ratings say that this game could have gone either way with a slight favoring towards U.A.E. POTG: Another tie: From U.A.E. PF Khalil Qassem Hasan dominated down low with 26 pts and 17 rebs. For Vietnam SF Thuc Toung did his best to shoot his team to victory, finishing with 43 pts on 37 shots.

Malaysia(2-0) 113- Lubnan(0-2) 89: Lubnan tried out the some of the new tactics, going with both outside isolation and outside box and one. Didn't work out for them though as Malaysia still controlled this game, dominating the 2nd and 4th quarters. POTG: PF Muhammad Hairulnizam bin Ithnin had a strong double double with 19 pts and 10 rebs.

Hong Kong(2-0) 122- Kazakhstan(0-2) 93: Hong Kong's sensational outside scoring led them to a 29 pt lead at halftime and they held onto that for the rest of the game. POTG: Another winner from a losing team SF Amangeldi Katenov dropped in 33 to lead all scorers.

3rd round Games- Asia Pool C

India(1-0) 102- Macau(0-2) 74: India won the outside battle and the game in a good first outing for them. Looked close going into the 4th, up only 6 before winning the 4th 34-12. POTG: Goes to the Indian backcourt of PG Amandamohana Ghosh and SG Tapana Jaiswal who combined for 42 pts, 10 asts, and 9 rebs.

Singapore(2-0) 120- Pakistan(0-2) 108: Up 11 at the half Pakistan really let this one get away in the 3rd and was outscored 40-22. I was impressed by Pakistan though as I didn't expect this one to be this close. POTG: Shared by two Singapore players SG Abdul Samad bin Ishak who had 34 pts and 9 asts and C Fang Shuangxiang who had 27 pts and 20 rebs.

Iran(2-0) 105- New Zealand(0-2) 78: Iran dominated the 1st and 4th quarters for an easy win. New Zealand SF Nicolas Panjaitan finished with 41 pts, but took a ridiculous 49 shots and the rest of his team only took 31. POTG: Iranian PG Khodadad Hemmati finished with 28 pts to lead his team in scoring.

Pool A:
1. Italia(1) 2-0 246 144
2 .Türkiye(2) 2-0 257 161
3 .Hrvatska(3) 2-0 230 201
4 .Latvija(4) 1-1 226 223
5 .Belarus(7) 1-1 244 251
6 .Norge(6) 0-2 170 211
7 .Bulgaria(5) 0-2 170 212
8 .Luxembourg(8) 0-2 145 285

Italia 134 Luxembourg 61
Italia completely dominated this game and honestlyis that much of a surprise? Luxembourg even used more effort in this one then Italia. Not much I can say here. POTG: Gabriele Turbato with a game high 20.0 rating in 32 minutes of action! He also chipped in with a game high 19 points, game high 16 rebounds and a game high +50 plus minus.

Turkiye 106 Norge 77
Turkiye put up some scary ratings in this one. Before the game I thought Norge had the potential to keep this game close. That didn't happen. Turkiye's Look Inside overpowered Norge's 2-3 zone. Same effort in this game. Turkiye vs Italia should be a treat to watch. POTG: Saban Salgara with a 17.0 rating and team high 20 points to go along with 9 rebounds.

Latvija 121 Belarus 130
This one was a stunner. A stunner which I predicted(although I didn't complete my predictions write up in time so there is no proof). All of Belarus's inside ratings were phenomenal. With their gameshape update they had to go with an inside offense and Latvija knew that and proceeded by putting out a 2-3 zone. Didn't work. Belarus just truly dominated the game from the inside. Although their perimeter defense ratings were frighteningly low compared to the top teams, that could be due to their 2-3 zone. Belarus used more effort but either way watch our for them the rest of the tournament should be fun to watch. POTG: Juras' Rakau had a gamehigh 18.0 rating to go with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Hrvatska 100 Bulgaria 87
Both teams put out good performances, but Hrvatska's talent advantage won them the game. Not to much to say other then the better team won the game. Bulgaria did show that they have a strong team as emphasized y their ratings and some of their players individual ratings. POTG: Mijo Topic game high 31 points to go with a 17.0 rating.

Predictions:

Norge(62) at Italia(24)
Italia's GS update is not the greates but their bigs got a pretty good GS update look for an inside offense from them in this one. While Norge did get a much better GS update than Italia they just are not as strong as Italia and if they couldn't beat Turkiye with the GS advantage they won't beat Italia. My pick: Italia

Belarus(52) at Turkiye(41)
Can Belarus do it again? Well last week they were listed as the home team, maybe that helped maybe it didn't we'll find out. Belarus had another strong update for their bigs so you can expect an inside attack again, they used more effort then Latvija last week so that may hinder their chances in this game. Turkiye also had a very strong GS update this week and could go with any type of attack. My pick: Turkiye.

Bulgaria(48) at Latvija(29)
Can Latvija recover from the stunning blow they were delivered last week? Bulgaria was ranked higher than Belarus in my pretournament rankings. Latvija had a pretty good GS update and Bulgaria had their big men get a good GS update. Talent wise the edge goes to Latviaj and they are looking to prove something. My pick: LAtvija will recover this week.

Luxembourg(95) at Hrvatska(24)
Luxembourg is involved? this isn't a game. Don't need to say anything other then HRvatska has a legitimate chance at cracking the top two and LUxembourg has a legitimate chance at scoring 85 points, not, maybe 75. My pick: guess ;)

Last edited by Bballin at 2/6/2011 2:15:36 AM

Pool B:
1.Schweiz(1) 2-0 251 186
2.Eesti(2) 2-0 238 191
3.Nederland(3) 2-0 235 201
4.Hellas(5) 1-1 213 181
5.Rossiya(4) 1-1 213 227
6.Bosna i Hercegovina(6) 0-2 209 232
7.Shqipëria(7) 0-2 172 230
8.Malta(8) 0-2 165 248

Scweiz 132 Malta 85
This one wasn't much of a game. I wasn't expecting it to be much of a game though. Scweiz just easilly dismantled Malta. Both teams played at the same level so i'm guessing they both TIE'd. POTG: Arnaud Guery with a weak 12.5 rating, but 20 points on 9-17 shooting to go with 9 rebounds and a game high 6 assists is not weak.

Hellas 97 Rossiya 101
This was a big game for me. This game determined if my picks of Rossiya at the 5 spot and Hellas at the 5 spot was correct. It was. Hellas playing a 3-2 may have helped though as Rossiya was able to attack Hellas' two big men downlow. Being down after 3 quarters didn't phase Rossiya and they pulled out the 4 point win. Good game. POTG: Petr Makovkin with 18 points, a game high 10 rebounds and a 15.5 rating.

Eesti 108 Shqiperia 79
Eesti didn't have any mindblowing ratings which reassures to me that if they do advance they won't go very far. Anyways, Shqiperia had a good inside attack, but thats it. Eesti was the obvious pick to win this game and it showed. POTG: Tonis Alas with a game high 17.5 rating to go with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Nederland 113 Bosnia i Hercegovina 108
The ratings suggested this would be a close game and it was. Nederland was down by 5 at the end of 3 but clawed out the 5 point victory. Probably a bit closer of a game then it should have been, with Nederland being number 3 in my pretournament rankings,but a solid win for them. POTG: Gerard-Jan de Bevere had a 16.5 rating and a team high 26 points.

Predictions:
Rossiya(58) at Schweiz(2)
Rossiya had a pretty good GS update but Schweiz had a great GS update and they already have the talent advantage. With GS and being listed as the home team it solidifies them as the clear choice in this one. My pick: Scweiz.

Bosnia i Hercegovina(43) at Eesti(28)
Both teams had good GS updates. Eesti may have had the better update and with their depth of bigs if one has bad GS another one slides in. Talent wise I give the edge to Eesti as well. Bosnia i Hercegovina was poised to steal one away from Nederland. Let's see what they do here. My pick: Eesti

Malta(87) at Nederland(22)
Malta is already weak and with a weak GS update this could get ugly. Nederland didn't have the greatest update. but luckily they are playing Malta. Malta is most definetly the weakest team in this Pool. My pick: Nederland.

Shqiperia(59) at Hellas(44)
Shqiperia is not a very strong team. They had a GS update which will robably force them to attack on the inside and Hellas is a fairly strong team with a strong GS update and are listed as the home team. Do the math. My pick: Hellas.

Getting late, gonna try and get the other 4 pools done tommorrow.