Women's Basketball FIBA European Championship 2023

[Makedonas 2,155]

 TEAM GREECE 

Dionysia Alexandri

Eleni Bosgana

Eleanna Christinaki

Ioanna Diela

Maria Fasoula

Zafeirenia Karlafti

Pinelopi Pavlopoulou

Aikaterina Sotiriou

Artemis Spanou

Evdokia Stamati

Anna Stamolamprou

Elena Tsineke

 

The only differences from 2021 are Christinaki, Karlafti, and Stamati in for Anastasopoulou, Louka, and Nikolopoulou. Definitely an upgrade overall.

 

The problem with this team is that we have a weak bench. We will have 6-7 girls playing the whole game as always, and suffer if one of the two tall girls (Fasoula and Spanou) get in foul trouble. Alexandri, Diela, and Karlafti are not good enough for this level and Sotiriou and Stamati are no longer good enough to play more than 5-10 mins per game at this stage in their careers. Even Bosgana and Tsineke are both super young/inexperienced, but they were there in 2021 and have both improved a lot since then so I expect them to have a bigger role with this team.

 

It's so predictable that our starting lineup will be Stamolamprou/Tsineke/Christinaki/Spanou/Fasoula, and Pavlopoulou will also get big minutes. The rest of the team (minus maybe Bosgana) will probably play no more than 5 mins each.

 

It's too bad Chatzileonti was injured as I think she would've been an important addition to this team off the bench. Not sure why Krimili wasn't called up as we could also use her offensively. Perhaps she is injured too.

 

Nikolopoulou only played in the first qualifying window so I think she might be done with the national team. She's only 32 yo so it's not like she's super old or anything, but there must be some issue with the federation or coach. I can't say I'm upset as I always thought she got way more playing time than she deserved, but I still think she could've been used off the bench (meanwhile she was a starter for ~5 or so years).

 

Spyridopoulou also seems to be done which is a shame. She was injured and missed Eurobasket 2021 where we could've used her shooting skills. Now she is 34 yo and hasn't competed with the national team in over two years so I guess she is also done.

 

Meanwhile we have 39 yo Sotiriou and 38 yo Stamati in the team 

[Benolympique 2,398]

 23 - 18 Q1

 

[Benolympique 2,398]

34 - 41 Q2

[Vektor 3,326]

That was one very sloppy match from out girls for most of the match, but they showed what they are capable of in Q4. One good quarter was enough against , but we need more of that against . 

[hckošice 14,822]

I see at one moment the score was 1:21 in the last quarter yeah, the goal is to participate. Done

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

From a ranking perspective, the first 3 games of the tournament have all resulted in "upsets" - with the 3rd ranked team beating the 2nd ranked team in the pool.

 

I am hoping that will be a good omen for  as we take on Slovenia later today but given the results from their recent warm-up matches, I've got my doubts.

 

[Cinnamon Bun 896]

8 minutes ago, Rafa Maciel said:

From a ranking perspective, the first 3 games of the tournament have all resulted in "upsets" - with the 3rd ranked team beating the 2nd ranked team in the pool.

 

I am hoping that will be a good omen for  as we take on Slovenia later today but given the results from their recent warm-up matches, I've got my doubts.

 

I've been unsure on them for a while, but if we can play like we did in the final 2 games of the qualifiers we should be able to reach the quarters.  

[nenad 442]

Big win vs Turkey without Crvendakić. On sunday against Hungary for the top place in group and direct quarterfinals. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

 having the kind of collapse we're used to seeing from the  cricket team  

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

Much better performance from  in the second quarter to narrow the gap 5 points but the last 2 minutes of the 1st quarter might prove very costly for them.