EUROBASKET LITHUANIA 2011

With the cancellation of the NBA summer leagues this year, fans can fill their hoops appetite with top class international play in the coming 2011 FIBA European Championships or more popularly known as EuroBasket. The biennial conclave of European powerhouse teams will be held on August 31 to September 18, 2011 in Lithuania. Spain, which features numerous NBA stars led by the Gasol brothers (Pau and Marc), are the defending champions. With the looming NBA lockout, European NBA players, for sure, will try to re-sharpen their game in the tournament to be participated in by 24 countries. The cast of this year’s edition of EuroBasket are as follows: Group A – Poland, Great Britain, Turkey, Lithuania and Spain.  Group B – Italy, Israel, France, Latvia, Germany and Serbia. Group C – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece. Group D – Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium and Slovenia. Three countries namely Portugal, Hungary and Finland will play in a single round-robin tourney starting August 12 to determine the last two qualifiers for Groups A and C, respectively. The EuroBasket will also serve as the qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics, wherein the top two finishers will be seeded into the quadrennial event. Great Britain as host of the Summer games automatically qualifies.