Huge tournament over there, thanks for the post Paul, wow some big time NBA stars playing for their countries in the off season too...

Do you know if ESPN is covering it?

I dont, but it's on livebasketball.tv or if you dont have that streamhunter.eu.

Basically there's four venues with three games a day, at 10.30pm AEST, 1.45am and 5am, so there's always a good game to watch. It's a pretty unique basketball experience the Eurobasket.

Cheers Paul, yep Basketball is second only to Soccer in Europe I think, freakin' huge...

Sad that it isn't on a broadcaster here.

Spain to win it all?

Not sure about that, theyre missing their two best players, but theyre definitely a chance.

Another cracking day overnight, no big upsets but so many close games.

Croatia bounced back from their drubbing by Spain to beat Georgia 77-76. Dontaye Draper was the star with 16p on 6/8, 4r, 3a and 0to in 19mins, including 10p in the final term and the assist on the game-winning basket.

Hosts Slovenia beat Spain 78-69, Goran Dragic with 18p, Marc Gasol with 17. Germany crashed from their Day 1 win over France, losing 77-73 to Belgium.

Italy kept rolling with a 90-75 win over Turkey, Greece beat Russia 80-71 despite 17 & 4 from Shved, Lithuania beat Macedonia 75-67 keeping McCalebb to just 11.

Big games tonight are prob the local derbies between Greece and Turkey and also Lithuania and Latvia, who beat Montenegro 73-72 overnight to go 2-0.

Slovenia over Spain would've been considered an upset, right?

Not really, mild at best. The event is in Slovenia and Spain are missing Pau Gasol and Navarro - it will be no surprise if Slovenia win the whole thing.

It's hard to say, Italy are the bolters at the moment but I like Spain, Slovenia and Greece providing Spanoulis' ankle is ok. It's been a very unpredictable tournament so far though.

Croatia gave Slovenia their first loss overnight, 76-74 in OT in an absolute barnburner. Lithuania beat Montenegro 77-70 in OT and Finland beat Russia 86-83 in 2OT!!

The Russians lost to Sweden the previous night would you believe and cannot make the second round, just havent been able to recover from their coaching dramas.

Italy beat Greece 81-72 (without Spanoulis) to remain undefeated, Marco Belinelli having his first really big game of the tourny with 23p on 7/13, 7r and 3a.

The previous night Spain remarkably kept the Czech Republic (who are otherwise 2-1 with scores of 60, 69 and 95) to 39 points at 24%, including just two in the final term!! Spain only shot 32% themselves but it was enough.

That night Italy kept Finland (who are otherwise 3-0 with scores of 61, 81 and 86) to 44 points at 27%! Some remarkable defensive efforts.

Czech Republic beat Georgia 95-79 and now can make the second round if they beat Croatia in the final pool game tonight.

Italy, Greece and Finland are the only teams assured of going through to the final 12, while Spain and France's points differential means they are all but through.

I think pretty much every other game tonight could have a say on who progresses so it should be a great night.

Sounds like a great tourney so far. Thanks for the updates.

Sadly, even the NBA is barely on TV in Australia. Would be nice to get the Eurobasket but that's not the reality at the moment. At least every game is online these days.

The first round is done and the 12 teams through are France, Ukraine, Belgium; Serbia, Latvia, Lithuania; Spain, Croatia, Slovenia; Italy, Finland, Greece.

Finland kept their great run going with an 86-77 win over Greece last night, albeit it a meaningless game. Khimky point guard and former Philly draft pick Petteri Koponen had 29p on 10/15!

Latvia beat Macedonia 76-66 to move through, Bosnia beat Lithuania 78-72 but had to win by 10 to knock them out while Montenegro finished a disappointing tourny with a nice 83-76 win over Serbia.

The second round starts tomorrow night, Group E is Latvia, Ukraine, Belgium, Serbia, Lithuania and France. After France it is pretty wide open based on first round form, although that can be dangerous.

Group F is Finland, Croatia, Greece, Spain, Slovenia and Italy, the only undefeated team.

I suspect the last four will go through from that group, but Finland have been impressive. They have mobile bigs like a lot of NBL teams, and disrupt defensively by switching a lot of pick and rolls and scrambling, they are a good team to watch.

Two nights into the second round and the unpredictable results and close games just keep coming.

Greece beat Spain 79-75 in an almost must-win game for them. When I said their loss to Finland was meaningless I was forgetting the result would carry over, so they headed into the second round 0-2.

Spanoulis lead the way of course with 20p, while Marc Gasol and Fernandez both had 20 for Spain. The Spaniards coughed up 17to to just 6 and Greece got to the line 38 times to 18.

Slovenia gave Italy their first loss, 84-77 in a cracking game, smashing the boards 45-28 against the small Italians who made just 36% of their 2pfg.

The Dragic brothers got the job done, Zoran with 15p and 11r and Goran with 22p, 6a and a shutdown job on Belinelli. Gentile continued his great tourny with 20p for Italy.

In other results, Croatia stunned Finland 88-63, Dontaye Draper having 4a and 2s in 15mins and going +15 in that time!

Lithuania beat France 76-62 to call into question their first round wins against lesser oppo, Serbia beat Belgium 76-69 and Latvia thrashed the Ukraine 85-51.

The standings are:
Grp E Serb 3-0 Lith 2-1 Fra 2-1 Lat 1-2 Ukr 1-2 Belg 0-3
Grp F Slov 2-1 Ita 2-1 Cro 2-1 Spa 1-2 Gre 1-2 Fin 1-2

No, not that I can see, but all games are online.

Seven of the eight QF spots are sewn up with three games to play tonight to finish the second round.

Croatia, after only scoring 11 points in the first 13 minutes and trailing but 13, then proceeded to score 38 in the next 12 and overrun Italy, surviving a late scare to win 76-68.

Dontaye Draper played a key role in turning the early tide and finished with 12p and 2a in 20mins. Star SF Bojan Bogdanovic led the way with 18 while Luigi Datome was again superb for Italy with 24p and 7r.

That result put Croatia through, and Slovenia joined them by beating Greece 73-65 after leading by 25-odd. The Greeks got it back to six but had used their petrol tickets.

Goran Dragic had 28p and 4a for Slovenia while Vassilis Spanoulis had 21p, 8r and 3a for Greece.

That result also put Italy through, so now it just comes down to Greece or Spain to claim the last QF spot.

If Spain beat Italy and/or Finland upset Slovenia the Spaniards are through. However, if Greece beats Croatia and Spain lose then the Greeks go through. I think!

In the other group the table finished:
Serbia 4-1, Lithuania 4-1, France 3-2, Ukraine 2-3, Belgium 1-4, Latvia 1-4.

Overnight - with the six teams shooting a combined 39% - Belgium beat Latvia 60-56 to deny the Baltics a spot in the top 8 and send Ukraine through despite their loss to Lithuania 70-63.

Serbia claimed top spot with a 77-65 win over France, who only won one game in the second round. Nenad Krstic had 19p and 4a, Nemanja Nedovic with five triples on the way to 17p. Tony Parker held to 10p on 4/12.

QFs are now set after a ridiculous night in Slovenia, with the matchups being:

Serbia v Spain, Lithuania v Italy, Slovenia v France, Croatia v Ukraine

Croatia (4-1) started the day off by beating Greece 92-88 in 2OT to knock the Greeks out and claim top spot. Draper had 13p on 6/11 and 3r in 31mins, while Bogdanovic had 22p.

The Croats turned it over 18 times but held Greece (1-4) to 35% shooting and won the boards 54-42. Veteran Yannis Bourousis had 21p and 9r for the Greeks.

Italy (3-2) then came from 15 points down in the fourth to beat Spain 86-81 in OT to claim 3rd place in the group ahead of the Spaniards (2-3).

Datome hit the shot to send it into OT but it was Ale Gentile (get used to that name) who starred with 25p. Marc Gasol has 32p and 10r for Spain.

To finish the night Finland then put on a clinic, shooting 17/32 from long range to beat Slovenia 92-76.

Slovenia (3-2) were secure in second spot so shared the minutes around, but it was an awesome effort by Finland (2-3) who finish on the same record as Spain and ahead of Greece.

QFs are on Weds and Thurs nights, and Croatia go in the hot team having not lost since their opening game of the tournament, a seven game win streak.

But in knockout games it all goes back to square so will be interesting to see who can turn it on. All but one of the teams left will qualify for the World Cup.

Serbia v Spain, Lithuania v Italy, Slovenia v France, Croatia v Ukraine

Mouthwatering matchups, I will go for these results:

Serbia - in a minor upset and possibly an O/T game
Lithuania - just too strong and talented
France - a little too polished for the Slovaks
Croatia - red hot form will carry them home

Yeah, that Serbia v Spain matchup is a ripper. While Serbia have been winning, in the games I have seen they have been good without being super, if you know what I mean?

And while Spain have struggled, you just know they have some players who live for the big moment. It's the same with France, they havent looked good but if their better players have good days they can be very hard to stop.

'Normal service' has resumed, with Spain trashing Serbia 90-60 and France too good for Slovenia in a hard-fought 72-62 win.

The Slovenians tried their hearts out but the length and athleticism of the French defence meant they could stay with Goran Dragic and mostly stay at home on the shooters. They really missed having Lorbek for a big option as Begic didnt provide a lot.

While he played well, in the end Dragic (18p, 6/16, 6a, 4to) tried to do too much and Batum did a great job on him.

Parker was the star with 27p on 9/20 and 8/9 FT, Batum had 14p and 5r, but it was their defence that really got the job done, holding Slovenia to 34% shooting.

In the other game, Sergio Rodriguez led the way with 22p on 9/16 and 4a and Rudy Fernandez had 19p but it was a romp. Spain led 21-5 at 1/4 time, got out by 40-odd and the cruised into a cracking SF showdown with France!

Tonight it's Italy v Lithuania and Croatia v Ukraine. Serbia and Slovenia now effectively go into a four-way playoff for three World Cup spots.

While I was hoping Serbia would get close at least, I always had thoughts that Spain would more than likely get through to play France, but they just dominated Serbia, yes that match up Spain v France will be some game...

Croatia and Lithuania have both qualified for the WC and will meet in the other Eurobasket SF.

The Croats blew Ukraine off the court with a 29-13 second quarter, withstood a third quarter charge and then squeezed their way to an 84-72 victory with a 14-11 final term.

Dontaye Draper was again very solid with 6p on 2/4, 6a, 4s, 2r and 0to in 20mins. Krunoslav Simon continued his great end to the tourny with 23p on 7/10, while import Pooh Jeter led Ukraine with 19p, 6r and 6a.

Lithuania looked in a little bit of trouble late in the third quarter against Italy but they turned the screws with a 23-8 run and Italy could never really challenge again, going down 81-77.

Mantas Kalnietis was awesome again with 17p, 7r and 5a, while Renaldas Seibutis had 17p and 6r in one of his best displays in a green shirt. The Lithos shot 54% which is bloody good in a QF, but also highlights Italy's lack of interior D.

For Italy, Belinelli had 22p on 8/17 but they just didnt get him or Datome the ball in the final quarter and paid the price.

Earlier in the day Slovenia beat Serbia 92-74 to qualify for the World Cup, Zoran Dragic the star with 23p on 8/12 and 9r, Nenad Krstic with 16p for the Serbs.

Serbia will now play the loser of Italy v Ukraine for the last automatic European spot at the WC (there are still four wildcards to be handed out, one of which will almost certainly go to China).

Lithuania and France will meet in a Eurobasket final of brilliant offensive execution v swarming athletic defence.

Lithuania beat Croatia 77-62 in a very convincing performance, Linas Kleiza racking up 17p and 7r in the first half before finishing with 22 & 11. Jonas Maciulis had 22p and 6a and Mantas Kalnietis 18p and 4a.

Croatia simply ran out of ideas, showing their inexperience in big games by jacking up threes when the game was still within reach if they had executed with discipline.

Bojan Bogdanovic was their only star who came close to firing with 15p but on 0/5 3p, whiile Dontaye Draper had 5p on 2/8, 3r and 2a, not reproducing his great late tournament form.

France showed Croatia exactly how you do it. They trailed Spain by 14 at half time but just plugged away. Every time they came back it seemed Spain had the answers and would push the lead out again.

But slowly they got it closer, to 3 but back out, to 2 and back out, to 1, scores tied, Parker hit a three with two minutes left to put them in front but Marc Gasol answered straight away.

Eventually it hit overtime where neither team could score, but France just kept working at it, hit their free throws, played their incredible defence and won 75-72.

Parker was incredible with 32p on 11/19 and 6r, making so many big plays. He struggled big time in overtime but then made a couple of big plays at the end.

Gasol had 19p and 9r and Rudy Fernandez had 17p for Spain.

So it's Lithuania v France for gold and Croatia v Spain for bronze.

Earlier Mike Fratello completed mission impossible by guiding Ukraine into the World Cup! They beat a fading Italy 66-58 and were too disciplined in the final quarter.

They now play Slovenia in a meaningless fifth place game, while Italy and Serbia both have to climb back up the cliff theyve dropped off to play for the last WC spot.

France has claimed their first European championship with a stunning 80-66 performance against Lithuania (sorry, forgot to post the other day).

It was a cracking game until late in the second term. With the Lithos leading by one France unleashed something like a 20-3 run to end the quarter, Lithuania unable to contain their penetration.

Batum (17p, 6r) and Diaw (15p, 6r, 4a) were the stars but it was a very comprehensive performance. Lithuania didnt get close to single figures after half time. Kleiza (20p, 5r) and Kalnietis (19p, 4r) were their best.

Spain thrashed Croatia 92-66 to claim bronze. Sergio Llull (21p) and Marc Gasol (19p, 8r) led the way, while Bogdanovic (22p, 8/14) was Croatia's best. Draper had 5p, 4a and 3r.

Serbia beat Italy 76-64 to claim the last World Cup spot, meaning Europe's reps will be France, Lithuania, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia.

Expect 2-3 wildcards to go to European teams too. Id Russia and Greece to get them, and then possibly Italy or Germany.

Not that surprised about France, other than the scoreline I guess...

Serbia deserve a WC spot, so does Germany IMO, I would expect the usual suspects to perform well and there are not too many surprises there Paul.

What about Poland, fall from grace for the Poles..? Also, Turkey have seemingly dropped a peg or two recently??

Still, looks like the WC will be awesome, can't wait!