The Greek women’s national basketball team has qualified to the knockout stages of the World Cup taking place in Spain after beating South Korea on Tuesday.

The do-or-die game for the Greeks at the end of the group stage ended up in a 58-48 triumph for Greece, after two losses in the previous games in the pool. Yet this win was enough to take the Greek women to the third spot and into the last 16.

The team that last year produced its best ever international showing finishing fourth in the European Championship will probably face Nigeria in the knockout game top be held on Wednesday.

This is Greece’s second World Cup, having finished 11th in the last one.

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Greece revealed a list of 24 players called-up to the Ethniki for November’s qualifiers against Great Britain and Israel…

Greece’s roster for next month’s qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was revealed on Friday, as Kostas Missas looks to steer the Ethniki to the final tournament in China.

Olympiacos star Georgios Printezis and Panathinaikos playmaker Nikos Calathes are among the call-ups, but four players from this past summer’s EuroBasket roster were not included.

Dimitris Agravanis, Nikos Pappas, Georgios Bogris, and Georgios Papagiannis were left off the roster despite playing a role in Greece’s EuroBasket campaign in Finland and Turkey.

Giannis Bourousis, who continued his playing career in China with Zhejiang Guangsha Lions following EuroBasket 2017, was also called-up. The Panathinaikos duo of Konstantinos Mitoglou and Zach Auguste were also included in the roster, despite being part of the final cuts for Greece’s EuroBasket roster.

Meanwhile, AEK’s Dusan Sakota was also included in the roster. Born in Serbia,
Sakota owns dual citizenship and has already featured for the Greece U-19 squad.

It comes as no surprise, however, that no NBA talent was included in the Greece roster as it is unlikely that Greece’s NBA stars – like Giannis Antetokounmpo and the aforementioned Papagiannis – would be made available.

Greece were paired with the likes of Great Britain, Estonia, and Israel in Group H for the first round of qualifying in the European zone. The top three sides in the group will progress to the second round of qualifying, and will be joined by the trop three sides from Group G – a section that features Austria, Georgia, Germany, and Serbia.

Greece’s qualifying campaign begins on 24 November against Great Britain in Leicester, before the Ethniki return home to host Israel in Heraklion three days later.

FIBA vs. EuroLeague

While the EuroLeague is said to contain European basketball’s best teams and players, the reality is that in 2017 that could pose a headache for international teams across the continent.

Overall, the Greek roster includes nine EuroLeague players – a reality that could be a headache for Greece’s coaching staff.

With FIBA adopting a new qualification system for the 2019 edition of its World Cup, conflicts with the EuroLeague are an ongoing matter as scheduling conflicts between the two competitions remain an issue prior to the tip-off of the first round of games.

Greece’s qualifying campaign tips-off against Great Britain in Leicester, England on 24 November, the same day five of Greece’s call-ups are scheduled to feature for their teams in the EuroLeague.

To further compound problems, a further four of Greece’s call-ups are scheduled to feature in the EuroLeague for Olympiacos one day before Greece’s first qualifier.

It remains to be seen how FIBA and the EuroLeague will resolve their scheduling conflicts, but in the interim the unpredictability certainly poses a challenge for Missas and his coaching staff.

Greece 24-man roster: Giannis Bourousis, Georgios Printezis, Nikos Calathes, Kostas Papanikolaou, Kostas Sloukas, Vangelis Mantzaris, Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Mike Bramos, Dimitris Mavroeidis, Ioannis Papapetrou, Thanassis Antetokounmpo, Giannis Athinaiou, Charis Giannopoulos, Dimitris Katsivelis, Konstantinos Mitoglou, Giannoulis Larentzakis, Antonis Koniaris, Nikos Gikas, Vassilis Mouratos, Vassilis Christidis, Christos Saloustros, Georgios Tsalmpouris, Dusan Sakota, Zach Auguste.

by Peter Katsiris
Image Source: gazetta.gr
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NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee Bucks may have his own signature Nike shoe on the way, but after sitting down for an interview with “60 Minutes,” the baller revealed on Sunday that during his modest upbringing he once had to share sneakers with his brother while growing up in Greece.

Born to Nigerian parents in 1994, the family rarely had enough to eat and often slept three or four to a bed, living in a tiny two-room apartment.

“You know, it was tough. We didn’t have a lot of money. But we had a lot of happiness. So we wasn’t broke happiness-wise. When we were struggling back in the day, we were all together in one room, same room. We were having fun. We were smiling. There was some tough times,” the athlete told CBS News’ Steve Kroft.

Giannis’ father got the Bucks star and his brother, Thanasis, into basketball and encouraged them to pursue a career in sports. They played on a second division Greek team earning less than $500 a month. Thanasis is now on the Greek National Team and plays in a top European league.

Taking Kroft to the humble gym in Athens where they used to play, Giannis — who’s been wearing player-exclusive editions of Nike’s new Kobe AD midtop sneaker this season — recalled how their modest earnings affected what happened on the court. “I remember one game we played with the same pair. One game.”

That said, since being selected by the Bucks as the 15th pick in the 2013 NBA draft, Giannis has made two All-Star teams and re-signed with Nike last fall — and his financial woes are behind him. He’s affectionally referred to as the “Greek Freak” by fans.

After a breakthrough 2016-17 season, Giannis was wooed by a slew of athleticwear companies, including Nike rival Adidas. But ultimately, he signed to a long–term deal with Nike in early November.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — When Eleanna Christinaki quit the Florida women’s basketball team midway through her sophomore season, the Greek national was flooded with offers to play professional basketball back home in Europe. She had the pedigree; Christinaki was the second-youngest player to ever play for Greece’s national team, and she was the Gators’ leading scorer when she decided to leave, averaging 17.6 points per game.

She had the chance to make a considerable amount of money and be closer to her parents and younger brother, who live in Cyprus. But Christinaki declined every offer, because none of the teams calling and texting had what Maryland was offering: The chance to earn a college degree and a basketball coach Christinaki trusted would develop her as a player and a person.

“I stayed here in the U.S. because I really believe in our coach and our team,” Christinaki said Saturday, sitting outside of the team’s locker room at North Carolina State’s Reynolds Coliseum. “I wouldn’t have stayed if it wasn’t Maryland.”

Christinaki, Maryland’s third-leading scorer, came to College Park to get an education and to play for Coach Brenda Frese. She has become a vital player for the No. 5 seed Terrapins, especially as matchups get tougher deeper into the NCAA tournament bracket. When the Terps (26-7) face No. 4 seed North Carolina State (25-8) on Sunday on the Wolfpack’s home court, they will rely on her scoring ability to support leading scorer Kaila Charles and her ability to make plays on offense.

Christinaki is technically Maryland’s second-leading scorer, averaging 12.1 points, as Blair Watson (13.8) hasn’t played since January because of an injury. When she is shooting well, as she did Friday when she turned in 16 points including two three-pointers in a blowout first-round win over Princeton, Christinaki fills the crucial sidekick role for Charles (18.4), a spot Maryland hasn’t quite been able to fill consistently since Watson tore her anterior cruciate ligament.

The 6-foot wing has a knack for big games — in her Maryland debut in December against Coppin State, she went off for a season-high 32 points. In January, she helped the Terps net their first win over Ohio State since the 2014-15 season with 26 points including six three-pointers. On Friday against Princeton, she set an intense tone for Maryland with her signature flashy, no-look passes and eight rebounds.

“When she’s in the zone, she’s in the zone,” said assistant coach Bett Shelby, who was Christinaki’s main recruiter to Maryland. “When she’s locked in she’s really hard to stop, and that’s where her toughness comes in.

“With our style of play especially — we defend, we rebound, and we run, and the way she can run and put pressure on the defense to guard and to stop her, it opens things up for other people on the floor. She’s brought that three-dimensional element to us. Losing Blair, she gives us another player on the perimeter with offensive power. That’s what we need.”

Maryland’s coaches believe Christinaki, who is Frese’s first midseason transfer to College Park, is just starting to reach her full potential. She has been a streaky shooter and struggled late in the conference season in particular, but her 16 points against Princeton were the most she has had in a game since an 18-point performance against Rutgers on Feb. 11.

Christinaki admits she has had a hard year. Last year was agony for the fiery competitor, having to sit out most of the season while she continued to adjust to what was still a relatively new culture for her in the U.S. She found it almost as challenging this year to insert herself into a roster that had played an entire preseason and had already found its rhythm.

Frese and Shelby knew they had to be conscious of Christinaki’s adjustment period. Frese said she made a mental note to give Christinaki at least 11 games, which is how long the coach estimated that it took everyone else on the team to get accustomed to playing together.

Christinaki’s teammates were accommodating as well. The biggest hurdle to Christinaki’s success was the language barrier. She didn’t start learning English until high school and spoke almost none when she arrived on Florida’s campus. When Christinaki is tired in games, it gets harder for her to translate what her teammates are yelling.

The team has a system now during timeouts in games — Frese addresses the team, then Charles repeats the message to Christinaki again, and Kristen Confroy repeats it a third time just in case.

“We do that, then, okay! We’re good,” Christinaki said. “Teamwork makes the dream work.”

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