Four Interesting Groups - U16 Division B Women

Group A is simply the group of death as all four nations are solid youth basketball nations. Italy, the hosts, are hoping that home advantage will help them in their quest to return to Div A. They were stopped last year by Sweden in the semi-final. If preparation results are an indicator of form then Italy are a team to watch after impressive victories against Div A nations. Montenegro, maybe new to Div B as a country by itself, but due to their collaboration with Serbia over the last few years, should put them in good stead for the competition. Slovenia is also a team with a lot of potential and have players with experience. Finland’s 3rd place finish in the Nordic championship in May was the first international tournament for the players and the experience gained there will help them in this tough group.

Group B: Visa problems for Moldavia have ended their tournament and automatically the remaining teams have qualified for the qualifying round. Croatia is the favourite to top this group and will not want to drop any points as they hope to return immediately back into Div A. Bosnia & Herzegovina and Portugal complete the group and will use the group matches as preparation for the qualifying round.

Group C: Bulgaria has a good youth development system but has recently struggled in the junior categories. They finished 7th last year which was considered disappointing. For 2007 they have a strong team and in addition the format of the competition suit them. England had a tradition of picking players from various generations at this level and this year will be no different. They have some of the quickest players in this tournament and are expected to qualify for the qualification round. 3-point shooting and strong rebounding is what the Dutch team is all about and this squad does not break the mould. The final nation in this group is Ireland who are bringing a complete new team to this competition.

Group D: It looks like that this group has been reduced by one nation: Armenia’s late withdrawal leaves Germany, Romania and Israel to go into the qualifying round. Germany’s programme has been restructured this season, and their results are encouraging to hopefully get them back into Div A. Romania is traditionally strong and would love to improve on the bronze medal of last year, whereas Israel will be out to prove that they are not there to make up the numbers.