🏀 The FIBA Quarters Are Loaded With Stars

Greetings, folks! It’s simply the best time of year right now. Whatever sport you’re interested in, there’s a good chance you can watch it in the next few weeks. Basketball is sort of our thing so we’re having a blast. Let’s talk about some worldwide hoops, then, huh?

Today’s Lineup

FIBA Quarters Are Set: It’s just a world championship on the line, NBD 🌎

US Falls to Lithuania: Should Steve Kerr’s team be concerned? 🇱🇹 🇺🇸

Ready to Pop: This young wing’s route has been anything but traditional 🦌

And Then There Were…

Eight. Aštuoni. Otto. Oсам. Osem. Acht. Astoņi…depending on who you ask. Round two of the FIBA World Cup has officially concluded, and we now head into the knockout stage where the eight remaining countries will battle for a World Cup championship in Manila—which is the most densely populated city in the whole world, for those into population statistics.

The Teams:

• Lithuania

• Serbia

• United States

• Italy

• Canada

• Slovenia

• Latvia

• Germany

There are a few big surprises in this final eight; one of those surprises regards a team still alive in the tournament, and a few more regard who is not in the tourney anymore. In order to find out how we got here, let’s backpedal a bit.

When this tournament started, USA, Canada, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia, Lithuania, and Italy all had realistic dreams of a deep tournament run. In the last FIBA World Rankings before the tournament started, each of them ranked in the top 15 (and that #15 ranking for Canada always felt a bit too low.)

And while underdog teams always say they “aren’t just happy to be there,” we sort of think Latvia was just happy to be there. Alas, the world’s 29th-ranked team joins many of the world powers in the quarters after stunning both France and Spain in the Cup already.

Speaking of those two countries… we know that Latvia’s victory over France knocked the World’s fifth-ranked team out of the tournament last week, but where is Spain?

Well, that loss to Latvia— plus this ⬇️ loss to Canada on Sunday behind 30 PTS from SGA —sent the world’s number one-ranked team home much earlier than they were anticipating.

The Players:

You like starpower? This tournament still got some starpower.

Luka Doncic (26.4 PPG) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (23.8 PPG) and Anthony Edwards (20.2 PPG) have been exactly what their respective countries’ hoped for on the international stage.

But as we’ve seen time and again, starpower doesn’t always reign supreme in FIBA ball. A team-oriented attack can be just as effective in this type of environment.

You like balanced offensive attacks? Because this tournament definitely still has that, too. Latvia (Gražulis, Bertāns, Žagars, Zoriks, Šmits) and Lithuania (Jokubaitis, Valanciunas, Kuzminskas, Brazdeikis) each have at least four players averaging between 10 and 14 points.

So… see you all on Tuesday morning at 4:45 AM EST for the quarterfinals! Right? Anybody?

USA Falls To Lithuania

While both of these countries’ status in the quarterfinals was already secured before this game tipped off Sunday, any Team USA loss is sure to raise eyebrows.

But Lithuania didn’t just get lucky in this game; they fully earned the W. Jonas Valančiūnas got nasty down low (he Enjoys that immensely), the team shot 14/25 from deep, and also dominated the boards (43 to 27 advantage on the glass.) That’s a winning formula.

Anthony Edwards’ 35 for the US wasn’t quite enough.

Ready To Pop: MarJon Beauchamp

How many NBA players stopped at Yakima Valley Community College in Yakima, Washington before making it to the league? If you answered “zero,” we’d understand…but you’d be wrong! MarJon Beauchamp played 12 games for YVC (where he averaged nearly 30 points a game) before he headed to the G-League. After a year with GLI, Beauchamp showed the Milwaukee Bucks enough to become their first-round draft pick in 2022.

Stats: 5.1 PTS, 2.2 REB, 0.7 AST, 39.5% FG, 33.1% 3PT

Beauchamp’s minutes were relatively sparse in 2022, and he often looked like a rookie in his limited time on the floor. But his size (6’7, 200-pound), length (7’0 wingspan), and athleticism (does things like this) make you feel like something more is coming. Playing for a team like the Bucks can be beneficial—practicing with and learning from the NBA’s elite is surely great for a young player’s development—but it also limits their actual in-game opportunities.

And though we should be wary about putting too much stock into Summer League, Beauchamp did show some clear NBA-level moves in Las Vegas a few months back. Seeing second-year players stand out in environments like SL is usually a pretty good sign for the future.

Beauchamp has far too tantalizing mix of size, athleticism, natural talent and scoring ability for Bucks fans not to be excited about his future. Milwaukee doesn’t have to rush him along either, considering the team’s short-term aspirations (probably more of this.)

Frozen Moments

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is clutch in any jersey…

• South Sudan earns their first Olympic berth in any sport! 🇸🇸

• Someone tell Jordan Clarkson he doesn’t have to score every point

What We’re Enjoying

Starfield: A brand new universe from the company that brought us Elder Scrolls and Fallout? You don’t have to say another word, we’re already sold. But if you were to say another word, and it was a word about how beautiful the Starfield world looks, we’d agree with that, too.

Signing Off

And with that, we bid you farewell. We’ll see you soon—but in the meantime, get yourself your favorite meal this week. And really just sit there and appreciate it while you’re eating it. A great meal can fix a lot of things. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The first NBA player drafted out of HS is also the first player (to our knowledge) who got his nickname from Stevie Wonder…Darryl Dawkins!

Before you go…