EuroBasket!

EuroBasket 2011 is underway! (Actually, it's been underway for a few weeks.)

What is EuroBasket, you ask? EuroBasket is a basketball tournament, held once every two years, in which national men's basketball teams play for the Championship of Europe. It is quite old -- the first EuroBasket was held in 1935. Latvia beat Spain in the final, 24-18. Lithuania took the title in 1937 and 1939 -- setting off a craze for basketball that dominates Lithuanian culture to this day. (Lithuania and Kentucky are the only places on earth where basketball is more popular than the local version of football.)

During the Cold War, of course, EuroBasket was dominated by the Soviets and the Yugoslavs -- the two great Communist Euro basketball powers. The USSR won eight EuroBaskets in a row from 1957 through 1971, then the Soviets and Yugoslavs took 8 of 10 EuroBaskets from 1973 to 1991. Since the end of the Cold War, the competition has been more open. Here are the finals from 1993 through 2009:

1993: Germany 71, Russia 70
1995: Yugoslavia 96, Lithuania 90
1997: Yugoslavia 61, Italy 49
1999: Italy 64, Spain 56
2001: Yugoslavia 78, Turkey 69
2003: Lithuania 93, Spain 84
2005: Greece 78, Germany 62
2007: Russia 60, Spain 59
2009: Spain 85, Serbia 63

This year's EuroBasket is in Lithuania -- making it the first to be hosted by the Lithuanians since 1939. As you can imagine, the Lithuanians are off the hook with excitement.

OK, here's what happened so far. We started off with four groups, and six teams in each group. (It should be pointed out that of these 24 countries, 5 used to be in the Soviet Union, while another 6 used to be in Yugoslavia. So those two former powers accounted for almost half the field). Everyone played a round-robin, with the top three teams in each group moving on. Here's how those played out:

GROUP A:
Spain: 4-1 (9 points)
Lithuania: 4-1 (9 points)
Turkey: 3-2 (8 points)
Great Britain: 2-3 (7 points)
Poland: 2-3 (7 points)
Portugal: 0-5 (5 points)

GROUP B:
France: 5-0 (10 points)
Serbia: 4-1 (9 points)
Germany: 3-2 (8 points)
Israel: 2-3 (7 points)
Italy: 1-4 (6 points)
Latvia: 0-5 (5 points)

GROUP C:
Macedonia: 4-1 (9 points)
Greece: 4-1 (9 points)
Finland: 2-3 (7 points)
Croatia: 2-3 (7 points)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 2-3 (7 points)
Montenegro: 1-4 (6 points)

GROUP D:
Russia: 5-0 (10 points)
Slovenia: 4-1 (9 points)
Georgia: 2-3 (7 points)
Bulgaria: 2-3 (7 points)
Ukraine: 2-3 (7 points)
Belgium: 0-5 (5 points)

The top 3 teams from Groups A and B were combined into a new Group E, while the top 3 teams from Groups C and D were combined into new Group F. Now those groups are playing a round-robin. (If two teams already played in the first group phase, they don't play again; the initial result carries over into this round). When this round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Here is how things currently stand:

GROUP E:
France: 3-0 (6 points)
Spain: 2-1 (5 points)
Lithuania: 2-1 (5 points)
Serbia: 1-2 (4 points)
Turkey: 1-2 (4 points)
Germany: 0-3 (3 points)

GROUP F:
Macedonia: 2-0 (4 points)
Russia: 2-0 (4 points)
Slovenia: 1-1 (3 points)
Greece: 1-1 (3 points)
Georgia: 0-2 (2 points)
Finland: 0-2 (2 points)

We will have further developments as events warrant.