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Almar

More details of upcoming friendly games.
In Hungary July 29, Iceland will play Israel. They also play Hungary possibly July 30.
Then in Latvia on Aug. 4, Netherlands plays Israel, then Latvia.

There is one troubling development- Lithuania, Estonia & Latvia threaten to boycott the Olympics if Russia plays- https://eng.lsm.lv/article/culture/s...mpics.a517879/

The Olympic Pre-qualifying Tournament starts August 12, Iceland & Netherlands both playing,
https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/turkiye/2023/games

One last note- Bradley's Ari Boya had his first experience with the Cameroon Men's National Team, as they played a preparatory
"Afrocan 2023" Tournament earlier this month. This suggests Ari likely will be with the Cameroon team in August when they also
play in their Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tourney in Nigeria. In the tourney Cameroon played three games and went 0-3, Ari did fairly well, tho.
- in a 78-50 loss to Morocco, Ari played just 14 min but had 5 pts, 4 reb
- in a 71-65 loss to Mozambique, Ari played just 9 min and had 5 pts, 2 reb and 1 blk
- in a 70-63 loss to DR Congo, Ari had 5 pts, 5 reb, 2 asst, and 2 steals in just 14 min
 
Almar Atlason is on campus working out with the team... perhaps he is not going to play with his National team
or possibly he will head back there in a couple weeks.

just 8 days previously he was leaving Greece to head back to Iceland with his team, so he's
jetted 6,000 miles - gotta be a bit exhausted...
 
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Good news! Here is a photo taken yesterday (Tuesday, 7/25). All 15 rostered players are now on campus.
Almar is the 2nd player from the right, between Connor Linke and Connor Hickman.

team.png
 
Da Coach said:
Good news! Here is a photo taken yesterday (Tuesday, 7/25). All 15 rostered players are now on campus.
Almar is the 2nd player from the right, between Connor Linke and Connor Hickman.

team.png
Click to expand...

This is good news because he needs to be able to get familiar with the team as far as players and concepts in being ready for the upcoming season. The college game in the US. is faster and more physical then the FIBA games. I think Almar has the potential to be a very good player at Bradley. This will be a learning year for him in my opinion. He is a very good shooter and rebounds well but defense and ball handling need to improve.
 
Almar isn't playing with his national team, but in the first of their friendly games warming up to the FIBA World Cup,
Iceland trails Israel 44-38 at half. 11 players have played and 9 of them have scored for Iceland, including 7 pts for
Almar's U20 teammate Orri Gunnarson.


edit- update - Iceland comes back and wins 81-79
Iceland with balanced scoring, 5 players in double figures
 
today's friendly game vs Hungary ends with Iceland losing 73-69, shot poorly from 3-pt (6-36)
 
Koch Bar & South Sudan have added an some exhibition games
All games are in Melbourne Australia
vs Brazil Tues Aug 14 - 5:30pm (2:30am Central Time)
vs Venezuela Wed. Aug 16 - 5:30pm (2:30am Central Time)
vs. Australia Thursday Aug 17 - 7:45pm (4:45am Central Time)

These are friendly games leading up to the FIBA World Cup at the end of August
The South Sudanese team went very early to Australia and is training, practicing and playing their
exhibitions there to adjust fully to the time difference.

also Finland plays Lithuania Aug 4 at 8pm (noon in Central IL) (Ville is currently an alternate for the National Team)
(The World University Games are underway in China but I do not see any players on any roster that are of interest)

Here's a list of all the planned exhibition games- https://www.fiba.basketball/basketba...world-cup-2023
 
Former ISU Redbird Elijah Clarance is playing for the Swedish Men's National Team
Today he scored 21 pts in a friendly game loss to Ukraine (74-72)
https://www.flashscore.com/player/cl...ijah/ImC78KGe/

Sweden did not qualify for the FIBA World Cup later in August, but they will play in Turkiye in the Pre-Olympic Qualifiers
to try to earn a spot in the 2024 Olympics - https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/turkiye/2023/games

Very few of these World Cup teams are using NBA GUYS, but France is going full tilt with a roster of
at least five NBA guys and a couple more who were drafted.
 
Da Coach said:
Good news! Here is a photo taken yesterday (Tuesday, 7/25). All 15 rostered players are now on campus.
Almar is the 2nd player from the right, between Connor Linke and Connor Hickman.

team.png
Click to expand...

Good-looking group of Braves! Our b2b MVC Champ BRAVES! ;)
 
International friendly-
Netherlands 37 - Israel 39 at half - no individual state avail, but Rienk Mast started, he's #51 in orange
Luuk van Bree is #20 in orange
(being played in Barcelona, Spain)

#33 in white, Israel's Gabriel Chachashvili is also very impressive - a lot like Malevy
(refs in green shirts with ad patches sewn all over- they look like NASCAR pit crew!)

Here's the link if you want to watch live streamed - it's halftime now
https://www.youtube.com/embed/KKjHbVm76S0

Wichita also just finished their first game in Greece- they won 76-60


still oddly, NOTHING reported on UNI's tour games from Brazil other than they split the first two.
Nothing on games 3 or 4 and no stats or game reports whatsoever - strange?
Wouldn't they want all kinds of publicity so they can use the trip as a recruiting tool? Why secrecy?
Boise State beats a pretty obscure Canadian college team from Thompson Rivers University 83-60

University of Illinois leave to day for Spain exhibitions


NICE article on Ville's signing pro
https://www.mbl.is/sport/korfubolti/...landslidsmann/
 
both teams rushing shots, shooting poorly
score after 3 quarters Netherlands 50 - Israel 46

edit- update, headed to overtime tied 66-66


further update-- .interesting- both team have left the floor so it looks like they are not going to play an overtime and the game ends tied


further edit - added... final score of friendly game, Finland 81 - Lithuania 79 on a buzzer-beater,
in front of 13,054 fans (in Tampere, Finland), Finland's Lauri Markkanen with 24 pts
and former Illini Jacob Grandison with 12
(earlier today, at the World University Games in China, Finland's Junior Team beat Lithuania 84-69)
 
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Iceland's final 12 man roster has been set, and as we knew, Almar will not be playing with his national team
https://www.mbl.is/sport/korfubolti/...ar_snyr_aftur/

Finland has set their final National Team roster and is already playing some games. Today they beat Estonia 86-80,
with Lauri Markkanen going for 29 pts, 13 reb

Rienk, Luuk & their National team begin play Aug 13 in their Pre-Olympic qualifiers to try for a spot in the 2024 Olympics
https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/tur...am/Netherlands
https://www.fiba.basketball/news/lin...med-after-draw

Ari Boya plays for his Cameroon team in the African Pre-Olympic qualifiers- https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/nig.../team/Cameroon

After all that wraps up, then the FIBA World Cup starts- https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023
South Sudan (Koch), USA, Finland and other nations - here's the schedule- https://www.fiba.basketball/basketba...n-schedule.pdf

and the schedule of preparation games for each team, South Sudan plays 5 "tuneup"games-
https://www.fiba.basketball/basketba...world-cup-2023

Great Britain (DLO) did not qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup in August, but was eligible to compete
in the Pre-Olympic qualifier tournaments. However, they have withdrawn and been replaced by Croatia.
Here's their explanation, and it has to do with their "...abysmal summer in 2022"...
https://www.hoopsfix.com/2023/03/bbf-opts-not-to-enter-gb-senior-men-in-pre-olympic-qualifiers/
 
Pre-Olympic qualifiers start this weekend at several locations
Turkiye, 8 teams incl Iceland & Netherlands- https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/turkiye/2023/games
Poland/Estonia, 8 teams- https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/poland-estonia/2023
Nigeria, 8 teams incl Cameroon- https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/nigeria/2023 (former Jim Les/UC-Davis player Chima Moneke plays for Nigeria)
Argentina, 7 teams- https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/argentina/2023
Syria, 6 teams- https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/syria/2023

one other minor note- later this month when the FIBA basketball World Cup starts in the Philippines,
South Sudan (Koch Bar's team) has added Marial Shayok, former Bradley recruit and brother of former Bradley "star" Shayok Shayok, but former Brave Chudier Bile is currently not with them.
 
By the way, as has been mentioned, Almar is on campus and he is doing off-court strengthening and conditioning workouts with the team, but his situation does not allow him to participate in any on-court team practices or workouts. Once the Fall Semester begins, he will be able to participate fully.
 
Almar's Iceland National team plays an Olympic qualifier game today at noon- it could possibly be streamed- https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/tur...Crkiye-Iceland

edit- bad start to this qualifying tournament
Iceland falls way behind early - already trails by 54-31 at half
They could have used Almar -
his U20 teammate Orri Gunnarson is 3-4 from 3pt but the rest of the team is 2-14 combined
..and they are being outrebounded 25-17
Turkey's also gotten to the FT line 15 times to just 2 for Iceland


update- final score Turkiye 99 - Iceland 72 but it wasn't that close.
Turkiye had a 23 pt lead at half, then pulled out to a 32 pt lead in the 3rd quarter and coasted from there
Turkiye hit 11-22 (50%) from 3-pt while Iceland hit 27%, and Turkiye badly outrebounded Iceland.
Iceland plays Ukraine tomorrow. Ukraine beat Bulgaria today. Netherlands plays Monday & Wed,
& Iceland plays Bulgaria Tuesday.

Almar's U20 buddy Gunnarson was 6-9 from 3pt
 
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Netherlands loses a close game in the Olympic qualifiers, in OVERTIME, 91-89 to Sweden
Rienk Mast 8 pts, 6 rebs in 26 min, Luuk played 6 min and was scoreless on three 3pt attempts
 
South Sudan led much of the way but Brazil had a good 4th qtr and won 85-75
Koch was scoreless but only played 3 min
 
At the Olympic qualifiers-
Netherlands unfortunately loses again...89-81 to Croatia
They are now 1-2 in group play and on the verge of elimination.if Sweden beats Belgium,
and they currently lead by 5 in the 3rd quarter.
Rienk had 2 pts, 5 reb, 4 asst, Luuk 2pt, 1 reb

Iceland also finished 1-2 in group play, but finished 3rd in their group and are likely eliminated

Over in Nigeria - the Cameroon National Team played great in their first game, beating Guinea 104-74.
Ari Boya had been listed on their roster, but he did not play and is not any longer on their roster.

BUT- the news is very good news - as Ari returned to Austria, re-signed with his former Austrian pro team,
and got married this summer and welcomed a baby daughter!!
Congrats to Ari!

Hochzeit-Ari-2.jpg


https://bbc-nord.at/2023/08/04/arist...rt-fuer-23-24/
https://www.afrobasket.com/Cameroon/...another-season
https://www.interperformances.com/ne...-nord-dragonz/

final note, ISU's 5th year senior Harouna Sissoko is playing for the Mali National Team in the Olympic Qualifiers,
he scored 6 pt in yesterday's win over Nigeria.

also South Sudan beat Venezuela (who are ranked #17 in the world by FIBA) by 19, no stats yet
 
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Congrats Ari! Classy Brave and met him with our kids and he was very nice and took time to talk with us and take pic. My kids love him!
 
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