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The 14th edition of the Rathbun Roundball Report. Subscribers only! $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
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Vol. 1 No. 14 — November 27th, 2019 Welcome to the 14th edition of the Rathbun Roundball Report, Subscriber First Name! First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving! And safe travels to everyone in transit this holiday season! Let’s get to the basketball news!
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Earlier this morning, the Olympic Qualifying pairing were announced to join the eight teams that have already qualified for next summer’s games in Tokyo. The AP’s Tim Reynolds has the details:
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If Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to compete in the Olympics next summer, Greece will have to win a few games in Canada first. The draws to see which countries will grab the remaining basketball berths in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — four men’s spots and 10 women’s spots in the 12-team fields — were held Wednesday in Switzerland, and a Greece-Canada matchup in one of those tournaments is guaranteed in the early stages of the event next June. And there’s a chance that the turnaround for some players and coaches could be incredibly quick. The men’s qualifiers start on June 23, just two days after a possible Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Canada drew Greece as one of the five teams coming into Victoria, British Columbia, next summer — so there will be some player and coaching star power. Greece will be coached by Rick Pitino, Canada is being coached by Nick Nurse of the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors and some top Canadian players already are starting to commit to the event. “I want to play my part to help push our team into the Olympics and compete at the highest world stage. Let’s go Canada,” Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets wrote Tuesday on Twitter. Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, New Orleans’ Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Toronto’s Oshae Brissett also have committed, and Miami’s Kelly Olynyk said earlier this fall that he would consider it as well. It’s unclear if Antetokounmpo intends to play in the qualifiers. His Milwaukee Bucks are one of the top teams in the NBA, with a good chance of reaching the NBA Finals or at least making a long playoff run. Canada, Serbia, Lithuania and Croatia are the host sites for the men’s qualifiers. There are six teams in each, split into a pair of three-team groups at each site. Teams in the same group will play each other once to determine two semifinalists from each side. Those four teams will play a single-elimination tournament to decide the winner, and each of the four winners will get an Olympic berth. “Being able to host a FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament at home is a great opportunity for our team on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” Canada Basketball CEO Glen Grunwald said when his nation was announced as a host for the qualifiers.
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The women’s qualifiers to be held in France, Serbia, China and Belgium are not as daunting as the men’s events. There are 16 teams playing, with two — the U.S., as World Cup champions, and Japan, as the host nation — already having earned berths into the Olympics. That leaves 14 teams playing for the final 10 spots. There are eight men’s teams already in the Olympics: host Japan, along with Nigeria, Argentina, the U.S., Iran, France, Spain and Australia.
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Games to be played June 23-28 (World ranking in parentheses) Format: Teams in each group play once, and the top two finishers from each group advance to qualifying semifinals. Only one team from each site will qualify for the Olympics. At Victoria, Canada Group A: CANADA (21), GREECE (7), CHINA (27) Group B: CZECH REPUBLIC (10), TURKEY (15), URUGUAY (43) At Split, Croatia Group A: GERMANY (18), RUSSIA (9), MEXICO (25) Group B: CROATIA (14), BRAZIL (11), TUNISIA (33) At Kaunas, Lithuania Group A: LITHUANIA (8), VENEZUELA (20), KOREA (30) Group B: POLAND (13), SLOVENIA (16), ANGOLA (32) At Belgrade, Serbia Group A: SERBIA (6), DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (19), NEW ZEALAND (24) Group B: ITALY (14), PUERTO RICO (23), SENEGAL (35)
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Games to be played Feb. 6-9 (World ranking in parentheses) Format: Round-robin at each site, top three finishers qualify for the Olympics with the exception of the U.S. and Japan, which already are in the Tokyo field. At Bourges, France France (5), Australia (2), Brazil (15), Puerto Rico (23) At Belgrade, Serbia Serbia (7), U.S.A (1), Nigeria (17), Mozambique (43) At Foshan, China China (8), Spain (3), Britain (18), Korea (19) At Ostende, Belgium Belgium (9), Canada (8), Japan (10), Sweden (22)
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Speaking of Giannis, I’m here in Milwaukee to broadcast the Hawks-Bucks game tonight. What Giannis is doing is even BETTER this season than his MVP season of a year ago! His scoring, rebounding and assist numbers are all better than last season. And what he did here Monday night was truly amazing! Giannis scored a season-high 50 points (17-31 FG, 3-8 3FG, 13-19 FT), hauled in 14 rebounds, dished out 6 assists and had 0 turnovers. Let me repeat that: ZERO TURNOVERS!! This was the second 50-point game of Antetokounmpo’s career, and the first time in Milwaukee franchise history (since turnovers became an official stat in 1977-78) that a player has recorded 50+ points with no turnovers. Antetokounmpo also became just the fourth player ever to have 50+ points, 10+ rebounds and 0 turnovers in a game, joining Carmelo Anthony, Michael Jordan (2 times) and Moses Malone.
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Watching Stephen F. Austin’s upset of Duke last night reminded me of an NCAA Tournament game that I got to call back in 1987. I was assigned to the Birmingham regional, and you could sense that an upset was brewing as Illinois was in big trouble against Austin Peay. In those days, the early rounds were carried on ESPN. And back in the studio, Dick Vitale said, “I’ll stand on my head if Austin Peay wins this game!” Tony Raye then made two free throws with two seconds remaining to give the Governors a stunning 68-67 upset victory over No. 11-ranked Illinois. The Governors (20-11) came to the tournament from Clarksville, Tenn., after winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. They had a seven-point lead early in the second half. But it appeared Illinois (22-8) had pulled the game out with 13 seconds left when Tony Wysinger hit a foul-line jump shot to put the Illini up, 67-66. Without calling a timeout, Austin Peay hurried the ball downcourt, and Mike Hicks found Raye under the basket. Raye was fouled on his layup attempt, and Illinois took a timeout in hopes of rattling him. Raye made just 56% of his free throws during the year. After Raye’s foul shots, Illinois, seeded third in the regional, still had a chance to win but Ken Norman’s 15-foot buzzer shot bounced off the rim. And Dickie V did, indeed, stand on his head in the studio!
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Have a great Thanksgiving, thanks for subscribing!
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