Basketball dominates the sports stage in late February and early March.
Many words of praise have been sung to the leaders of Kyiv Basketball Club (president Dmytro Buriak, manager Vitaly Khomenko) and the Oleksandr Volkov Basketball Foundation for excellent organization of the February round of the Northern European Basketball League (NEBL) championship in Kyiv’s Palace of Sports. I will note, incidentally, that many are embarrassed by the league’s name, for even schoolchildren in geography class are likely to call Kyiv and Moscow Northern European cities (what is more, such a far north city as Odesa is also going to play in the financially generous league next season!). I personally prefer renaming it the Marciulionis League after Lithuanian Sarunas Marciulionis, the author of the idea, father of the newborn tournament, and 1988 Seoul Olympic champion.
Analyzing the first stage of league competition, I am sure we must not sling mud at Oleksandr Kovalenko’s young team, Kyiv BC. The backs outplayed Latvian’s Ventspils and Germany’s Frankfurt Skyliners in February but then lost three games. But to whom? To league favorites: Zalgiris, CSKA, and the Vilnius-based Lietuvos Rytas! In March, the Kyivans will have to play two away matches (17, 18) against the Finnish clubs ToPo and Honka.
The Kyivans are now steadily going fourth. But their quarterfinal playoff rival still remains unknown.
Let us congratulate the Zaporizhzhia team Kozachka-ZAIK. After defeating Vilnius Lietuvos Telekomas (93:69) in a Lilian Ronchetti Cup quarterfinal home match, the Zaporizhzhia girls took a very serious attitude toward the return game in the Lithuanian capital. And although they gave way to their rivals (56:63), the number of points they had won at home (+24) was quite enough for them to qualify for the semifinals.
But the Kyiv Dynamo lasses, also participating in the same tournament, let us down. In Kyiv, the rivals played on par, although at the finish of that game luck smiled on the players of the Italian Parma- based Lavezzini, 73:72! The more surprising was the post- match interview by Dynamo’s commander-in-chief Volodymyr Ryzhov: “The only thing that can save us in Italy is reckless basketball.” (?!)
Since I have never come across the notion of reckless basketball in the practice of the game, I will refrain from commenting on Mr. Ryzhov’s plan for the return match in Parma. The indisputable fact is that his pupils were trounced at 49:72 (21:38)! While, for example, Dynamo’s center Lesley Brown scored 33 points in Kyiv, she got only 3 in the reckless game in Parma. Olha Shliakhova scored 9 and 0, respectively! So there is food for serious thought. The semifinals, to be played on March 1 and 8, will host the following pairs: Kozachka vs. Lavezzini and Aschaffenburg (Germany) vs. Gran Canaria (Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain).
