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ARG/USA - Argentina wins Gold after beating USA in FIBA Americas U18 Championship

FORMOSA (FIBA Americas U18 Championship) - Argentina won the Gold medal in the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship after beating USA 77-64 in the final game played at Polideportivo Cincuentenario of Formosa.

USA had the lead during the start of the game after a basket by Kemba Walker that gave them a 9-6 edge with 6:41 left. After that Argentina made a 14-2 run to take a 20-11 end finish up 26-18.
http://www.fibaamericas.com/noticiasrea ... KLZVOMNLBX

Agentina 77
USA 64
------------------------ 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - TOTAL
United States of America 18 10 --15 --21 64
Argentina -------------- 26 9 ---24 --18 77

Box score
http://www.fibaamericas.com/fnabox.asp?g=20&n=A&r=6507

Leaders: 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship
Points
# Jugador GP Tot Avg
1. Echenique, Gregory (VEN) GP 5 Tot 111
Avg 22.2
2. Arop, Mangisto (CAN) GP 5 Tot 85
AVg 17.0
3. Toussaint López, Car(MEX) GP 5 Tot 83
16.6
4. Nocedal Pagano, Mati(ARG) GP 5 Tot 73
Avg 14.6
5. Sosa Carrión, Isaac (PUR) GP 5 Tot 69
Avg 13.8

Rebounds
# Player GP Def Offe Tot Avg
1. Barriola, Miguel (URU) GP 5 Def 49 Offe 22 Tot 71
Avg 14.2
2. Echenique, Gregory (VEN) GP 5 Def 43 Offe 25 Tot 68
Avg 13.6
3. Arop, Mangisto (CAN) GP 5 Def 42 Offe 9 Tot 51
Avg 10.2
4. Moss, Donathen (BAH) GP 5 Def 25 Offe 20 Tot 45
Avg 9.0
5. Orlietti Chera, Pablo (ARG) GP 5 Def 30 Offe14 Tot 44
Avg 8.8

Assists
# Player GP As Avg
1. Ecker, Yonaiker (VEN) GP 5 Tot 33
Avg 6.6
2. Walker, Kemba Hudl (USA) GP 5 Tot 25
AVg 5.0
3. Fernandez, Juan Manu(ARG) GP 5 Tot 21
Avg 4.2
4. Laprovittola, Nicolá(ARG) GP 5 Tot 18
Avg 3.6
5. Vivas Tames, Daniel (MEX) GP 5 Tot 17
Avg 3.4
http://www.fibaamericas.com/torneos_lid ... FPVIWCZCXY

TEAM - USA
4 WALLKER, Kemba - may 8, 1990 5'10"
5 WAYNS, Maalik - may 2, 1991 5'11"
6 LEE, Malcolm - may 22, 1990 6'4"
7 CHEEK, Dominic - january 2, 1990 6'5"
8 RELEFORD, Travis - february 22, 1990 6'5"
9 HUMPHREY, Matthew - may 4, 1990 6'5"
10 MC DONALD, Leslie - february 4, 1991 6'5"
11 WEAR, David - september 21, 1990 6'9"
12 WEAR, Travis - september 21, 1990 6'9"
13 KELLY, Ryan - april 9, 1991 6'9"
14 GREEN, Ja Mycha - june 21, 1990 6'9"
15 POLMLEE, Mason - march 5, 1990 6'11"
Coach: MC KILLOP, Robert
Assistant: GRANT, Anthony
Assistant: THAMPSON, Jhon

TEAM - ARGENTINA
4 GAYNOR, Mateo - april 29, 1990 6'6"
5 FERNANDEZ, Juan Manuel - july 22, 1990 6'5"
6 GLINBERG, Federico - june 5, 1990 6'7"
7 FERNANDEZ, Juan Emilio - april 30, 1991 6'5"
8 ORLIETTI, Pablo Martin - january 17, 1990 6'10"
9 NOCEDAL, Matias - may 30, 1990 6'3"
10 GONZALEZ, Luciano A. - january 1, 1990 6'5"
11 RAMIREZ, Claudio F. - february 23, 1990 6'4"
12 MARTIN, Maximiliano - february 27, 1990 6'4"
13 LAPROVITTOLA, Nicolas - january 31, 1990 6'1"
14 LANDONI, Andres - september 17, 1990 6'9"
15 RASIO, Lisandro - dicember 30, 1990 6'7"
Coach: TOLCACHIER Enrique
Assistant: JAPEZ, Eduardo
Assistant: FERNANDEZ, Marcelo

Umm.. what?

Stern rigged another outcome?

but why would he have USA lose...too confusing

???????????

Does it make me a bad American if I admit to not having a clue who a single player on the U18 team is?

It's simple, Argentina won the 2008 FIBA Americas Under18 Championship.

What's the point of this thread?

And, what the hell is u18?

u18 = Under 18 years old.

It is a FIBA tournament for high school age kids.

These tournaments don't really mean anything in terms of pro potential, but this is just further evidence that basketball outside of the U.S. has made leaps and bounds since being introduced overseas.

Flash3 wrote:What's the point of this thread?

I guess to highlight team USA U18 defeat, they loose every other blue moon. I think their all-time record for this competition now stands at 33-2. Thread belongs in the international forum though.

Anyway, it's a shame that the games were not broadcast, but extend highlights are available. Kemba truly looks awesome, makes you wonder how good B.Jenkins is if not a single scout considered Kemba better than Jenkins. Nocedal was unremarkable in the highlights, guess he wasn't attacking the rim much.

NetsForce wrote:These tournaments don't really mean anything in terms of pro potential

partially agree with this. I think tournaments like these are a good opportunity to see how much above the rest of the class some players are, but on the other hand when you have a team featuring Melo, Bosh, Iguodala and DeronW loosing to Venezuela then you know you shouldn't put all that much stock into the results either. Good to scout but bad to judge based on boxscores.

I think it also furthers the point that it is a huge advantage to have a team of players who have grown up going to the same camps and playing on the same teams rather than throwing a bunch of guys together for a summer who may or may not have played on an AAU team with 1 other guy on the team.

Ghosten wrote:Does it make me a bad American if I admit to not having a clue who a single player on the U18 team is?

You aren't the only bad american then. Who are those guys?

I don't see a problem with the thread, but damn, that USA roster is weak compared to the roster than they could have fielded.

Can't take anything away from Argentina though, congratulations.

Do you think the OP would have made this thread if USA won? Nope. You really rubbed it in dude, I'm shredding my SS card tomorrow.

I'll join you -- and I'm moving to Canada, too.

My props for argentines. It was a legitm title that USA dont use to lost, since they always try to send their max power for this FIBA young tournaments.

Two years ago, they sent Bayless, Beasley, Spencer Hawes...

In 2002, it was Melo, Bosh, Iguodala, Deron Willians...

So, I have no doubts that at least 4 or 5 names of this US team will be major names in the pro league in a near future.

Congratulations to Argentina but..... what the hell does USA mean?

The numbers following each player's names are their rankings among Scout's top 100.......

4 WALLKER, Kemba - 12 (2008)
5 WAYNS, Maalik - 25 (2009)
6 LEE, Malcolm - 39 (2008)
7 CHEEK, Dominic - 11 (2009)
8 RELEFORD, Travis - 57 (2008)
9 HUMPHREY, Matthew - unrated (2008)
10 MC DONALD, Leslie - 37 (2009)
11 WEAR, David - 61 (2009)
12 WEAR, Travis - 62 (2009)
13 KELLY, Ryan - 13 (2009)
14 GREEN, Ja Mycha - 20 (2008)
15 POLMLEE, Mason - 12 (2009)

Not a single top 10 player in their respective recruiting class and international fans want to assert this was a meaningful title? 2008 was one of the worst national recruiting classes in history, and still we didn't send a DeRozan, Evans, Monroe, Mullens, Holiday, Hopson, Roe, etc. All it shows is we can't sleepwalk anymore in international competitions, and even then we can make it all the way to the final.

I can't wait for the Olympics. No excuses for the squad we sent this time around....and I don't think they're going to be needed.

Bernman wrote:Not a single top 10 player in their respective recruiting class and international fans want to assert this was a meaningful title?

First of all, and as you probably know, scouting rankings can vary greatly from site to site, ie Kemba is ranked as a top 5 prospect for the 2008 class in scouts.com and a top 10 prospect from the 2009 class was cut from the team. Still, nobody disputes the fact that this USA team was not even close to the best the country could field. With that said, I'm wondering who or what this post is addressing, as as far as I can tell nobody on this topic is taking a piss at Team USA or USA basketball in general, or predicting the demise of American basketball. This IS a meaningful title for Argentina considering that, sans for Nocedal, none of the other guys on the Argentine rosters are (currently) considered to have NBA potential, so for them to be able to beat a (on paper) much-superior team featuring likely future NBA players, well it should be acknowledged as an achievement. When Venezuela beat that stacked U18 team USA nobody claimed that at around year 2008 that same team would be superior to what the senior Team USA has to offer, but it still was the hell of an achievement for Venezuela. Same case here.

Me thinks you should not look for haters where there is none.