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Senegal have not won gold at the Afro-basket in 20 years so it is no surprise they are highly motivated, especially now that they are co-hosts with Tunisia. Last night they had a slow start against South African Republic, probably because of nerves, but the quality difference was obvious, selector Fisac did not keep anyone on the court for over 20 minutes. Today's game against Egypt is more important, this is the battle for the top spot in the group. Egypt convincingly defeated Mozambique who are without centers and physical strength, Egypt mostly passed the ball to their centers, and I Mozambique switched to zone defense, they would use the open shots. Egypt will not have such luxury today, Senegal have 7 players at 206 cm or taller, great centers over 210 cm tall, they are the most athletic team here, and Egypt will struggle in the offense. In preparation for this tournament, Egypt played at the Stankovic tournament, and lost to Germany B by 14, to China B by 1 and 26, to Croatia B by 28. At the last Afro-basket (they are now without their top scorers there, Saleh and Marei) Egypt lost to Angola whose quality is similar to Senegal, 63-83. Senegal recorded a minimal win over Angola there, and defeated Morocco by 6, Mozambique by 10. But Senegal are much better today than 2 years ago, they are led by experienced Spanish expert Fisac, they are playing at home in a great atmosphere. Details

This is basically the final for South Korea and New Zealand. If New Zealand beat Korea today, they will secure the World Championship. Korea can do the same if they win. New Zealand don't have a good offensive end but the defense is very good. They score 59,3 points on average, which is less than any other team. Their three-point percentage is 22 percent (also worst than any other team) and they shoot 36,1 percent from the floor. They averaged 59,3 points and allowed 58,3 in the group with China, Taipei and North Korea. They went at 112 with Taipei, who are most similar to Korea. South Korea were in a more competitive group with Japan and Australia and had 36,8 percent shooting. Some important players are clearly missed. They played at 126 against run and gun Japan and 132 against Australia. Last year in the Olympic qualifiers in the key game they lost to Belarus 39-56. This is another key game and I don't think it will fall apart. I think Korea with struggle with their opponents' toughness. At the same time, New Zealand cannot get their numbers significantly higher. Details

Turkish center at this Eurobasket is the American Quanitra Hollingsworth, WNBA player who is, looking at the physical strength, among 2-3 most dominant players at the tournament. She is 197 cm tall, she scored 15.7 on average here, with 11.3 rebounds (7.7 defensive, 3.7 offensive). In their games so far at the tournament she recorded: 14 points and 6 rebounds against Slovakia in a game that was quickly decided, so she had reduced playing time. In the second round against Italy she scored 29 points (10/20) and recorded 21 rebound in 37 minutes. That game is the most relevant one for today's game against Greece because the Italians are similar to the Greeks, short lineup without a center who could physically handle Hollingsworth. The American scored only 4 points with 7 rebounds in 13 minutes against Belarus in the second round, but that game was not relevant, because Turkey already secured the top spot before that game. Greece faced Serbia in the first round, their center Milovanovic scored 17 points with 8 rebound, and in the second round, their second center Lisec scored 15 points. In the 3rd round against France their centers Miyem and Clark played great /12 and 11 points), but France have a wider rotation in all positions, unlike Turkey. And finally, in the round of 16, against Russia, the Russian center Vadejeva scored 18 points and added 21 rebound in 35 minutes. Two years ago, at the European Championship, Sanders was Turkish center, and he was their best player against Greece (18 points and 12 rebounds). The option on the over of points by Hollingsworh is good, but I think that an even better option is the over on rebounds, because we can expect a tough game at lower numbers, and I see Hollingworth recording a double-digit number of rebounds. Details

Russia opened the competition with a win over Latvia, who prefer a very fast paced basketball. The game finished at 130 points. Belgium, on the other hand, played Montenegro, who are not at the highest level defense-wise, at 130 points. I expect an even tougher meeting today. I doubt Belgium can hit 25 in one quarter again. Russia have one of the best defenses here. They beat Belgium 57-48 in a test game in Italy. Belgium were without their top offensive end player Meessman which means they will be better on both ends of the floor today. Looking at Russia's test games with defense-oriented teams comparable to Belgium, they have 65-40 with Italy, 59-58 and 69-52 against Turkey. They had a 15-point lead over Belgium by the end of first half. The game fell apart early on which I do not expect to happen today. Belgium lost the test game to Italy 62-68 and to Spain 59-59 and 48-87. Details