GARDEN GROVE, Ca. – The first two days of the 2013 version of the vent has demonstrated that adidas Nations is about a lot more than some of the best young hoopster who call the United States “home”:
Those two days worth of action have shown that the adidas folks lined up some pretty good talent from across the globe, too.
The team representing Africa has been quite the surprise over the first three days, collecting a win over the USA 2015-16 Blue squad on Friday night, then losing a tight contest to USA 2014 Red Saturday morning and then pounding the club from Australia Saturday night in the Next Level Sports Complex.
Three players from Africa have stood out in particular: 6-foot-7 forward Michael Nzei of Nigeria (who will be a senior at Our Savior in Centerreach, NY, next month), 6-3 guard Sidy Ndir (from Senegal) and 6-7 wing Papa Sadia Ndiaye Diatte (from Senegal).
Nzei has snatched 23 (23!) offensive rebounds; Ndir is a left-handed point guard with a solid jump shot as well; and Diatte gets incredible lift on his jump and is a very good passer in the open court, as well.
Africa has a bye in the final round of pool play Sunday morning and will be either the first or second seed from pool B in the playoff semifinals Sunday night.
Australia has gone 0-3 in pool B but several players have been impressive, the most notable of those being 6-8 Jonah Bolden, who has averaged 13.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He’s set to attend Findlay Prep in Henderson, NV, this coming school year and almost assuredly will be heavily recruited by colleges in the United States.
Another Findlay Prep player, 6-6 Braian Alexander Angola Rodas (from Columbia), has been the best player for the Latin American squad.
Russia (called “Europe” in this event) has one of the two best shot blockers in the field in 7-2 Andrey Desyatnikov.
The other superior shot blocker in the event is 6-10 Myles Turner (Euless, TX, Trinity), who is playing for the USA 2014 Blue club.
Two of the three-best “center-types” in the field, Turner and 6-10 junior-to-be Stephen Zimmerman (Las Vegas Bishop Gorman), could spend a lot of time matched up when USA 2014 Blue faces USA 2015-16 Red on Court 1 Sunday morning at 10:35.
The two other USA squads, 2014 Red and 2015-16 Blue, are also set to tip off at the same time on Court 4.
Games have been closed to the public (only family members, media-types and NBA employees – for the most part – have been watching) and will continue to be so during the Sunday morning and evening sessions.
But games will be open to the public when the action wraps up at Long Beach City College for two games Monday evening.
Great article Frank…enjoy reading all of your articles!