The International Basketball Opinion

By ALAN WALLS Welcome to The International Basketball Opinion , the only blog specifically dedicated to international basketball news, business and current events. Four out of 12!  In the game of basketball four out of 12, or 33%, is a low shooting percentage. But in this case, it is EXTREMELY low. What I am referring to is the amount of female head coaches in the WNBA during the 2020 season! Four out of 12! In an article published December 11, 2020 in the The Atlantic by Hannah Withiam entitled “Women’s basketball has a coaching ‘crisis.’ What steps are needed for change?” Withiam states: Of the 12 head coaches in the WNBA in 2020, eight were men; of the four women, only one (Phoenix coach Sandy Brondello) was a former WNBA player. Vickie Johnson, another former player who was named Dallas Wings head coach Wednesday after Brian Agler’s departure, becomes the only Black female coach in a league made up of about 80 percent Black players. Summary: 4 female head coaches in 2020. Only ...

By ALAN WALLS Welcome to The International Basketball Opinion , the only blog specifically dedicated to international basketball news, business and current events. Though many of my blog posts are critical of FIBA, I want it to be clear that I am not anti-FIBA. Quite the contrary. I am a fan of FIBA and its regional and global competitions and my hope is that in one small way or another my criticisms and suggestions may lead to changes and improvements. With that being said, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate FIBA and highlight some of the positive global initiatives they have undertaken to help grow the game in underdeveloped and underserved countries and regions. Last month FIBA announced the launch of their FIBA PLUS Strategy and Planning Program with the  National Basketball Feder ation of Trinidad and Tobago and last week the  Guam Basketball Confederation and the  National Basketball Federation of Cape Verde  serving as their first particip...

UPDATE: Mali ended up pulling of its second upset, if you can call it that, in two days beating Senegal in the final 82-80 to win the 2020 FIBA U18 African Championship. Final Standings: 1. Mali (2-3 record), 2. Senegal (3-2), 3. Egypt (4-1), 4. Guinea (1-4). The team with the best record of 4-1 finishes third… go figure. On the women’s side basically the same thing happened, yet this time Egypt benefited, and Mali got screwed. Egypt turned back Mali 68-63 to win the U18 Africa crown despite entering the final with a 1-3 record and having lost to Mali twice in the pool play double round-robin. Mali finished group play a perfect 4-0, yet their one loss relegated them to second place. Final standings: 1. Egypt (2-3), 2. Mail (4-1), 3. Senegal (1-3). Mali finishes 4-1 and beats Egypt two out of three games, yet must settle for second place… what? What should they have done in the three-team women’s event? A double round-robin, as they did, or a triple round-robin with six games each and...

UPDATE: Indonesia has been confirmed as the host of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup!  Did this blog post have anything to do with it? I am not sure, but I have many FIBA employees on my email list... maybe! By ALAN WALLS Welcome to the International Basketball Opinion, the only blog specifically dedicated to international basketball news, business and current events. This week FIBA announced the qualification process for the Indonesian national team for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. It is flawed, lacks creativity and does nothing to promote basketball in Indonesia nor its national team. It also does not give them much of a chance. An exciting and electric three-game winner-gets-the-last-spot play-in series in Indonesia in a sold-out arena? I just set a world record for hyphens in one sentence, I think. Indonesia is co-hosting the 2023 World Cup along with Japan and the Philippines, making it the first WC to be hosted by multiple countries. Unlike Japan and the Philippines, who participated in t...

By ALAN WALLS Welcome to the International Basketball Opinion, the only blog specifically dedicated to international basketball news, business and current events. “What's in a name? That which FIBA calls a competition by any other name would be as recognized?” – Coach Bill Shakespeare, head coach of the London Lords. During the pandemic many individuals and organizations have taken advantage of the free time to reevaluate their goals, mission and strategies. It is therefore a great opportunity for FIBA to reconsider its event naming and branding strategies. In 2002, FIBA launched their ONE FAMILY campaign which included renaming the five regional confederations and bringing them under the global FIBA umbrella. FIBA Europe FIBA Americas FIBA Africa FIBA Asia FIBA Oceania For competition purposes Asia and Oceania have since been combined and countries from the two regions complete in “Asia” events. Simple. Concise. Uniform. Yet, still 18 y...

By ALAN WALLS Welcome to the 12th edition of The International Basketball Opinion, the world’s newest and only blog specifically dedicated to international basketball news, business and current events. “The team must leave the EuroLeague and go to FIBA [Basketball Champions League].” Whoa! Shots fired! Will Panathinaikos BC, founded in 1919 (parent club founded in 1908), be the first to bail on the EuroLeague for the Champions League?  Will other teams follow suit? That statement was made Tuesday by the 38-time Greek league and six-time EuroLeague champion Panathinaikos BC’s owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos as part of his announcement that he is putting the team up for sale for 25 million euros ($29 million). Through the years Giannakopoulos, who took over control of the club from his father and uncle in 2012, has been critical of the EuroLeague’s administration and structure. As a result, the league has fined him on multiple occasions. "My family has put in...

By ALAN WALLS Welcome to the 11th edition of The International Basketball Opinion, the world’s newest and only blog specifically dedicated to international basketball news, business and current events. Ladies and gentlemen, professional basketball is back… in New Zealand of all places. And with a novel change to the way it will play overtime. Amid the country’s reopening after passing the Coronavirus scare with flying colors, the NZ National Basketball League will tip off June 23 with an abbreviated 56-game, six-week, seven-team season. Games will be played in a doubleheader format with all games taking place at the Trusts Arena in Auckland and without fans, at least initially. Taking a page each out of the 64-team, $2 million winner-take-all The Basketball Tournament’s fourth-quarter Elam Ending and the 2019 NBA All Star Game, the NZNBL has come up with an innovative way it will decide overtime games. This is not your father’s overtime. They are marketing it as the “First ...