The draw for this summer's Eurobasket Women's finals, which are being held in Israel and Slovenia, took place earlier this month. GB have been drawn in Group C along with Slovenia , Germany and the 2021 losing finalists France. This is GB's first appearance in the finals since 2019, when they made it to the quarter finals before being knocked out by Hungary. The highly experienced Temi Fagbenle finished that tournament as the highest average points scorer with 20.9 points and unsurprisingly Fagbenle, who has a WNBA winners ring on her CV, has continued the free scoring during the qualifying campaign and is averaging a staggering 21.5 points, a higher average than the top 3 points scores for other three nations in GB groups at the finals. The impressive stats from the qualifying campaign don't stop there, with Holly Winterburn and Kennedy Leonard averaging more assists than the top three players in the French and German rosters. Encouraging as these stats are, they will mean nothing once it's game time this summer as all three of GB's opponents will be a tough test. France will be the clear favourites to win the group after losing only one of their games during qualifying. Like GB, Germany advanced as the best of the runners up in their group, whereas Slovenia finished third in group D behind Poland and Turkey with three wins and three losses, but qualify for the finals as they are joint hosts.
GB will kick their tournament off on Thursday 15th June when they face Slovenia in what will have the feel of a home game for GB opponents. Just 24 hours later, GB will face one of the tournament's favourites France in what will be the toughest test for the team in a series of tough games, and lastly GB will face Germany on Sunday 18th. All of GB's games are being held in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana which will host all of GB group games and any potential knock out games that GB might be involved in. Thankfully like most of continental Europe, Slovenia is only one hour ahead of the UK so there won't be any late nights or early morning starts for GB Fans to watch the games. The tip off times for games has not yet been set by FIBA but every group game either being held in Ljubljana or the Israeli city of Tel Aviv are being played from Thursday 15th of June to Sunday 18th, with the final being held on 25th of June. Although it has not yet been announced what the tip off times will be or whether games will be shown on British TV, Courtside have the broadcasting rights as they did with the GB Men's games. However, with the rise of the game in the UK, we can hope that the BBC decide to show the tournament similar to those two remaining qualifying games held in Manchester earlier in the year. What we do know is GB's potential route through the tournament. The winner of each group will go through to the quarter finals automatically, with the second and third place of each group then playing in a "quarter final qualifying" game similar to the play in that the NBA now have. The tournament then follows a normal knock out format until the final. GB will need to avoid finishing bottom of the group to advance, which is a very achievable target given the talent that we had in the roster throughout qualification. If GB are to finish 2nd or 3rd in group C, they will then play one of their counterparts from Group D which contains Turkey, Slovakia, Serbia and GB's foes from 2019- Hungary. If GB advance past this stage, they will then play winners of Group D or the winners of one of the quarter final qualifying games from either group C or D if GB win our group.
GB will go into this tournament as an unknown quantity compared to our more established and storied European neighbours such as France, Belgium, Spain or current champions Serbia, but as anyone who watches the WBBL and the GB games throughout the qualifying rounds will know, GB is a team full of talent, experience and the knowledge of how to grind out wins if need be. GB Basketball is currently going through a transition period and has a new CEO at the helm. How this affects the GB team remains unclear, but anything that can support the team this summer will a step in the right direction for a group of players who deserve our governing bodies support, as well as all hoops fans throughout the UK. Please keep your eyes peeled over the coming weeks and months as GB Basketball Weekly will bring you previews of each of the GB group C Opponents, as well as all of the news around the GB team and the players who will be looking to book a place to Slovenia in June.
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