Almar

[bradleyfan124]

Of course I have watched. Time will tell how he does vs DI talent. But he largely carries a weak team, guards opponents 2 yrs older & 4 in taller & consistently puts up both offensive & defensive numbers that compare to the best 20 y/o’s in Europe. He may be a yr or 2 from playing against 23 & 25 y/o’s in the MVC but I’m a big fan.

I am a big fan also. Alot of upside

[yoda]

More good news regarding Almar Atlason!
After his nice showing at the U20 Championships, Almar (and his U20 teammate Orri Gunnarsson) has now been invited to join the
Iceland Senior men's National Team (their Olympic Team) - as they practice and then play some
friendly games this summer, then play in the Olympic qualifiers in August.
The team currently has 21 invited players, so we will have to wait to see if Almar makes the final roster.
https://www-feykir-is.translate.goog...n&_x_tr_pto=sc

- last part of July, friendly games vs. senior Men's Teams from Hungary & Israel
- August 10, travel to Turkey for Olympic Pre-qualifier Tournament in order to hopefully earn a spot in the 2024 Olympics
They will be in a group with Turkey, Ukraine & Bulgaria, then if they advance, they play in a knockout round with others who advanced from group play.
Hopefully, this comes over well translated:
https://www-karfan-is.translate.goog...n&_x_tr_pto=sc

They start with a game vs. Turkey (now known as Turkiye) at noon Illinois time on August 12.

https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/turkiye/2023/games

40 teams will compete for five Olympic spots. Great Britain (DLO) and Netherlands (Luuk) will also be there- https://olympics.com/en/news/paris-2...ng-tournaments

[houstonbrave]

I know it is good for him and he is doing well which is great but he really needs to get to the US to play with teammates and start to figur out the speed of the US hame

[Da Coach]

More highlights of Almar from the FIBA U20 tournament last week-

https://twitter.com/Eurospects/status/1682520911021318144

[Da Coach]

Another Almar Atlason highlight clip-

https://twitter.com/PDTScouting/status/1682562457863172096

[yoda]

More details of upcoming friendly games.
In Hungary July 29, Iceland will play Israel. They also play Hungary possibly July 30.
Then in Latvia on Aug. 4, Netherlands plays Israel, then Latvia.

There is one troubling development- Lithuania, Estonia & Latvia threaten to boycott the Olympics if Russia plays- https://eng.lsm.lv/article/culture/s...mpics.a517879/

The Olympic Pre-qualifying Tournament starts August 12, Iceland & Netherlands both playing,

https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/turkiye/2023/games

One last note- Bradley's Ari Boya had his first experience with the Cameroon Men's National Team, as they played a preparatory
"Afrocan 2023" Tournament earlier this month. This suggests Ari likely will be with the Cameroon team in August when they also
play in their Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tourney in Nigeria. In the tourney Cameroon played three games and went 0-3, Ari did fairly well, tho.
- in a 78-50 loss to Morocco, Ari played just 14 min but had 5 pts, 4 reb
- in a 71-65 loss to Mozambique, Ari played just 9 min and had 5 pts, 2 reb and 1 blk
- in a 70-63 loss to DR Congo, Ari had 5 pts, 5 reb, 2 asst, and 2 steals in just 14 min

[yoda]

Almar Atlason is on campus working out with the team... perhaps he is not going to play with his National team
or possibly he will head back there in a couple weeks.

just 8 days previously he was leaving Greece to head back to Iceland with his team, so he's
jetted 6,000 miles - gotta be a bit exhausted...

[Da Coach]

Good news! Here is a photo taken yesterday (Tuesday, 7/25). All 15 rostered players are now on campus.
Almar is the 2nd player from the right, between Connor Linke and Connor Hickman.

[tomahawk chop]

Good news! Here is a photo taken yesterday (Tuesday, 7/25). All 15 rostered players are now on campus.
Almar is the 2nd player from the right, between Connor Linke and Connor Hickman.

This is good news because he needs to be able to get familiar with the team as far as players and concepts in being ready for the upcoming season. The college game in the US. is faster and more physical then the FIBA games. I think Almar has the potential to be a very good player at Bradley. This will be a learning year for him in my opinion. He is a very good shooter and rebounds well but defense and ball handling need to improve.

[yoda]

Almar isn't playing with his national team, but in the first of their friendly games warming up to the FIBA World Cup,
Iceland trails Israel 44-38 at half. 11 players have played and 9 of them have scored for Iceland, including 7 pts for
Almar's U20 teammate Orri Gunnarson.


edit- update - Iceland comes back and wins 81-79
Iceland with balanced scoring, 5 players in double figures

[yoda]

today's friendly game vs Hungary ends with Iceland losing 73-69, shot poorly from 3-pt (6-36)

[yoda]

Koch Bar & South Sudan have added an some exhibition games
All games are in Melbourne Australia
vs Brazil Tues Aug 14 - 5:30pm (2:30am Central Time)
vs Venezuela Wed. Aug 16 - 5:30pm (2:30am Central Time)
vs. Australia Thursday Aug 17 - 7:45pm (4:45am Central Time)

These are friendly games leading up to the FIBA World Cup at the end of August
The South Sudanese team went very early to Australia and is training, practicing and playing their
exhibitions there to adjust fully to the time difference.

also Finland plays Lithuania Aug 4 at 8pm (noon in Central IL) (Ville is currently an alternate for the National Team)
(The World University Games are underway in China but I do not see any players on any roster that are of interest)

Here's a list of all the planned exhibition games- https://www.fiba.basketball/basketba...world-cup-2023

[yoda]

Former ISU Redbird Elijah Clarance is playing for the Swedish Men's National Team
Today he scored 21 pts in a friendly game loss to Ukraine (74-72)
https://www.flashscore.com/player/cl...ijah/ImC78KGe/

Sweden did not qualify for the FIBA World Cup later in August, but they will play in Turkiye in the Pre-Olympic Qualifiers
to try to earn a spot in the 2024 Olympics - https://www.fiba.basketball/opqt/turkiye/2023/games

Very few of these World Cup teams are using NBA GUYS, but France is going full tilt with a roster of
at least five NBA guys and a couple more who were drafted.

[LittleBrave]

Good news! Here is a photo taken yesterday (Tuesday, 7/25). All 15 rostered players are now on campus.
Almar is the 2nd player from the right, between Connor Linke and Connor Hickman.

Good-looking group of Braves! Our b2b MVC Champ BRAVES!

[yoda]

International friendly-
Netherlands 37 - Israel 39 at half - no individual state avail, but Rienk Mast started, he's #51 in orange
Luuk van Bree is #20 in orange
(being played in Barcelona, Spain)

#33 in white, Israel's Gabriel Chachashvili is also very impressive - a lot like Malevy
(refs in green shirts with ad patches sewn all over- they look like NASCAR pit crew!)

Here's the link if you want to watch live streamed - it's halftime now

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KKjHbVm76S0

Wichita also just finished their first game in Greece- they won 76-60


still oddly, NOTHING reported on UNI's tour games from Brazil other than they split the first two.
Nothing on games 3 or 4 and no stats or game reports whatsoever - strange?
Wouldn't they want all kinds of publicity so they can use the trip as a recruiting tool? Why secrecy?
Boise State beats a pretty obscure Canadian college team from Thompson Rivers University 83-60

University of Illinois leave to day for Spain exhibitions


NICE article on Ville's signing pro
https://www.mbl.is/sport/korfubolti/...landslidsmann/