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Fresh off being named new Head Coach at Ryerson, Toronto's Roy Rana will be part of Canada's contingent in Puerto Rico and fans will be able to follow his thoughts on the tournament via his tournament blog His first post is already up !


Mexico and Uruguay had quite the brawl over the weekend; below are some perspectives


Wild Mexico, Uruguay Melee

I'm hangin' out with my boy and former UCLA center Mike Fey yesterday when he asks if he can use my computer to check his email. I hand him the laptop and he gets to work.

I sit on the couch, unable to see what he's looking at. Mike then starts yelling, "Yeah, Mata! Get 'em son!"

I have no idea what he's talking about, but I do know that former UCLA forward Lorenzo Mata is currently playing for Team Mexico, so it is assumed that Mike is watching some highlights. He continues hyping Mata until his voice changes.

"No way! No way! No way!"

Now I have to get up and check it out. Fey starts the video over, still shocked, and I begin to watch. It's Mexico vs. Uruguay in some sort of international game. Mata throws down a sweet dunk and I get a little hyped too because Mata is Mad Boom Tho.

Then, all of a sudden, I see someone else I know. It's Romel Beck and he's just been fouled. I lean in closer to the computer screen as I watch him get a little aggressive with the guy who just fouled him. The next thing I know— BOOM! A brawl is started with Romel in the center of it! I was just on the same team as Romel a few months ago and now I'm watching in disbelief as he fights for his life in Uruguay.

Honestly, it's one of the biggest basketball melees I've seen and it involved two of my good, Boom Tho shirt wearing buddies. You have to watch this for yourself. Whether you know Mata or Beck from their college days, or you just want to see a man hurl a chair at another man in a powder blue jersey, this is for you.

Here we go again.

In another boxing match, a basketball game broke out between Mexico and Uruguay Saturday night when both teams competed in a preparation game for the 2009 FIBA Americas tournament.

Tensions came to a head when Mexico’s star player Romel Beck got into the face of Uruguayan guard Emilio Taboada after a foul call.

From there, it was mayhem as players faced off, not knowing where to turn, they punched, grabbed, and kicked at each other, throwing chairs and anything else they could get their hands on.

Eventually the Uruguayan players sought refuge in their locker room as many of the Mexican players followed looking to continue the fight.

The game was called after the tussle. Mexico was up at that point 68-60 with 46 seconds remaining in the third period.

This is the third all-out brawl in the last month. In late July Iran and Jordan went at it during the Jone Cup. The Jordanians forfeited the game that eventually cost them the tournament title.

Then in early August, Canada and Italy brawled in a preparation game during a four-nations tournament.

Mexico and Uruguay are both in Group A during the Tournament of the Americas, and are set to play again in the final game of the qualifying round Sunday, August 30th, 2009. The tournament starts Wednesday.

Here is an Argentina preview from a big Argy fan who has his own blog

It’s been a while since I’ve followed anything on basketball in recent months. Now’s the time I guess it’s just right with the upcoming Torneo FIBA Americas.

Originally to be held in Mexico, the competition has since been moved to Puerto Rico. The most important aspect about this competition is that it will also act as the Qualifying round for North, Central & South American region for next years World Championship to be held in Turkey.

Last Hurrah of the Golden Generation?

When the curtain was brought down in Beijing last year, it was clear that the time for the team of this decade is coming to a closure. These next few years might just be the final chapter in what has been glorious career for them (gold in Athens’04 being the pinnacle). But still I wouldn’t say that our NT is a spend force as there is still some unfinished business left in what we must look forward too.

Some Familiar Faces, Some New Faces

As expected coach Sergio FERNANDEZ was bound to take a team without the big names. Manu GINOBILI, Andres NOCIONI., Carlos DELFINO & Fabricio OBERTO for some reason have opted out for this campaign.

Here are the final squad details.

Point Guard
Juan Pablo CANTERO (Atenas)
Pablo PRIGIONI (Real Madrid)

Shooting Guard
Paolo QUINTEROS (CAI Zaragoza)
Diego GARCIA (Burgos)

Small Forward
Sebastián Matías SANDES (Fuenlabrada)
Federico KAMMERICHS (Regatas)

Power Forward
Luis SCOLA (Houston Rocktets)
Leonardo GUTIERREZ (Penarol)
Leonardo MAINOLDI (Fuenlabrada)
Andrés PELUSSI, (Libertad)

Center
Román GONZALEZ (Quimsa)
Juan Pedro GUTIERREZ (CB Granada)

On paper, it is quite a formidable team that is capable of completing the task. SCOLA and PRIGIONI are the best name in their respective position in the entire competition. Remember both of them played together with Tau Ceramica in Spain. Their pick-n-roll combination was a huge success there.

QUNITEROS will be starting shooting guard in the absence of Manu. I remember him being outstanding against USA and Lithuania in Beijing. The Big Guy, GONZALEZ will start at center while KAMMERICHS looks likely to take up the small forward role. With this line up, SCOLA will once again lead the offense as he did tremendously two years in Las Vegas.

Among the new names in my opinion are CANTERO and PELUSSI. While the rest of the squad have featured for the NT in the past.

Is It All Bad News?

No I wouldn’t say that.

One of the good news is that there is NO team USA. They have earned an automatic spot by virtue of winning gold in Beijing and decided not to take part in this campaign. Meaning the competition is all open for the rest to play for.

On top of that, FIBA Americas will have four slot available for next years World Championship. This means as long as our boys make it to the semis, they’re there already.

The Competition

Our fierce rival Brazil is most likely to be the favourite to captured the crown as they do have their big names from the NBA available. Then again so it was two years yet they still choke when it matter the most. So you’ll never know what might happen.

As for the rest; the host, Canada, Dominican Republic could be the tough proposition to play against with. Besides them, I don’t see that much of threat from the rest of the pack. We will follow the entire the tournament from here.

Another preview this time from Interbasket.net

Event: 2009 Americas Championships
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Discuss: Americas Championships Thread
Info: The tournament will determine which four teams qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championships of Basketball.

The tournament will feature ten teams from Northern and Latin Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The favorites coming into the tournament is a solid Brazil team and the experienced Argentinians.

Brazil dominated the Tuto Marchand Cup with great efficiency with even contributions from Leandro Barbosa and Marcelo Machado in the backcourt, and Anderson Varejão and Tiago Splitter in the frontcourt.

Despite 2007 Americas MVP Luis Scola down low, Argentina didn’t fare as well in the Marchand Cup (0-3), but were without the services of Pablo Prigioni, who will join the team and run the point.

With Prigioni, Scola, as well as Federico Kammerichs and Leonardo Gutiérrez, team Argentina is still a power even without Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Carlos Delfino, and Fabricio Oberto.

The unproven Dominican Republic team have looked great in preparation games and is the dark horse of the tournament. The team maybe the best team RD has ever assembled and features three current NBA players in Francisco García, Al Horford, and Charlie Villanueva.

The three top contenders for gold, Argentina, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, will all compete in a very difficult Group B. The other two teams are Panama, who is no slouch either and Venezuela.

In Group A, look for Puerto Rico to give out a good fight, especially playing at home, with veteran mainstays Larry Ayuso, Carlos Arroyo, and Daniel Santiago.

Canada will compete with swingmen Carl English, Andy Rautins with NBA player Joel Anthony in the middle. The other three teams are Uruguay, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Mexico without Eduardo Najera.

The United States will not send a team to the tournament after receiving an automatic bid to the World Championships by winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The United States won the 2007 Americas Championship held in Las Vegas by going undefeated in their ten games. The USA was led by Carmelo Anthony’s 21.3 points and LeBron James‘ all-around game and blistering 76% from the field (73-96 FG). Argentina captured the silver medal, and Puerto Rico defeated Brazil for the bronze medal.

This year’s Championships will feature several other high profile players including Romel Beck (Mexico), Esteban Batista (Uruguay), Luis Flores (Dominican Republic), Levon Kendall (Canada), Héctor Romero (Venezuela), and Óscar Torres (Venezuela).

Rutgers' Gregory Echenique and Mike Rosario competing for national teams

by Star-Ledger staff

Mike Rosario and Gregory Echenique are playing for Puerto Rico and Venezuela, respectively.

Rutgers rising sophomore forward Gregory Echenique has been named to the Venezuela Senior National Team and rising sophomore Mike Rosario saw his first game action with the Puerto Rico Senior National Team.

Echenique will play for Venezuela at the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico, beginning Aug. 26, while Rosario played four minutes and scored two points in Puerto Rico's 80-70 loss to Brazil on Wednesday at the Marchand Continental Cup Championship in San Juan.

Echenique and Rosario join junior guard Mike Coburn, a member of Team Jamaica, as current Scarlet Knights competing for senior national squads. Coburn played both guard spots for Jamaica and helped the team to the gold medal at the 2009 Caribbean Championships, held June 30-July 4, in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Rosario and Echenique both take the floor as the youngest member of their respective national teams. Coburn was the third youngest player on Team Jamaica after Louisville's Samardo Samuels and Valparaiso's Michael Rogers.

Echenique, whose father played professionally in Venezuela's Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, has been training with the Venezuela squad. He played in "friendly" games against Puerto Rico held in Isla Margarita, Venezuela, in early August, before Rosario was active on the senior team roster. Echenique led the Venezuela U18 team at the 2008 Tournament of the Americas in Formosa, Argentina, pacing the tournament in scoring (22.2), blocked shots (3.6) and free throws made (8.2), while placing second in rebounding (13.6).

Rosario and the Puerto Rico Senior National Team opened the Marchand Continental Cup Championship with a 60-55 win over Canada on Tuesday. The team will conclude the event versus Argentina on Thursday evening.

Rosario competed for the Puerto Rico U19 National Team at the 23rd World Juniors Basketball Tournament in Douai, France (June 10-14), before traveling to Auckland, New Zealand for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship (July 2-12). He was named to the World Juniors All-Tournament Team after helping Puerto Rico to a 3-2 record. Rosario then led the FIBA Championships in scoring with a 24.0 average, helped by a 54-point outburst versus France. he made 44-of-54 (81.5) free throw attempts and averaged 4.7 rebounds, while playing an average of 29.2 minutes-per-game in New Zealand.