Undefeated through six games but out of medal contention after seven. That would be France! Beaten by Spain, who almost didn't make it to the quarterfinals.

What about Turkey, five wins in a row, and lose their sixth game, which gets them seeded vs Greece? They lose in OT, and they're out too! One and out! How about Russia, losing to Serbia, another last-minute qualifier.

By the way, Turkey beat both Spain and Serbia in the second-round of the tournament. But now both Spain and Serbia are in the semi-finals. And France, Turkey, and Russia are not!

What's with the one-and-out 'playoff' structure? This ain't the World Cup, nor is it the NFL. It's a 'friggin' basketball tournament, one of national pride to many nations who every two years look forward to this thing.

I think it's about time the organizers of Euro Basket look at changing their playoff structure. At least have a best 2-out-of-3 series. After all, during the first two rounds, a total of a gazillion games are played, and only four teams are dropped each round; first from 16 to 12, then from 12 to 8. Then come the playoffs, and one loss and you're done! Go home, and face your nation! It's a shame!!!

Here's another viewpoint: courtesy of clipsnation.com

The tournament, as is often the case with these international affairs, has a structure that is more than a little bizarre to Americans raised on the win-or-go-home finality of March Madness. They've played 24 games over the last 3 days, and that has allowed them to eliminate all of four teams, whittling the field down from 16 to a mere 12. Win-or-go-home just became win-one-game-out-of-three-or-go-home.

Now that four whole teams have been eliminated, it's time to play 18 more games to get rid of four more teams. So that's 42 games to cut the field from 16 to 8.

When they finally get down to eight quarterfinalists, they enter a single-elimination phase. That's when it gets serious.

Lucky thing for Team Spain, too. The 2006 World Champs, Spain entered this tournament as heavy favorites ... They finished the preliminary round with a 2-1 record that was even less impressive than it seemed. But they're through to the next round, with plenty of time to start playing better and earn a high seed in the quarterfinals.

(They were 2-1 in the second round as well - but they then beat France and are now in the semis - and can even repeat as champs! Go figure!)

Turkey needed overtime to shake off Serbia 69-64 and keep their unbeaten record intact (4-0) in Group F of EuroBasket 2009 Qualifying Round. Ersan Ilyasova had 22 points and 11 rebounds as the Turks came through in a game which saw 14 lead changes and 13 ties.

Bogdan Tanjevic's side led 63-61 before Milos Teodosic buried a long three-pointer to edge Serbia in front with 43 seconds to go.

Serbia then fouled Semih Erden who made one of two free-throws to tie it at 64. Turkey had a chance to win in the dying moments, but Kerem Tunceri's runner in the lane was long and the referees ruled Hidayet Turkoglu's tip-in to have been after the final buzzer.

Turning point: Novica Velickovic turned the ball over and Hidayet Turkoglu found Ersan Ilyasova for a lay-up and a 67-64 lead with 35 seconds to go in overtime.

Hero: Ilyasova stepped up when his team-mates couldn't. He made seven of 12 shots, including four of six attempts from beyond the arc, and did a bang-up job on the boards.

Stats: Hidayet Turkoglu had a night to forget from an individual standpoint, finishing with just four points on one of 16 shooting. Turkey must also be disappointed at their 18 of 31 performance from the free-throw line.

via eurobasket2009.org

If Turkey travelled to Poland for the EuroBasket hoping to build momentum for the FIBA World Championship they are hosting next year, then right now Bogdan Tanjevic's side is a runaway train.

Having struggled in their Efes Pilsen World Cup, the Turks have discovered the meaning of the word toughness, running roughshod over Group D opponents Lithuania, Bulgaria and hosts Poland in Wroclaw.

On Saturday, they claimed their biggest win in many a year with a 63-60 triumph over Spain in Lodz.

What everyone must be wondering from Ankara to Istanbul, and all the way to Madrid no doubt, is what kind of deal the Turks have made with the devil.

Tanjevic's team is unrecognisable from the side that stumbled and bumbled its way to an unimpressive Qualifying Round exit two years ago in Spain.

The answer is simple.

Turkey are passing, and harassing.

They are blocking, and shocking.

So far, there is no way past them.

They never looked like losing to Spain, last year's silver-medal winners at the Beijing Games who are suddenly a team in crisis.

That was true even when Sergio Llull bravely entered the lane and attempted to dunk Spain to victory in the final seconds.

Ersan Ilyasova and Omer Asik were there to meet and greet, and send the ball in the opposite direction.

"I am very satisfied because we have beaten the world champions and the EuroBasket 2007 runners-up," Tanjevic said.

"The key to the win was our transition defense. We used a lot of energy for this. It's another game which will help us reach our goal of making top four of this tournament.

"We have qualification (for the Quarter-Finals) in our hands and now we have to fight for positions."

Turkey under coach Tanjevic are a team of ups and downs.

A man who knows a little something about winning after guiding Italy to the gold medal at the EuroBasket in France 10 years ago, Tanjevic's men were awful at EuroBasket 2005, excellent at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan and awful again at EuroBasket 2007 in Spain.

Last year, after being forced to go through qualifying for this year's EuroBasket, Turkey were brilliant and twice defeated France.

The form of the team didn't look good in Ankara at the Efes Pilsen World Cup, but they have played hard when the games have mattered and that means they have been delivering knockout punches in Poland.

"After the tournament in Turkey, we realized there were certain things we had to do to dominate in the game and that was to hustle all over the court and play defense for 40 minutes," guard Sinan Guler said.

"We did it in Wroclaw and here today (Saturday)."

Year after year, tournament after tournament, Tanjevic has never shied away from yelling in anger at his troops in a bid to improve their play.

He has usually cut a frustrated figure in press conferences.

So far in Poland, it's been all smiles.

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Full Story: orlandosentinel.com

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