MUNICH (FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017) - It's the penultimate Power Rankings and is it Spain smiling again?

RANK	NATION	MOVE
1		+1	Wins against Belgium showcased their world-class talent. Sancho Lyttle is back to give a serious defensive boost, while Marta Xargay and Alba Torrens look in particularly great shape. Throw in the fact Laia Palau might not be retiring after all and there are smiles all around.
2		-1	Alexander Vasin went 11 in a row to keep his perfect record as play-caller. With a double against Turkey, the return of the naturalized Epiphanny Prince and form of Maria Vadeeva, it’s still looking good.
3		+2	Marine Johannes is still looking like the player to watch on Czech soil with her burgeoning talent as she corralled her highest-ever score and while not always fully convincing, Les Bleues have now got prep wins under their belts – as well as Celine Dumerc setting a new appearance record for her country.
4			With additional preparation games during coming days against Japan, who will give them a great workout, Serbia are looking mean and ready to defend their title. Rumors of a potential demise might be premature and all the players are stepping up to talk about another great atmosphere in the locker room.
5		-2	Still rolling along nicely [if quiet of late]. But they have interesting and imminent preparation meetings against a hard-edged Montenegro, which will give us a further gauge of their readiness for their big debut. The naturalized Shante Evans also received her passport and so they look ready to go with just over a week remaining.
6		+2	They may have lost twice against Spain, but they were hugely competitive in one of the games and also Ann Wauters looked like she is finally shrugging off her injury issues and with class players under the hoop likely to make all the difference, Belgium remain a genuine threat on their return.
7		+5	Will feel better after a win against Belarus last weekend and a rare drawn game which meant two outings and no loss. With the highly rated youngster Digna Strautmane rumored to be possibly missing the cut, the disappointment for neutrals means Latvia are possibly deeper than even they knew.
8		-1	Talking of deep, Italy look like they are taking their selection to the limits with four or five cuts still to be made. Fears over Laura Macchi will be eased as she has barely featured, although they did lose to Greece which raised an eyebrow.
9			It was a rough weekend for the host nation as veteran center Petra Kulichova went down and while she is expected to be okay, there was insult to injury as the team lost heavily to neighbors Slovak Republic. The arrival of Kia Vaughn stops any further sliding down the rankings as that is a major thumbs up.
10		+1	They made the short trip over the border and came back with a huge win against Czech Republic to keep their encouraging pre-tournament form going. They also played a derby again last Sunday behind closed doors, but we have no idea what happened. Regardless, the team is responding to new head coach Marian Svodboda – a Czech by the way!
11		-5	After topping our chart way back last month, it is a never-ending slide for Ukraine after news their frontcourt rotation won't include Valeriya Berezyhnska, Viktoriya Mircheva or Aleksandra Khomenchuk, while Olga Dubrovina was also asked to leave the camp. That unbeaten campaign in the Qualifiers is beginning to seem a distant memory.
12		+3	There were two wins for Stefan Svitek and his side last weekend and even if they were against a relatively depleted Croatia, it was good for morale. They are also welcoming Courtney Vandersloot into their camp.
13			More losses against Russia in the wake of the defeats against Slovenia have made it a barren preparation period in terms of results. It depends how much you believe they matter as Ekrem Memnun and his team did only lose one meeting against Russia by a point. Their meeting with Latvia this weekend will be fascinating. Can they shoot back up our rankings?
14		-4	After losing two out of three friendly games in their tournament in France, they received a hammer blow with an injury to their WNBA champion Jelena Dubljevic. Their centerpiece has been ruled out of the tournament and that seriously weakens an already worryingly short rotation.
15		+1	Evanthia Matlsi showed she still has it with a big 30-point haul against Italy as they went 1-1 against their opponents, but without many important players, they still look short-handed on impact players outside of their veteran star.
16		-1	A loss in Latvia in the ‘Pink Ribbon Game’ hurt, but not as much as not having a string of key players for the Final Round - including both of their famous ‘Twin Towers’ Anastasiya Verameyenka and the legendary Yelena Leuchanka. At least WNBA star Alexandria Bentley is now with the team for their last prep tournament in Greece.

*The power rankings are entirely subjective and is in no way a true, accurate ranking systems. All comments are purely those of the author.

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