MUNICH (FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017) - It's the third edition of the power rankings, and following a string of good performances in the warm-up games, it's Russia surging to the top.

RANK	NATION	MOVE
1		+3	The depth in the frontcourt in particular is impressive and was underlined by their comfortable tournament win in Italy. The likes of Ksenia Tikhonenko who was an outsider a few weeks ago is playing well and giving Alexander Vasin the kind of headache coaches love.
2		-1	Just one cut away from their final roster and the omission of Olympian Laura Quevedo shows there is no sentiment or complacency. They have also racked up wins against Japan and an experimental Canada line-up.
3		+3	It's all going to plan so far as the new kids on the block continue counting down the days until their first appearance. They mean business after piling up preparation wins against Turkey.
4		+7	Even if they lost against Czech Republic, they still won the tournament in Karlovy Vary and they did it without big minutes from Sonja Petrovic, with captain Jelena Milovanovic stepping up to lead the way.
5		-2	Now Celine Dumerc has confirmed it will be her swansong, there almost seems an added incentive to go and get another medal. Now we wait to see how they fare in their important preparation games this week.
6		-4	Even if they are yet to start picking up any significant preparation wins, the very sight of their headline  Alina Iagupova arriving belatedly into camp is something to celebrate.
7		+2	There is still so much to be decided by Coach Capobianco, with his candidate list longer than most and wins against Belgium and Hungary will have helped, with Georgia Sottana on fire. Only a loss to Russia was a negative.
8		-1	It has been a mixed bag in preparation for Coach Mestdagh and his players who lost to Italy and Russia but have beaten Hungary and Slovak Republic in the past week or so. Without Emma Meesseman, they will be relaxed with this outcome.
9		+1	It was a big relief for the hosts to finally get a preparation win under the belts as they beat reigning EuroBasket Women champions Serbia in Karlovy Vary having lost to China and Latvia.
10		-5	A big loss to Serbia and some illness in the camp has affected preparation, although the return to fitness of Jelena Dubljevic has helped to boost morale.
11		+1	The clouds might just be clearing for Marian Svoboda after his team collected a pair of prep wins against Greece, with the experienced Zuzana Zirkova returning to lead the way.
12		+3	Even though they lost twice in Karlovy Vary against China and Serbia, the win against Czech Republic, among other competitive performances, were encouraging for head coach Martins Zibarts.
13			Even the arrival of their main stars who were contesting the KBSL Finals didnt stop Turkey losing again to Slovenia. In terms of results and speed of progress, it looks a little worrying for Coach Memnun.
14			They won a friendly tournament in Minsk which was cause for cheer after some encouraging displays, but it doesn’t paper over the crack of Anastasiya Verameyenka confirming she won’t be participating.
15		-7	The biggest faller has to be Hungary, who might be without the naturalized Courtney Vandersloot, but it isn’t enough mitigation against disappointing friendly defeats at the tournament in Italy.
16			Hoping to move up in this edition of our rankings, two losses in preparation against troubled Slovak Republic means Greece remain rock bottom.

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

FIBA