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July 2017
14/06/2017
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Seven champs back in mix to defend U20 crown for college-heavy Spain

MADRID (FIBA U20 European Championship 2017) - Seven champions from 2016 have been named to Spain's 16-man preliminary roster for the FIBA U20 European Championship 2017 with the goal of defending the title in Crete.

Spanish coach Ibon Navarro has included 2016 U20 champions Jonathan Barreiro, Dani de la Rua, Sergi Garcia, Marc Marti, Jaume Sorolla, Ramon Vila and Santi Yusta, who helped Spain to their second U20 title following the 2011 crown.

Spain's preliminary roster for the FIBA U20 European Championship 2017
Jonathan Barreiro Jose Blazquez Dani de la Rua Jon Galarza
Sergi Garcia Robinson Idehen Guillem Jou Xabi Lopez
Marc Marti Alejandro Mazaira Andrew Ramirez Tomeu Rigo
Jaume Sorolla Eric Vila Ramon Vila Santi Yusta

Yusta, Ramon Vila and Garcia were Spain's third, fourth and fifth top scorers, respectively, from last summer in Helsinki while Ramon Vila and Yusta finished as the top and third-best rebounders on the team, respectively. Garcia was second in assists and Yusta third.

Spain enter the July 15-23 tournament drawn into Group D with Italy, Serbia and Slovenia. The Spaniards will be trying to reach the U20 podium for the 11th straight summer. The last time Spain failed to finish in the top three was 2007, when they took 11th place.

Navarro selected a group of players from numerous different clubs with CAI Zaragoza the only team with two players - Barreiro and Garcia.

One reason for that is that the team is also seemingly heavy on players attending colleges in the United States - continuing a growing trend with Spanish players. Robinson Idehen is with Western Kentucky while Andrew Ramirez played with Hartford, Sorolla was attending Valparaiso, Eric Vila was with Texas A&M and Ramon Vila spent his freshman season with Arizona State. Navarro and his team will begin preparations on June 23 in Platja d'Aro, where they will play an international tournament against Czech Republic, Germany and France from June 30 to July 2. There is another warm-up tournament planned in Greece from July 10-12 against Greece, Italy and Iceland.

FIBA