NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - If you're looking for a EuroBasket Women 2015 group that looks truly balanced - then look no further than Group B.

Turkey, Belarus, Poland, Italy and Greece looks like a complete coin toss to me and while that might surprise a few people, I think that both Italy and Greece as the bottom two seeds, are more than capable of beating Turkey, Belarus and Poland in the quest for a top three spot and safe passage to the next phase.

So, predicting the top three from this pool - seven months before the start of the tournament itself - is very tricky. 

Turkey are rightly top seeds and should (with a fair wind), be able to win that group - especially if Lara Sanders is employed in the naturalised spot again to counteract a big Belarusian frontcourt and a rejuvenated Poland, who have Ewelina Kobryn back under the basket.

Turkey are surely now entering a transitional phase without Esmeral Tuncluer, I assume Nevriye Yilmaz (although the door seems to have been left open to continue) and with so many other players approaching the twilight of their careers. I hope young guns Cansu Koksal and Tilbe Senyurek can be joined by Merve Aydin, if she is back (from injury) and playing well, because I feel that the format of the tournament is for teams with energy. These are three good young players.

Belarus have head coach Antatoli Buyalski back to weave his magic - although, to be fair to his predecessor and former successor Rimantas Grigas, he didn't do too badly when holding the reins. Will Marina Kress and Anastasiya Verameyenka be back from maternity leave? There are so many questions and that makes Belarus an unknown quantity which is dangerous.

Poland will be steady and are potentially discovering new options out there, behind the return of their kingpin Kobryn. Now at Fenerbahce, head coach Jacek Winnicki is enriching his own experiences greatly and he will be pleased with the form of Justyna Zurowska-Cegielska at Wisla Can-Pack, while Aleksandra Pawlak looks like putting herself back into contention after a great start to her EuroLeague Women career with Energa Torun.

With Kobryn having come out of retirement, it would be an intriguing twist if Winnicki could maybe persuade former EuroLeague Women All Star Agnieszka Bibrzycka to do the same, now that he is working with his compatriot at club level.

Italy will still have a mix of vast experience and loads of young players, including Cecilia Zandalasini and Francesca Dotto - two of the best young players around. The former has embarked on her first season of EuroLeague Women after making her senior national team debut a couple of months earlier.

Dotto meanwhile was terrific at EuroBasket Women 2013 and it was a great learning curve for her. With the experience of Giorgia Sottana and presumably Raffaella Masciadri who will have a swansong, Italy will be an interesting proposition.

As the sole ticket winners of the 1st Qualifying Tournament, Greece qualified for EuroBasket Women 2015 while EuroBasket Women 2013 was still actually in progress and so consequently have had to wait longer than anyone for the draw to be made.

They have a wily coach in George Dikeoulakos who has also coached Latvia at the Final Round. He will be able to utilise Zoi Dimitrakou who he has with him in EuroLeague Women at Nadezhda Orenburg, while veteran forward Styliani Kaltsidou has overcome her long standing injury issues and is posting a strong individual campaign with Agu Spor Kulubu.

Throw into the mix the added benefit of the phenomenal talent of Artemis Spanou who played a handful of minutes in 2011, but now has EuroCup Women experience with Istanbul Universitesi under her belt and as last seeds, Greece have absolutely nothing to fear. They may also be tempted to pick the likes of Anna Stamolamprou, who has been a prolific scorer at youth level for her country and may be able to squeeze a place on the bench.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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