NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - There are still several days to go at EuroBasket Women 2015 but the tournament has already put the fizz back into women's basketball.

With 2014 not being a vintage year by any means, Final Round in Hungary and Romania has served to strengthen my love affair with women’s basketball.

So, with an A to Z of the tournament to come next week, here are some of my latest musings ahead of competition crunch time, when medal and Rio dreams will be made and broken.

Let us entertain you
In the Second Round game against Serbia, the Spanish duo of Alba Torrens and Laura Nicholls really lit up the highlights reel. The former did a stunning coast-to-coast which included not one, but two behind-the-back dribbles to wrong foot her defenders. Then, Nicholls converted a near alley-oop with a spectacular finish. I will never get bored watching Spain play their dynamic brand of basketball.

Comeback queens the real winners
I hand my 'real' EuroBasket Women title to Lithuania for being the only team to reach the Quarter-Finals without the help of a naturalised player. Mantas Sernius has done a great job in getting his team to win five consecutive games - two of them involving comebacks from 18 point deficits against two top quality nations in Russia and Serbia. Oh and a half-court buzzer beater by Santa Okockyte!

Greek tragedy
Greece were aso close to a fairytale finish and they currently take my award for the team of the tournament so far - even though they didn't squeeze into the Quarter-Finals. George Dikeoulakos is an incredible play-caller. People apparently told him not to take the post. He did take it and not only got the team to the Final Round, he almost took them to the Last Eight and was only the width of a basketball rim away from doing so. It was a truly Herculean effort and such a pity a fairytale last eight finish didn't happen!

Pick-and-roll perfection
I absolutely loved the beautiful pick-and-roll plays run by Slovak Republic in several of their games. It had me rewinding the action over and over on LiveBasketball.TV. I also loved their younger players like Barbora Balintova and Zofia Hruscakova really stepping up. Coach Maros Kovacik did a great job to take his team to the cusp of the Last Eight.

Jovanovic nears my podium
I will say this while she isn't shooting the ball at her best - just in case I get accused of being wise after the event. I am surprised a EuroLeague Women team has not picked up Nevena Jovanovic of Serbia yet. I've been advocating her for a long time now and even when she isn't finding her range, she has so many upsides that I absolutely love. I would have her on my roster every time. She's just about on my 'favourite player' podium right now and if she does start converting more consistently from long-range as I would expect, then she most certainly will be.

Hard as nails
We already knew that Marta Xargay is a hard as nails and she had proved herself to be a seriously bad-ass player. Having taken an agonising blow to the face from Sonja Petrovic, she looked done and dusted. We should have known better. Within minutes of looking unlikely to even get off the floor, let alone the bench, she was back on the court and grappling with her opponent within five minutes. Meanwhile assuming Petrovic is staying with Prague, it could make for an interesting first practice now that Xargay has signed for the EuroLeague Women champions!

Star spangled draw
I am giving some major praise to Danielle Page for learning the Serbian anthem and singing it before every game louder than anyone born in Belgrade. And, on that note, the draw for EuroBasket Women 2017 is taking place on 4 July. But I can assure you it is definitely not in honour (or is that honor?) of the many American born players who will be taking part!

The true legend that is Kovacevic
Finally, I attended what was arguably the best media conference in basketball history yesterday when it was officially confirmed that the inspirational Natasa Kovacevic will be returning to the court. It is emotional even just thinking about how special that moment is going to be and I for one will have a serious lump in my throat. I will never get tired of saying it - Natasa is a genuine hero of mine and will be the one true legend on display among some real basketball greats.

Bravo Natasa!

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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