REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - There had been two givens for the FIBA U20 European Championship for nearly the past decade - nobody repeats the title and Spain are always on the podium. And those two givens held true again this summer as Spain followed up Serbia as champions - atop the podium. 

Spain beat Lithuania in the final 68-55 in Helsinki for their second FIBA U20 European Championship title following their crown in 2011. Spain's leading scorer Marc Garcia collected the MVP trophy and teammate Francisco Alonso joined him on the All-Star Five. And Spain reclaimed their spot atop Europe. 

Actually Spain never really strayed too far from the top of the U20 level. Since 2007, Spain have claimed one of the top three spots of each of the U20 Euros, including second-placed finishes in 2007, 2014 and 2015. For comparison, since 2007, Spain won only one FIBA U18 European Championship - also in 2011 - and grabbed a third place in 2013. And those were Spain's only two appearances in the U18 Semi-Finals over that period. 

But Spain's 10-championship run of picking up hardware set a new mark in European youth hoops. The previous best of consecutive tournaments with a podium finish was Yugoslavia's streak of nine (five titles, two seconds and two thirds) at the U18 level from 1972 to 1988 - during which the competition was held every two years. The Soviet Union was on the U18 podium 11 times in 12 editions from 1964 to 1992, but they took fifth place in 1974. The best run at the U16 level was Yugoslavia with five straight podiums from 1971 to 1979.  

Looking through the last decade, Spain always were able to produce pretty solid talent which seems to be needing a bit longer to develop - perhaps because young Spanish players are getting fewer and fewer opportunities at the youth levels in club basketball in Spain. But that's another topic for another column. 

Still, Spain are clearly bringing together a strong mix of players and the Spanish system of play is clearly able to produce wins at the higher youth ranks. The question for Spain's FEB federation is who from this team could make their way into the senior team over the long haul. 

Marc Garcia certainly is a great shooter - hitting 45 percent of his three-pointers in the tournament - and he has a good ability to drive to the basket … (Oh uh, here comes a but) … but the question is will he be able to excel at the senior level with the slender frame he has.

The only other really high level guy was Yankuba Sima, who played well defensively with 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks. But the center shot just 39 percent from the field and grabbed fewer than 6 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. Sima has good, not great size at 2.07m but he does have an athleticism in the post that Spain does not really possess. And that will only get better the longer he plays in the United States - at a college there. But is that enough to make the senior team? 

Yankuba Sima is an athletic big man Spain don't often have at senior level. 

Still, the system is doing something right. Spain are churning out players who are capable of producing at a high level in this competition. But where does Spain compare to others? 

While Spain have taken a spot on the U20 podium every time since 2007, the next best result was four top three finishes by both Serbia (three titles and a third place) and France (a crown, two seconds and a third between 2009 and 2012). 

The FIBA U20 European Championship however hasn't seen a repeat champion since Serbia in 2008. In fact, from 2009 to last summer, seven different countries won the U20 crown. That shows just how unpredictable the competition  is - other than Spain reaching the podium. 

The tournament often is missing the elite players from the generation as they many times are making in-roads into the senior national team by the time they are 19 or 20. Or they are starting to want a summer off after having played the last four or five summers for the youth national teams. 

But because of the elite level of the Spanish national team, Spain players are still a ways from making the senior team and this is the last chance for many players to play in the summer for a while. Whatever the Spanish federation and basketball leaders in the country are doing, they are doing it right as the results clearly show.

In closing, here is an early prediction for the 2017 FIBA U20 European Championship - Spain will not win the title but will finish in the top three.

David Hein

FIBA 

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