REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Serbia and Lithuania seem to be on a collision course to play in the final of the 2016 TBF International U16 Tournament in Turkey, an event which has to leave a superstar Serbian duo wondering 'what if', a couple of Lithuanians feeling good about this summer and two young Banvit point guards showcasing themselves.

Both Serbia and Lithuania finished group play at the 12-team tournament in Samsun, Turkey - which will host the 2016 FIBA U18 European Championship from 30 July-7 August - with perfect 5-0 records and will take on Turkey's U16 team and Argentina, respectively in the Semi-Finals.

Turkey have two teams at the tournament with the 2001-born U15 team also there gaining valuable experience. And Argentina is the only non-European side invited to the event running from 30 January-6 February. All of the games have been streamed live online at www.TBFtv.org, as will the remainder of the contests, with Friday's Semi-Finals at 16:45 CET/GMT +1, pitting Lithuania against Argentina followed by Serbia taking on Turkey U16. Saturday's Final is scheduled for 17:00 CET/GMT +1.

A couple of storylines have played out in Turkey with the young future stars of the game. One story is the top two stars from the undefeated Serbian team having to wonder 'what if'. Both Marko Pecarski and Filip Petrusev are legitimate candidates to make the All-Tournament Team with the former leading the tournament in points with 26 per game and second with 13.8 rebounds. The latter isn't too far behind with 16.2 points and 8.8 rebounds.

While Pecarski has a highlight coming later this season, having helped Serbian club Mega Leks Belgrade to the Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT) Finals at the Euroleague Final Four in Berlin in May.

He and Petrusev could also be planning on a big summer on the global stage had they been able to help Serbia qualify for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship. But both players were a year younger on the Serbian team that finished eighth at the 2015 FIBA U16 European Championship, missing out on the FIBA U17 Worlds, an event in which the Serbs finished third in 2014.

The only 2000-born player on that team was Tomas Balciunas, who is not with the team in Samsun. But Domantas Vilys has shown he's a legitimate candidate to play in Spain, having averaged 14.2 points per game as well as 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.6 assists in the TBF tournament to date. Dovydas Giedraitis meanwhile is averaging 10 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals. Rokas Jokubaitis and Deividas Sirvydis are two more interesting prospects we might see at the U17 Worlds.

Turkey will also be playing at the U17s this summer and both of Turkey's teams in Samsun feature an interesting point guard playing in the Banvit Bandirma system - both of them tied for the tournament lead with 3.8 assists a game for their respective teams.

The 2000-born Eray Akyuz already played last summer with the U16 team a year younger and did a solid job for the third place team with 3.4 points, 2.6 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.7 rebounds. In Samsun, he is benefiting from having more of a leadership role and in addition to his 3.8 assists he has averaged 9.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals a game and has blocked three shots through five games.

It would seem unlikely that the 2001-born Turkish guard Atakan Erdek will make the U17 team but he's done well playing against players a year older than him with 8.6 points and 3.4 rebounds in addition to his 3.8 assists. He even flirted with a triple double against Ukraine with 14 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds.

Banvit definitely have two interesting prospects coming up the ranks – not to mention the Turkish national team.

There are a couple of other storylines to follow.

Montenegro's Nikola Zizic and Latvia's Arturs Kurucs are both playing for Spanish clubs - Barcelona and Baskonia respectively - and are proving in Samsun that they are on the road to being future pillars of their senior national teams.

And it would not be a surprise at all if Slovenia's all-around star Nik Dragan - the fourth-best scorer with 17.0 points, leading rebounder with 14.6 rebounds and fourth in blocks with 1.6 per game - and Bulgarian big man Tsvetomir Chernokozev - second in scoring with 20.0 points and fourth in rebounds with 12.2 - are both swept up soon by Spanish clubs.

Argentina came into the tournament knowing it would be great experience for some of the players who might make the team for the U17 Worlds. And Juan De La Fuente has been fantastic (19.8 points) while Juan Marcos Ignacio and Francisco Caffaro both seemed destined to play in Spain this summer as well.

And Germany once again were unable to really live up to their talent and are playing for 5th to 8th place. The Germans beat the Turkey U16 team but lost to Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia to finish fourth in their group despite talented players like Hendrik Drescher, Jonas Mattisseck and Matthew Meredith.

David Hein

FIBA

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