Israel qualifies for Eurobasket 2009!

With three straight losses to Bosnia, Great Britain, and the Czech Republic, it looked like Israel was going to miss playing in Eurobasket next summer. The best Israel could've hoped for was a chance to make next year's tournament through the final qualification round where it would have to place first of eight teams in order to clinch the 16th spot in the European Championships.

That situation just improved exponentially after beating the Czech by a resounding 37 points as Turkey defeated France by two points. The victory officially put Israel in seventh place, allowing it to scrape into Eurobasket.

It's very obvious that playing in Tel Aviv has given Israel a huge advantage this summer and playing at the Nokia Arena again played a large factor in the blowout. Israel was undefeated with a 20-point margin against opponents at home.

Here are the other teams that qualified for next summer.

Poland (host nation)
Lithuania, Russia, Spain (Olympic qualification)
Croatia, Germany, Greece, Slovenia (Olympic qualifying tournament)
Great Britain, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey (first place in Eurobasket qualification pools)
Latvia, Bulgaria (finished in top seven of Eurobasket qualification)

Israel is going to have to become a much better team if it expects to make the World Championships next summer. The top 10 teams from this tournament should make the World Championships in 2010. Turkey will automatically qualify as it is the host nation.

Lithuania, Russia, Spain, Croatia, Greece, and Great Britain should all make it unless one of them has a major collapse. Germany should make it if Dirk Nowitzki decides to play. Slovenia and Serbia are good enough to make it, but they aren't locks while France will make this list next year and also be very good.

If Israel expects to make the tournament, it will have to finish ahead of either Germany or Slovenia. The road woes simply aren't going to cut it for Israel next summer and considering the team will have three NBA prospects, there's no reason for it to miss the World Championships next summer.

Accepted

I have officially been accepted to Tel Aviv University. Now the more difficult work such as picking classes and applying for scholarships begin but it's nice to know that I'm for sure going.

Still waiting...

Absolutely nothing has happened on the study abroad front besides that Tel Aviv University just decided to look at my application so it should be awhile before I hear anything.

The waiting period begins ... and the recent Maccabi signing

As of Monday, I found out Tel Aviv University has received all of my materials, which means that according to the school, I'll find out my decision in three weeks. I'm guessing that means I'll get a decision the last week before school starts. It's pretty amazing that the application part is finally over and I'll soon be making actual decisions about what I'll be doing at TAU.

The other piece of news from Monday is that point guard Carlos Arroyo officially signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv. He's someone who definitely had to be targeted but I'm surprised that Arroyo didn't decide to play in Spain or latch on to another NBA team. It was pretty obvious Arroyo wasn't going back to the Magic but this signing is huge for Maccabi. He will certainly be the most established point guard since Sarunas Jasikevicius.

There were reports that Maccabi made a run for Jason Williams, but he would have a much harder time adjusting to international play and would not be a great fit even though he is a better NBA player.

I'm still not convinced that Esteban Batista is the answer at center for Maccabi. He might be the best affordable option, but if Maccabi has another 2.5-3 million dollars, they should go after Indiana Pacers' free agent center David Harrison. The seven-footer will not play for Indiana as it currently has a log-jam at center with Rasho Nesterovic, Greg Foster and Roy Hibbert already on the team.

There aren't any reports suggesting interest for Harrison from other NBA teams, although someone will have to offer the minimum at some point.

If Maccabi can offer a contract that will give Harrison more money than he would in the NBA, he has to jump on the opportunity to start for a very good team in Euroleague. He's a strong defensive presence inside and could certainly clog up the middle for the Israeli team. He would also give Tel Aviv some much needed size inside. The only question is if Maccabi is willing to fork over another 2 to 3 million per year to woo him overseas.

Harrison is an unrestricted free agent so he has several options and someone will want to sign a servicable backup center for their team, but Maccabi should be doing all they can to shore up the middle.

Ata mideberet evrit?

I know Maccabi Tel Aviv is a Euroleague powerhouse, but for some reason, Maccabi can't stay out of the American press and in this case, it's a good thing. Maccabi already lost one of the best players in Israel, Yotam Halperin, point guard Will Bynum and their starting center Nikola Vujcic.

A few days ago, Maccabi signed Rodney White, another bust from the 2000 draft who will probably start opposite Marcus Fizer at small forward. He was never that good of an NBA player, but he was the leading scorer at UNC-Charlotte.

White should prove to be a solid contributor at some point as Americans generally seem to thrive in Israel (see Maceo Baston, Will Bynum, Marcus Fizer and Anthony Parker).

Now there are rumors that Nenad Krstic leaves the New Jersey Nets for Tel Aviv. He has been pretty banged up but while he could probably get more money for sticking with the Nets, there's no question he would be one of the best centers in Europe if he signs in Israel.

He's turning 25 on July 23 so there is plenty of basketball left in him. In Krstic's last healthy season (2005-06 season), he averaged 14 points and six rebounds. There's no question he could become a very productive player and Maccabi will do everything within their power to sign him.

Krstic would be the ideal center to replace Vujcic, considering he's a true seven-footer and much more polished than Esteban Batista. But this is far from a done deal so Tel Aviv fans will have to cross their fingers.

If Maccabi can make this signing, they will probably turn their attention to point guard. The easy option would be to find a young Israeli point guard, but there don't seem to be any who are ready to start besides Dror Hajaj who they already have. The best NBA point guard who would even think about signing with Maccabi is Carlos Arroyo, but it's doubtful he plays in Israel considering he will probably get around 2 million to back up a point guard somewhere besides Orlando or will play in the Spanish League. But there are a few undrafted point guards who will give the team some consideration such as Drew Neitzel, Pat Calathes or Jamar Butler.

I'm not sure what Anton Ponkrashov's situation is, but he would be a great addition as a 6-8 point guard, although probably a long shot to sign. Whoever Maccabi signs will probably be a shoot-first point guard with iffy perimeter defense as that seems to be something they like.

Yes, they play basketball in the Middle East

In case you didn't know, there were a lot of international players taken in last night's NBA draft. Nine to be exact, which is a good number, but not a ton. Two of them (Omer Asik and Semih Erden) are from Turkey but the player I'm focused on is Asik, who was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers before he was traded in a three-way trade to the Chicago Bulls for three second round picks.

It's a little bit of a hefty price but he's well worth it if, and that's a big if, he comes to the NBA. Jonathan Givony of draftexpress.com ranked him as one of the top European big men in this year's draft, but he "is in discussions right now with his Turkish team Fenerbahce about ripping up his current contract and signing a 5-year deal."

Apparently, this contract is supposed to be binding, meaning he can't even be bought out. That means the Bulls have to wait until he is 27-years old before they even get the opportunity to sign him. That's pretty old for a rookie, even for an international player coming to the U.S. Even after those five years, there's always the chance that he stays with the team so this is quite a gamble.

The nice thing with Asik playing in Turkey is that it's only 400 miles away from Israel. That's like the distance from Chicago to the Iowa and Nebraska border, which by plane isn't too long and by car is probably around seven hours. I'm not sure how I'd get there or if this is even feasible, but it would be nice to see the potential Bulls center of the future playing in Europe.

Speaking of Middle-Eastern basketball, I got to thinking about some notable players from Maccabi Tel Aviv who I'm looking forward to seeing. If you're looking at it from a Chicago Bulls fan perspective, you have to start with Marcus Fizer who was probably the defining draft choice in the Jerry Krause post-Jordan era. Glad to see he's made a home in Israel though. Anyone know the Hebrew word for bust?

Looking at the rest of this roster, there's Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin who were selected in the 2006 draft. I'm not sure on what the status with either of them is, but I imagine at least Eliyahu will stay with the team since he didn't get a whole lot of minutes and struggled all season from what I read.

Another interesting player is 6-8 Omri Casspi, who could potentially enter the 2009 Draft. Givony currently has him as a mid-first round pick, while ESPN Draft Analyst Chad Ford is not yet convinced, saying he needs to have a stellar year in order to get into the first round. Given how much talent Maccabi has, I wouldn't be surprised if Casspi sits a lot next season, but that hasn't stopped NBA General Managers from drafting them (See Alexis Ajinca from this year, who averaged four minutes a game).

Clearly, it seems like I'll be close to plenty of good basketball to survive being thousands of miles from my Chicago Bulls. Hopefully I'll find someone as interested in international basketball as I am.

No turning back

I just finished the essay and submitted my application to TAU. Unfortunately I forgot to check the box that says, "I need housing." Oops. Either way, I paid the application fee so I guess that's the official start of my study abroad plan. Anyway, the admissions representative said it doesn't really matter that I didn't check the box since I don't officially get asked until I get the acceptance packet.

Fantastic, it's like applying to college all over again.

All I need to do now is get a physical and get my transcript sent. I'm told that it will take about three weeks for them to make their decision so I'm not going to deal with them for awhile since I want to be at school when they send me the information.

Once I get accepted, I'll be doing a few scholarship applications. The situation financially is looking pretty good for second semester so I'm not sure I'll actually need but I might as well go for as much as I can because Jewish organizations like sending Jewish kids to Israel. Here's how sophomore year will shape up:

Semester at UMass
Tuition for a semester: $10250
Housing: $1080
Meal Plan: $2090
Total: $13,420

Semester at Tel Aviv University
Tuition for a semester: $6,400
Language program: $1,200
Housing: $2,000
UMass study abroad fee: $750
Total: $10,350

Back when the dollar was worth more than four new shekels, I'm sure there was much more than a $3,000 difference in the price range. Although I've been told I can take off $3,000 because this program called Masa will fund all Jewish students going to Israel (as I said, Jewish organizations like sending Jewish kids to Israel). Can't complain with that.

Well this changes everything...

I just found out I was recently accepted to the BDIC (Bachelor's Degree with Individual Concentration) program. This means that I have permission to create the major that I requested (International Sports Marketing) because I was accepted to the proposal writing class. The Journalism major stays, Communication and Middle Eastern Studies are no more.

What does this mean for studying abroad?

It means the class selection won't be quite as restricted but I have to figure a few things out. First off, I now only need nine credits from Hebrew instead of 12 although I still think I'll end up with 12. Either way, I am supposed to have an additional nine credits of Middle Eastern classes that will complete my Global Education Requirement in Regional Study.

Now the interesting part is that I'm going to have an additional six credits apply to the BDIC. It's a little tricky because I have to have all 300-level classes and there aren't a whole lot available at TAU that would be feasible. There's a class called "State and Society in the Middle East" that should work and is 300-level, but I can't find anything else. Here are the three other options I have. Ideally, it should be poli-sci, historical, or something that could apply to marketing. I don't see any of the following three as fitting that description.

343-2 The Zionist Movement From A Vision To A State Mr. N. Barak Dr. S. Geva
344-2 Introduction To The Religion Of Islam Dr. A. Hakim
411-2 The Middle East From Printed To Digital Press Dr. L. Handelman-Baavur

Either I'll have to be flexible and find something that sort of works or they'll make an exception.