Which team will join Real Madrid at the ANGT Finals?

Former champs Zvezda, Mega, Barcelona highlight ANGT Belgrade field

Former continental champions U18 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, U18 FC Barcelona and U18 Mega MIS Belgrade are the three standout teams heading into the 2024 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade, where the second ticket for the ANGT Finals will be handed out. 

Eight teams will be fighting for the right to join the ANGT Podgorica winner and reigning ANGT champion U18 Real Madrid at the ANGT Finals, which will be played at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in May. The other five teams in the field are U18 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan of Italy, the Israeli duo of U18 Hapoel Yehuda Tel Aviv and U18 Maccabi Tel Aviv, U18 Partizan Belgrade of Serbia and U18 Next Generation Team Belgrade. 

The eight teams have been drawn into two groups of four and they will face the other clubs in their group in a round-robin format. Group A consists of Zvezda, Maccabi, Milan and NGB, while Barcelona, Mega, Partizan and Hapoel make up Group B.

### Group A

Zvezda is once again hosting the qualifying tournament in Belgrade, which has been home to one of the qualifiers since 2008-09. Zvezda is playing in the competition for the 17th straight season, as it first appeared in the ANGT Belgrade in 2007-08. The Serbian side claimed the ANGT title in 2014 and finished as runner-up in 2015 and 2016. Zvezda finished first in the ANGT Belgrade for eight consecutive seasons – from 2011 to 2018 – but has not won it since then. The club lost in the first-place game to Mega in 2018-19, 2020-21 and 2022-23 and came up short to U18 ASVEL Villeurbanne in 2021-22. Last season, Zvezda came back from 13 points down before losing to Mega in overtime. 

Maccabi is on board for the sixth straight ANGT Belgrade and 17th overall. The Israeli powerhouse finished fifth at the ANGT Zadar last season with a 2-2 record. Maccabi lost in the first-place game in 2021-22 to U18 Stellazzurra Rome at the ANGT Patras and against U18 Real Madrid at the ANGT Munich in 2018-19. Milan will be participating for a sixth time, as it is in its second run of three straight appearances. The Italian club took seventh place at the ANGT Munich last season with a 1-3 record. The NGB select team will be coached by Petteri Koponen. 

### Group B

Group B promises a great showdown between Mega and Barcelona, which is the final game of the group stage. The 2022 ANGT champion Mega is in the competition for the 13th straight season, having debuted in 2011-12, and has reached the last seven ANGT Finals, finishing as the continental runner-up in 2017 and 2019. Coming in as reigning champion from last season, Mega took first place at ANGT Belgrade after beating Zvezda 80-79 in overtime. At the ANGT Finals last season, Mega finished 2-1 in its group following a loss to the U18 Next Generation Select team in group play. 

In addition to winning the European crown in 2016, Barcelona has lost in the ANGT Championship Game three times (2008, 2013 and 2021). The Spanish giant is competing for the 19th time overall and 17th in a row. Barcelona went undefeated and took first place at the ANGT Zadar last season and then had a 2-1 record in the group at the ANGT Finals, losing to Real Madrid. Partizan picked up just one victory at last season’s ANGT Belgrade in taking seventh place. The club finished first at the ANGT Belgrade in 2019-20. Hapoel, meanwhile, will be making its debut in the competition. 

The fourth and final qualifier Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament, originally scheduled for the last week in March in Paris, France, has been postponed by one week.

ANGT Paris dates changed

The new dates for the ANGT Paris are Friday, April 5, to Sunday, April 7.

The venue for the event is Halles Georges Carpentier, home of Paris Basketball, the leading team in the BKT EuroCup this season, whose U18 team will participate in the qualifier.

Besides local clubs Paris Basketball and Pole France INSEP Paris, the tournament will include U18 representatives from 2013 champion Joventut Badalona, Olympiacos Piraeus, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, Gran Canaria, AS Monaco and the NGT Paris team.

The winner of the tournament will join those of the three other qualifiers – Real Madrid from last week's ANGT Podgorica, plus the survivors of the upcoming ANGT Belgrade and ANGT Dubai – at the finals in Berlin, Germany, during Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four weekend from May 23 to 26.

[Hugo Gonzalez](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/ngt/players/hugo-gonzalez/011649/) never questioned whether U18 Real Madrid could come back and win the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Podgorica first-place game last Sunday afternoon. The star guard talent is wired like that and he learned too many lessons from his veteran leaders inside the Real first-team locker room.

Gonzalez had been saddled with 4 fouls late in the third quarter and found himself sitting on the bench with Real down by 13 points to the U18 Next Generation Team Podgorica. The 17-year-old came back in the game with 7 minutes left and Real still down by 6 points, but having shifted momentum. 

Gonzalez scored 8 of his 16 points down the stretch – as well as dishing 2 assists – to help Real fight off the select team and win an ANGT qualifying tournament for the 11th straight season. 

“It was a really tough game. They play how we are not used to. They run the court unlike anybody in this tournament. They knew our weaknesses, but we played well. We played with a good mentality,” said Gonzalez who ended up winning the Most Valuable Player honor for his outstanding showing all tournament. 

“He’s amazing, and I am not talking about the player – I am talking about the person. One of the best things that basketball has given me in my life is the opportunity to coach Hugo,” Real coach Javier Juarez commented after Sunday’s nailbiter. “He has a winner’s mentality.”

### Putting together an impressive resumé

Gonzalez took home his second MVP distinction after he was named the top player of the ANGT Munich last season. During the ANGT Podgorica, he averaged 13.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals for a 17.5 PIR. He ranked 10th in scoring, seventh in PIR, tied for eighth in assists, came second in steals and was seventh in fouls drawn at 4.5.

Since winning the ANGT Munich MVP award, Gonzalez averaged 16.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 3.3 steals and 1.8 blocks at the ANGT Finals in Kaunas, where Real won its fourth U18 continental crown (2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023). Over the summer, he also helped Spain take second place at the 2023 FIBA U18 European Championship. 

This season, he has practiced exclusively with Real’s senior team. Gonzalez has already appeared in four EuroLeague games in the 2023-24 campaign and picked up 4 points and 1 assist over 16 combined minutes. He has played in 10 Spanish League games, too, averaging 3.0 points and 0.8 rebounds in 6 minutes.

That time spent with a veteran-laden Real squad has really helped Gonzalez excel in his development. And that carried over to the ANGT Podgorica, as he said the competitiveness of the Real pro team is what helped him the most in the Montenegrin capital.

“Don’t put your head down when you are down 10, down 12. Maybe you have 4 fouls and you think that the game is already over, but the club we represent says you cannot get down at any point until the 40 minutes are over. We took that to another level and we showed that today. We can be really proud of what we did today,” said Gonzalez. 

### Playing and training with his idols

The Madrid native noted he has valued playing alongside and learning from an idol he had both during his childhood and the present day: Rudy Fernandez.

“I’m trying to play like him and have his mentality, too,” added Gonzalez. 

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="qme" dir="ltr">😍😭 <a href="https://t.co/P1sLvAtncx">pic.twitter.com/P1sLvAtncx</a></p>&mdash; Hugo González Peña (@hugoglezz_) <a href="https://twitter.com/hugoglezz_/status/1660374409457070081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

But he also mentioned taking things from Fabien Causeur, Sergio Llull and Mario Hezonja. 

“I have the best teachers to help me,” explained the young talent. “They have some of the biggest experience that any player can dream about. It’s great training with and against them every day and trying to learn from them. All of them are excellent professionals and maybe it’s not easy to accept a junior like they do. And they are helping me a lot.”

### Eyeing back-to-back titles

Gonzalez and the U18 team are not satisfied with what they have accomplished by winning the ANGT Podgorica. They want to become the first team to win back-to-back titles in consecutive years since U18 FMP Belgrade in 2008 and 2009. Real won two straight ANGT crowns but those came in 2019 and 2021, with the 2020 ANGT Finals being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have to keep our good attitude because we are the champions and we have to defend our title. This is our generation’s last year and it will be very competitive,” stated Gonzalez. “Berlin will be even more competitive with the best teams in all of Europe and you have to take this mentality to a whole other level.”

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Gonzalez is already an ANGT champion, but he won last season’s trophy as the youngster of the team. Now he wants to win the title with his own 2006-born group.

“Last year was our first chance of playing and the older generation had incredible players like Jan Vide, Szymon Nowicki and Abel Delicado. But this year we have even more motivation because we have to defend a championship that we won last year with a lot of struggling along the way. We have even more motivation,” he said. 

That winner’s mentality and the lessons he has learned from Rudy Fernandez and others left no doubt in Hugo Gonzalez’s mind that Real would not take home the ANGT Podgorica trophy.

The 17-year-old sensation shined as he secured his second MVP award at an ANGT event.

Hugo Gonzalez never doubted Real Madrid would win ANGT Podgorica 

Hugo Gonzalez claimed the Most Valuable Player of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Podgorica after guiding the reigning continent champion U18 Real Madrid to first place in a thrilling comeback victory over U18 Next Generation Team Podgorica.

Gonzalez fought through foul trouble against NGM and collected 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists for a performance index rating of 15. Gonzalez, who was one of the leaders of the team that won the title at the ANGT Finals last season, won his second consecutive MVP honors after he was named the top player at the ANGT Munich.

Gonzalez was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Real teammate Ismaila Diagne, Lefteris Liotopoulos of NGM, David Mirkovic of host team U18 SC Derby Podgorica and Ivan Kharchenkov of U18 FC Bayern Munich Basketball.

For the tournament Gonzalez averaged 13.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals for a 17.5 PIR. He ranked 10th in scoring, seventh in PIR, tied for eighth in assists, even for second in steals and seventh in fouls drawn at 4.5.

Diagne played a major factor in the first place game with 9 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. For the tournament, the Senegalese center averaged 11.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.2 offensive rebounds, and 1.5 blocks for an 18.8 PIR. He was fifth in PIR in the tournament, second in blocks, third in offensive rebounds and fifth in rebounds.

Liotopoulos had a strong first place game with 23 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals and he averaged 19.5 points with 3.2 three-pointers made, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.2 steals and a PIR of 21.2. The Greek guard ranked third in PIR, third in scoring, second in three-pointers made, sixth in assists and fourth in steals.

Mirkovic guided competition host side and debutant SC Derby to third place with 22.2 points, 13.0 rebounds, 2.8 offensive rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 8.0 fouls drawn for an average PIR of 26.5. He led the event in PIR, scoring, defensive rebounds, rebounds and fouls drawn. And he was tied for fourth in offensive rebounds, tied for eighth in assists and tied for fourth in steals.

Kharchenkov was the leader for fourth-place finisher Bayern with 16.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.2 blocks and 6.2 fouls drawn for an PIR of 12.5. He was fifth in scoring, tied for fifth in blocks and third in fouls drawn.

2023-24 EB ANGT Podgorica All-Tournament Team

Follow all the action from the final day of ANGT Podgorica with live blogs from courtside by junior basketball specialist David Hein while watching the live video from Verde Sports Hall.

 ANGT Podgorica Live Blog: U18 Next Generation Team Podgorica vs. U18 Real Madrid 

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Real Madrid was victorious at the ANGT Podgorica after beating U18 Next Generation Team Podgorica 79-86 on Sunday at Verde Sports Hall.

U18 Real Madrid advances to ANGT Finals after winning Podgorica qualifying tournament

U18 Next Generation Team Podgorica v U18 Real Madrid (2024-01-28T15:45:00.000Z)

 ANGT Podgorica Live Blog: U18 SC Derby Podgorica vs. U18 FC Bayern Munich Basketball 

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 ANGT Podgorica Third-Place Game: U18 Derby Podgorica 82-65 U18 Bayern Munich

U18 SC Derby Podgorica v U18 FC Bayern Munich Basketball (2024-01-28T13:30:00.000Z)

Ivan Kharchenkov of U18 FC Bayern Munich Basketball averaged 20.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in the group stage in Group B.

Emotions come after the game for Bayern star talent Kharchenkov

If you look at Ivan Kharchenkov’s facial expressions, you wouldn’t know if U18 FC Bayern Munich Basketball is winning or losing a game at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Podgorica or if he is on fire or in a slump. It’s all part of the winning DNA built into the talented guard who has already collected an impressive list of achievements.

Kharchenkov was very excited to get onto the ANGT court in Podgorica after he missed last season’s ANGT Munich event with an injury. The German teenager has made up for lost time and shown in the Montenegro capital why is one of the most dynamic prospects on the continent. Kharchenkov averaged 20.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in the group stage in Group B.

“I was really looking forward to this tournament because I was hurt last season during the ANGT Munich. I want to compete against my age group and show my best on a really high level where players like Luka Doncic and many more showed themselves,” said the 1.98-meter guard, who just missed out on playing in Munich in January 2023.

“It was really devastating because it was a home-court advantage and the fans. It was tough for me to get over it but I made the most of it. I watched the games and supported my teammates as best I could. And now I am here and I am happy.”

Kharchenkov even helped out the ANGT staff at last season’s Munich event, serving as the interpreter for Desmond Yiamu since he speaks Russian and Yiamu could not speak in English or German as a war refugee from Ukraine.

Kharchenkov speaks Russian because he was born in Moscow in 2006 to a father who had a successful playing career, including playing 22 years for CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Moscow and Spartak St. Petersburg. Father Alexander Kharchenkov was also a member of the Soviet Union team that won the title at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 1974.

Ivan’s father was the leading force behind his development in the game, even driving him long distances for practices before the young talent joined Bayern and moved into the dorm of the club’s Bayern campus.

Ivan said his relationship with his father really hasn’t changed much but what has evolved is what the two basketball junkies talk about.

“The things we talk about now compared to like five years ago have become more detailed. Smaller mistakes are being addressed more now than bigger mistakes were discussed when I was 12,” said Kharchenkov, who has been with Bayern since 2018.

Bayern management has recognized the potential of Kharchenkov, who will not turn 18 until September 20, 2024, and gave him his first appearances with the senior last season.

On November 19, 2022, he made history in the German League by playing 4:29 minutes and scoring 5 points - hitting his only three-point attempt and both of his free throws - against SYNTAINICS MBC. That made him at 16 years 1 month and 29 days the youngest scorer in the league since the start of data collection in 1998.

“I wasn’t even expecting it. I was working on my craft and one day somebody called me up and said you’re traveling tomorrow with the BBL \[team\] and it happened. I was really happy about it.”

Kharchenkov ended up appearing in three German League games last season and has collected 15 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in 56 minutes over four German League games this season.

He came into the 2023-24 season on a high after helping Germany finish third at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2023 - the first medal the country collected at the age category.

“I was really proud of my team. It was history. I think we can really be proud of ourselves,” said Kharchenkov, who served as captain despite being a year younger.

Kharchenkov participated in Bayern’s pro team’s pre-season training camp after the U18 tournament and also has played in three EuroLeague games for Bayern this season, scoring 8 points with 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 28 minutes.

“I really learned the physicality of the game. Everybody is physical and the game is non-stop. So even if you are asleep for one second there can be another situation. And the intensity,” said Kharchenkov, who scored 4 points on 1-of-5 three-point shooting in nearly 16 minutes against Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 13.

Those three-pointers taken speak for Kharchenkov and his fearlessness, full conviction and zero hesitation for his game. And his game is dynamic.

In the third division with Bayern’s second team, he is averaging 21.2 points on 29.2% three-point shooting with 7.4 triples attempted per game and 8.0 free throws attempted per game. Because of his quickness to the basket, he has taken at least 10 free throws six times in the league, including making 15 of 17 in one game. He has also collected 4.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.9 steals in nearly 30 minutes per game.

And all that without showing his poker face - either positively or negatively. 

“A lot of people ask about it. I guess just because I am focused, maybe because I don’t react to anything like it’s the worst or the best. I’m just trying to stay focused. The emotions can be after the game,” Kharchenkov said. 

Just watching Kharchenkov around the team it’s not hard to see a leader gene in his blood. 

“I always try to be aggressive and get everybody involved so that we can play as a team. That also helped develop my leadership skills. Because I only ask from other people what I ask from myself,” he said. 

Just don’t ask him to show emotions on the court.

The son of former world champion Alexander Kharchenkov is already making a name for himself.

 ANGT Podgorica Live Blog: U18 ALBA Berlin vs. U18 Umana Reyer Venice 

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 ANGT Podgorica: U18 ALBA 64-71 U18 Reyer

U18 ALBA Berlin v U18 Umana Reyer Venice (2024-01-28T11:15:00.000Z)

 ANGT Podgorica Live Blog: U18 Cholet Basket vs. U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana 

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 ANGT Podgorica: U18 Cholet Basket 76-80 U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana

U18 Cholet Basket v U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (2024-01-28T09:00:00.000Z)