Head coach of the Ukraine U-20 men’s team, Dmytro Zabirchenko, shared his impressions of the team’s performance in the European Championship, where it placed third in Class B held in North Macedonia.

– How evident was Pavel Dzyuba’s injury from the tournament distance in the first match of the championship?

– It’s hard to say now because it could be better and maybe worse. It’s a shame we lost an important player that affected the rotation on both the front and back lines. After all, before the tournament we used to see Batalsky as number three, so Kobzysty could sometimes play at number two, and we played with the big five. We can play more shifts and use our defense more volatile. Pavel’s athleticism could have given us more offensive rebounds, but we probably played a little slower than before because we played most games with fast and interesting basketball.

But unfortunately we couldn’t play our game against North Macedonia in the semi-finals… The guys left a lot of emotion and energy after the match against Netherlands and we couldn’t show the basketball we wanted to show in the semi-finals. We didn’t have enough emotions. In the last minutes of the match against the Netherlands, I asked the team to play calmer and hide their feelings for the semi-finals. But apparently that was not possible because no matter how hard we tried to prepare the team, there was not enough time for physical and emotional recovery.

– How ready was the team for the busy schedule in the tournament?

– We played three days in a row at the end of the tournament and I can’t say that we didn’t run for third place in the last game of the tournament. We played fast and aggressively, and so we were physically ready.

– How difficult was it to prepare the team for the third place match when it became clear that there was no chance of promotion anymore?

– The fact that the Ukraine U-20 team will not play in Class A next year is a problem for Ukrainian basketball in general, not for a specific team playing in this tournament. We tried to win the semi-finals but unfortunately we couldn’t. When we reduced the gap to 6 points, it was clear that the audience also helped the team, and Pero Antich, one of the well-known names of European basketball, called the team to the stands. But after the match we learned that Poland lost in League A and even if we won against the Swedes we would not be able to move up.

The boys and I agreed that we came to the tournament to win every game. For many of these men, this was the young team’s last performance. Then there is only the national team or the student team. Therefore, it would be a crime for us not to adapt to the game with Sweden. For a month and a half we worked in a good mood to reach the A League, win every game and finish our performances for the youth teams. Giving up after a long preparation would be a betrayal to ourselves. They understood that, so they went out and put on a good game.

– To what extent did Oleksandr Kobzisty, who entered the symbolic team of the European Championship after the tournament, show his leadership qualities?

– What we talked about before the tournament – our team did not have players who played well in their club last season. In Ukraine, Safonov, Zaitsev and Kabanov played 13-15 minutes each for Budivelnik, Bublik took his minutes as part of Prometheus in the European Youth League. Koshevatsky made his debut as soon as he signed with Kyiv-Basket, but sat on the bench at the end of the season. Brinyuk played only when he left the legionnaires team, Kobzysty did not play for six months due to injury.

Within a month and a half we had to improve our playing conditions and it is very good that the Federation found enough practice matches for us. At the end of the training camp, we had seven matches, two in a row, with the Philippines national team. These matches have provided us with a very good springboard to improve and feel the rhythm of the game. According to Batalski, who plays in the Italian fourth division, it turned out to be better than not playing and just training at the highest level.

According to Kobzisty, we trusted him as a leader and gave him this role. We understood that he could lead the team, but the men mentioned gave energy and quality minutes instead of the leaders. On the back line, I think Kobzysty coped with the role of a leader, but his teammates helped him a lot. Plus, of course, the team captain Brinyuk, who showed himself well on the front line. And we cannot underestimate the roles of Shimansky and Batalsky fighting on the site.

– As for the game itself, what did you do well and what aspects could you add?

– I would like to improve the interaction between small and large, but there are skills that cannot be developed in a month. Give the big pass in time, play, give the hand the partner wants. We had difficulties in this regard under pressure, we have to work, but this is not a one-month job and the job is more individual.

At the same time, we missed an average of 61 points in the tournament and I think it’s an excellent result in terms of defense. We ate a lot from the Swedes in the first game and we never ate more than 70 points. Even in the game we lost against Macedonia, where the attack slowed down badly for us, we couldn’t find a player who could find his game on offense. Shimansky and Kobzysty shot poorly from behind the field in this match, Brynyuk looked good but still had trouble getting the ball to him. Our back row players were knocked out: Koshevatsky, who looked great in the tournament, failed to show his best in this match. But I have no complaints against him or Safonov because they both played the championship at a high level.

And in the match against the Macedonians, there was a fan factor in the stands. Even before the game, I told the boys that we should shut the mouth of the fans who came to cheer against us. But unfortunately, we could not find stable working options in this match. We tried to escape, but we couldn’t. Interestingly, we ran the next day, so after the match against the Netherlands there was not physical exhaustion, but emotional destruction.

– Actually, what are your final impressions of the performance at the European Championship, where the team managed to complete the task and get into the top three, but accidentally did not get promotion?

– I have a positive impression. Even before the tournament, we talked with the children, the technical committee, that we were going for a medal. We got these medals. The development of such a situation is bad for all Ukrainian basketball, but it was not particularly important for this team, so we played our best and fought from the first second to the last second of the tournament. Playing this year, the team has fulfilled its duty perfectly.

We are among the top 20 teams in Europe. And the way the Czech Republic, the winners of the tournament, played would look very good in Class A. A very good team with a set game that will definitely not lose in the first league. As for North Macedonia, I think we would have beaten them if the tournament had not been held by them. For example, the Latvian national team took only 13th place, while the Finnish national team took ninth place. Really good teams like the Dutch team we beat in the quarterfinals. They have a strong enough team and it is not in vain that they took fifth place in the tournament.

Therefore, there were enough quality teams in League B and we came in third among these teams. I think this is a very good indicator for Ukrainian basketball. We always have something to strive for, room to grow but in this tournament we have squeezed almost the max.