Colossus Koufos
He's the big story of this championship, the great dominator, a wall in the paint, the kind of player who can elevate a team from average to contender. We're talking about Kosta Koufos, the guy who will have to fill Greg Oden's shoes next season for Ohio State. And while that's next-to impossible, the Buckeyes hardly could have done any better.
After the first two rounds, Greece remains undefeated with a perfect 6-0 record, obviously qualified for the semifinals. In the process they have not only looked like an extremely solid team, but achieved a very prestigious victory against France, in a thrilling game that Greece was losing by 9 points with less than 2 minutes to go. With France failing to control the game (again Antoine Diot disappointed in this regard), the Greeks came back to sail the one-point victory with a phenomenal block by our hero Koufos.
He provisionally leads the scoring, rebounding and shot-blocking rankings, with averages of 23.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game. Pretty impressive stuff. He completely determines the game of his team with his presence, being the permanent offensive reference to score and open spaces on the perimeter, while being the defensive anchor in the paint.
The Ohio-born Greek is a seven foot center with solid athleticism, actually good mobility and a physical and rather fundamentally sound game. He shows a greatly built body, extremely strong but not too voluminous, and with a very good frame. It allows him to virtually overpower every rival here (still we're hoping for a match-up against Milan Macvan, perhaps in the final), and he doesn't renounce to this possibility. He?s a physical player in the low post, showing nice moves, solid footwork and notable footspeed, while looking for the opponent's body to execute his spins. If he's double teamed, he keeps cool and easily finds his open teammates, even on the weak side. While he does a lot of damage down low, he also loves to settle for a jumper. He's pretty effective from the mid-range area showing very solid mechanics with a quick and fluid release, but he?s struggling from long distances (achieving an awful 1/17 in three-point shooting).
He's equally important on defense, a true intimidator at this level who scares opponents away with his ability to contest shots. Even if not a terrific leaper, his great length (he enjoys a very good wingspan) enables him to get pretty high, and certainly it's not like seven-footers are crowding this edition of the junior championship. Still, he shows excellent poise going for the rejection, with very good positioning and the right timing when it comes to when and where attack the ball. Actually, he?s a guy who most times seems to be in the right place, showing a very nice understanding of the game.
At this point, he looks like a really high draft pick in the making, but we'll have a couple of excellent chances to see his real level in the semifinal and the final or bronze medal game, going against very strong teams inside like Lithuania and perhaps Serbia.
