Over There At globe-trotting telebasket.com, you can get the lowdown on basketball highfliers in 38 countries

Not too long ago you could see the NBA's future by watching
ESPN's Big Monday tripleheader, its Tuesday ACC games and its
coverage of the McDonald's All American game. Not anymore. The
NBA success of players such as Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki
from Germany and Kings forward Peja Stojakovic (right) from
Yugoslavia, and the arrival in the league of promising newcomers
like Grizzlies forward Pau Gasol from Spain--not to mention the
foreign invasion of the college game--are proof that basketball
overseas is worth tracking as well. The best way to do so is on
the Internet at telebasket.com.

The home page of this Milan-based site presents the European
basketball news of the day (in 39 languages, including English)
with links to video highlights, live webcasts and audio of top
games. The page is also a portal to Telebasket sites for 38
countries. Last week a lead story on the Greek site was the
return of 6'7" forward Arijan Komazec, who spent last season on
injured reserve with the Grizzlies and is "hitting top form" with
his new club, AEK Athens. Telebasket is the Web headquarters for
the Euroleague, whose championship was won last season by Italy's
Kinder Bologna. Its star, 6'6" Argentinean swingman Emanuel
Ginobili, was a 1999 second-round pick by the Spurs.

The site's most detailed resource is the Superguide, which
contains bios of and statistics (accessible by category) for
more than 13,000 players. Are you looking for players age 21 or
younger averaging at least 12 points while shooting 55% or
better from the field and 75% or higher from the line?
Superguide offers two, both from Slovenia and playing in the
Italian League: 6'5" guard Sani Becirovic (Virtus Pallacanestro
Bologna) and 6'8" small forward Nachbar Bostjan (Pallacanestro
Treviso).

--John O'Keefe

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN W. MCDONOUGH