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Chart of the 2007 All-Europe Basketball teams

High school basketball players who weren’t chosen for the All-Europe boys and girls teams might wonder what they can do to persuade the panel of coaches to select them next year.

Be a member of a previous All-Europe team?

Irrelevant, says Hohenfels’ Joyce Dusenberry, a member of the girls panel. It selected one player from the 2006 team, three-time All-European Kendra Lenoir of Ramstein, among the 20 chosen for the first and second teams. The boys have six holdovers from 2006, all from the second team, among its 19 honorees.

“We try to look at the quality of play this school year,” Dusenberry said, adding that the turnover common in DODDS-Europe limits the number of repeat selections.

Be a senior?

Although 14 of the 19 boys selected (eight first-teamers) are seniors, the players’ class enters into the decision only as a kind of tiebreaker, says girls panelist Craig Lord of Division II champion Naples.

“If it’s close between a senior and, say, a sophomore, coaches tend to go with the senior,” he said.

Class was even less important for the girls — underclassmen outnumbered seniors 11-9. Five of those underclassmen were sophomores, including three first-teamers — Latanya Wilson of Hanau, Ashley Hicks of Vilseck and Nicole Edwards of Rota. Naples freshman Darien Moon made the second team.

Play a tough-to-fill position?

Although elite centers were scarce in the boys field this year, it’s the quality of play, not the position, that counts.

“Certainly we want every position covered, but we were going for the best players,” said Kathy Clemmons of Hohenfels, a member of the boys panel, which selected one first-team and one second-team center.

Play for a large school?

A total of four boys and girls first-teamers played for Division I teams. In some ways, playing for a big school can work against a player, according to boys panelist Pete Resnick of Division IV runner-up Menwith Hill.

“The big schools all think they’re the best and can beat everyone,” he said, “so people sometimes hold that against them. But I don’t think a player should be penalized just because he plays for a big school.”

Play for a winning team?

Now we’re getting warmer.

“Because we don’t see everyone play, we look at what the team did,” girls panelist Alex Veto of D-II runner-up Vilseck said.

“If a team goes 0-10, they probably don’t have an All-Europe player.”

European champions are well-represented on the All-Europe teams. Six of the boys’ top 10 and five of the girls’ top 10 helped their teams to European titles.

Make the all-conference team?

It’s an All-Europe prerequisite, Resnick said.

“We only consider all-conference players because that shows they’ve been good all year,” he said.

Impress opposing coaches?

That’s the ticket, according to Hohenfels’ Clemmons.

“As you watch teams play, you see strong play and ask yourself, ‘Where would he fit in on my team? How does he compare?’” she said.

Voting becomes tougher when one doesn’t have a basis of comparison, according to Kaiserslautern’s Corey Sullivan, a member of the girls panel.

“It’s hard to pick the best 20 kids in Europe when you haven't seen them all,” Sullivan said, “but everyone has the best intentions. You’ve got to trust your colleagues.”

That is especially true if the players have impressed coaches on the big stage — the European tournaments at Mannheim — the way Nyrika Davis of Naples did with 15 second-half points in the Wildcats’ triple-overtime victory over Vilseck in the title game.

That’s the clincher, said Resnick, citing Heidelberg’s 43-40 victory over Ramstein in the D-I title game.

“That Heidelberg kid (sophomore Chris Frazier, who sank six three-pointers in the finale), every time they needed to make a shot, he dropped daggers on them,” he said.

“Incredible shooting. Clutch shots. And they weren’t easy shots, either. He made them with people on him and hands in his face.

“Those are the sorts of games you need to stand out.”

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