The Polish BasketPulse community played in the 100th anniversary season of the 4th Polish U23 Cup. These types of tournaments are always a great opportunity to showcase the young rising stars on their teams.

Twelve teams entered the competition, each of which had to fulfil the conditions of participation: a minimum of nine players under 23 years of age, a play-off competition, the loser is out, there was an MVP award and prizes for the winners. A total of 11 matches were played throughout the tournament, with unexpected results and plenty of excitement.

In the grand final, Zepter Slask Wroclaw (27 strength ranking) met Polonia (396 strength ranking), and the match ended with a score of 57:78. Polonia, the winner of the tournament, in addition to gold medals, received a prize of 1.500 credits from the federation.



MVP of the match and at the same time of the whole tournament was K. Jabłoński (196cm, 213 RT) playing for Polonia, he summed the tournament up briefly after the final: „I am happy about winning the final and being recognised as the MVP of the tournament. It's motivation to work even harder on myself. I believe that in the future I will reach the world level and play in many more great tournaments”.



Polonia's manager, d0man, reflected on the final match: "Today's match was a battle between the best squad and the best player in the tournament. My main strategy was to limit Slaby (219 cm, 289RT) under the basket. I considered a double-team but decided it was too risky given his versatility. Instead, I trusted my players to handle the defense. Reducing the role of our frontcourt players helped us avoid unnecessary fouls, and despite Slaby's solid performance, we managed to contain him. The team's athleticism improved from last year, which made a big difference. What surprised me most was our mid-range efficiency, a tactic often neglected in modern play. Jabloniec shined, becoming MVP with great shooting both from the field and the free-throw line."

KrisWKS, the opposing coach, added that "the result was determined by better defence and more rebounds on the opponent's boards. Obviously Doman prepared the tactics for my team very well and managed to stop my tall players. A great game by Doman's players, congratulations!’

The entire tournament was summed up by the president of the Polish federation Matis:

I am very happy that we successfully managed to organise the fourth U23 Polish Federations Cup. Every following season we are attracting more participants into it, thus this season there is grand reward pool of 3.000 credits distributed to 4 semifinalists. Special thanks to everyone who made it possible to take place. Especially to Gulon, Psubrat, Jopenciusz for their help, as well as to all of participants.

This is showing how much committed is our community, and is showing our continuous growth. I am sure we will throw next tournaments in upcoming seasons. It is giving a lot of fun especially that teams from lower divisions can beat the great champions like LZS Osolin in first round. Next tournament will be 5th, also its kind of anniversary. All I can say for now - this will be huge, and nobody in Basketpulse have seen that kind of a tournament yet.”