Emma Meesseman and Belgium take on Spain in EuroBasket women semifinals

Belgium made history with their semifinals appearance in the EuroBasket Women 2017 tournament. It isn’t just their first appearance in the semifinals. Their win over Italy on Thursday punched their ticket to the 2018 FIBA World Cup, their first ever.

It is so historic, that they got a shout out from King Filip, the Belgian King!

Clearly, every expectation has been met and the results are in. The Cats were successful. But I have a sneaking suspicion that they want to make a statement against, arguably, their toughest opponent on Saturday, Spain.

One of the best duos in EuroLeague are Emma Meesseman and Alba Torrens when they are playing together on UMMC Ekaterinburg.

They share continental and domestic championships. They also have many ridiculous highlights that involve others in their lineup like Nika Baric, Diana Taurasi, and Brittney Griner. UMMC lost three games and won the Russian championship, beating the EuroLeague champs, Dynamo Kursk in a five game series. They are good together.

And so Meesse and Torrens know each other well. Now, they are facing off.

For Belgium, this game should very much revolve around their teammates. I expect to see some guard on guard, umm, chippy-ness.

Just like in the Italy contest, paint points made the difference. The backcourt has to harass like there is no tomorrow. But, thankfully there is.

The World Cup in Spain next September!

Ann Wauters has been playing possessed basketball, and I hope she can grab a bunch of rebounds while Meesse is occupied.

Spain can go nuts.

So it is essential that the rest of the team continues to play hands up, great foot-work fundamentals. That is exactly what got them here.

Kim Mestdagh can easily hit 40 percent of her threes. And grab four or five steals.

They say 'the fish rots from the head down', well this eight second violation, one that doesn't show up in individual stats, gave the Cats the winning possession against Russia.

This team has a leader.

And the most encouraging thing for team Belgium, is that they have the best player, and best tandem in the tournament. Emma Meesseman and Ann Wauters.

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So perhaps we can show Belgium some love?