Vincent Collet is a house-hold name in the world of European Basketball...especially when it comes to FIBA competitions. Vincent's achievements with the French National Team are second to none! His teams won 4 Eurobasket medals, 2 world cup medals & 2 Olympic medals between 2011 - 2024. His success with the national team is as unique as it gets and rich of experiences of working with stars at the highest level.

Vincent came to Vilnius on July 8th to talk about different topics surround his success as well as the youth system in France when players get developed through the federation's program at INSEP.

Today's Topics:

0:00 Intro

3:40 Kinexon

6:20 Working with the Cleveland Cavaliers

16:30 INSEP & National Team

28:24 New Generation / Mindset

34:00 Criticism & Communication

40:00 Benching Rudy Gobert

45:00 Q&A

B8 Summit Website:

www.b8summit.com

The Benas Podcast:

www.bmatke.com

#VincentCollet #fiba #FrenchBasketball #Communication #France #INSEP

Kostas is a long time friend of mine and a 3x Euroleague champion in his own right and currently the Head of Performance at Olimpia Milano. He last worked at Fenerbahce since 2022 under Dimitris Itoudis and later Sarunas Jasikevicus and recently signed with Ettore Messina's team in Milano!

He started his career in Europe at Olympiacos in 2006 and has been rolling through Europe ever since!Kostas is the best expert in his field of athletic performance and conditioning for athletes, he also worked with athletes such as Theo Papaloukas and Sofoklis Schortsanitis in the past. He came to Vilnius on July 8th to talk at the B8 Summit 2025 about his field and covered a variety of topics from his field. We talked about the general problematic in all clubs when it comes to communication after injuries occur as well as the mechanics of an achilles injury and much more, check it out!

Today's Topics:

0:00 Intro

1:10 ESCCA Summit

2:50 Sacrifice for Achievement

9:20 Decision-making process / Information

18:30 Load Managment during season

24:30 Injury Peak-times / Summer Load

32:30 Achilles Injury / Mechanics

36:45 Chain of commands after injury

44:30 Q&A

Find Kostas Chatzichristos here:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/kostas_chatzichristos/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/kostas.chatzichristos.2025 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kostas-chatzichristos-a85ab53/ X: https://x.com/kostaschatz Website: https://kostaschatzichristos.com/ ESCCA: https://escca.net/about-us/

B8 Summit Website:

www.b8summit.com

The Benas Podcast:

www.bmatke.com

#KostasChatzichristos #b8summit #basketballsummit #Vilnius #Lithuania #Basketball #podcast #conference #Growth #learning #conversations #ArmaniMilano #Euroleague #EuroleagueChampion

Ibon Navarro:

Ibon Navarro is a highly accomplished Head Coach in Europe and today he came to our summit in Vilnius to talk about the culture he created in Malaga, Spain! The two time King's Cup & back to back BCL championship coach has a lot of experience already and today we spoke about his practice habits as well as the habits he expects from his players. How the team culture is supposed to impact and help new players adapt easier and much more.

Today's Topics:

0:00 Intro

2:10 Sleep & Off Season

5:00 BCL Back to back process

12:00 Alex Ferguson Quote

14:20 James Clear Quote / Habits

19:30 Information gathering / Recruitment

22:50 Impact of culture

25:15 Unconventional Practices

32:00 Lessons from the past

35:30 Substitution pattern

42:00 Q&A

Find Ibon Navarro here:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/ibon.navarro76/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ibontxun

B8 Summit Website:

www.b8summit.com

The Benas Podcast:

www.bmatke.com

#b8summit #basketballsummit #Vilnius #Lithuania #Basketball #podcast #conference #Growth #learning #conversations #Unicaja #Malaga #BCL #Champion

If you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

Sponsor:
www.proballers.com

"Sani Boy":

Sani is a well-known former player as well as highly respected personality because of his positive attitude and mindset. Sani was drafted by the Denver Nuggets and played an incredible 20years as a professional, winning his first Euroleague title in 2007 with Panathinaikos. After numerious domestic titles and junior MVPs and All Star appointments he decided to go into the front office after a short stint as an Assistant at PAO...and ends up winning another Euroleague titles with Panathinaikos in 2024.

Today, we talked about Sani's trials and tribulations with his 13 knee surgeries that he had to go through, what he had to live through after almost not being able to walk and his path out of the dark places. Sani also talked about his daily life and work structure, what he looks for in players as well as politics and communication behind the scenes.

This episode was very emotional for Sani and a rather unique and rare conversation about the struggles of a pro-athlete who has to recover from his injuries.

Topics:

0:00 Intro & Lithuania
2:45 Knee surgeries & mindset
9:40 Draft & Stash
14:00 Influence of a father
21:40 Coaching & Agent Experience
27:15 Learning curve as an executive
35:06 ProBallers.com
39:30 Communication
48:50 Evaluating practices / arguments
54:00 Changes
57:30 Qualities of players
1:00:40 ATOs

#SaniBecirovic #Panathinaikos #FrontOffice #Champion #Athens #Euroleague #Greece

You can Find "Sani" here:

X: https://x.com/SaniBecirovic

Finding “The Benas Podcast”:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-b-podcast/id1558492852?uo=4

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bw5UJNSQLKo0wUybEIza3

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-benas-podcast

…or visit www.bmatke.com to find more info.

Comment, Like & Share here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bmatke/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmatke3

www.bmatke.com

If you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

Sponsor:
www.proballers.com

"Guillaume":

Guillaume is making a name for himself in France and this is just the beginning. After being the Head Coach at Vichy for numerous years he won the Leader's Cup of the ProB in 2024 and was appointed the head coach of LeMans the following season where he also managed to the Leader's Cup of the ProA in his first season. Meanwhile, Guillaume also won 2 gold medals in a row with the French u20 team in the FIBA u20 Eurobasket in 2023 & 2024.

Today, we talked about a variety of topics that involved his experiences with the French u20 team as well as his style of leadership. I addressed the improvement of the English language within the French basketball community as well as the culturally diverse French ProA. Guillaume also talked about the importance of terminology and how to incorporate young talents into the pros. Also some tactical nuances like the 'tagging up' system and more.

It's very important for this podcast to continue to grow and your activity is very important in all this. Please share, like and comment so the YT algorithm will be prompted to help us too :)

Topics:

0:00 Intro
2:00 English language in France
3:30 Culturally diverse French league
10:00 Effort oriented culture
16:00 Back to back gold with France u20
23:15 Terminology & Transition to pro
27:30 Personal growth & Coaching staff
36:45 ProBallers.com
38:00 "Tagging Up" system
44:00 Scouting vs Self-scouting
46:10 Sources for scouting players
54:00 Decompressing
55:50 Vincent Collet specialties
1:00:25 ATOs

#GuillaumeVizade #FrenchBasketball #Franceu20 #FIBA #LeadersCup #LeMans #ProA

You can Find "Guillaume" here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guillaume_vizade/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guillermo.bill.william

X: https://x.com/GuillaumeVIZADE
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guillaume-vizade-b054a446/

Finding “The Benas Podcast”:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-b-podcast/id1558492852?uo=4

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bw5UJNSQLKo0wUybEIza3

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-benas-podcast

…or visit www.bmatke.com to find more info.

Comment, Like & Share here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bmatke/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmatke3

www.bmatke.com

If you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

Sponsor: www.proballers.com

"Petteri":

Petteri is a well-known basketball player who was drafted in 2007 by Philadelphia but his rights ended up being traded several times during his career and he never made the final jump. On the contrary, Petteri had an illustrious career in Europe where he played for several high level teams throughout his career (Bologna, Khimki, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and more) and ended up winning several meaningful domestic titles in Germany & Spain. Petteri was known as one of the most accurate shooters in Europe and was twice a member of the unique "50-40-90 club" in Euroleague.

Today, we talked about how he handled being drafted and spending his career in waiting to make it to the NBA, the mindset behind being a draft&stash player, his career challenges, hip issues that lead to retirement, the enjoyment of coaching kids and lessons learned from transferring knowledge to young guys vs coaching pros.

This episode marks my third guest from Finland, after Hanno Mottola and Lassi Touvi have been my guests before. It's another unique episode that talks about the path of a former player to becoming a head coach.

Please share with all players or former players looking to go into coaching...comment, like & share on all social media and audio platforms.

Topics:

0:00 Intro
2:00 Health issues7:00 Draft & Stash life11:50 Preparation for games14:30 Ending Career19:30 Finnish Basketball Culture27:50 ProBallers.com33:30 Early Coaching Lessons38:00 Coaching Juniors vs Pros43:20 Head Coach mentorship50:00 NBL vs Europe & Next Star Program59:30 New Zealand & Family Life1:11:50 ATOs

#PetteriKoponen #Finland #FinlandBasketball #FCBarcelona #FCBayern #Adidas #NextGeneration #NZBreakers #NewZealandBasketball

You can Find "Petteri" here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petteri.koponen2

X: https://x.com/KoponenPetteri

Finding “The Benas Podcast”:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-b-podcast/id1558492852?uo=4

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bw5UJNSQLKo0wUybEIza3

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-benas-podcast

…or visit www.bmatke.com to find more info.

Comment, Like & Share here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bmatke/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmatke3

www.bmatke.com

If you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

Sponsor:
www.proballers.com

"Mikko":

Mikko is the Head Coach of the Swedish Basketball NT and recently qualified with Sweden for the Eurobasket in 2025. He's also the Head Coach of BG Göttingen in the German BBL and is managing both positions at once. Before he joined Göttingen midway through this season, he was the Head Coach of the Swedish top club in Norrköping and won every domestic title there is to win in Sweden. Being only 37years old, it's safe to say that Mikko has a bright future ahead of him.

Today, we talked about how he handles sitting on two high pressure chairs at the same time and how he manages to balance these two jobs and his family time. We also talked about how he handles his staff and the importance of delefation. Also, communication with players during the season as well as recruiting NT players. We also talked about Sweden's basketball system as a whole and much more.

This episode is a premiere episode with a professional from Sweden and is useful on so many levels for so many young coaches. Please share, subscribe, comment & like this episode all over social media. It helps us grow tremendously.

Topics:

0:00 Intro 5:40 History & Balancing Work+Life8:50 Priorities in the Job10:40 Importance of delegating work17:00 Scouting23:30 Handling Staff27:20 Routines & Preparation34:40 ProBallers.com41:00 Sweden Basketball System47:40 Handling two Head Coaching Jobs54:00 Recruiting NT Players58:20 Low-hanging fruit & Purpose1:10:04 ATOs

#MikkoRippinen #Sweden #BGGoettingen #BBL #Eurobasket #FIBA #HeadCoach

You can Find "Mikko" here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikkoriipinen/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikko.riipinen.9

X: https://x.com/mikkoriipinen
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikko-riipinen-729a89166/

Finding “The Benas Podcast”:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-b-podcast/id1558492852?uo=4

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bw5UJNSQLKo0wUybEIza3

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-benas-podcast

…or visit www.bmatke.com to find more info.

Comment, Like & Share here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bmatke/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmatke3

www.bmatke.com