Of the three major European club tournaments, the tightest Final 16 stage in 2009-10 has been held by the Eurocup competition. With the last night of “Last 16 2010” happening tonight, only three teams (Aris BSA, Bizkaia Bilbao Basket, Panellinios) have qualified for the quarterfinals already and five (Benetton Basket Treviso, Brose Baskets Bamberg, Galatasaray Café Crown, Le Mans, Turk Telecom) squads have been altogether eliminated; additionally, the no. 1 seed has not been determined for any of the four groups.
The schedule for tonight’s action is as follows, with the first four matches listed tipping off at 8pm CET and the latter four at 8.30pm CET.
Benetton Basket vs. Brose Baskets
Panellinios BC vs. Bizkaia Bilbao
Gran Canaria 2014 vs. Crvena Zvezda
CEZ Nymburk vs. Turk Telekom
Le Mans vs. Aris BSA 2003
DKV Joventut vs. Alba Berlin
Galatasaray Café Crown vs. Hapoel Jerusalem
Valencia vs. Unics Kazan
Playoff scenarios for the 14 remaining qualifiers, as determined by the folks over at the Eurocup Basketball site are the following:
• Opponents DKV Joventut and Alba Berlin have lose-and-go-home situation, giving this result immediate ramifications.
• The Panellinios-Bilbao matchup determines first place in their group.
• Hapoel Jerusalem advances with a win, but…
• …the three-way snarl in Group J between Valencia, Kazan and Jerusalem makes determining advancement and quarterfinals position crazy complicated. Here’s the league’s attempt to hash it out: Power Electronics Valencia will be first if it beats Unics or loses by three or fewer points. Valencia is eliminated if it loses by six points or more and Hapoel Jerusalem wins at Galatasaray. Unics needs to beat Valencia by at least five points if Galatasaray wins, or by at least six if Jerusalem wins.
• CEZ Nymburk is out with a loss and a Gran Canaria win.
• Gran Canaria is out with a loss and a CEZ Nymburk win.
• Crvena Zvezda is out with a loss.
Got it? Good. Have fun watching the games.
