Tenerife tame the Giants to progress in Antwerp
The crowd came, they brought the noise, they set a record, and they had reason for hope, but the young Antwerp Giants simply couldn’t overcome a canny Tenerife side in the Basketball Champions League Final Four. Emmet Ryan watched the clock strike midnight on Cinderellaujgm This was not an aesthetically pleasing game of basketball. Nor […]
Virtus victorious over blunderous Bamberg
On the one hand there was a former European power looking to show it really was on the way back. On the other, there was a team that had reigned supreme in its homeland and now sought a first European final. It should have been a cracker, instead dire shooting from Brose Bamberg ensured that […]
I don’t feel like writing about basketball today
With the death of journalist Lyra McKee at the hands of so-called dissident Republicans, Emmet Ryan reflects on a few days he’d rather forget but knows it’s important not to We buried a friend today. An early train up to Belfast to grab one of the last seats at the back of the church a […]
Euroleague Playoff Preview
The playoffs are here and Euroleague has put together a couple of familiar pairings, one way too familiar, as 8 teams battle it out for a trip to the Final Four. Emmet Ryan breaks down the pairings For any of you who somehow have come across this piece and don’t know who is playing who […]
Who Are The Likely Europeans To Be Drafted Into The NBA?
The NBA is the pinnacle of the basketball world; with players from all over the globe idolising players from the biggest teams in the world. European leagues are improving; especially the Spanish league, but they will likely never reach the same level as America’s elite competition. The draft is something that not many Europeans […]
Requiem for a season
The SEF was a morgue on Friday night but Emmet Ryan went along to pay his respects. A dead rubber for Olympiacos, with no playoffs and doubts over what the rest of their season holds abounding, it was eerie in the home of a team that never looked like it would be in this situation […]
Calathes makes history to send Panathinaikos into the playoffs
It was never going to be easy but Panathinaikos really went all out on drama in the Euroleague regular season, leaving themselves with a must win game in the final round to decide their fate. Then Nick Calathes decided this, of all nights, was the one to end Euroleague’s greatest drought. Emmet Ryan was in […]
The way of the Warriors
The race was over, then it was alive again, then it was decided. Over the course of 2 games, starting 24 hours apart, the Irish Super League championship was decided in a combination of both the height of drama and the calm of a coronation. Emmet Ryan hit the road to take in all the, […]
The beat goes on
The last of our missives from the Kingdom sees Emmet Ryan return to Tralee during the run-in to the Irish Super League race as the unexpected league leaders faced a stern test from relegation battlers Neptune Saturday and Sunday see two huge games for the Tralee Warriors but that’s pretty much the norm. Every time […]
The quiet night amidst the resurgence
Sometimes you just come across a bad game of basketball but that can be a blip. The resurrection of top tier basketball in Killarney is moving along nicely, just for one Saturday there was a reminder of the work that is still ahead. In his second missive from the Kingdom of Kerry, Emmet Ryan watched […]
Killorglin go down but can look forward
It wasn’t Killorglin’s day in their penultimate home outing of the season but the village of just 2,199 people can look forward to another season of top flight basketball. Emmet Ryan with the first of his missives from his Kerry adventure visits the town where there’s only one true goat Prior to Killorglin’s ascension to […]
Let’s talk about Berlin
The German capital has been a regular haunt of Euroleague before but not in the new format. With Alba Berlin amongst the better known names on the continent, you’d think going big would be easy unless you actually paid attention, writes Emmet Ryan Wednesday night in Berlin and inside the final 20 seconds. Below the […]