Adriatic League 73
All-Euroleague Team 2010-11: BallinEurope’s ballot
Beyond checking out the wild Menorca-Caja Laboral Baskonia game yesterday, BiE spent a good deal of time this weekend contemplating an empty 2010-11 All-Euroleague team ballot. The EL folks sure don’t make things easy for the voter, providing 60 names are allowing one to vote for just five – not that anyone would ever think […]
Top 100 teams in Europe: Week of upsets edition
While NBA fans were mostly talking about Blake Griffin and Carmelo Anthony last week, the buzzword around Europe last week was “upset.” Seemingly from end to end, Continental leagues saw their respective mighty – if not fall – at least stagger from a blow dealt by a lower seed. Real Madrid lost to new no. […]
A week in highlights: Spanish block party, mighty Milos, Utah rap and some dude dunking in L.A.
Yes, readers, it’s Sunday. Or, as BallinEurope likes to think of it, “YouTube Trawlday.” (As though BiE avoids the ‘Tube on the other six days. Yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre.) Whatever you want to call it, start your day with these 10 video clips starring Nando De Colo, Mirza Begic, Mehmet Okur, Milos Teodosic, Ibrahim Jaaber, Bojan Bogdanović […]
Vesely named FIBA Europe young player of 2010
[Editor’s note: BallinEurope apologizes for a previous edition of this piece which incorrectly identified Jan Vesely as having rights owned by the Oklahoma City Thunder. This was a grievous error of which you surely need not know details. Rest assured that the infinite number of monkeys formerly ravaging the BiE headquarters are now under control […]
February Madness in Croatia: Zadar uses no subs, wins on buzzer beater, causes coach’s resignation
Talk about your February Madness. In the Krešimir Ćosić Cup, a.k.a. the Croatian Cup, semifinals last night, unheralded KK Zadar (10-19 overall in 2010-11) stunned Eurocup Top 16 team Cedevita Zagreb (16-13), 83-82, on the favorites’ home court. What’s that you say? Not so crazy? Upsets happen all the time? Okay, consider that KK Zadar […]
Top 100 Teams in Europe: Pre-Cups Running Over Edition
As most European domestic leagues are taking a break for a week or two for national cup and/or all-star festivities, BallinEurope crunches the numbers again to determine where the Continent’s finest stand. Near the top, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Euroleague-side punishment of Union Olimpija shook things up a bit within the top 10 and Olympiacos reasserted […]
Top 100 Teams in Europe: Barcelona back to no. 1
BallinEurope took a little extra time with the Top 100 Teams in Europe list this week after a suggestion that certain ACB teams were getting the shaft of non-inclusion in the calculations – and so the pool has been widened accordingly. In calculating the Top 100 for this week and heretofore, all teams in major […]
The Top 100 Teams in Europe: Calm before the storm edition
All right, another Thursday means another look at BallinEurope’s Top 100 Teams in Europe chart, the last until the big pan-Continental leagues gear up again with sweet 16 action. (BiE was just waiting for the dust to settle in Athens after the PAO-Olympiacos match, but settling may yet be a few days in the making.) […]
Introducing the ultimate BiE rankings: The Top 100 basketball teams in Europe
In gearing up to produce another official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings column (it’ll be up here after the draw next week), BiE got to thinking about how unsatisfying the task will be with only 16 teams remaining. After all, BiE regularly has an eye on hundreds of teams and though the Euroleague is clearly cream-of-the-Continental-Crop, […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week nine
So Žalgiris gets its coach fired after playing .800 ball through 20 games, Spanish powerhouses lose in Lithuania and Germany, Valencia kills Milano, Efes Pilsen stuns PAO … just another week in Euroleague 2010-11, eh? And after happenings aplenty, it sounds like time for another edition of BallinEurope’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings! Let’s go! Tops […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week seven
Apologies for the tardiness of this column, dear readers, but the Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings are just as fun and informative on Sundays as they are on Saturdays! With four teams through into the Top 16 round and several more on the bubble, who’s cruising and who’s losing? BiE says the two dozen squads […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Regular-season halftime
BiE still can’t claim to totally understand what’s going on in Euroleague basketball in 2010-11 (Real Madrid lost by how many? To *who*?) but at least some of the cream is rising to the top. This latest edition of the official BallinEurope power rankings should probably wait ‘til after some key games over the weekend […]