Cibona Zagreb 100
The Innocents Abroad, Part Two: Assessing the US' Euroleague rookies and sophs
Yesterday, Ball in Europe had a look at about a dozen newbies in the NBA from Europe; today, we’re flipping continents for a brief look at players from the US trying to make it in European basketball. With about one-third of the Euroleague season in the books, how are the first- and second-year Americans faring […]
It’s Vrankovic for Team Croatia
Filling the big shoes of displaced head coach Jasmin Repesa when Croatia hits the court for the 2010 FIBA World Championship will be Josip Vrankovic. Vrankovic had served as the coach of Croatia’s “Team B” in international competition in addition to (briefly and contentiously) helming Cibona Zagreb in 2007. As a long-time player with Team […]
SportingBet lines and odds for Euroleague week six matchups
Taking a brief look at the professional prognostication for tonight’s Euroleague games and, whoa, do the bookmakers really have Asvel Baskets and Zalgiris Kaunas as the game to watch tonight? Crazy, though a bit understandable when one considers the pointspreads given in three prospective David-and-Goliath matchups (AJ Milano at Panathinaikos, Cibona at Montepaschi Siena, Fenerbahce […]
Euroleague attendance figures mostly dismal through four weeks
The numbers are in and if one thing can be said about Euroleague 2009-10 this early on, it’s that this association is hardly free of the specter of economic woes. After Partizan and Alba Berlin set attendance records in 2008-09, this season has heretofore seen a most remarkable downturn in paying fandom with Lottomatica Roma […]
Betting on basketball: Pointspreads and odds for Euroleague week 4, part 1
The week in Euroleague action is a bit top-heavy this week both figuratively and literally: Eight of the 12 games scheduled will be going down on Wednesday night, and most of these figure to be blowouts of the highest order. The bookmakers over at Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor Sporting Bet have double-digit pointspreads set for […]
Swine flu hits Maroussi, Pau returning to acting
The swine flu – officially called the H1N1 virus – reached two more basketball players in Greece as Euroleague side Maroussi will be without Michalis Pelekanos and Kostas Kaimakoglou with the illness. Also in the news, Spanish star Pau Gasol returns for another test in acting and Euroleague to offer viewers first hand access.
Betting on Euroleague basketball: Tonight’s pointspreads and over/under lines
Euroleague tips off tonight and with it come thousands of predictions and opinions on the outcomes of this evening’s six matches. To better gauge expectations, what better to consult than a bookie? After all, as I always say, these are the guys who stand to lose the most by choosing poorly. Handicaps and over/unders, courtesy […]
Croatia-Macedonia meet in World Cup final, Eurobasket preview
The dust has mostly settled in Ankara, with Croatia and Macedonia the final two terms standing. Though Croatia should prevail in this one and the “World Cup of Basketball” isn’t really much more than a lot of friendly matches bound together loosely and packaged as a tournament, the game tonight could prove to be crucial […]
Wednesday transactions: Welsch stays put, Bogdanovic back in Croatia
Euroleague officials announced one re-signing and one free-agent deal on Wednesday: Former NBAer and current Team Czech Republic swingman Jiri Welsch will be staying with Unicaja for a fourth season, while Bojan Bogdanovic has hooked up with Cibona Zagreb on a four-year contract. Unicaja was certainly pleased to retain the 29-year-old Welsch, who has played […]
Tuesday transactions: Blanco to Unicaja, Gordon to Cibona
A pair of Euroleague signings were made official on Tuesday, with homegrown product Saul Blanco staying in Spain to sign with Unicaja Malaga and second-year pro Jamont Gordon arrives in Cibona Zagreb after the sinking of Fortitudo Bologna.
“You shall find me a Graves man”: Galatasaray guard goes to Zagreb
Former University of Pittsburgh standout Antonio Graves signed with Cibona Zagreb yesterday, making his fifth professional stop to sign with his third European club. After graduating Pitt in 2007, Graves got with the Pittsburgh Xplosion of the CBA before moving to The Continent to play Pro A ball in France with Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez in […]
Caught surfing: Checking out Euroleague Group A official websites
As a public service to our readers (not to mention a good excuse to get in some high-quality surfing time), BallinEurope will hereby begin cataloguing some key European teams’ official websites. We’ll first run through the teams of the Euroleague groups sequentially A through D, followed by a rundown of Euroleague qualifiers, Eurocup contestants, EuroChallenge […]