Efes Pilsen 72
Euroleague week three talking points (part I)
Seven Euroleague games go off tonight as the season rounds into form a bit. The marquee match tonight has got to be the Khimki-Baskonia showdown to establish early supremacy in that tough Group A; Olympiacos-Unicaja will surely be worth the viewing as well, although the way the Reds have dominated on their home floor lately […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup, week two
Francesco Cappelletti’s regular column with BallinEurope is back as our man in Italy takes a look at the after-effects of Euroleague week two action. This time out, Francesco sees European basketball history returning to the old days on the Continent while Balkan squads fight economic problems but dispatch Western European teams anyway. And early on, […]
Besiktas Cola Turka schedule: Who's in Iverson's future?
With Allen Iverson to join the TBL’s Beşiktaş Cola Turka, BallinEurope reckons the team will be getting a little (read: a lot) of extra attention from all parts. And so today, a brief look at the team’s current state in the 2010-11 season. After two games, Beşiktaş stands at 1-1: The club won an away […]
Highlights from Union Olimpija-Efes Pilsen 2OT thriller
The Euroleague’s game of the night last night and probably ultimately in all of week one was seen in the Union Olimipija-Efes Pilsen battle – and BallinEurope does mean battle – in Ljubljana. By the time the buzzer sounded, some 8,700 had thrilled to only the third double-overtime regular-season game in EL history, with Olimpija […]
Sixty-eight Fearless Predictions™ for 2010-11 Euroleague season
With the EL tipoff game tonight, BallinEurope is feeling devotion … not to mention a rush of Fearless Predictions™ coming on. How crazy can BiE get? You be the judge; here are 68 prognostications on all things Euroleague which you may [laugh uproariously about] ponder. Enjoy the season, everyone! (And sign up for the BallinEurope […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Final preseason edition
The 2010-11 Euroleague season tips off tomorrow? Right, then. Presenting the last preseason – and thus last totally subjective, because we’ll be able to base these things on, you know, wins and losses beginning next week – BallinEurope Official Euroleague Power Rankings™. (Plus lots of video clips.) Enjoy! 1. (↔) FC Barcelona – Yeah, as […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: October update
Got the vitriol brewing? All right, then, with BallinEurope now caught up on some preseason basketball viewing, it’s time for another edition of BiE’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings. Just one quick note for irritated fans (we’re looking at you, Olympiacos, Žalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas backers): Remember that these rankings are first totally subjective and secondly […]
Another Serbian export: Musli signs with Caja Laboral Baskonia
Not only is Belgrade basketball factory working in three shifts with many overtime hours, but its main export (i.e. promising centers) is overachieving expectations. Just after Miroslav Raduljica was transferred to Efes Pilsen, another gifted center has left FMP Zeleznik, an average team with great basketball academy located in the suburbs of the Serbia capital. […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: The preseason
Since BallinEurope’s Official Power Rankings were so, um, popular during the FIBA World Championships, today we’re kicking off the same schtick for the upcoming Euroleague campaign. The rules, again: These rankings are basically purely subjective (at this point; once the games are played, actual wins and losses will be figured in) but are based loosely […]
Mediterranean Basketball Association: To Be or Not To Be?
The rumor first popped up a couple of days ago on Talk Basket and an intriguing bit of gossip it is, too. According to that website, the Hellenic Basketball Federation (EOK) and former FIBA Europe president George Vassilakopoulos are advancing the idea of a Mediterranean basketball league which would include teams from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, […]
Must-see Euroleague TV: Nine games to watch in 2010-11
With Thursday’s Euroleague draw, the schedule for the 2010-11 season was also determined. And while the rosters of the teams are just barely coming together and the FIBA World Championship is still something of a distant point on the horizon, BiE is nevertheless already looking forward to October and the tipping off of Euroleague play. […]
Official first proclamation of Euroleague "Group of Death" status goes to…
It happens every time there’s a group draw in international competition. Begun by some twit sports journalist during the 1990 World Cup (if BiE recalls correctly), it has become requisite to label one bunch the “Group of Death,” as though advancement to subsequent rounds is any more difficult for the, say, no. 5 seed in […]