EuroLeague 101
Fantasy tips from the Euroleague Boss: Top 16, week five
Hello everybody, this is once again Javier Gancedo of Euroleague.net, ready for yet another SportingBet Euroleague Fantasy Challenge week. There are two more weeks in the Top 16. The good news is that it is being extraordinary. Nobody would have predicted that no teams would be 100% qualified after four weeks and that the only […]
Anderson named Euroleague MVP for February
A bit of a no-brainer, perhaps, but now it’s official: The Euroleague has named Alan Anderson of Maccabi Tel Aviv as player of the month. And why not? Anderson was a statistical monster the type of which hasn’t been seen in at least have a decade in the big league – his first three games […]
Best of the (basketball) net: Past, present and future edition
“Best of the (Basketball) Net” is one day late this week, but that extra 24 hours or so will surely make all the difference in terms of quality. For some most interesting recently-posted basketball-related stuff from the interweb, read on to check out excerpts from a classic of basketball literature, see highlights from a big […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup: Top 16, week four
The critical week four of Euroleague Top 16 action is in the books, but Ball in Europe’s man in Italy, Francesco Cappelletti, is still musing on the shifts ‘n’ events thanks to these eight games. This week’s frank roundup wishes Panathinaikos bye-bye, gives mucho deserved props to Pini Gershon, and bestows an “accolade” upon Zabian […]
Desperate Dijon replaces replacement’s replacement with Milosevic
Well, things can scarcely get worse for JDA Dijon, and so the debut of Stevan Milosevic for tonight’s game against Ligue Nationale de Basket’s current no. 2 Cholet (14-5) must be looked at with much optimism by the club’s fans. The 24-year-old 2.11-meter tall center comes to France from Partizan Belgrade, where the youngster scarcely […]
The week in Euroleague highlights (with special reference to Cibona-Olympiacos)
Just in case you haven’t seen this yet, the Euroleague “Top 10 plays of the week” for week four of the Top 16 round follows the break. Surprisingly no magic from Ricky Rubio or his FC Barcelona ‘mates this week (perhaps the team’s too weary from ACB play but not so tired as to be […]
Fantasy tips from the Euroleague boss: Final 16, week four
Hello again and welcome back! This is Javier Gancedo of Euroleague.net ready to discuss week four of the Top 16 in the SportingBet Euroleague Fantasy Challenge. The game is coming to an end: Just three weeks remain to find out who will be our special guest at the 2010 Final Four in Paris. There is […]
Montepaschi Siena takes Coppa Italia; is that a good thing?
BiE is still internally debating whether Montepaschi Siena predictably winning the 2010 Coppa Italia was a good thing or not. On one hand, any other result might have resulted in massive match-fixing allegations; after all, Siena devotees would argue, how else could this dominant squad have possibly lost if not for referee assistance? On the […]
State of the nations: European basketball organizations today
While not interested in passing definitive judgment, we think it would be useful and fair to take a look at the European basketball panorama. There will be no ratings or rankings here, just a snapshot of what the most important ballin’ countries offer us. Ten years into the third millennium, it’s common to hear repeated […]
Bad week for Dixons continues as Bobby released from Asvel Basket
In a move called “intriguing” by mainstream French media, Asvel Villeurbanne has released American guard Bobby Dixon. After logging just one half-season with the Euroleague squad, Dixon was cut just two days before the Semaine des As tournament, despite his success in the 2009 Semaine with champions Le Mans. Aymeric Jeanneau’s play had steadily eaten […]
Turin gets 2011 Euroleague Final Four
Congratulations go out from Ball in Europe this afternoon to the basketball-organizing folks of former Winter Olympics host city Turin, Italy, who have been awarded the Euroleague Basketball Final Four tournament for 2011. The venue will be the 16,600-seat Palasport Olimpico, which saw Eurocup action in 2008 and 2009. Official Euroleague press release follows. (Euroleague) […]
Juan Dixon saga continues through weekend
On Friday, FIBA and Euroleague officials conspired to grant Juan Dixon surely one of the worst weekends in his life by announced that he was suspended from play with Unicaja Malaga thanks to his misuse of a steroid product. In the statement from the Unicaja front office itself, club officials explained that Dixon had “tested […]