FIBA EuroChallenge 54
List of 2010-11 European Basketball Champions: Post-Easter holiday edition
Over the long Easter weekend, the playoff picture in several domestic leagues became clearer, some tournaments advanced a round or two and the VTB United League crowned a champion. Below, BallinEurope supplies information on the current situation in European Leagues’ regular seasons and/or playoffs. This list will be updated whenever possible.
List of 2010-11 European Basketball Champions
With most leagues drawing to a close and playoffs beginning – not to mention champions already crowned in Albania, Cyprus, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Norway and a few regional leagues – BallinEurope returns its “List of European Basketball Champions.” At present, only the above-listed domestic leagues have shut down for the summer; BiE supplies information on […]
Déjà vu in Ukraine? Proposed role models for Fratello’s new team
When Mike Fratello arrives to head up his national team coaching gig in Ukraine, he won’t see too many familiar faces beyond Sasha Volkov. Volkov played for the Czar’s Atlanta Hawks for a couple seasons way back when; unfortunately, Volkov hasn’t actually played ball at any level since year 2000. Coupled with the fact that […]
Omer Önan: TBL second only to ACB
Team Turkey/Fenerbahçe Ülker guard Ömer Onan makes a few declarations in this morning’s Today’s Zaman, summing up well the current state of TBL and Turkish international ball. “[ACB] aside,” opines Onan, “in Turkish basketball, we have long surpassed important European domestic leagues, including the Italian and Greek leagues. In these countries, only one or two […]
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, […]
Apoel Nicosia-Pinar Karsiyaka war spreads to cyberspace
Fan violence extreme enough to result in injuries to players and law enforcement officers, FIBA sanctions and fines, Prime Ministerial denouncements, official apologies, and now high-level hacking in the name of basketball: Who knew Eurochallenge ball could get so controversial? The distinctly un-Christmas atmosphere has tinged the international competition ever since the craziness that followed […]
Russian Revolution: Ten teams announce break with Superleague to form new basketball association
In response to a “last straw,” i.e. the Russian Basketball Federation reformatting its season-ending tournament, 10 clubs in the country have announced their withdrawal from the competition and plans to make up a new Russian league. The list includes essentially all the top names in Russian professional basketball and clubs who play Euroleague, EuroCup and […]
FIBA’s Baumann frets about British basketball post-2012; Spice reassures
UK-based Sporting Life recently posted an couple of articles regarding the odd state of the national program and which insinuate FIBA’s greater concern with basketball in the country. On Monday, the ‘paper presented a long interview with FIBA secretary-general/International Olympic Committee inspector Patrick Baumann. Among other issues, Baumann spoke at length about what he and […]
Göttingen Violets take Eurochallenge, Rochestie named MVP
Congratulations go out this morning to BC Göttingen and former Washington State Cougar Taylor Rochestie, who took the 2010 EuroChallenge title by controlling Krasnye Krylya Samara in the championship game for an 83-75 win. The trophy marks the first-ever European title for Göttingen and hopefully will assist the club in helping make financial ends meet […]
FIBA Eurochallenge final pits German Cinderella against Russian Pinocchio
In the runup to today’s FIBA Eurochallenge final between BC Göttingen and Krasnye Krylia Samara, certain themes are repeated to well-worn across The Continent. For example, there’s the “who’da thunk it” storyline, particularly on the Russian side as the Samara Red Wings threw together a slapdash roster for 2009-10 to amazing results. The “clash of […]