Russian Superleague 13
BC Khimki Moscow region: In 15th anniversary year, on the verge of lucky three
In the leadup to the 2011-12 Eurocup Final Four tournament beginning on Saturday, Eurosport Turkey basketball commentator Uygar Karaca contributes a series of previews on the remaining quartet entitled “Four Teams, Four Stories” to BallinEurope. Today, the final chapter of the series is devoted to BC Khimki Moscow region. With VTB United League and Russia […]
Eurocup Championship: Unics Kazan master plan coming to fruition
Better late than never, as the old expression goes; and in the case of Unics Kazan’s 2010-11 season, continuing to achieve late could prove much better in the medium- and long-term future. Few teams so actively rebuilt and retooled with purpose last offseason as Unics Kazan, bringing aboard Slavko Vranes out of Partizan Belgrade, 2009-10 […]
BallinEurope’s completely relativistic 2010-11 All-Star Team (or, What? You’ve never heard of Bambale Osby?)
With most domestic basketball hitting a halfway point and the Euroleague into its second round, BallinEurope today pays tribute to some outstanding individual performances by naming its all-star team. No relative merits or penalties were assessed for the league in which BiE’s all-stars compete, and domination in one league was a top criteria for making […]
The angst of Primoz Brezec (in 141 characters or less)
You heard it here first … unless you get Primoz Brezec’ tweets, that is. Brezec’ Krasnye Krylia (a.k.a. the Red Wings), have dropped to 2-7 in Russian Superleague play – “good” for ninth place in the 10-team association – after losing to top-of-the-table Spartak St. Petersburg this afternoon, 81-65. The Slovenian big man soon expressed […]
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: 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 […]
Thorn-y situation for Mikhail Prokhorov as club president unexpectedly steps down
Rod Thorn, known as the GM who drafted Michael Jordan and the president of the New Jersey Nets since 2000, will be leaving the club when his contract expires on Wednesday. This leaves a vacancy at the position for Mikhail Prokhorov’s newly bought club and represents the first potential headache for the Russian owner. ESPN […]
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 […]
Eight random odds ‘n’ ends on Euroleague playoff games three
This one’s exactly what it says: A grab bag of clippings and clips regarding the eight teams squaring off in tonight’s Euroleague semifinals games. Enjoy the factoids, enjoy the games! • If it’s March, tradition tends to demand that CSKA Moscow basketball augment its collection of trophies; 2010 is proving no exception. This month saw […]
The BallinEurope All-Decade All-European Team
While technically this decade doesn’t end until 2010, with millions of sports websites and blogs proclaiming December 31 the end of the 2000s, who is BallinEurope to be pedantic? (Especially when there’s a good excuse to make an all-time team roster.) Therefore, in the spirit of a new era, BallinEurope seeks to comprise Europe’s All-Decade […]
Russia’s own “Artest melee” gets Lokomotiv, Dynamo fines; CEO says “We broke the law”
Those attending last Saturday’s match between Russian Superleague contenders BC Lokomotiv Kuban and Dynamo Moscow in Krasnodar Sports Arena got way more than they bargained for in both positive and negative fashion. After the hometeam Lokomotiv finally eked out the 94-91 double-overtime win after serious back-and-forth throughout the game, trouble started. Dynamo players had been […]