Slavko Vranes 12
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 […]
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 […]
“This is the Final Four”: The Euroleague quotebook going into the semifinals
A quick collection of quotes for you, collected yesterday and today at various press conferences and media meetings. With just hours to go before tipoff, enjoy a bit of wit and wisdom from coaches and players on BallinEurope. On Paris “It is […] special to have the Final Four in Paris. This is the city […]
Euroleague Final Four head-to-head matchups: Partizan Belgrade vs. Olympiacos
Whoa, the Final Four starts in two days? Almost unbelievable. But enough digression! Yesterday, BallinEurope presented a brief position-by-position rundown of Friday’s FC Barcelona-CSKA Moscow game. Today, a consideration of the late game, Partizan Belgrade vs. Olympiacos. Similarly to the early game, Partizan-Olympiacos also features a matchup between classic plucky underdog versus season-starting prohibitive favorite. […]
Sofoklis philosophizes in brief Euroleague interview
“Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.” – Sophocles BallinEurope would be highly remiss if i didn’t turn you onto the Euroleague’s official interview with one of the main men ‘round this ‘site, Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Somewhat disappointingly, it’s fairly standard stuff, though Big Sofo does offer some insight into stopping the Partizan game, […]
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 […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup: Top 16, week two
It’s time for the look back at the wacky Euroleague week that was with Francesco Cappelletti. This week, BallinEurope’s man in Italy examines messing with rotations in Olympiacos and Unicaja; praises Partizan for the potential blueprint win over FC Barcelona; and chides the narcissistic defending champions for their shameful general laziness. No instant replay, Partizan […]
Fantasy tips from the Euroleague boss: Final 16, week two
Hello everybody, this is once again Javier Gancedo, as always from Euroleague Basketball. Well, it was not a bad fantasy week for my team, Meet The Boss. I scored 166.2 points, moved up into the Top 600 overall, was the best team this week in the BallinEurope Invitational Challenge private league and now rank fifth […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup: Top 16, week one
Which team has already clinched a Euroleague Final Four spot? Who’s most to blame for Panathinaikos’ loss? What did Ergin Ataman do wrong? And why did Aito Garcia Reneses pull Cesar Augusto Lima with seven minutes to play? These questions are answered – OK, not that last one: That one’s a real riddle for the […]
My Euroleague Playoff Tuesday
The Euroleague playoffs began this Tuesday and despite having practice during the evening, I tried to blog my playoff night as it happened. So the evening started in Moscow, of course, with the playoff opener in a tournament that is finally played in best-of-five mode.
Tips from the Euroleague boss
Hello everybody at BallinEurope, this is once again Javier Gancedo, all the way from Euroleague headquarters in Barcelona. This has been arguably the best Top 16 since I joined the company in 2003. I have great memories of my first Top 16 as an insider (Sharp’s three-pointer against Zalgiris, Basile’s triple against Efes followed by […]
The end of Euroball?
With the arrival of more and more current NBA players to Europe and the first-ever player signing with a Euroleague team directly out of high school, I asked myself if this is the end of our beloved “Euroball”?