The FIBA EuroChallenge may be considered a bit of a lower-tier club tournament here on The Continent, but the 2009-10 edition of the contest is certainly among the tops in terms of competitive balance.
With the final games of the Last 16 phase all tipping off tomorrow night, eight teams remain in the hunt for four quarterfinals spots and just four teams (Banvit, Belgacom Liege, EiffelTowers Den Bosch, and Proteas) have been eliminated. BC Göttingen, Chorale Roanne Basket, Krasnye Krylia, and Scavolini Pesaro are through already; who will join them tomorrow night?
Following is BallinEurope’s super-compressed briefing on the mathematical possibilities for each still-striving contender plus a few storylines at play in the games.
• Apoel. If Apeol wins against KK Buducnost, they’re in; at 5-1 in Nicosia this EuroChallenge season with the sole loss to (relatively) mighty Pesaro, things look decent for the Cypriot squad. But hey, Cyprus’ defending champions have blown away disappointing memories of the 2008-2009 EuroChallenge in which Apoel went two-and-out while scoring less than 57 points in the matches.
• Antwerp Giants are involved in a three-way dogfight with Chorale Roanne and Enisey Krasnoyarsk; win and they’re in, of course, but with a loss in Roanne the Giants could still back in with a Krasnoyarsk loss to Banvit. Guard Bryan Hopkins last week became the latest Antwerp injury, leaving the Belgian squad without guard Bryan Hopkins, forward Randy Oveneke, center Christophe Beghin, and former Atlanta Hawks swingman Thomas Gardner for much of the season’s remainder.
The FIBA Eurochallenge Final 16 tips off tonight with seven games to played among the whittled-down field. Among the survivors are two Cyprus-based squads, three German teams and at least two red-hot circus offenses (BC FMP Belgrade and Banvit BC). The round-robin play continues through February, with the last games scheduled for March 9.
Something of a shocker from Ukraine today, as 
With the final games in the FIBA EuroChallenge 2009-10 regular season played last night (for the record, it was Elan Chalon over Proteas EKA AEL, 81-74; Scavolini Pesaro over Krasnye Krylia, 92-86; and Strasbourg beat Khimik, 97-93, despite losing the statistical battle on many fronts), the competition’s final 16 and groupings have been set.