The Euroleague 2009-10 season has begun! This morning, the Euroleague announced the groupings for the ten-game competition this autumn. Naturally, the pools are totally enticing and some great fodder for watercooler discussions for months. (Heck, they’ll have to be.) The groups look like this:
Group A
Regal FC Barcelona
Montepaschi Siena
Cibona Zagreb
Fenerbahce Ulker
Zalgiris Kaunas
ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne
Group B
Olympiacos Piraeus
Partizan Belgrade
Unicaja
Efes Pilsen Istanbul
Lietuvos Rytas
(qualifying team TBD)
Group C
CSKA Moscow
Tau Ceramica
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
Virtus Roma
Union Olimpija Ljubljana
(qualifying team TBD)
Group D
Panthinaikos Athens
Real Madrid
Armani Jeans Milano
Asseco Prokom
BC Khimki Moscow region
EWE Baskets Oldenburg
Over the next few days, BallinEurope.com will take a more in-depth look at each group, team by team, but for now … Oh, the questions! Oh, the speculation! Which bunch could become known as the “Group of Death,” A or C? How much damage can Zalgiris Kaunas do against the generally bigger teams in Group A? How much would Greek fans dig seeing either Maroussi Athens or Aris Thessaloniki – the teams meet in the first round of the qualifying tournament and draw the winner of Le Mans-ALBA Berlin – in that Group B with Olympiacos?
And finally, how long is it before the season starts?
Tags: Aris Thessaloniki, Armani Jeans Milano, Asseco Prokom, ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne, BC Khimki, Cibona Zagreb, CSKA Moscow, Efes Pilsen Istanbul, Euroleague, EWE Baskets Oldenburg, Fenerbahce Ülker, Lietuvos Rytas, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, Maroussi Athens, Montepaschi Siena, Olympiacos Piraeus, Panathinaikos Athens, Partizan Belgrade, Real Madrid, Regal FC Barcelona, Tau Ceramica, Unicaja, Union Olimpija Ljubljana, Virtus Roma, Zalgiris Kaunas
I would say B is gruop of death since all teams (exept one we don’t know) are almost allways goes to top 16, but not all will go there this year because some will have to “die” in this group…
Meanwhile in the other gruops there are 2 or even more weak teams wich ussualy do not not qualify to top 16, and won;t qualify this year so nothing hard to pass throu them..
Let me tell you this much, if Aris gets into that group the Palais in Saloniki will be on fire for every single game, this is how much we will dig it.
Aris-Oly and Aris-Efes is nothing short of a classic, and Aris Partizan is also always great as partizan generally is friendly with the hated rival paok.
sp group B would produce 3 classic derbies for Aris fans, should we make it.
Are we psyched about the prospect?
I’d say hell yeah…now we only need to get this budget a LOT higher, we won’t get far with a little over one mill. as it is..
[...] only was yesterday’s Euroleague group draw an official tipoff of sorts to actual play in the 2009-10 Euroleague season, it also marked the first opportunity of the year [...]