The first 20 will listed by competition, followed the top five runners-up and the champion jam of the year. Who will be no. 1? Read (and watch) on to find out…

Euroleague
• The Dunking Ninja. Of course, you knew Jan Vesely was making this list, so we’ll dispense with the formalities quickly. Here’s a nice, wide-open alley oop that earned him dunk of the in February during the Euroleague’s Top 16 round. Vesely started the 2011-12 as a first-round draft pick with the Washington Wizards, thereby immediately entering into the conversation of coolest NBA nicknames – though one wonders just how many ninja there are in the Czech Republic…

• Pargo-go-go! Another must-have representative of Euroleague jammery, Jeremy Pargo turned in this YouTube-able masterpiece was only number three from an EL Top 16 round game against Virtus Roma. Like Vesely, we’ll see this guy in this list again.

• EL, meet AK-47. European basketball in 2011 will be remembered for the impact of locked-out NBA stars in the early going of the season. Andrei Kirilenko was particularly useful to CSKA Moscow’s fortunes in Euroleague round one, beginning on opening night in Lithuania. (And what’s this? He’s coming back for another tour of duty with the Red Army? Look out, Europe…)

• Sonny Weems for Žalgiris Kaunas, episode one. One NBAer who couldn’t/didn’t reemigrate to North America once the lockout was lifted was the former Toronto Raptor. As a free agent, Weems was one of the first such to sign in Europe for 2011-12, and boy are Žalgiris backers happy. Here’s Weems going to work against Unicaja Malaga…

• Sonny Weems for Žalgiris Kaunas, episode two. … against Brose Baskets Bamberg …

• Sonny Weems for Žalgiris Kaunas, episode three. … and finally in the win-or-go-home Euroleague game 10 against KK Zagreb. The man’s 17.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per EL game ain’t too shabby, either.

NBA
• Pau, when the Lakers looked invincible. Remember the days when these no-look pass from Lamar Odom to Pau Gasol was so routine? Seems like a long time ago, dunnit?

• Jolly good, Mr. DeRozan! The big league came to play in London in March, and whoo boy, did fans get bang for their pounds sterling: The Saturday night game ended up a triple-overtime thriller between the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets. Though the Nets ended up with the W, Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan contributed a worth-the-admission-price dunk late.

European domestic leagues
• Bryce Taylor’s “Monsterdunk” in Bundesliga championship game five. Slamming home perhaps the jam of the season from Germany, the former University of Oregon contributed this two for Alba Berlin in the decisive championship game while utterly posterizing Predrag Suput. Nevertheless, Suput’s Brose Baskets Bamberg took the game, the title and Germany’s Euroleague spot for 2011-12.

• “Le poster absolut”. Speaking of posters, check out what Diabate Souleyman did to Cliff Hammonds back in early January for Chorale Roanne. As the man says, < >

• Kerusch crushes. And one more. This time the victim was Olympiacos’ Kyle Hines, beaten badly by current rookie Sergio Kerusch of Aris Thessaloniki.

• Kevin Harley: King of the skies, pain. Playing with the Poitiers Basket junior team, Harley got YouTube junkies (ahem) sitting up and taking notice with this insane liftoff … and splashdown. The youngster was “more frightened than hurt” and was able to finish the game.

• Hendrix kisses the sky. In October, while seemingly every other European player was still finding the rhythms, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Richard Hendrix blasted off in a Chance Cup game against Barak Netanya. With the Euroleague side already well into a laugher and up 81-41 in the third quarter (final score 117-66), Hendrix goes…

Dunk contests
• Dar Tucker takes two dunk contests in one year. Yesterday in the slam-dunk festivities in France, Tucker reportedly smoked his competition, easily notching top scores in all three rounds to take the title. This trophy will look nice on his shelf set next to the D-League slam dunk championship he bagged in January. After the contest, Tucker said, “I was very surprised at the level of the competition. There are very good dunkers in France. Max [Kouguere] was particularly good!” (BiE thinks he was just being polite.)

• Two from Poland. Yeah, yeah, the car and the choir were great, yadda yadda. But let’s see Blake Griffin try to reproduce either the visual tribute to His Airness Himself executed by Cameron Bennerman of Energa Czarni or the six-cheerleader leap by winner Łukasz Biedny.

• Europe’s unlikeliest dunk champion. In Germany’s All-Star weekend festivities earlier this year, it was an against-all-odds storyline as Salu Benjamin Tadi took the crown. Why such a longshot? Well, in the unique format of the BBL’s dunk contest, a qualifier is held among second-division amateur players prior to the main event; the winner gets to compete against the Bundesliga pros in the final. You can catch a few rough drafts of the winning jam by clicking here, but the hangtime achieved in the contest ender by the 6’0” Tadi is truly Jordanesque.

Eurobasket 2011
• Yi gods! While August was mostly devoted to national teams participating in friendlies leading up to Eurobasket and other continental tournaments, there wasn’t a lack of highlight clips. Here’s Yi Jianlian contributing one of Team China’s sole happy moments in the London Invitational Tournament against Croatia. That’s mostly Stanko Barac on the receiving end.

• Enes Kanter learns Bill Walton’s dictum. One of the great pleasures of Eurobasket 2011 was studying the performances of exciting up-and-comers such as Team Turkey’s Kanter going up against concentrations of the world’s best talent. While Kanter was hot-and-cold in the tournament, the sidelining of Pau Gasol for the Spain-Turkey match allowed the young Turk to do some damage against brother Marc. And his team stayed alive in the tourney with the win. Throw it down, big man!

• Boom, goes Batum. Nicolas Batum against Russia – damn, has he always been that quick?

• Hometown lad makes good. Things ended disappointingly for Team Lithuania, but the youngest player on the squad, prospective Toronto Raptors Jonas Valanciunas was inspirational. Inspirational enough, in fact, to inspire a song.

Five runners-up
• Beaver brazenly breaks backboard. During the summertime lull, the Oregon State University basketball time visited some teams in FYR Macedonia and thereabouts for exhibition games and general goodwill. And then Roberto “Maybe I’m Strong” Nelson took it to the hole … one wonders in OSU Athletics picked up the tab on the destruction – not to mention the 20 stitches Nelson’s face required.

• The return of the Dunking Ninja. Jan Vesely. Euroleague Top 16 round. Game four. What else do you need to know?

• Air Pocius strikes for Team Lithuania. BiE just loves Martynas. Does this guy actually have invisible wings?

• Dirk dunks a dagger. It’s tough not to give Nowitzki top honors in this “Year of Dirk,” but the big (and now beringed) guy can rest easy with the memories of blowing past Lebron James and The Evil Empire on the baseline in game five of the NBA championship; this one came in the fourth quarter, naturally.

The dunk of the year
• Jeremy Pargo in the Euroleague Final Four. Just look at the way Pargo has to work his way through Real Madrid’s half-court defense. Just look at where he takes off. Just admire the landing. This one would get a 10 from any judge – maybe even Charles Barkley. All things considered, this was the dunk of 2011.

Group D. This one’s easy; the top four seeds for the Top 16 draw, in order, are FC Barcelona, Montepaschi Siena, Unics Kazan and Galatasaray Medical Park.

Group C. Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Anadolu Efes have clinched the nos. 1, 2, and 3 spots, respectively, in Group C. In a case of win-by-four-or-go-home, Emporio Armani Milano must beat Partizan Belgrade in Hala Pionir by two field goals or more in order to nip the Black-and-Whites for the fourth seed in the group.

Group B. CSKA Moscow and Panathinaikos have clinched the top two spots in the group. In filling the three and four spots, the breakdown is as follows.

• Unicaja Malaga has the inside track for a no. 3 seed. If Unicaja loses against Brose Baskets Bamberg while Žalgiris Kaunas wins against KK Zagreb, a three-way tie at 4-6 would have Žalgiris advancing as no. 3 seed and Unicaja the no. 4.

• If Žalgiris wins, they’re in. The Lithuanian side can advance as the no. 3 seed as described directly above or will go into the Top 16 round as a no. 4.

• To advance in the fourth spot, Brose Baskets must win at Panathinaikos while Zagreb wins in Lithuania.

• KK Zagreb can only move forward with a win at Žalgiris plus a PAO win.

Group A. Right, here’s where things get really sticky. While Nancy has been eliminated from contention and Olympiacos and Bennet Cantù will advance, any of four teams can take the no. 1 seed based on the final games; in addition, a three-way tie for first is possible as is a four-way tie for second.

The three Group A games remaining (Gescrap Bilbao Basket vs. Caja Laboral Baskonia; Bennet Cantù vs. Fenerbahce Ulker; SLUC Nancy vs. Olympiacos) are all scheduled for Thursday night. Eight different scenarios are possible … are you ready for this?

• Caja Laboral Baskonia, SLUC Nancy and Bennet Cantù all win: Caja Laboral beats Cantù for the no. 1 based on point differential; Fenerbahçe Ülker and Olympiacos are nos. 3 and 4.

• Caja Laboral and Nancy win, Cantù loses: Caja Laboral wins the tiebreaker against Fenerbahçe, Olympiacos and Cantù take 3 and 4 seeds.

• Caja Laboral and Cantù win, Nancy loses: A three-way tie at the top shakes out with Olympiacos at no. 1, followed by Caja Laboral and Cantù, with Fenerbahçe in the no. 4 spot.

• Caja Laboral wins, Cantù and Nancy lose: Caja Laboral wins a three-way tiebreaker with Olympiacos and Fenerbahçe, who take no. 2 and 3, respectively, while Cantù lands in the fourth position.

• Caja Laboral loses, Cantù and Nancy win: Here’s the four-way at 5-5 — and probably the weirdest, most unforeseeable outcome. In this scenario, Cantù takes the group at 6-4, while Gescrap Bilbao Basket finishes in second, followed by Olympiacos and Caja Laboral.

• Caja Laboral and Cantù lose, Nancy wins: Fenerbahçe takes the group and the three-way tie beneath them shakes out with Cantù, Bilbao and Olympiacos at nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively.

• Caja Laboral and Nancy lose, Cantù wins: This one produces two ties involving five teams. In such a case, Olympiacos beats Cantù for the top spot based on point differential, while Bilbao and Caja Laboral win the head-to-head tiebreaker against Fenerbahçe for third and fourth place, respectively.

• Caja Laboral, Cantù and Nancy all lose: Another two-tie, five-team situation. Here, Fenerbahçe nips Olympiacos on point differential for the first two places, while Cantù and Bilbao emerge from the tiebreakers against Caja Laboral.

BiE guesses we’ll just have to wait and see how it sorts out, but The Official Fearless Predictions™ have BallinEurope backing Žalgiris Kaunas, Unicaja Malaga and Partizan Belgrade to advance. As for Group A, BiE’s taking scenario #3, thus producing a top four from that group of Olympiacos, Caja Laboral, Bennet Cantù and Fenerbahçe Ülker.

Enjoy the games (no matter the scenario)!

• The regular-season round of Euroleague basketball has provided plenty of dramatic finals so far. Coincidentally – or maybe not – the top three buzzer-beaters turned in so far were made by teams on the road. First came Dimitris Diamantidis’ three-pointer that capped Panathinaikos’ comeback (after going down by four in the last 15.6 seconds!) on the court of Unicaja Malaga in the sixth week of competition.

As a matter of fact, Coach Zeljko Obradovic could legitimately claim the clutch play to be considered a joint venture, as Obradvoic mapped out on his blackboard the play that created a good shot for Diamantidis. The six-time (!) Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year and incumbent MVP might object by pointing out he scored seven threes in the game, including two in those last 15.6 seconds. He’d have a point, too … (So to speak.)

• Then came Milos Teodosic. The 24-year-old veteran is in his first season as CSKA playmaker but has not hesitated to take over the reins of the team. See how Teodosic demands the ball and knocks down the game-winner on Brose Baskets Bamberg’s court in week 7. Seven was also the number of victories CSKA reached, thanks to his big shot.

• Enter Gianluca Basile. Last week, visiting Cantù led in Spain for most of the game but suffered Gescrap Bilbao Basket’s furious comeback in the fourth quarter. With 2.3 seconds on the clock, 36-year-old Basile got the rock way outside the perimeter, and, well, you know the rest. What’s worth mentioning is that Basile defined the shot as an “intelligent missile” rather than as one of his famous self-proclaimed “ignorant shots.” See why below.

Enrico Cellini is lifelong basketball fanatic and a long-time sportswriter with a focus on Italy and Spain. He was born among European hoops, was raised watching the NBA, and thinks choosing between American and European basketball is like choosing between one’s mother and father. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Italian-language blog Hoop Addicted.

To wit: Yesterday, the Lietuvos Rytas website ran a report stating that Milovan Rakovic could be heading back from loan to his contracted club Montepaschi Siena in January. Siena would naturally like to bolster up in the middle for a deep run into the Euroleague playoffs in lieu of the injured Ksistof Lavrinovic.

Žalgiris’ prospects for advancement aren’t exactly dim, but they’re currently mired at the bottom of Group B, in a three-way tie with Brose Baskets Bamberg and KK Zagreb at 2-5. Losses vs. Panathinaikos tonight and Bamberg next week would certainly doom the Greens to elimination; even a 2-1 finish by the Lithuanian side might not be enough.

In 49 Euroleague and Italian league games with MPS last season, Rakovic was good for a steady 8.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing.

Seemingly a logical move for all parties concerned, perhaps, but Massalski also claims that he has yet to be contacted by Montepaschi Siena officials.

Regardless, if Žalgiris does indeed drop the next two games, Vladimir Romanov will surely have canned Aleksandar Trifunovic by Christmas. Come New Year’s Day, BiE believes Massalski’s mind will surely be elsewhere as he’s out coach-poaching again. Or managing the team himself…

(By the way, did you know that Rakovic has a tattoo of a St. Petersburg scene?

…which has more than once become stuff like what’s at about 5:10 into this video…

…but PAO coach Zeljko Obradovic is urging some restraint for this particular match.

Obradovic was quoted over at the official EΣAKE website as stating, “Once again, I would ask Panathinaikos [fans] to keep calm and come to the arena to help the team … in a purely sporting atmosphere without problems. This is most important.” We’ll see.

Panathinaikos is currently two points behind their rivals in the EΣAKE standings, though they’re 3-0 in Greek league play thus far. Olympiacos is a perfect 4-0, in perfect contrast to the Reds’ disappointing 2-3 Euroleague performance.

And speaking of Euroleague, Obradovic wants to make clear that the defending champions’ recent shocking 79-76 loss to Brose Baskets Bamberg is irrelevant to tonight’s match: “We know that we’re coming off a defeat in the Euroleague, but the struggles with Bamberg has nothing whatsoever to do with [the] game against Olympiakos. It’s a totally different situation, a completely different match.”

Team Lithuania’s Sarunas Jasikevicius, who knows a few things about wacky (if not quite so aggressive) fandom, added that “These games are amazing. Especially when you’re playing [at home], in your own world.”

(Moscow) – Tickets for the November 16 Euroleague match between CSKA Moscow and Spain’s Unicaja Malaga had already been 70% sold, according to the Moscow club’s press service F-Sport.
“We sold almost 3,500 tickets today. Capacity is 5,000 and the match is nine days away. We are expecting a full house for the game.”

CSKA has gone undefeated in the Euroleague thus far, defeating Lithuanian champions Žalgiris Kaunas, 87-74, German champions Brose Baskets Bamberg, 94-74, and Croatian champions KK Zagreb, 89-47.

CSKA vs. Unicaja will tip off at 8.15pm GMT (9.15 CET, 3.15 EST) on November 16. This week, Unicaja hosts Zagreb while CSKA plays Greek champions Panathinaikos (Damn, Group B has six defending national champions … crazy.) in a top-of-the-table matchup.

Unics Kazan vs. FC Barcelona Regal – An easy one to start with, then. BiE will go with Barcelona, 79-64. There’s an interesting non-basketball tangent for this one, as the Britain-based Daily Mirror reckons the Euroleague game tonight could have an effect on Europa League football: “Spurs will benefit from the fact that the 26,000-seater stadium is expected to be half-full due to a clash between the city’s basketball team, Unics Kazan, who are hosting Barcelona’s basketball side.” Hmmm…

Fenerbahçe Ülker vs. SLUC Nancy – Tell you who’s rooting for Fenerbahçe in this one: Caja Laboral. If Nancy loses tonight, a nasty four-way tie results in the race for positions 3 and 4 in Group A. With Akin Akingbala likely to sit out with an ankle injury, surely the Turkish side will have enough to make it so. Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: Fenerbahçe Ülker 77, SLUC Nancy 67.

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Real Madrid – Israel-based Haaretz reports that Maccabi head coach David Blatt is “wary ahead of Real Madrid game,” but he seems fairly long-term minded and relaxed about his team’s lackluster start in this Euroleague season: “Maccabi has undergone some serious changes this season and we’re building ourselves slowly. We might not be at the peak of our game, but with some serious and professional work, we’ll get there. It will just take us some more time.” This week might be good in this game with long-term implications for Group C, but Madrid is just too hot right now. Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: Real Madrid 82, Maccabi Tel Aviv 78.

Bennet Cantu vs. Bizkaia Bilbao Basket – Tweeted Euroleague scribe Javier Gancedo earlier today on this one: “Difícil de pronosticar. Más talento el Bilbao, más experiencia Cantu, con una afición increíble. Ojo Leunen vs Banic.” BiE’ll take the experience and the home-court advantage, saying Cantu by six points.

Partizan Belgrade vs. Spirou Charleroi – Partizan has yet to beat a Euroleague team this season in three chances. That will change tonight. Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: Partizan Belgrade by 16. Bonus prediction: Nikola Pekovic is your EL player of the week for week three.

Emporio Armani Milano vs. Anadolu Efes – Said Efes point guard Kerem Tunçeri: “Last week, by losing to Belgacom Spirou, we lost an important advantage. Emporio Armani Milan is a new team like us. They have very good players.” True, all true … except Tunçeri forgot to mention that Milano has gelled rapidly to become one of the better teams early on in the Euroleague season, while Efes has turned the ball over 32 times in two games, a number “topped” only by Zalgiris Kaunas, KK Zagreb, Partizan and Bizkaia Bilbao. BiE says Milano keeps rolling, Efes keeps stumbling; Milano 90, Anadolu Efes 76.

Brose Baskets Bamberg vs. Unicaja Malaga – After the Maccabi-Madrid match, this should be the one to match with two evenly-matched sides and three tiers perhaps already established in Group B.

BiE admits to a bit of a copout here and so went to Germany-based heinnews for thoughts. Says Mr. Hein: “Well, this is an early must game for Bamberg, who can’t afford to lose the home games if they want to advance. It appears to be a three-way race for third and fourth place. Zagreb are not at the same level, so that means you need to beat Unicaja, especially after the blowout against CSKA. They want to show they are not that bad. Tibor Pleiss and Marcus Slaughter will have to do a good job on Joel Freeland, who appears right now to be in great form.” (Indeed, Freeland was named the ACB’s player of the month for October.)

On the plus side for the German side, Hein notes that “Bamberg got healthy, though, with a 30-point blowout at Phoenix Hagen” in Bundesliga play. Can Pleiss and Slaughter together with Brian Roberts, Julius Jenkins and Karsten Tadda bring enough defense to slow Freeland, Kristap Valters and one deep Unicaja team? Ah, BiE don’t call ‘em “Fearless Predictions” for nothing … Brose Baskets Bamberg 78, Unicaja Malaga 75.

Once again, advisories in effect: These ratings are formulated from once source (namely yours truly) and are based on the way teams are trending at present, i.e. Bennet Cantu is not necessarily *better* per se than Fenerbahçe Ülker, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. While play in other leagues was considered, emphasis was put on performance in each team’s pair of EL games thus far, i.e. BiE knows Union Olimpija is 5-0 in the Adriatic League.

Without further ado, then, let’s get to the rankings! (Žalgiris fans, you may want to consider before clicking “Read More.”)

• Cream of the Crop
1. (↑) Panathinaikos (2-0 EL; 2-0 in domestic league EΣAKE) – In a rare reversal of opinion, the essentially obligatory no. 1 spot traditionally kept by the defending champion has been restored. Despite the bigger-named, better-hyped rosters of FC Barcelona and CSKA Moscow, newcomer Steven Smith together with the Greens’ nucleus has reminded the league who the boss is in dispatching Unicaja Malaga and KK Zagreb in Euroleague play. European basketball fans again await the first meeting between PAO and Olympiacos slated for November 17.

2. (↔) FC Barcelona (2-0 in Euroleague play; 4-1 ACB) – Biggest point differential in the Euroleague after two games? That would be the Blaugrana with a big +49 after beating up on Olimpija and Asseco Prokom. Barça’s 4-1 mark in Spain is somewhat impressive in this season of extreme parity over there, and optimism can even be found in the team’s sluggish 66-56 victory over Fuenlabrada last weekend as Juan Carlos Navarro and killer addition Marcelinho Huertas again led the way on both ends of the court.

3. (↔) CSKA Moscow (2-0; 2-0 PBL; 3-1 VTB) – Excellent coach, well-stocked roster, Andrei Kirilenko … yeah, this looks like a Final Four team. BiE finds it very difficult to place them third.

• Right Up There, Right Now
4. (↑) Real Madrid (2-0 EL; 4-1 ACB) – Well, BiE knew these guys could score but come on: They’re shooting 52.8% overall! They’ve got four guys (Rudy Fernandez, Jaycee Carroll, Felipe Reyes, Sergio Llull) averaging double figures in points through two and a fifth (Martynas Pocius) good for 9.5 in just 18 minutes per game! They’ve registered the only 100-point game in the EL thus far! Sorry for the excessive exclamation points, but this is the most exciting Real team in years!

5. (↓) Montepaschi Siena (2-0; 3-1 Serie A) – It’s business as usual with Siena. Europe’s answer to the “small-market” clubs in the ‘States has turned one of their NBA lockout casualties (David Anderson) into a viable force in EL play, and the team’s traditional reliance on speed is still working. Rebounding might become a concern further down – only four big-league teams have fewer boards through two – and it would be nice for them if Ksistof Lavrinovic could get more going down low. Can Shaun Stonerook and his EL lifetime average of 5.1 rpg really be expected to continue to put in 7.5 throughout the season?

And then there’s Bo McCalebb. Some Siena competitor’d better inform Bo that EuroBasket 2011 is over and that he can settle down a bit: The man is shooting 12-of-16 overall from the floor, going 8-of-8 from the charity stripe, kicking in 3.5 assists per game and once again orchestrating some seriously interesting ball movement. He just might will another overachiever into the top four in 2011-12…

• Should Get Better
6. (↑) Olympiacos (1-1 EL; 2-0 EΣAKE) – Common wisdom believed the Reds’ 2011-12 performance would be hampered by front-office shakeups. O, don’t Žalgiris Kaunas fans wish they’d experience something similar right about now … again, November 17. Mark those calendars.

7. (↑) Emporio Armani Milano (1-1 EL; 3-1 Serie A)
8. (↓) Maccabi Tel Aviv (1-1 EL; 3-0 Ligat Ha’al; 5-0 Adriatic) – BiE went back and forth in ranking these two for a while … Though Milano is coming off a loss to Real Madrid, BiE gives them the nod here over the thus-far underwhelming (at least in Euroleague play) Maccabi Tel Aviv due to the Italian side’s 89-82 week one victory. And it seems Milano’s signing of Danilo Gallinari for what we’ll call the lockout portion of the EL season was among the best in Europe

On the plus side for Maccabi is the team’s decent run in the Adriatic League; David Blatt’s guys are topping the league at 5-0, including a nice 97-point show against Cibona Zagreb and a second victory over Partizan Belgrade. But expectations are high for this club in 2011-12 and its two Euroleague performances haven’t yet wowed anyone; consider these guys the sleeping giants at present.

9. Caja Laboral Baskonia (2-0; 3-2 ACB) – The workmanlike opening-week win at Fenerbahçe Ülker got Baskonia’s EL season off to a flying start and the ACB club chased this in defending home court against Bennet Cantu. You particularly have to love this ball-minded defense averaging 10 steals per game, and BiE will conveniently ignore losses to Zaragoza and Valencia.

10. Unicaja Malaga (1-1 EL; 4-1 ACB) – BiE’s still not entirely convinced Unicaja can play with the big boys, with losses this season to Panathinaikos in a blowout and last weekend to Valencia in Spain. Things will get dicey for these guys in a couple of weeks. After games at Brose Baskets Bamberg, vs. Blancos de Rueda Valladolid and vs. KK Zagreb, they get Real Madrid at home and CSKA Moscow away on November 13th and 16th, respectively. This may be the highest Unicaja ascends in 2011-12.

• WTF?
11. (↓) Anadolu Efes (1-1 EL; 3-0 TBL) – BiE’s still wondering what went wrong against Spirou Charleroi…

• Overachievers or Contenders?
12. (↑) Galatasaray Medical Park (1-1 EL; 3-0 TBL) – As of this writing, Eurobasket.com has Galatasaray at no. 2 in its “Top 100 Teams in Europe” listing, actually in a mathematical tie with CSKA Moscow. BiE loves the 2011-12 edition of Galatasaray but wouldn’t put them quite that high … The loss to Unics Kazan might have been a reality check for the Red-and-Yellow, as Kazan generally uglied up the match, forcing bad turnovers and winning the battle of the boards: Achilles’ heels for Galatasaray. Next up on the Euroleague schedule: at Montepaschi Siena, at Union Olimpija, vs. FC Barcelona. Yikes.

13. (↑) SLUC Nancy (1-1; 4-0 LNB)
14. (↑) Bennet Cantu (1-1 EL; 3-1 Serie A) – Whoa, Group A is crazy … certainly one of these two teams wants the inside track for the no. 4 spot (assuming Fenerbahçe gets it together, that is), but which is it? Cantu handled Nancy in the opening week, teeing off with 21 three-pointers and making 10. However, the 6-of-21 from long range killed them against Baskonia … This team looks frighteningly like employment of the “live by the jump shot die by the jump shot” philosophy is in full effect. And BiE says those teams don’t go far.

Meanwhile, the defending French champions appear to have recovered from the Cantu defeat, taking care of business against Bizkaia Bilbao Basket in week two while going undefeated in LNB play. BiE was concerned about Nancy’s lack of depth going into the season and it’s still there: In the win over Bilbao, over six players contributed more than one bucket, four starters played more than 29 minutes, and there were three DNPs. On the other hand, a little Nicolas Batum is going a long way…

15. (↑) Brose Baskets Bamberg (1-1 EL; 5-0 BBL) – Test of adversity time: Bamberg tonight hosts Unicaja Malaga in a winnable game. How will they respond after the 20-point drubbing administered by CSKA Moscow last week?

16. (↓) Unics Kazan (1-1 EL; 1-1 PBL; 3-1 VTB) – The Euroleague’s second Russian entry needs to ride the momentum of their three-game winning streak. In addition to coming back against Galatasaray in the fourth quarter last Thursday, Kazan topped Enisey the Monday previous and VEF Riga in the VTB United League on Sunday. The weird thing is that Unics’ only real stud this season has been Henry Domercant with 23.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per EL game.

17. (↓) Bizkaia Bilbao Basket (1-1 EL; 3-2 ACB) – This talented side dug itself something of a hole in losing to SLUC Nancy and things aren’t looking brilliant back in Spain, either. Perhaps the rebounding-by-committee system isn’t working so well…?

• Should Be Better (in Euroleague)
18 (tie). (↑) Partizan Belgrade (0-2 EL; 4-1 Adriatic)
18 (tie). (↓) Union Olimpija (0-2; 5-0 Adriatic) – Both of these teams are reflective of the omnipresent “current economic situation,” bringing fewer marquee names than in recent seasons. So whose losses are worse, then? Partizan currently owns the dubious distinction of being the only non-ACB club to go 0-3 against Euroleague teams, thanks to a loss against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Adriatic League play – though the unheralded Black-and-Whites did manage to stay competitive in both EL losses.

Olimpija, meanwhile, got a quick lesson in what it means to be a top EL team in 2011-12 in losing by a combined 44 to Barcelona and Montepaschi Siena. Ah well, at least they have the NLB…

20. (↓) Fenerbahçe Ülker (0-2 EL; 3-0 TBL) – BiE still has these guys penciled in as a Top 16 team, but the truth is they may be facing the first must-win match of the Euroleague season in hosting upstarts SLUC Nancy tomorrow night; a loss there is disastrous.

• Bottom-feeders
21. (↑) Spirou Charleroi (1-1 EL; 4-1 BLB) – Nice win against Anadolu Efes could be parlayed into a 2-1 win against Partizan tonight … at Pionir. Yeah, probably not.

22. (↓) Žalgiris Kaunas (0-2; 4-0 LKL; 2-2 VTB) – Žalgiris’ ranking in BallinEurope’s preseason power rankings elicited much consternation and derision, even in the Lithuanian press. “How could they be ranked lower than Brose Baskets Bamberg?” rang out the outcry. “Who writes this?” demanded the masses. “What are you smoking?” came the implications. Well, two Euroleague losses, some generally lackluster play in the VTB, and one reassumed front-and-center position of Vladamir Romanov later, here’s the Greens’ new spot. Still plenty of basketball left to play, though…

23. (↓) Asseco Prokom (0-2 EL; 2-2 VTB) – And BiE laments the conclusion of the Devin Brown Era in Poland…

24. (↓) KK Zagreb (0-2 EL; 1-4 Adriatic) – After the week one results poured in, BiE caught one tweet asking something to the effect of “Is KK Zagreb the worst team in the Euroleague?” This may have been a rhetorical question.

Kirilenko was rewarded for his individual brilliance through two EL games by taking the first Player of the Month award of 2011-12. The locked-out Utah Jazzman has been good for per-game averages of 14.5 points on 62.5% shooting, 9.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.5 blocks. Notes the league’s official site: “The 30-year-old Kirilenko leads the 2011-12 Euroleague in performance index rating average (30), rebounding and blocks, and is also tied for fifth place in assists.”

CSKA Moscow’s prime addition in an off-season full of big name deals also bagged the Euroleague’s first Player of the Week trophy with an insane 17-point, 15-rebound performance in the Russian side’s 87-74 victory over Žalgiris Kaunas.

That week, he was also credit with the dunk of opening night…

…the block of opening night…

…and the assist of opening night.

Granted, the sole game played that evening was CSKA vs. Žalgiris Kaunas, but impressive nonetheless.

In week two of Euroleague play, Kirilenko contributed 12 points and six rebounds in just 22½ minutes of play as CSKA took something of a laugher over Brose Baskets Bamberg with a 94-74 win.

Incidentally, in his only PBL game played thus far, #47 contributed 12 points and seven rebounds in under 29 minutes in CSKA’s 73-68 victory over Eurochallenge side Triumph Lyubertsy.

But perhaps ultimately Kirilenko is most valuable to CSKA as a distraction. With this guy crushing in all statistical categories, only cessation of the lockout overseas will remind observers of those other players – you know, dudes like Milos Teodosic, Nenad Krstic, Darjus Lavrinovic, Viktor Khryapa, Ramunas Siskauskas…

Almost as anticipated as the actual Euroleague opening game is of course another round of BallinEurope’s Official Fearless Predictions™ for the season. (Yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre.) In a shameless ripping off of an homage to BiE’s favorite regular column on anything in any media, namely ESPN.com’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback – it’s true; BiE is a closet (American) football junkie – BallinEurope presents the first-ever Euroleague regular-season predictions in haiku form.

So without further ado … to the Fearless Predictions™!

Group A. More top-heavy than Christina Hendricks, this group’s top three can be penned in for the Top 16 right now. The battle for fourth might be interesting, though…

Caja Laboral
Have you seen this 12?
Scorers, scorers, everywhere!
And Seraphin! Yes!
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 7-3 record in EL regular season

Fenerbahçe Ülker
Mixed results so far
Don’t inspire much confidence,
Though strong regardless.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 7-3

Olympiacos
Big-budget spending
Quite curtailed for ’11 –
Dusko faces work.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 6-4

SLUC Nancy
Chemistry problems?
Roster shakeups leave team with
Quite a mix, low height.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 4-6

Bennet Cantu
A surprise entry,
Cantu could compete for fourth,
Become “best of worst.”
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 4-6

Bizkaia Bilboa Basket
Euroleague welcome:
You finished second in Spain?
Good for you. Try this.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 2-8

Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694): Poet, huge basketball fan

Group B. If history’s your thing, a trio of storied franchises in CSKA Moscow, defending Euroleague/EΣAKE champions Panathinaikos and Žalgiris Kaunas should draw you to Group B immediately…

CSKA Moscow
Scary additions
Lead to flashbacks of ’05;
Red Army marches.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 9-1

Panathinaikos
Underrated? Maybe,
But ’12 an even-numbered year:
The Greens won’t repeat.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 6-4

Žalgiris Kaunas
Basketball heartbreak
In Lietuva goes on.
Very sorry, fans.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 5-5

Unicaja Malaga
Overachievers?
Nice roster of hard workers
Just won’t quit this year.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 5-5

Brose Baskets Bamberg
Low-profile signings
May help win in Germany,
But in prime-time ball?
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 3-7

KK Zagreb
Bonus prediction:
Zagreb won’t do much this year,
But they will be back.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 2-8

Group C. Depending on the Pionir Arena factor, this is probably the bunch worthy of the hackneyed “Group of Death” moniker. BiE wouldn’t be shocked to see the top three in C – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Anadolu Efes and Real Madrid – continue on into the semifinals despite deceptively low records in pool play.

Maccabi Tel Aviv
Point-scoring machine
Also plays David Blatt’s defense –
This team will go far.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 7-3

Anadolu Efes
Great off-season
Builds up a nice deep roster;
A round-three dark horse.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 7-3

Real Madrid
Newish-look Real
Seeks lotsa points on the ‘board,
But face tough defense.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 7-3

Emporio Armani Milano
Milano is more
Than Bourousis, Gallinari –
But not very much.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 5-5

Partizan Belgrade
Home-court advantage
Won’t be enough in Group C,
Nor will Pekovic.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 3-7

Belgacom Spirou
Don’t worry, Spirou!
EL puts Qualifiers
In Belgium next year.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 1-9

Group D. After the top two – reckon that to be FC Barcelona and Montepaschi Siena – this group could get wild. Who can tell what might happen? Ah, BiE’ll give it a shot…

FC Barcelona
Same team as last year,
Plus Eidson and Huertas?
Good enough, Barça.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 8-2

Montepaschi Siena
Stock with blue-collars,
Run and gun and run and gun:
A good formula.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 7-3

Union Olimpija
Few brilliant signings
Spell unimpressive finish
In this league this year.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 5-5

Galatasaray
The most fun to watch,
This unsung team surprises
As they run up points.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 5-5

Unics Kazan
Lynn Greer’s leadership
Could earn Kazan two, three wins
But they won’t advance.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 3-7

Asseco Prokom
Tough group for these guys,
Though Motiejunas expects
To put on a show.
Official BiE Fearless Prediction™: 2-8

And for the Final Four, BiE’ll go with CSKA Moscow, Panathinaikos, FC Barcelona and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Enjoy the season!