Mar
2

¡Qué jornada! Weekend ACB wrap, highlights

They’re breaking out the superlatives today over at the ACB’s official website, full in the afterglow of a weekend’s worth of mostly tight games or, as writer Malo de Molina put it, “¡Qué jornada!”

When the dust settled, Real Madrid (20-5) had beaten fourth-place Valencia (16-9) and wrested second place from slipping Caja Laboral Baskonia (20-5), who suffered a shocking 74-58 loss to no. 6 Asefa Estudiantes (13-12).

Cajasol (ranked 5th, 15-10) and giant-killers Gran Canaria 2014 (8th, 12-13) continued their upward trend with wins over Valladolid (10th, 11-14) and Suzuki Manresa (11th, 11-14), respectively. Xacobeo Blu:sens (17th, 8-17) and DKV Joventut (9th, 12-13) managed to snap losing streaks, the latter scoring its first win under coach Pepu Hernandez.

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Mar
0

Hashing out Eurocup quarterfinals qualification scenarios

Of the three major European club tournaments, the tightest Final 16 stage in 2009-10 has been held by the Eurocup competition. With the last night of “Last 16 2010” happening tonight, only three teams (Aris BSA, Bizkaia Bilbao Basket, Panellinios) have qualified for the quarterfinals already and five (Benetton Basket Treviso, Brose Baskets Bamberg, Galatasaray Café Crown, Le Mans, Turk Telecom) squads have been altogether eliminated; additionally, the no. 1 seed has not been determined for any of the four groups.

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Feb
3

The 2010 Copa del Rey: The YouTube recap

Familiar sight in the finals

Familiar sight in the finals

Congratulations this morning go out to Regal FC Barcelona, as the Blaugrana reaffirmed its dominant status in 2009-10 with a crushing 80-61 victory over Real Madrid.

What’s that? You say you missed out on the pageantry and action of Europe’s most exciting cup? Not surprising, seeing as how little coverage events like Copa del Rey get; oddly enough, with more folks-in-the-know than ever lining up to proclaim the ACB the world’s second-best basketball league, international TV coverage of Spanish basketball is as lame as ever. (Come on, Eurosport, surely you could have ponied up a few euros for the Copa final game at least…)

Well, thank God and/or Al Gore for YouTube! Here’s BiE’s collection of YouTubes, so eagerly posted by ACB enthusiasts – a huge thank you to all of the clip contributors, too, by the way; hope you’re reading – nearly immediately following the action. To the highlights!

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Feb
0

Sound bites in advance of Copa del Rey tournament

Huertas loves the Cup

Huertas loves the Cup

The party’s already starting in Bilbao to be sure … after all, the Copa del Rey basketball tournament isn’t just a sporting event; heck, it’s not even just another national cup competition. Instead, the “King’s Cup” consumes much of the national population’s attention as determines the class of Europe’s top hoops superpower is confirmed. Concerts and revelry will be the order of the day against a pastiche of top-flight basketball.

Until Friday, though, everyone waits. And the press asks the questions and collects the quotes while practices seem to go on forever. The following is a selection of what’s on the minds of key players, coaches and pundits as the Copa del Rey hype buildup continues…

• “We are the champions and we must defend the title,” says Fernando San Emeterio in this piece on Baskonia of the same name. Teammate Marcelinho Huertas, meanwhile, finds Copa del Rey time to be “different from any league match” and uniquely Spanish: “En Italia no se vive de la misma manera. La ciudad no participaba de la Copa, ni mucho menos.”

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Feb
0

(Slightly biased) highlight clip: Alba Berlin vs. Aris BSA

Just in case you missed it, following the text break is a (biased) highlight clip from last night’s Aris’ 65-61 away win at Alba Berlin in Eurocup competition. The win moved Aris BSA up to 1-2 in Eurocup Last 16 play; Alba Berlin dropped to 2-1, resulting in a wide-open Group I with groupmates DKV Joventut at 2-1 and LeMans at 1-2.

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Feb
0

The ACB’s top five plays of the week

On a bit of a slow news day, Ball in Europe can at least offer you some the top five plays from this weekend’s ACB action. The official website promises much “shameless delight” in this grab bag of magic passing and alley-oops. As they rhetorically ask, “¿Te lo vas a perder?”

Click “Continue Reading” for video featuring Marko Jaric, Novica Velickovic and Ricky Rubio alternatively getting burned and providing the sweet feed underneath for Barcelona against DKV Joventut.

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Jan
2

L’Hospitalet: Round two of Nike Junior Tournament qualifiers tips off

Tipping off today is the 31st Torneig de Básquet Júnior “Ciutat de L’Hospitalet,” a.k.a. the second Euroleague Nike International Junior Tournament qualifiers.

The L’Hospitalet tournament pool consists of 12 junior teams, including eight from Spain: DKV Joventut, Basket Valencia, and KK Split will square off in Group A; Alba Berlin, Regal FC Barcelona, and Estudiantes are in Group B; Unicaja Malaga, Caja Canarias, and tournament defending champions/NIJT runners-up Lietuvos Rytas play in Group C; with Cajasol, Real Madrid and hosts CB Hospitalet make up Group D.

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Dec
0

Ball in Europe’s 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009

Like any blog, Ball in Europe would ultimately mean nothing without its readership; you are the ones for whom our website is for. In the general taking stock of the year that was, Ball in Europe today presents the top 10 most popular posts on the website in 2009. These are the stories that captured readers’ imagination greatest and sometimes even managed to amuse.

Please enjoy this varied (and slightly strange, overall) rerun of our calendar year with Ball in Europe’s 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009.

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Nov
1

Pops Mensah-Bonsu back with Toronto Euro-Raptors

Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Team Great Britain stud and former teammate of Ricky Rubio with DKV Joventut, is back with the Toronto Raptors after spending six days on waivers.

Mensah-Bonsu was waived by the Houston Rockets on Friday after signing with the team as a free agent in the 2009 off-season. Pops played in 19 games with the Raptors last season, going for 5.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

The Raptors, well-known for their propensity to run with foreign players, adds Pops to a roster than can already put an all-European team out on the floor with guards Jose Calderon and Marco Belinelli, forwards Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani, and seven-foot center Rasho Nesterovic.

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Oct
16

Barca’s Rubio picks apart old DKV mates

Ricky Rubio picked apart his old Joventut teammates in leading Barcelona to a convincing 92-59 thrashing of DKV at home on Saturday in the Spanish ACB.
In his first game against the Barcelona suburb team where he played for four seasons, Rubio dished out 10 assists while swiping five steals aand scoring six points in 21 minutes of action. Continue Reading…