BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

The list of teams that will make up the 2010-11 Eurocup regular seasons is all but complete – 93.75% complete, to be exact, with 30 of the 32 teams now set. The finish of the Eurocup Qualifying Round promoted eight more clubs into the regular season, leaving two more spots open, which will be determined by the final Euroleague qualifiers. BC Khimki holds a huge lead over Le Mans for the first spot, while Alba Berlin looks to dig its way out of a four-point deficit in hosting Spirou Basket on Sunday.

A total of 32 teams will play in the Eurocup regular season: The field is made up of 10 direct qualifiers, 14 from Euroleague qualifying rounds, and eight who earned their way in through Eurocup qualifiers.

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It’s a bit of a dunkathon today at BallinEurope as we enter the top 15 of BiE’s official 35 Greatest Basketball YouTubes of All-Time, which were determined by these guidelines. (Usage of “guidelines” in previous sentence is very loose, indeed.)

There’re thrills, chills and a few ills in today’s selection of eminently watchable and rewatchable YouTube videos. Enjoy!

15. Top 10 Dunks over Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, 2008-09. While Boumtje-Boumtje was a big fan favorite playing for EWE Baskets Oldenburg, his devotees still realized his shortcomings. This fan (really) vid is pretty amazing as a result. You know, it’s hard to believe that “Schadenfreude” is a German word…

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Along with the Euroleague draws for the 2010-11 season, yesterday also saw the release of the matchups in the EuroCup qualifying tournament bracket. Sixteen teams start in the qualifiers, with eight winners of two-game series advancing to the EuroCup regular season.

The matchups are:

Besiktas Cola Turka vs. Deutsche Bank Skyliners
Hapeol Migdal Jerusalem vs. Belgacom Liege
Aris BSA 2003 vs. PBC Lukoil Academic
Gran Canaria 2014 vs. KK Zagreb Croatia Osiguranje
BC Azovmash Mariupol vs. Entente Orleanaise
BC Spartak vs. PAOK BC
Benetton Basket BWin vs. Apeol Nicosia
Dynamo Moscow vs. Cedevita Zagreb

Games one will be played on September 29, with home and visiting teams switching roles for a second game on October 6.

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During the 2009-10 Euroleague season, one of the most watched statistics was totally off-court; with financial stress pervasive throughout The Continent, most European basketball franchises prepared for the worst and tightened belts in expectation of lower turnouts.

And once all was said and done, the results were … mixed. With last season’s biggest draw Alba Berlin not in the competition, the overall 2009-10 Euroleague attendance figures for regular-season/Top 16 play decreased 3.5% overall year-on-year, bringing total attendance just under the 1 million threshold achieved in 2008-09.

(For comparison’s sake, NBA regular-season attendance figures for 2009-10 were down just about 2% against 2008-09.)

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To little fanfare, the list of players invited to the training camp list for Team Germany was released in advance of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, as the German Basketball Federation (DBB) today posted 16 names invited by Dirk Bauermann. See if you can figure out if anyone’s missing.

Steffen Hamann, Lucca Staiger (ALBA Berlin); Demond Greene (Larissa); Yassin Idbihi, Heiko Schaffartzik (New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig); Robin Benzing, Per Guenther (ratiopharm Ulm); Philipp Schwethelm (Eisbären Bremerhaven); Chad Toepper (Albuquerque Thunderbirds); Konrad Wysocki (Turow Zgorzelec); Elias Harris (Gonzaga); Jan-Hendrik Jagla (Asseco Prokom); Johannes Strasser, Tim Ohlbrecht (Telekom Baskets Bonn); Tibor Pleiss (Brose Baskets Bamberg); and Christopher McNaughton (EWE Baskets Oldenburg). Plus, “on call” is Patrick Femerling (Antalya BSB).

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Llull experiencing a lull

Having trouble keeping up with all the playoff tournaments and eliminations going on in Europe right now? BallinEurope’s not surprised at all. For those of you looking to quickly get your highlight fix, you’ve come to the right place!

Click on the “Continue reading…” link below for videos featuring the French and Spanish quarterfinals, plus another espectacularrrr Top 10 from the ACB and an awesome game-snuffer from New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig.

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What’s at stake on the final Wednesday night of the Euroleague 2009-10 regular season? Some bragging rights and potentially a couple of playoff spots. The win-and-in scenario tonight belongs to Lietuvos Rytas, a big six-point favorite at home against Unicaja.

AJ Milano, who’s hosting Real Madrid and is nevertheless a five-point underdog, also advances to Final 16 play with a win. Group rival Asseco Prokom, another homecourt five-point ‘dog – here’s to thinking the bookmakers don’t think much of Milano and Prokom under pressure this season, eh? – gets in with the upset victory and Milano loss.

With Real Madrid playing for top seed, however, and Khimki locked in to its no. 3 spot, figure Milano not to make up the five-point gap while Prokom at least keeps it close while likewise covering the pointspread. (Whether the latter manages to squeak into the Final 16 is another matter altogether…)

Pointspreads and over/under lines for tonight’s Euroleague games, as provided by Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor Sporting Bet, run below the break.

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Ataman on the hot seat?

With just one more week to go in first-round play, Francesco Cappelletti touches on some issues regarding those teams positioning themselves for the Euroleague Top 16. Also examined frankly: Ergin Ataman’s tenuous position in Turkey, Zoran Planinic and Nikos Zisis embracing their positions on potential Final Four clubs; and bucking for position on Real Madrid.

Extreme situations
Only a week remains to this Euroleague first stage, but the situations in many groups are still complicated. In Group A, Regal FC Barcelona lies in waits for Montepaschi with a +19 taken in Siena, testifying to the shape of Xavi Pascual’s players. This should be an interesting game, maybe balanced for nearly 40 minutes, but hardly vincible for the Italians. About the same men that last year started the game with a 25-3 first-quarter run for David Andersen and teammates … the final two positions have no owner.

Next week, a devastated Fenerbahce Ulker (unified against Bogdan Tanjevic: that’s the problem) hosts Zalgiris Kaunas, apparently better under new coach Ramunas Butautas; Asvel meanwhile goes to Zagreb to play a high-pressure game in which defenses are going to take control. Fenerbahce and Asvel (3-6) have one more win than Zalgiris and Cibona, but the feeling is they are not favourites to reach the Top 16.

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And Euroleague action is back for week nine action. Tonight’s slate of games is fit to make the playoff picture clearer. Lietuvos Rytas is in with a win, whereas a Khimki win or an Asseco Prokom loss gets the Moscow region team into the final 16.

According to the bookmakers, the marquee game to watch tonight amidst a lot of mismatches is clearly the game at Belgrade. The inconsistent Lietuvos Rytas can thank its current 1-3 run for its status as a five-point underdog at Partizan, and a double-digit loss would hardly be surprising for the Lithuanians at Pionir, where the black-and-white haven’t lost this season since opening day.

Also a must for viewing and tempting for punting is the Khimki-AJ Milano matchup. To say that Milano’s porous defense – they’ve managed to hold a Euroleague opponent to under 68 points just once this season – has been disappointing would be an understatement but makes for great high-scoring viewing if you’re not a fan. The Italians will be looking to salvage their hopes for advancement while avenging their week three loss to Khimki: Surely this team is too talented not to cover that pointspread of nine and that 146.5 will be toast. Go over.

Pointspreads and over/under lines for tonight’s Euroleague games, as provided by Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor Sporting Bet, run below the break.

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Siskauskas: The natural-born mismatch

Hello everybody and greetings from Javier Gancedo at Euroleague headquarters. We are facing a fantastic Euroleague week, with a lot of teams fighting for survival and some others positioning themselves to win their regular-season groups. We have Khimki against Panathinaikos in Group D, but also AJ Milano against EWE Baskets Oldenburg in a make-or-break battle. We could say the same about Maroussi vs. Union Olimpija or a very interesting Partizan vs. Efes Pilsen game. I expect this to be the most dramatic Euroleague week so far this season. Please keep an eye out.

Of course, Fantasy Challenge gets more complicated, too. There a few bargains left in the game and we all have to start including those players that we consider underrated in terms of talent versus credits.

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