Going into tonight’s games four, nothing has changed within the elite, though mid-pack much jostling for position may be seen. With the group leaders all in excellent position to at least solidify a strong hold on a semifinals berth, this could prove to be a make-or-break week for no fewer than those nine sides in the scrum.

The key word for week four, then, in BallinEurope’s estimation: Injuries. The ‘bug is truly hunkering down amid some Euroleague teams, and one could build a pretty decent roster from those who are out, questionable or hampered this week. Potential difference-makers who will be sitting include, among others, Viktor Khryapa (CSKA); Ante Tomic (Real Madrid); Omer Onan, Marko Tomas (Milano); Kerem Gonlum, Ermal Kuqo (Anadolu Efes); Steven Smith (PAO); and Shawn James (Maccabi Tel Aviv).

Below run another edition of the BiE power rankings as we enter this decisive week. Once again, please note that these rankings are an indicator of how teams are trending, with some consideration given to play in other leagues and heavy emphasis on Euroleague results.

Without further ado, then, onto the rankings! Go ahead, you can guess the first four, surely…

Prospective quarterfinalists
1. (↔) CSKA Moscow (13-0 in Euroleague play overall; 10-1 in VTB United League, 8-1 in PBL)
2. (↔) FC Barcelona (12-1 EL; 16-3 ACB)
3. (↔) Montepaschi Siena (11-2 EL; 14-5 Serie A) – Will anything change among the top four straight through to Istanbul? Barça and Siena are red-hot while, Viktor Khyrapa or no, CSKA is deep enough to have the luxury of choosing which two players to bench at upset-minded Galatasaray. No one could fault any of these team’s fans for looking into lodging in Istanbul in May.

4. (↔) Unics Kazan (10-3 EL; 10-1 VTB; 4-4 PBL) – Kazan took a loss in Russia on Sunday at Triumph Lyubertsy, 71-61, and uglied things up in last week’s 56-44 win versus Milano. Luckily, at this juncture when EL teams must avoid shooting cold, the Russian side gets to beat up on the Armanis again tonight.

On the cusp
5. (↑) Panathinaikos (9-4 EL; 14-1 Greek League) – They’re baaaaaaaaack! The only question is, is it for good this time? The team’s 77-56 immolation of Fenerbahce Ulker last week put PAO back in the driver’s seat for at least one of those two Group G seeds for the quarterfinals; this week, all the Greens must do is overcome that same Ulker team sans Omer Onan. And in Athens.

6. (↔) Real Madrid (10-3 EL; 15-4 ACB) – How concerned should Los Blancos be after losing to Gescrap Bilbao at home on Sunday? A bit, perhaps; how do you lose while shooting 58.33% overall, including 10-of-19 on threes? Not only does the loss knock Real back into second place on the ACB table, they enter tomorrow night’s match against Bilbao at 1-2 in head-to-head play and with Ante Tomic not 100%. (And that’s the sound of a few thousand Madridistas biting fingernails.)

7. (↑) Bennet Cantu (7-6 EL; 11-8 Serie A) – An impressive 82-74 win over Maccabi plus the addition of Doron Perkins equals this year’s Euroleague Cinderella story.

8. (↓) Maccabi Tel Aviv (8-5 EL; 18-1 ABA; 12-2 Ligat Ha’al) – BiE will quote his own answer to Euro-Step’s question, “Which team has underperformed the most?”: “Not even close: Maccabi Tel Aviv. Supposed to be a F4 contender and killing in the ABA … what is happening with these guys in EL?”

9 (tie). (↓) Galatasaray Medical Park (5-8 EL; 13-3 TBL)
9 (tie). (↑) Olympiacos (7-6 EL; 15-1 Greek League) – Blowouts as equalizer: The Reds may have put in their best Euroleague performance of the 2011-12 season with their emphatic 83-65 win over Fenerbahce Ulker, while Galatasaray simply could not hang with CSKA. BiE has the teams deadlocked because at present the Turkish side holds the tiebreaker in Group E.

The most excellent news for Olympiacos from the Ulker game was the excellent distribution in scoring. BiE reckoned the Reds need to find production from someone other than Vassilis Spanoulis, and last week they found lots of someones – Kostas Sloukas, Richard Dorsey, Kostas Papanikolaou … this is the kind of balanced attack Oly needs to bring for the rest of the EL race.

11. (↑) Gescrap Bilbao Basket (6-7 EL; 10-9 ACB) – Bilbao readied for its third match against Real Madrid in a week by topping the former ACB table-toppers on Sunday, though the Gescrappers can hardly count on the lights-out shooting they found then. This week, the storyline promises the upstarts homecourt advantage and the Euroleague-activated Mamadou Samb.

Struggling, crashing, and/or burning
12 (tie). (↔) Fenerbahce Ulker (7-6 EL; 11-5 TBL)
12 (tie). (↓) Anadolu Efes Pilsen (6-7 EL; 14-2 TBL) – Not such a great year for Istanbul to host the Euroleague Final Four tournament after all, perhaps. The three Turkish franchises remaining are a disappointing 5-10 in the past five weeks of EL play.

14. (↔) Zalgiris Kaunas (4-9 EL; 5-6 VTB; 12-0 LKL) – Hey, have you heard that Sonny Weems was the top vote-getter for the LKL All-Star Game? No, it doesn’t have much to do with the Euroleague, but it *is* good news.

15. (↔) Unicaja (4-9 EL; 12-7 ACB) – Now 2-7 in 2012, Unicaja’s recent 0-4 run has seen them lose by an average of 16 points. Of course, the offense could be worse. It could be like that of…

16. (↔) Emporio Armani Milano (5-8 EL; 12-7 Serie A) – Seriously? 44 points? That was in one half, right?

Traditional advisory warning: These ratings are pretty much highly subjective, as they are formulated from one source, i.e. BiE, and are based on the way teams are trending at present. While play in other leagues was considered, emphasis was put on Euroleague performance especially, and particularly on the two games each has registered in Top 16 play.

And on to the rankings!

The undefeated
1. (↔) CSKA Moscow (12-0 in Euroleague play overall; 9-1 in VTB United League, 8-1 in PBL)
2. (↔) FC Barcelona (9-1 EL; 13-3 ACB)
3. (↑) Montepaschi Siena (10-2 EL; 13-5 Serie A) – No surprises here, unless you count the emphatic statement wins recorded by each of these elite teams in week two at Maccabi Tel Aviv, vs. Anadolu Efes, and at Real Madrid, respectively. NBA fans are chattering about a shortened season? Ha! With each of these teams at 2-0 and having knocked off the no. 2 contender within their groups, they’ve all made the 2011-12 EL Top 16 round a hell of a lot more urgent for nearly every side in the big league.

4. (↑) Unics Kazan (9-3 EL; 10-1 VTB; 4-3 PBL) – Two exclamatory questions: One, who would have thought that the most important American player in Russia this season would be Henry Domercant? And two, how ‘bout this dark horse, huh? Right now, Bad Henry is penciled in on BiE’s Euroleague All-Star squad, and he’s certainly to be worth watching tonight against Emporio Armani Milano after his amazing 7-of-11 overall shooting display for 21 points at Panathinaikos in week two.

The undeterred
5. (↑) Galatasaray Medical Park (5-7 EL; 13-3 TBL) – Unlike other sides that squeaked through into the Top 16 (Olympiacos, Milano, BiE’s looking at you…), Galatasaray has shown itself to be capable of playing with the big boys after all. The inspiring overtime win against the Reds in week resulted in a huge step toward the tournament round and a big jump in these power rankings. Of course, with the Big Red Machine hosting this Turkish side tomorrow night, this may be as high as Galatasaray ascends on this table.

6. (↓) Real Madrid (9-3 EL; 15-3 ACB) – Perhaps BiE is calling this one a bit early, but could the disappointing home loss to Montepaschi – to be fair, one of the few teams in Europe who can keep up with this season’s free-shooting, fast-running Real – indicative of the team’s traditional late-winter swoon that annually seems to set them firmly in second place at home and abroad behind FC Barcelona? (Unfortunately, ACB wins against Caja Laboral Baskonia and at Fuenlabrada don’t tell us especially much.)

7. (↓) Panathinaikos (8-4 EL; 14-1 ESAKE) – Every week this Euroleague season, BiE measures his estimation of PAO’s true standing on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 represents utterly superstitiously believing that the Greens can’t advance to the EL championship and 10 represents the faith that clever coach Obradovic has his boys playing possum and conserving energy for later rounds, NBA-style. After the six-point loss to Kazan in which “the Greens allowed a Euroleague opponent at OAKA the most points in the regulation 40 minutes in [just over five years when] Partizan won there 93-80 on January 24, 2007,” the meter’s around a 3.5.

8. (↓) Maccabi Tel Aviv (8-4 EL; 17-1 ABA; 12-2 Ligat Ha’al) – BiE can’t decide which loss is more perplexing: The crazy 26-point beatdown Barcelona handed them last week (with Juan Carlos Navarro limited by injury, no less) or the five-point upset by visiting eight-place Maccabi Ashdod back home on Monday night. What is going on in Tel Aviv…?

The undefined
9. (↑) Gescrap Bilbao Basket (6-6 EL; 9-9 ACB) – Still hanging on in its inaugural Euroleague bid with a sweet win against the reeling Unicaja Malaga, Bilbao must face Real in Madrid tonight for the second time in three days … and on Sunday, Madrid delivered a 22-point defeat.

10. (↔) Anadolu Efes (6-6 EL; 14-2 TBL) – Yet another backer-in, Anadolu is now in complete stumbling mode after the drubbing handed them by CSKA Moscow last week. This Turkish side is a disappointing 1-3 in its last four Euroleague games and pretty much needs to win against Olympiacos to keep in the race for the tournament. No word yet on Tarance Kinsey, whose playing time has been limited in January due to a minor injury.

11. (↑) Bennet Cantu (6-6 EL; 11-7 Serie A) – Like Anadolu Efes, Cantu is on a 1-3 “run,” with its own losing streak snapped thanks to the heart-stopping one-point win against Zalgiris Kaunas. Like Galatasaray, this week’s ranking could represent the peak for this team in 2011-12.

12. (↓) Fenerbahce Ulker (7-5 EL; 11-5 TBL) — The return of Roko Ukic was enough to get Fenerbahce past Milano last week … barely. There doesn’t seem to be much chance of them holding Panathinaikos to just 32 two-point attempts tomorrow night, either.

The underwhelming
13. (↓) Olympiacos (6-6 EL; 14-1 ESAKE) – Vassilis Spanoulis’ Euroleague stat line: 31.0 minutes, 19.4 points, 4.5 assists, 0.5 steals per game. The best marks posted by other Olympiacos players: 21.0 mpg (by Georgios Printezis), 9.4 ppg (Printezis again), 3.1 apg (Lazaros Papadopoulous), 0.8 spg (Lucas Kalin, Evangelos Mantzaris). The solution to the Reds’ woes: Clone Spanoulis three times over and put them on the floor with, say, Pero Antic.

14. (↔) Zalgiris Kaunas (4-8 EL; 5-6 VTB; 9-0 LKL) – Poor Zalgiris. Into a tailspin in VTB United League competition, Zalgiris caught a nasty case of Lebron’s Disease for the EL Top 16 round, first managed to play Maccabi tough in Lithuania and secondly running up a double-digit lead on Cantu in Italy before falling apart in the fourth quarter each time. Zalgiris is still in the running, one supposes, but a miracle – like maybe the return of Ty Lawson and not this sort – will indeed be needed with a Barcelona back-to-back on tap.

15. (↓) Unicaja (4-8 EL; 12-6 ACB) – The power rankings are all about trending … and BiE dares say no high-level team outside of Washington, D.C., is trending worse than Unicaja right now. After starting the season at a combined 8-2 in combined Euroleague and Liga Endesa play, this Spanish side has bottomed out to go 2-5 in 2012 thus far for an overall mark of 16-14, sinking into a fourth-place tie on the ACB table and essentially facing EL elimination vs. Montepaschi Siena tonight.

16. (↓) Emporio Armani Milano (5-7 EL; 11-7 Serie A)BiE’s said it before and BiE’ll say it again: “So much talent on paper, such limited success on the court…” Are all fingers officially pointed at Sergio Scariolo yet?

CSKA Moscow vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul
• CSKA leads the all-time series between the teams, 8-7.
• Nenad Krstic has scored in double figures in each of his last 16 Euroleague appearances dating back to the 2003-04 season.
• Andrei Kirilenko and Nenad Krstic lead the Euroleague in index rating with at averages of 27.8 and 21.5 per game, respectively.
• Kirilenko also leads the Euroleague in blocked shots (3.2 bpg).
• Milos Teodosic is ranked second in the Euroleague in assists this season with a career-high 5.6 assists per game.
• Darjus Lavrinovic needs three more blocks reach 100 for his Euroleague career. With his next block, Lavrinovic will tie former CSKA big man Terence Morris for 12th place all-time.
• 2010 Euroleague Best Defender Viktor Khryapa needs only 4 more blocks to reach 100 blocks in his Euroleague career.
• Khryapa needs two more rebounds to reach the 500 mark for his Euroleague career.
• CSKA’s win streak is now at 12 games in a row dating back to last season.
• CSKA faced Efes in the quarterfinal playoffs of the 2005-06 season. CSKA swept the series 2-0 and continued on to win the Euroleague title.
• Tarence Kinsey has recorded at least one steal in each of his last 11 Turkish Airlines Euroleague contests.
• All-Euroleague forward Dusko Savanovic has registered double doubles in three of his last five Euroleague games.
• Last week, Savanovic set personal career highs in index rating (31), offensive rebounds (7), defensive rebounds (10), total rebounds (17) and minutes played (35).
• Savanovic has made at least one three-pointer in seven straight Euroleague appearances.
• Anadolu Efes has won just one of its last seven encounters with CSKA.
• The last time Efes won against CSKA in Moscow was in the 1998-99 season.
• Kinsey and Darjus Lavrinovic played together in Fenerbache Ülker last season. Together they won the Turkish League and Cup titles.
• Savanovic played in Unics Kazan in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons together with Lavrinovic and Dmitry Sokolov. Nikita Kurbanov spent part of the 2007-08 with the above trio in Kazan as well.
• The lines: CSKA Moscow, minus-12.5; over/under 155.5 points.

Gescrap Bilbao Basket v. Unicaja Malaga

• These two teams have never met before.
• Gescrap is looking for its first-ever win in the Top 16.
• Gescrap has committed more turnovers (15.7) than any other Top 16 team this season.
• Marko Banic has scored in double figures in all 11 of his team’s Turkish Airlines Euroleague games this season.
• D’Or Fischer’s average of 1.55 blocks per game is the best in competition history among players with at least three seasons played.
• Raul Lopez needs four more steals to reach the 100 mark for his Euroleague career.
• Roger Grimau has made 11 free throws without a miss this season.
• Alex Mumbru has made at least one three-pointer in each of his last seven Euroleague appearances.
• Kostas Vasiliadis played for Unicaja for a season-and-a-half. He arrived during the 2005-06 season and played the following one as well in Malaga. He helped the team win the 2006 ACB title. Berni Rodriguez was a teammate of Vasiliadis during that time. Jorge Garbajosa was also there for the first of those seasons and current Unicaja coach Chus Mateo was an assistant coach that season.
• Unicaja leads the Euroleague this season in offensive rebounding at 13.0 per game and total rebounds at 37.8 per.
• Unicaja is ranked last among the Top 16 teams in three-point accuracy at 29.1%.
• Jorge Garbajosa has made 22 straight free throws in Euroleague action.
• Garbajosa needs six more free throws made to reach 400 for his Euroleague career. He’s ranked 15th on the all-time list of free throws made.
• Last week Luka Zoric set career highs in points and index rating as he recorded his first Euroleague double-double with 32 points, 10 rebounds and a 33 index rating against Real Madrid.
• Garbajosa was a teammate of Axel Hervelle, D’or Fischer and Josh Fisher at Real Madrid during his time there in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
• Nedzad Sinanovic was a teammate of Raul Lopez, Axel Hervelle, Alex Mumbru and Josh Fisher at Real Madrid during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
• Coach Chus Mateo started his coaching career in the junior program of Real Madrid and later was an assistant coach on the first team.
• The lines: Bilbao, minus-4.5; over/under 152.5 points.

Real Madrid vs. Montepaschi Siena
• Siena leads the all-time series, 4-3.
• Madrid has the top-scoring offense in the Euroleague with 87.3 points per game and has scored more three pointers than any other Top 16 team with an average of 8.4 per game.
• Nikola Mirotic has made 14 consecutive free throws in the Euroleague.
• Mirotic scored the last basket in the game last week in the last second to give Madrid an important 80-81 win in Malaga.
• Sergio Rodriguez leads the Euroleague in assists this season with a career-high 5.8 assists per game.
• Jaycee Carroll has made at least one three-pointer in every Euroleague game this season.
• Carroll leads the Euroleague this season in three-point shooting percentage at 57.4%.
• Mirza Begic is ranked second in the Euroleague in blocks this season with 1.5 blocks per game.
• Begic has blocked at least one shot in five straight and seven of his last eight games.
• Martynas Pocius was a teammate of injured Rimas Kaukenas on the Lithuanian national team at FIBA EuroBasket 2011.
• Nikos Zisis needs two more three-pointers to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
• David Andersen joined the exclusive Euroleague 2,000 career points club last week. He’s ranked 11th all-time at the moment, but is still 40 points behind Luis Scola for 10th place.
• Andersen is also only two rebounds from becoming the third player in competition to reach 1,000 career rebounds. He will join Nikola Vujcic as the only players to register 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
• Bo McCalebb has scored in double figures in nine straight Euroleague games.
• The first four encounters between these two teams were decided in favor of the home team while the last three were decided in favor of the road team.
• Madrid and Montepaschi played for third place at the 2011 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. Montepaschi won 80-62.
• Igor Rakocevic spent the 2005-06 season with Real Madrid and was teammate of Felipe Reyes that season.
• The injured Rimas Kaukenas played in Real Madrid in the 2009-10 season together with Felipe Reyes, Ante Tomic, Novica Velickovic and Sergio Llull.
• The lines: Real Madrid, minus-7.5; over/under 157.5 points.

Fenerbahçe Ülker Istanbul v. Emporio Armani Milano
• Milano leads the all-time series, 2-0, with the only time these two teams meeting in the 1996-97 season.
• Fenerbahçe Ülker is ranked last among Top 16 teams in assists with only 11.6 per night.
• Bojan Bogdanovic has scored in double figures in four straight and eight of his last nine Euroleague games, and is averaging 16.1 points per game on the road this season compared to just 8.4 points at home.
• Roko Ukic and Jacopo Giachetti were teammates at Lottomatica Roma during the 2007-08 season.
• Milano is ranked last among Top 16 teams in steals with only 4.4 per game and in total rebounds with 31.5 a night.
• Drew Nicholas needs only one more steal to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
• Omar Cook started the season 3-of-17 from downtown, but has made 11 of his last 23 three-point attempts.
• Ioannis Bourousis is only eight rebounds behind injured big man Kerem Gonlum for seventh place on the career rebounding charts. Bourousis has 830 career boards.
• Bourousis needs three more steals to reach the 100 mark for his career.
• Leon Radosevic and Bojan Bogdanovic were teammates at Cibona Zagreb in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
• Nicholas and James Gist both played college basketball at the University of Maryland, though Gist joined the Terps two seasons after Nicholas finished.
• The lines: Fenerbahçe Ülker, minus-7.5; over/under 147.0 points.

Panathinaikos v. Unics Kazan
• These teams have never met in Euroleague play.
• Panathinaikos is one of three clubs that have never missed the Top 16 phase in its 11 years. FC Barcelona Regal and Maccabi are the other two.
• Panathinaikos leads the Euroleague in steals with 8.7 per game.
• Dimitris Diamantidis has made 19 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action dating back to last season.
• Diamantidis needs only four more assists to become the fourth player in Euroleague history to dish 600 assists.
• Sarunas Jasikevicius needs only five more assists to become the fourth player in Euroleague history to dish 600 assists.
• Steven Smith has made 10 consecutive free throws in Euroleague games.
• Panathinaikos has never advanced past the Top 16 round the season after winning the Euroleague title.
• Ian Vougioukas has blocked at least one shot in five of the last six games.
• Sarunas Jasikevicius was signed to replace an injured Lynn Greer last season in Fenerbahçe Ülker.
• Henry Domercant has hit at least one three-pointer in 11 straight and in 21 of his last 22 Euroleague games.
• Domercant is ranked second in the Euroleague this season in three-point shooting percentage at 54.2%.
• Unics has won seven of its last eight EL games.
• Kelly McCarty has made eight straight free throws in Euroleague action.
• Lynn Greer played two seasons – 2007-08 and 2008-09 – for Panathinaikos’ archrival Olympiacos.
• Domercant and Romain Sato were teammates in Montepaschi Siena during the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 seasons.
• Vladimir Veremeenko became the first Unics player to be named Euroleague weekly MVP when he nabbed the honor after producing 17 points, 11 rebounds and performance index rating of 32 in a win over Fenerbahçe Ülker.
• The lines: Panathinaikos, minus-11.5; over/under 146.5 points.

Bennet Cantù v. Žalgiris Kaunas
• Cantù leads the all-time EL series between the clubs, 2-0, with those meetings over 30 years ago in the 1980-81 season.
• Gianluca Basile has made at least one three-pointer in 11 of his last 12 Euroleague games.
• Basile needs two more assists to pass Marcus Brown and enter the Euroleague all-time top 10 in assists. He has currently 456.
• Basile took over third place on the list of career Euroleague games played, leaving former CSKA guard J.R. Holden one spot behind. Basile played his 210th game last week.
• Žalgiris has allowed more points than any other team in the Top 16 with 81.5 points allowed per game.
• Žalgiris has committed more fouls than any other Top 16 team with 23.9 per game.
• Marko Popovic has made at least one three-pointer in 33 straight Euroleague appearances. His last Euroleague game without a triple came in November 2006 with Žalgiris at home against CSKA.
• Paulius Jankunas needs two more steals to reach the 100 mark for his Euroleague career.
• Milovan Rakovic played the last two seasons in Italy with Montepaschi Siena and beat Cantù in the final of the Italian league last season.
• The lines: Cantù, minus-5.0; over/under 149.5 points.

• This game was quite the textbook example of the 13th man’s value to Kazan, as the second half was all Unics riding the home support after a disastrous second quarter.

• What was the deal with the Unics bench? Is coach Evgeny Pashutin simply unwilling to go seven deep with this side? Pashutin looked to be running his preferred quintet into the ground as Nathan Jawai, in for about 11 minutes, proved the only viable substitute for the Russian team last night. Terrell Lyday, Vladimir Veremeenko, Petr Samoylenko, Henry Domercant, and Mike Wilkinson all went for 28 minutes or more to score 68 of the team’s 76 points. Yes, Jawai had the other eight.

BiE gut feeling questioned why Lynn Greer got 10½ minutes of playing time and Kelly McCarty only saw 7½ despite neither looking particularly sharp.

On the other hand, maybe Pashutin is simply doing the clever “small market” thing; minutes appear to be well evenly distributed in Kazan’s PBL play and a bit less so in VTB United League games. Last Sunday, Kazan hosted VEF Riga; with a VTB game on Saturday vs. Minsk 2006 and possibly in Russia on Sunday vs. BC Khimki Moscow region, Pashutin is probably applying the soccer coach mentality and leaving a few top-tier players with energy to play in less crucial games. They’ll have to rely on an assist from that no. 13 again, with the four games in seven days; thus far, Unics is 2-0 in the homestand.

• And, of course, Bostjan Nachbar is not yet aboard. Strange that while statistically the battle for the boards was nearly dead even at 33 for Fenerbahçe and 32 for Unics, empirically the latter appeared to kill the former on the glass. With four, Veremeenko was the only Kazan player to notch more than one offensive board – a situation that should improve with Nachbar aboard – though the Russian side won anyway…

• Playing without the injured Roko Ukic (and Mirsad Turkcan suiting up but taking a DNP) seemingly put Fenerbahçe at a disadvantage outside going into the match, but the unexpected emerged: Bojan Bogdanovic and Omer Onan teed off to go a combined 7-of-9 on threes, while the team shot 50% overall beyond the arc.

And yet … the Fenerbahçe frontcourt was beaten badly and consistently in the second half. Oguz Savas, Gasper Vidmar and Emir Preldzic were harassed by foul trouble – the latter two throughout the game – and saw limited playing time.

• Incidentally, Bogdanovic was high scorer in the game with 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting, getting particularly brilliant in the second while scoring from everywhere to contribute 13 during his team’s unanswered 15-point run. How badly do you want this guy in the ‘States, Nets fans?

• True as ever is the European basketball fan’s answer to his/her NBA counterpart who scoffs as the lower number of games played on the Continent: “Yes, but in Europe nearly every game matters as opposed to meaningless games in April in America.” Unics Kazan now sits atop Group G at 1-0, while Fenerbahçe Ülker has dug itself a “hole” at 0-1 … and already the complexion of the Top 16 has changed.

Once again, the caveat emptor-ish bit: These ratings are formulated from once source (namely yours truly) and are based on the way teams are trending at present. While play in other leagues was considered, emphasis was put on performance in the latter bits of the EL season.

To the rankings!

Top dogs
1. CSKA Moscow (10-0 in Euroleague regular season; 8-1 in VTB United League, 7-1 in PBL) – Remember the date December 10, 2011: That’s the last time the scary Red Army lost, in falling to BC Khimki in Russia while getting just seven minutes out of Andrei Kirilenko. The Red Army’s only loss before that was exactly one month prior when they fell in a squeaker at Spartak St. Petersburg in their VTB opener. Considering the starting team alone – an all-star squad of Kirilenko, Milos Teodosic, Nenad Krstic, Ramunas Siskauskas, Viktor Khryapa – BiE has to wonder what non-NBA team could beat ‘em. Even after the star power, the CSKA Moscow bench contributed 43.2 points per game in Euroleague play while the team leads in overall performance rating, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. This has got to be considered the team to beat in 2012.

2. FC Barcelona (9-1 EL; 13-3 ACB) – While standing mostly pat with the core that has made Barca a Final Four threat for years, the team’s sole headline acquisition – Marcelinho Huertas in lieu of whatshisname now with the Minnesota Timberwolves – has turned out just fine and dandy as the Blaugrana appear headed for at least the final eight tournament. Of course, all this depends on the return of Juan Carlos Navarro…

3. Maccabi Tel Aviv (7-3 EL; 15-1 ABA; 11-1 Ligat Ha’al) – Though a 33-5 overall record is nothing to scoff at (as Adriatic League teams would surely agree), BiE gets the feeling that Maccabi still hasn’t hit its rhythm – not to mention the fact that this side has done more roster shuffling over the past 2 ½ months than any other EL side save Zalgiris, with three key members of their ranks (Omri Casspi, Jordan Farmar, Jeremy Pargo) re-emigrating to the USA. BiE’s giving David Blatt & Co. the benefit of the doubt here, but much may depend on how soon Demond Mallet is integrated alongside Keith Langford on this suddenly frontcourt-heavy squad.

4. Real Madrid (8-2 EL; 13-3 ACB) – Currently in a statistical tie in Spain with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid closed its Euroleague with an impressive six wins in a row after losing a one-point squeaker at Partizan Belgrade on November 10th. After years of futilely courting big men to body up with Barca’s, Madrid did an about-face for 2011-12 in a game plan calling for stretching the floor in a Montepaschian wide-open court. The results? The highest-scoring team in the ACB and the EL, and one of either league’s most exciting to boot. But, as Madridistas scarcely need reminding, there’s some way to go yet before the finals.

5. The fits-and-starts course Panathinaikos (7-3 EL; 11-3 ESAKE) is taking in 2011-12 ain’t fooling BiE. Sure, on the surface the Greens appear to be sporting a rapidly aging roster (oldest in this edition of Euroleague, as a matter of a fact) and having benefitted from relatively light competition in the first EL round, but all BiE can see is innovative coach Zeljko Obradovic producing more than the sum of this (three-time champion in the past five years) team’s parts – Seriously, do you realize just three Panathinaikos players – Dimitris Diamantidis, Steven Smith and Romain Sato – started in all 10 EL regular-season games?

6. Montepaschi Siena (8-2 EL; 12-4 Serie A) doesn’t appear quite as dominant back home as they have been for a decade or so; could parity be returning to Italy or are Euroleague-first economics finally catching up to Ferdinando Minucci’s side?

The X Factors (at least early on)
7. Olympiacos (6-4 EL; 11-3 ESAKE) – New management reshaped the Reds with a conspicuous lack of overexpensive name players for 2011-12 and it may be that this team is finally coming together – just in time to incorporate the sure-to-be-welcomed Partizan Belgrade’s Acie Law, though one wonders how well the run-and-go Law will fit with an Olympiacos side that prefers halfcourt play. At 11-1 overall since starting 1-3 in EL play, Reds backers are surely praying for a smooth transition.

8. Unics Kazan (10-1 VTB; 3-3 PBL) – Damn right, BiE went there. Look, this Russian side is clearly the second-best team in the VTB League and closed Euroleague regular-season play proving they’re for real by winning six of their last seven, including a nice 79-73 victory over Siena in Italy. Fans have got to be loving the acquisition of Bostjan Nachbar to give Unics much more mobility (plus hopefully rebounds and blocks – the team was woefully middle-of-the-road in both categories in 10 EL games) in the paint. All in all, BiE’s penciling these guys in as the no. 2 seed out of Group G…

9. …though it could easily be Fenerbahce Ulker (6-4 EL; 10-5 TBL), although the Turkish side is in the midst of an underwhelming season which has them in a lowly (for them) sixth place in Turkey going into the weekend. Worst of all for Fenerbahce is the injury to point guard Roko Ukic which will sideline him for minimum two Euroleague games. Given the increasing importance the playmaker position tends to take as European competitions reach conclusion and the opening-night opponent Unics, Fenerbahce’s Top 16 run could effectively end quite quickly.

Outside, looking in
10. Anadolu Efes (5-5 EL; 13-2 TBL) – Tops of the table at home, Anadolu Efes backed into the Euroleague Top 16 with losses at Tel Aviv and vs. Madrid. While this team’s capacity for clampdown D was (mostly) admirable in the regular season, the low-watt Efes continually fought to score. With only two active players with double-figure averages (Sasha Vujacic, Dusko Savanovic) and Tarance Kinsey out in the short-term due to injury, how will this team compete in the high-scoring Group E?

11. So much talent on paper, such limited success on the court … Emporio Armani Milano (4-6 EL; 10-6 Serie A) is definitely the enigma of this Euroleague season. The key question: Should we take the inspiring win at Pionir as a sign that they’ve righted the ship after a disastrous four-game EL losing streak?

12. Unicaja (4-6 EL; 12-4 ACB) – On the plus side, Unicaja’s playing more competitively in the ACB than they have in years. On the minus side, the team’s 4-6 Euroleague mark in 2011 obfuscates a 3-1 (!) start. And now Joel Freeland’s out for at least two games.

13. Gescrap Bilbao Basket (5-5 EL; 7-9 ACB) – After starting 1-3 (and 2-4), Bilbao came back strong to close out its inaugural Euroleague regular season with wins against Fenerbahce and Caja Laboral Baskonia … but that may be all she wrote for last year’s plucky ACB runners-up.

The bottom three
14 (tie). Bennet Cantu (5-5 EL; 10-6 Serie A)
14 (tie). Galatasaray Medical Park (4-6 EL; 12-3 TBL)
14 (tie). Zalgiris Kaunas (4-6 EL; 5-5 VTB; 9-0 LKL) – Commonalities between this trio: All three needed closing-night tiebreakers to advance, all should be looking forward to their respective national championship tournaments, and all will most likely join the “non-contenders” list fairly quickly. How did they get here? Bennet Cantu backed in with convincing losses at Olympiacos and vs. Fenerbahce; Galatasaray went 0-6 against Top 16 qualifiers, slipping into advancement by beating up on Union Olimpija and Asseco Prokom; and Zalgiris was nearly as unimpressive, going 1-5 against second-tier squads. BiE won’t quite say “Wait ‘til next year” yet, but that wish is coming soon…

And here’s another: Enjoy the games!

Logo at left will be that of the 2012 Euroleague Final Four, just released/announced in the runup to the draw this afternoon.

The groups in the quest for that EL Final Four bid will be comprised as follows.

Group E
CSKA Moscow
Olympiacos
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Galatasaray

Group F
Real Madrid
Montepaschi Siena
Unicaja Malaga
Gescrap Bilbao Basket

Group G
Fenerbahçe Ülker
Panathinaikos
Unics Kazan
Emporio Armani Milano

Group H
FC Barcelona
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Bennet Cantù
Zalgiris Kaunas

Perhaps the first Euroleague player tweets on the groupings came from Montepaschi Siena’s Shaun Stonerook and Nikos Zisis. Tweeted the former: “Should be fun.Can’n't wait to get it started“. (Damn, he *is* excited.)

The latter had six minutes earlier weighed in with, “Very interesting groups in euroleague top 16! We are going to play 6 battles!!”

Does Montepaschi lead the Euroleague in tweeters? Here’s Igor Rakocevic, about a quarter-hour after his teammates: “Grupo muy interesante para nosotros en TOP16!!! Vamos a jugar 3 partidos en España! Eso me gusta mucho!!!”

(In English, that’s “Wow! Interesting groups for top16!! Our group with 3 Spanish teams!!! I like that!”

Real Madrid’s Martynas Pocius showed some nice sportsmanship with his tweet, “Was quietly hoping to see Zalgiris in the same group but not this time! Good luck Green&White!”

Kneejerk reactions from BiE? How about:

• How about that mini-Endesa Liga in Group F? Three Spanish sides plus Montepaschi Siena? BiE doesn’t know if that’s the oft-created “Group of Death,” but BiE’ll take it as the highest-scoring overall of these groups.

• BiE also digs the pairing of FC Barcelona and Maccabi Tel Aviv, both Final Four-Fearlessly Predicted™ teams — can’t wait to see that game early … and maybe later, too?

• Considering Group E, BiE’s hedging bets that CSKA Moscow extends its run to 16-0 going into the elite-eight tournament.

• Early Official Fearless Predictions™ will go with CSKA Moscow, Anadolu Efes, Real Madrid, Montepaschi Siena, Panathinaikos, Fenerbahce Ulker, FC Barcelona, Maccabi Tel Aviv … slightly boring, perhaps, but BiE just couldn’t talk himself into Milano or Unics Kazan…

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)!

• Big shot of the night, NBA-related or no, was certainly Mehmet Okur’s three-point dagger to give Turk Telekom the 83-81 win over Pinar Karsiyaka. Reports FIBA Europe in part: “With Turkish basketball still talking about the 50-point explosion by Okur’s former Utah Jazz teammate Deron Williams for Beşiktaş last week, Okur capped another solid performance with a long-range shot that gave the Ankara team an 83-81 triumph on Tuesday.

“Utah Jazz big man Okur, like New Jersey Nets guard Williams, is to soon head back to the United States following Saturday’s announcement that the lockout is set to end this week.

“Okur had 14 points and 10 rebounds in Izmir against Karsiyaka. … His free throw had given Turk Telekom an 80-79 advantage with 31 seconds to go, but Karsiyaka went back out in front when Alper Saruhan landed a jumper.

“After a timeout by the visitors, Okur caught a pass by Muratcan Güler and hit the shot from the arc with nine seconds to play for a two-point lead. Mire Chatman of Karsiyaka had an opportunity to put the home side back in front but his three-pointer was off target.”

• The Jerusalem Post informs that “Maccabi Tel Aviv fans got their last look at Jordan Farmar at Nokia Arena on Saturday night when the yellow-and-blue improved to 8-0 in the Adriatic League with a 96-89 victory over Cedevita Zagreb.”

Right. So let’s have a look, then.

And check out this nice work from Israel-based Haaretz on the remainder of the EL/NLB contender’s 2011-12, i.e. “With Farmar’s departure for the U.S., Maccabi’s second season begins.”

• For Valencia BC, Tiago Splitter in his second departure from European pro ball went for nine points on just 4-of-12 shooting to go with 12 rebounds in under 30 minutes of playing time. Valencia ended up winning at Lukoil Academic, 72-64, as former University of Maine/Estudiantes Madrid forward Nik Caner-Medley put in a ridiculous 27 points.

Splitter ended with stint with the Spanish side having played two games each in the Eurocup competition and the Liga Endesa, with a cumulative average of 12.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

• Asvel did not play with Tony Parker or Ronny Turiaf but won 70-53 at Oostende anyway, and Beşiktaş was without Deron Williams – though the New Jersey Net “looked on as a supporter” and watched before the game as *his freaking jersey number was retired.* In D-Will’s stead, Erwin Dudley (a.k.a. Ersin Dagli) had 20 points and 14 rebounds in Beşiktaş’ Eurochallenge victory against ZZ Lieden, 76-69.

• Coming soon (maybe): Euroleague games featuring final turns by Thabo Sefolosha with Fenerbahçe Ülker, Ty Lawson with Žalgiris Kaunas, and Nikola Pekovic with Partizan Belgrade, among others.

One interesting consequence of the NBA lockout – and possibly a precedent-setter – are the cases of Ersan Ilyasova, who has long stated that he ultimately prefers playing with Anadolu Efes rather than the Milwaukee Bucks, and of frequently disgruntled Rudy Fernandez, whom Real Madrid would like to keep around.

In fact, France-based Basket News yesterday reported that “Ersan Ilyasova, encore lié à Milwaukee pour un an, souhaiterait négocier avec les Bucks pour rester à l’Anadolu Efes.”

Second season, indeed…

A number of reports in recent days had the Beşiktaş search linked with names like Kevin Love, Luol Deng, Lamar Odom, Nene and Marcin Gortat, but Lopez made for reportedly a somewhat less expensive option than Odom or Gortat, for example.

Lopez went for 20.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game with the New Jersey Nets last season.

And if you’re keeping score at home, the refugees from Nets land playing in Europe increases: After Williams and (prospectively) Lopez, there are Jordan Farmar (with Maccabi Tel Aviv), Sasha Vujacic (Anadolu Efes), Mario West (Scaligera Basket Verona), Sundiata Gaines (BC Armia) and Bojan Bogdanovic (Fenerbahçe Ülker; and okay, BiE realizes Bogdanovic isn’t technically a refugee, but he may be a Net someday).

…and Europe! The Continent-centric BallinEurope has unabashedly become addicted to the little birdie’s ‘site, and yesterday proved quite fruitful for those anxiously awaiting more imports into top pan-European and domestic leagues. After the dismal news of Monday and impending dissolution of the players’ union plus imminent anti-trust lawsuits, more and more stars are finally willing to cut the cord to the NBA, bite the bullet and, you know, try that whole European basketball thing.

Below run the results what BiE’s Twitter scorecard from yesterday; stars include the Gasol Brothers, Kevin Durant, Jan Vesely, Joakim Noah, Tiago Splitter, Kyrie Irving and many more.

• The big deal of the day was reported by SLAM Magazine, among others: “Pau and Marc Gasol to Play in Spain if NBA Season Gets Cancelled.” Pau in particular has been flirting with the possibility of rejoining the Liga Endesa power for some time and this move is seeming evermore inevitable. But sheesh, with a roster including the Gasols, Juan Carlos Navarro and Victor Sada, why don’t they just rename the squad “Team Spain” and be done with it? (Unless, of course, Real Madrid already owns the rights…)

• Walter Sobchak – if that is his real name – of Turkish Hoops poured a little gasoline on fire with his tweet that “Rumor, just a rumor: Kevin Durant, Hedo Turkoglu and Omer Asik to Fenerbahce Ulker?”

Turkey-based Turyiet also speculates on this gossip, but one must remember that Walter is a big propagator of the “#lockoutfantasies” Twitter tag, among which Turkish Hoops dreams that “Reports say Anadolu Efes is very close to reach an agreement with LeBron James” and “Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki to Galatasaray? Gasol and Kobe to Besiktas? Duncan and Ginobili to Fenerbahce?” BiE must say he loves this guy’s style…

• Washington Wizards lottery pick Jan Vesely may be back on the fence vis-à-vis a return to Partizan Belgrade or elsewhere in Europe; tweeted France-based Basket News: “Jan Vesely n’exclut pas de revenir jouer au Partizan Belgrade.”

• Basket News also reported on Joakim Noah, who may also be tired of waiting out the lockout: “Joakim Noah prendra cette semaine une décision. Sur RMC, il s’est dit tenté par l’opportunité de jouer pour le Paris Levallois.” The big-market club could really use this boost, as the 4-2 team sits in a tie for fourth on the LNB table behind Euroleague side SLUC Nancy, Eurocuppers Cholet Basket and FIBA Eurochallenge’s Gravelines Dunkerque.

Specifically, Noah was quoted in Le Parisien as stating that “I am a little disappointed because I thought the NBA season would soon begin. I will make a decision within a week, but it is sure that if I return to France, Paris would [be good for me].” (“Je suis un peu déçu, car je croyais que la saison NBA allait bientôt commencer. Je vais prendre une décision dans la semaine, mais c’est sûr que, si je reviens en France, Paris me plairait.”) And Noah reconfirms that he’ll make a decision next week in the article as well.

• Locked out San Antonio Spur/former Caja Laboral Baskonia big man Tiago Splitter is reportedly being courted by Real Madrid, Unicaja Malaga, Caja Laboral, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Emporio Armani Milano. The shakily reliable Eurobasket.com this morning reports that a deal between Splitter and Unicaja is in place.

• No word from frustrated no. 1 overall NBA Draft pick Kyrie Irving, but the former Duke University baller did weigh in on one important issue affecting players in his particular niche within the drama: “The lockout isn’t a joke but people pretend like they can just try to violate us rookies…ain’t happening.”

• Andres Nocioni has turned down a contract offer from Caja Laboral Baskonia, but Luis Scola is weighing his options. Plus, the Spanish side also hopes to bring Maciej Lampe aboard soon.

• Would you believe a comeback from 54-year-old Bernard King? “Pour remplacer Nate Carter, blessé, Châlons-Reims a signé l’ancien Havrais Bernard King en tant que pigiste medical.” BiE hasn’t found anything to back this one up, though it sounds fascinating.

• Excruciating pun of the day came from the awesome False Hoop: “#NBANuclearWinter For Deron Williams on Thanksgiving … more Turkey.”

• Igor Rakocevic of Montepaschi Siena summed up the sentiments of many over here when he tweeted, perhaps thinking of Omri Casspi’s joining Maccabi Tel Aviv, that “If now many NBA stars come to EL it is going to be strongest Euroleague ever!”

• Finally, here’s an early (and solid) prediction for the 2012 NBA champions, per tweet by IamaGM.