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Podcast: Interview with Ricky Rubio; wrapping the 2012-13 Euroleague season, NIJT; reviewing The Wrestler +++ Instant history: Olympiacos dominates last 30 minutes, tops Real Madrid, 100-88, for back-to-back titles +++ Sarunas Jasikevicius: “Basketball is not a job — it’s a dream” +++ Euroleague championship game: Official BallinEurope Fearless Predictions™ +++ Flashback to 1995: Real Madrid 73, Olympiacos 61 +++ Question of the night: Is the Euroleague’s third-place game at all relevant? +++ Poll: Who should be the 2013 Euroleague Coach of the Year? +++ Considering BallinEurope’s (imaginary) ballot for Euroleague Coach of the Year +++ Georgios Bartzokas: “We have to forget the CSKA Moscow game immediately” +++ How do you say “buzzer-beater” in Estonian? Tanel Soku shocks TU/Rock with half-courter +++
Nov
1

Free Marcus! Cyprus-bound American player denied exit from Qatar

latest news,Scandal,US basketball

So you thought Romain Sato having to spend 24 hours cooling his heels in a Ljubljana airport was serious stuff? Just imagine the same situation, except with the additional headache of not being paid for your services as a basketball player. For nearly two months. In Qatar.

That’s the incredible situation facing former Mississippi State University Bulldog and international journeyman Marcus Campbell this morning.

(Well, okay, maybe not quite as incredible as the headline “Marcus Campbell held hostage in Qatar!” might lead you to believe, but a twisted ballooning of all the worst practices in contract management we’ve seen in Europe through the years nonetheless.)

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Feb
13

Vassilakopoulos: Full steam ahead on Mediterranean League

Basketball business,European basketball,Greece,latest news

BallinEurope admits to having felt a great deal of skepticism when the rumors of a new major pan-European (and now -Asian! But more on that momentarily) basketball association were first announced; day by day it seems, however, that the Mediterranean League comes closer to reality.

The prospective league could potentially involve teams from nine nations, including superpower clubs like Fenerbahce Ulker, Efes Pilsen, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Montepaschi Siena, and Partizan Belgrade.

After a heady weekend in which Georgios Vassilakopoulos visited Qatar to meet with FIBA Asia Sheikh Saud bin Al Al-Thani and Middle Eastern media giant Al Jazeera chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer al-Thani, the latter of which and subsequently announced a broadcasting deal for the embryonic league, the Hellenic Basketball Federation president yesterday spoke to Greek media to announce that everything with the league is full-steam ahead – possibly even for the 2011-12 season.

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