As national leagues and Euroleague tip off this week, the bookmakers too are naturally gearing up for one of their busiest times. Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor SportingBet.com has an amazing range of bets available on league outright winners across the Continent: Covered are Adriatic, Austrian, Czech, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Slovenian and Spanish leagues.
Aside from Euroleague and NBA lines, ACB betting reportedly receives the most action through the basketball season – and with good reason as this league continues its reputation for top-notch play and may have wooed some fans thanks to the American media coverage given a couple of these teams and a certain point guard in this off-season.
SportingBet’s table for ACB outright winner could be divided into two sections, namely the haves…
Barcelona: 8/5
Real Madrid: 7/4
Baskonia: 5/1
Unicaja: 11/2
…and the have-nots.
Valencia: 25/1
Bizkaia Bilbao Basket: 40/1
DKV Joventut: 40/1
Gran Canaria: 50/1
Lagun Aro GBC: 50/1
CB Granada: 80/1
Estudiantes: 100/1
Fuenlabrada: 100/1
Manresa: 125/1
Cajasol: 200/1
Alicante: 250/1
CB Murcia: 400/1
Valladolid: 500/1
Xacobeo Blu:Sens: 1000/1
And why not? After all, the last time anyone other than the big four was in the ACB championship was in 2004, and the last non-Barca/Madrid/Baskonia/Unicaja ACB title was won by Manresa in 1998.
In addition, it seems like all four biggies went out and improved their roster in the offseason, often at the expense of ACB leaguemates. FC Barcelona got that Rubio guy, Erazem Lorbek and the official winner of BallinEurope Best Under-the-Radar Signing of Offseason 2009, Terence Morris; Baskonia added Walter Hermann and Lior Eliyahu to a firm foundation centered on Tiago Splitter; and Madrid added Jorge Garbajosa, Rimantas Kaukėnas and Pablo Prignoli, who jumped from Baskonia.
Unicaja’s makeover may have its skeptics, as reflected by those relative-longshot 11/2 odds, but this sum may be greater than the parts. Surely, Malaga fans were happy to add Giorgos Printezis, and that Team Britain combo of Robert Archibald and Joel Freeland underneath may surprise.
(Incidentally, what’s up with all the English speakers on Unicaja? The Brits join Omar Cook, Taquan Dean, Pooh Jeter – the latter two snagged from Spanish teams – and long-time US resident Jiri Welsch.)
So now the only problem is … decided which of these four takes the foregone conclusion. Opinions…?
SportingBet.com is offering a range of odds and prop bets on European leagues and Euroleague. Click on a logo or banner at right for more information.
