Perhaps just 12 hours or so remain in European domestic league action for 2010-11, so it’s time for another rundown of the Continent’s champions.
Below runs BallinEurope’s updated roundup on the current situation in regular seasons and/or playoffs in the Continent’s domestic leagues. This list will be updated whenever possible.
Any information BallinEurope readers can provide is much appreciated as well.
Euroleague: Panathinaikos took its third championship in five years by decisively taking out first Montepaschi Siena and then Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Euroleague Final Four tournament. In the year of Dimitris Diamantidis, the PAO guard added another trophy to the mantelpiece by bagging the tourney’s MVP award.
ULEB Eurocup: Unics Kazan became the first unlicensed team to officially join the 2011-12 Euroleague ranks with a decisive 92-77 victory over Cajasol Sevilla in the championship match. Maciej Lampe contributed a huge effort with 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Kelly McCarty went for 18 and Terrell Lyday put in 15. But it was Marko Popović who was named MVP for dishing out a Eurocup championship record 11 assists to go with his 18 points.
FIBA Eurochallenge: Krka Novo Mesto topped Lokomotiv Kuban 83-77 to take the 2011 FIBA EuroChallenge title in Belgium, thanks to a fourth-quarter comeback; in the third-place game, hosts Oostende snuck past Spartak St. Petersburg, 94-92, in overtime.
Adriatic League: Partizan Belgrade took its fifth straight NLB title by defeating fellow Euroleague side Union Olimipija, 77-74, in the championship game.
Balkan League: Macedonia’s KK Feni Indistrija won its first-ever BIBL title by defeating Rilski Sportist of Bulgaria, 88-75, in the championship game.
Baltic League: Žalgiris Kaunas defended home court with the magic of the “Green Death” to take the Baltic League title over VEF Riga, 75-67.
VTB United League: BC Khimki overcame fellow Muscovites of CSKA, 66-64, in the VTB championship game; Vitaly Fridzon was named Final Four tournament MVP. For third place, Eurocup champs Unics Kazan survived Azovmash Mariupol.
Albania: SK Tirana were crowned Albanian Basketball League champions after twice topping UAT. Despite going just 7-8 during the FSHB regular season, UAT snuck into the finals by upsetting theretofore-undefeated Studenti Tirana in a best-of-three round.
Austria: Three-time runners-up Oberwart Gunners finally broke through in the Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga, nipping back-to-back champions Allianz Swans Gmunden in game five of the championship series, 77-75.
Belarus: Is BC Minsk-2006 the European team of the year? Certainly, the Belarusian champions compiled one of the best single seasons ever in terms of straight-up record with a pair of 3-0 sweeps in the playoffs to bring their final mark for the 2010-11 season to a perfect 46-0.
Belgium: The Euroleague’s Charleroi made it four Belgian league titles in a row by disposing of Okapi Aalstar with a three-game sweep in the championship series.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Siroki TT defended its title by taking out regular-season no. 1 seed BC Igokea Aleksandrovac, 3-1 in their best-of-five championship series.
Bulgaria: Lukoil Academik finished the 2010-11 season with a perfect 36-0 mark in Bulgaria, sweeping regular-season no. 2 finisher Levski in the best-of-five final series. This marks the ninth straight NBL title for Lukoil.
Croatia: KK Zagreb bagged its first-ever Croatian league title with a 3-0 series win over Cedevita.
Cyprus: After a wacky playoff tournament which ultimately saw no. 4 seed Intercollege Etha Engomis face off against no. 6 AEL Limassol (who were just 6-10 in the regular season!) for the title, Etha was named 2011 champions in winning the series three games to two. Kudos to these champions, who reportedly have quite the long history of Cinderella and/or underdog status – and this season, league MVP Anthony King.
Czech Republic: The Czech Republic’s marquee team, CEZ Nymburk, finished the season on a 20-2 run, managing to top Eurochallenge side BK Prostejov four games to two in the finals.
Denmark: The Bakken Bears were named Ligaen champions after avenging last season’s championship series loss to Svendborg by sweeping the Rabbits 4-0 in the finals. Bakken’s former Texas Tech Red Raider Charlie Burgess was named league MVP.
Estonia: Kalev/Cramo swept Tartu University/Rock in the best-of-seven championship series, returning the trophy they last won in 2008-09.
Finland: Tampereen Pyrinto are the Finnish champions after destroying Kataja in the deciding game five of the finals, 80-57. Damon Williams was named regular-season MVP after compiling a fantastic line of 18.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per over 55 games.
France: SLUC Nancy was named LNB champs and earned a 2011-12 Euroleague bid by nipping Cholet Basket, 76-74, in France’s one-game winner-take-all championship final, 76-74.
Germany: Brose Baskets Bamberg outlasted Alba Berlin in the culmination of another edge-of-your-seat Bundesliga tournament, winning game five by a score of 72-65.
Greece: Euroleague champions Panathinaikos made it nine straight EΣAKE titles by stunning theretofore 36-0 Olympiacos in the best-of-five final series, three games to one. PAO has now taken an incredible nine straight Greek championships.
Holland: ZZ Leiden survived GasTerra Flames in Holland’s best-of-seven championship series, four games to three.
Hungary: Szolnok fought back from a two-game deficit to win three straight, shocking Albacomp in the Hungarian finals. This marks the third-ever title for Szolnok, who were champions in 1991 and 2007.
Iceland: In what is perhaps Europe’s smallest league, the tinily-titled KR (a.k.a. KR Reykjavik if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) defeated Stjarnan, three games to one, to take the title.
Ireland: Killester Dublin made it back-to-back titles by defeating Neptune Cork, 84-80, in the championship.
Israel: David Blatt’s Maccabi Tel Aviv regained the Ligat HaAl title by stomping 2009-10 champs Galil/Gilboa in the one-game final, 91-64.
Italy: Montepaschi Siena seems destined to bag its fourth consecutive title, holding a three-games-to-one lead over Bennet Cantu in the championship series.
Latvia: Baltic League runners-up/Eurocup/VTB United League side VEF Riga finally got its 2010-11 trophy, coming back to win the final two games in the best-of-seven championship series over Eurochallenge team Ventspils.
Lithuania: No front-office shenanigans got in the way of Žalgiris Kaunas taking back the title from former back-to-back LKL champs Lietuvos Rytas, 4-1. Žalgiris capped its title bid with a 95-69 punishment of their rivals in game five, ending the season with a 32-1 overall record against Lithuanian teams. The Greens can take great pride in their 2010-11 season, with the LKL trophy sitting nicely on the mantelpiece next to the Baltic League title.
Luxembourg: T71 Dudelange defended its Diekirch League title, topping Etzella in the decisive game three of the championship series, 86-52.
Malta: Athleta took its eighth Maltese title by winning two straight games over BUPA Luxol in the final series.
Norway: Baerum Basket bested the Tromso Storm in two straight games to win the Norwegian title.
Poland: Perpetual Polish power Asseco Prokom took seven games to defeat PGE Turow and take another PLK title.
Portugal: Porto Ferpinta, which had gone 27-2 in LPB play going into the finals, survived a challenge from Benfica to win the final series four games to three.
Romania: As reported via TotalBaschet.ro, U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca is the new Romanian national champion thanks to some last-second half-court shooting heroics by Tyler Morris. The team coached by Marcel Tenter (Tab Baldwin’s former assistant coach at Cluj-Napoca during the 2007-08 campaign, now in just his second year as head coach of a senior first division team) beat CSU Asesoft Ploiesti, 64-61, in Game 6 of the Divizia A final of the 2010-11 season. Cluj won the series 4-2 to break CSU Asesoft Ploiesti’s six-year stranglehold on the title.
Russia: For the ninth consecutive season, CSKA Moscow are the champions of Russian basketball. Along with the exultation of the Red Army’s 74-63 victory over BC Khimki, however, came the sad (if inevitable) news that longtime Muscovite J.R. Holden would be retiring from professional basketball.
Serbia: Partizan Belgrade closed out its Serbian Superleague season by sweeping 2009-10 runners-up Hemofarm Stada in the best-of-five championship series.
Slovakia: BK Astrum Levice were named 2011 Slovakian champions are beating BK SPU Nitra three games to two. Americans Mike English and Esian Henderson starred for Levice in the decisive game five, with the former putting in 21 points and seven rebounds, while the latter added a double-double of 15 and 11.
Slovenia: Eurochallenge team/Slovenian no. 1 seed Krka Novo Mesto made in back-to-back domestic league titles by taking out Union Olimpija in the championship series.
Spain: FC Barcelona returned to ACB titledom and a Spanish triple crown by sweeping surprising Bizkaia Bilbao Basket in three straight games in the finals.
Sweden: In a battle between the last two season’s champions, Sundsvall Dragons recaptured the Basketligan title from 2010 winners Norrköping Dolphins in seven games. The Dragons dominated the league’s awards for 2010-11 as well: Jakob Sigurdarson bagged MVP, Guard of the Year and Import Player of the Year nods; Forward of the Year was Alex Wesby; and finally, the MIP trophy went to Johan Jeansson.
Switzerland: Lugano Tigers defended their title with a 3-1 series victory over Fribourg in the championship series.
Turkey: Fenerbahçe Ülker topped Eurocup side Galatasaray Café Crown, 91-88, in game six of the TBL championship series. This marks the fourth championship for Fenerbahçe in the last five years and a defense of their 2009-10 title.
Ukraine: Eurocup side Budivelnyk took the championship from Ukrainian regular-season table-toppers BC Donetsk by winning three of the last four games in the best-of-seven championship series.
United Kingdom: Liverpool Mersey Tigers won the BBL championship in between Sharks Sheffield, 79-74, in the championship game.
