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Sixty-eight Fearless Predictions™ for 2010-11 Euroleague season
With the EL tipoff game tonight, BallinEurope is feeling devotion … not to mention a rush of Fearless Predictions™ coming on. How crazy can BiE get? You be the judge; here are 68 prognostications on all things Euroleague which you may [laugh uproariously about] ponder. Enjoy the season, everyone! (And sign up for the BallinEurope […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Final preseason edition
The 2010-11 Euroleague season tips off tomorrow? Right, then. Presenting the last preseason – and thus last totally subjective, because we’ll be able to base these things on, you know, wins and losses beginning next week – BallinEurope Official Euroleague Power Rankings™. (Plus lots of video clips.) Enjoy! 1. (↔) FC Barcelona – Yeah, as […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: October update
Got the vitriol brewing? All right, then, with BallinEurope now caught up on some preseason basketball viewing, it’s time for another edition of BiE’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings. Just one quick note for irritated fans (we’re looking at you, Olympiacos, Žalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas backers): Remember that these rankings are first totally subjective and secondly […]
Navarro to Gasol: FC Barcelona will beat Lakers
In an age of disposal guarantees made by athletes, Juan Carlos Navarro’s newest claim is nevertheless noteworthy – even if he was half-joking. The ACB official site today reports on conversation between the FC Barcelona stud and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol, whose teams will face off tomorrow night in the most intriguing match […]
¡Triples, triples, triples! Checking out the ACB’s new three-point line
With the ACB converting its courts to that with the new FIBA standard three-pointer and key, most fans will be closely watching the effects on the Spanish league’s many sharpshooters. And while one week’s worth of games is an awfully small sample size, the early numbers show that lovers of barnburners have nothing to worry […]
First ACB video highlights for 2010-11: Asefa Estudiantes vs. Real Madrid
Spain’s ACB tipped off action last night, opening the season with Asefa Estudiantes hosting Real Madrid in front of 13,000 at Palacio De Deportes Comunidad De Madrid. The Euroleaguers emerged in “la mejor forma posible,” 84-79, after facing a knotted-up first quarter and a surprising five-point first-half deficit. Looking for redemption after a 34-point blowout […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: The preseason
Since BallinEurope’s Official Power Rankings were so, um, popular during the FIBA World Championships, today we’re kicking off the same schtick for the upcoming Euroleague campaign. The rules, again: These rankings are basically purely subjective (at this point; once the games are played, actual wins and losses will be figured in) but are based loosely […]
Rumors: Eliyahu back to Maccabi; Bjelica, Haislip to Baskonia
Baskonia fans had better brace themselves for a minor flurry of roster moves in coming days, as Lior Eliyahu may be returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv with the arrival of Marcus Haislip – plus Nemanja Bjelica’s coming aboard as well. Spanish media, via Israel-based Haaretz, this morning reckons that hometown boy Eliyahu is “expendable” with […]
Greek media: Fernandez “very likely to return to Europe”; Childress, Pekovic fled violence
For readers of Greek out there, Sport.gr is running an interesting piece on the subject of available big-name free agents, comparing the ACB to the EΣAKE and Team Spain to Team Greece while taking a hard look at the possibility of top names playing with Panathinaikos or Olympiacos for 2010-11. Beginning with the premise that […]
Blaugrana maneuvers: Lubos Barton out, Pete Mickael in contract dispute
What seemed inevitable is nearly official, as FC Barcelona gets set to release Lubos Barton. Between the signing of Kosta Perovic earlier in the week and Barton’s troubling Achilles tendon injury suffered late in 2008-09 combined to make Barton redundant for the Blaugrana. Even with the departure of Barton, Barcelona is currently carrying 13 players […]
Vrankovic names preliminary Team Croatia roster; includes 11 Euroleaguers, just six from Eurobasket
How do you say, “Let’s clean house!” in Croatian? Because that’s the phrase Team Croatia coach Josip Vrankovic was certainly employing when he assembled his 17-man preliminary FIBA World Championship. After the disappointing finish by the Croats in the 2009 Eurobasket competition, then-head coach Jasmin Repesa hastily resigned and thereafter replaced by Vrankovic; now Vrankovic […]
From A.I. to Zalgiris: The top stories in 2009-10 European basketball
As BallinEurope closes the book on the 2009-10 basketball season, it’s time to take stock of the year that was with the clarity of history. Without further ado, let’s retrospect on the top 10 Eurocentric basketball stories of the season.