Olympiacos 301
Top 100 teams in Europe: Week of upsets edition
While NBA fans were mostly talking about Blake Griffin and Carmelo Anthony last week, the buzzword around Europe last week was “upset.” Seemingly from end to end, Continental leagues saw their respective mighty – if not fall – at least stagger from a blow dealt by a lower seed. Real Madrid lost to new no. […]
Vassilakopoulos: Full steam ahead on Mediterranean League
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, […]
Top 100 Teams in Europe: Pre-Cups Running Over Edition
As most European domestic leagues are taking a break for a week or two for national cup and/or all-star festivities, BallinEurope crunches the numbers again to determine where the Continent’s finest stand. Near the top, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Euroleague-side punishment of Union Olimpija shook things up a bit within the top 10 and Olympiacos reasserted […]
Controversy brewing over Kleiza’s injury in European media
Some pretty damning words are getting hurled the Toronto Raptors’ way from here on The Continent regarding Linas Kleiza’s devastating and prolonged injury. Talk Basket today maintains, through a couple of sources well-placed with the Raps, that Kleiza’s extended time on the disabled list is due almost entirely to the incompetence of the team’s medical […]
Top 100 Teams in Europe: Barcelona back to no. 1
BallinEurope took a little extra time with the Top 100 Teams in Europe list this week after a suggestion that certain ACB teams were getting the shaft of non-inclusion in the calculations – and so the pool has been widened accordingly. In calculating the Top 100 for this week and heretofore, all teams in major […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Heading into the Top 16
With just a few more hours before the Euroleague gets fired into action, BallinEurope has just enough time to get in some quickie power rankings! Purely subjective, these rankings have been based on recent Euroleague and domestic league performance, but also on serious speculation about season-break transactions. Enjoy the games!
The Top 100 Teams in Europe: Calm before the storm edition
All right, another Thursday means another look at BallinEurope’s Top 100 Teams in Europe chart, the last until the big pan-Continental leagues gear up again with sweet 16 action. (BiE was just waiting for the dust to settle in Athens after the PAO-Olympiacos match, but settling may yet be a few days in the making.) […]
Olympiacos pulls off 65-61 upset at PAO, forced to flee rain of fire
What in the name of Naismith is going on in Greek basketball? Will Olympiacos and Panathinaikos ever again meet without players having to fear mortal injury? In the first game between the Greek superpowers since last season’s capper known as “The Night of Shame,” Olympiacos ground out a 65-61 win in territory literally made hostile […]
Flashing back with Olympiacos and Panathinaikos
It’s kinda like time travel, of a sort. From the Plus Ça Change Department via the ever-fantastic and -enthusiastic Basketball Dreamer comes this link to a New York Times story entitled “European Basketball: Passionate Greek Drama” … from 1997.
Notes on Panathinaikos-Olympiacos, most important game of 2010-11
If tonight’s Panathinaikos-Olympiacos match isn’t the most important game thus far in the 2010-11 basketball season in Europe, BiE can’t think of what would be. Of no little significance in this clash of the titans, too, is its status as the first meeting between the teams since the 2009-10 EΣAKE championship final game, a.k.a. “The […]
Euroleague Top 16 round: 10 must-see games (plus Fearless Predictions™)
With another week to kill before the Euroleague Top 16 round begins, BallinEurope is marking up the calendar to note must-see teevee for January to March, getting out the red pens and awaiting the following matchups. January 19: Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade January 19: Efes Pilsen Istanbul vs. Montepaschi Siena. Wow, Group G is […]
The Top 100 Teams in Europe: Now with new formula!
You have commented and BallinEurope has heard. Thanks in large part to the proddings and machinations of a somewhat indignant Y. (BiE’s man in Lithuania), we’ve reworked the formula to determine the official Top 100 Teams in Europe list. Not to go into any boring detail, but Y. was kind enough to install somewhat arbitrary […]