09 October, 2018
05 May, 2019
05/11/2018
Long Read
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Power Rankings: Old sheriff back in town, but don't forget about Jerusalem


MIES (Switzerland) - Four Gamedays are behind us in the Basketball Champions League, and you can find out how your favourite team is doing by clicking the Standings tab. However, it's not all about W's and L's, as we take you through the Power Rankings, with domestic championships also taken into consideration.

32

MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg lost nine games in a row. There is no way of making this look any better, nobody needs a win as badly as they do, and a game away at Ventspils could flip their season around. Trouble is, not a lot of teams win in Latvia in the Basketball Champions League. Season record: 2-9.

31

More than words...is all you have to do to make it real...then you wouldn't have to say that you love me...'cause I'd already know...
(You probably don't love me that much, because I keep saying that you are a one-hit wonder, just like Extreme's More Than Words song. Opava are stuck at 1-3 in the Basketball Champions League, after starting at 1-0. Season record: 5-6.)

30

You know things are bad when coach Raoul Korner posts his usual "new season record" Facebook post a day after the game, instead of straight after it... medi Bayreuth are just 1-8 in their last nine games in all competitions. Season record: 3.5-8.5, because they had a draw in the Qualifying Round.

29

Somebody at Nizhny Novgorod watches a lot of Hungarian basketball. They struck gold with former Szolnoki Olaj star Kendrick Perry, so it only made sense to go and sign Hungarian national team member Darrin Govens. Maybe that gets them out of a four game losing streak in all competitions. Season record: 7-8, but 5 of those wins came in the Qualifying Rounds.

28

Win in the Swiss championship, defeat in the Basketball Champions League. Seems like Fribourg Olympic are in a loop, and they have to feel bad about their last minute defeat to the hands of Bonn last week. One of the toughest schedules before the break, they travel to Nanterre and PAOK, then host Venezia... Season record: 10.5-4.5, see Bayreuth above.

27

Gremo, fantje! Petrol Olimpija were on a three-game winning run ahead of their Monday night duel with Buducnost in the Adriatic League, and the game against Primorska in the Slovenian championship must have felt weird, because there were zero nerves racked, nobody's hair went grey, the edge of the seat was not felt -  Olimpija were on cruise control for an 81-61 win. Their first win by double digits in eight games. Season record: 6-9, they play a lot of games, get used to it.

26

Dobro došao u Litvaniju, Nenade! Lietkabelis have brought Nenad Canak back to the Basketball Champions League, which he had already felt as an assistant coach to Aleksandar Dzikic at Partizan Belgrade. From one basketball land to the other, living the dream of most of Euro-ball fans. But he has a tough task ahead of him, Lietkabelis will face Dijon, AEK and Fuenlabrada before the break, with a possibility to fall to 1-6 in the Basketball Champions League... Season record: 6-6.

25

Following Filou Oostende since day one of their Basketball Champions League adventure, I have come to the conclusion: Don't expect anything, and they will blow your mind, like they did against Neptunas. Expect them to build on such succes, and they will disappoint you, like they did against Olimpija. I'm a fan of them, though - so I expect nothing of Oostende the rest of the way! *nudge nudge*
Season record: 7-4.

24

We told you, CEZ Nymburk. You just need to balance your domestic and international record a bit, and you'll be a top 10 team in these Power Rankings, and let's face it, there is nothing more important than that. They block just 2.5 percent of opponents shots, way below the league average, a rim protector of any kind would help them climb to at least .500 in the Basketball Champions League. Season record: 8-3.

23

Actually, teams ranked 23 to 25 have the same kind of problem: Too dominant domestically, but way below .500 in international competition. Ventspils fit the profile perfectly, four wins in last five games sound like they are in a good shape ahead of the game against MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg. Season record: 8-4.

22

No better feeling than knocking out a fierce rival in a one-possession game! PAOK took down AEK 82-80 in the Greek Cup, meaning they went 2-0 last week, with a combined winning margin of +3... Hard to avoid a "Greek drama" cliche over here. Season record: 5-5.

21

Good news: Besiktas Sompo Japan defeated Buyukcekmece 79-69 to climb to 3-2 in the Turkish League!
Bad news: For the first time ever, they are two games below .500 in the Basketball Champions League... Huge game in Istanbul this week, Virtus Bologna are in town, time to find out which black-and-white B-named team is the best in the league!
Season record: 4-5.

20

Get this, with all their domestic struggles, Banvit are third in the entire Basketball Champions League in their Efficiency Differential, at 16.9, trailing only Tenerife and Virtus in that department. (Puts glasses on) That's a sophisticated way of saying that Banvit are effective on both ends of the floor, building up a 17-point difference on 100 possessions in the Basketball Champions League. Season record: 3-5, but 3-1 in here.

19

Want to see effective basketball? Anwil score a league-leading 1.5 point-per-shot, and that's a lot, even though we are talking about a small sample size. But there is no hiding of the fact that the Polish champs are playing eye-pleasing ball, with 73.1 of their field goals coming after an assist, putting them close to the top in that category too. But get this. They lost back-to-back games domestically by a PAOK-ish margin of -4! Season record: 4-5.

18

Somebody hit mirror effect in Telekom Baskets Bonn's season. They had a four-wins-in-five-games run, followed by four-defeats-in-five-games slide. Here's where it gets scary, though: They followed up an 83-79 win over Fribourg with an... 83-79 defeat in Frankfurt! Whaaaaaaaaat!? Season record: 6-5.

17

Back to back defeats for JDA Dijon, they couldn't handle the defending champs AEK last time around in the Basketball Champions League, and ASVEL deleted their efforts in an 80-62 outing in the French Jeep Elite League. Down at 1-3 in their group, Dijon are in a need of something special, but that group is out of this world, no easy games. Season record: 6-6.

16

The youngsters of Telenet Giants Antwerp had a nice opportunity to continue their fine form in the Basketball Champions League, playing away at the 0-3 Nymburk last week, but that's the tough part about being young. You think for a second, "oh yeah, we got this," and boom!
You don't.
Nice win over Belfius Mons over the weekend to get back to winning ways. Season record: 9-4.

15

Seems that Le Mans are finding their groove offensively. They still own a 93.5 offensive rating - food for thought, that's worse than MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg - but they can always turn it around and say: "Yeah, but defense wins championships and we are the defending champs in France so we know it!" 
They do. Have to warn you about their schedule, four of the next five will be on the road. Season record: 7-5.

14

Well, you can't always rise 15 spots in my books, but I'll give you +1 this week, Nanterre 92. Because I know how you feel about the neighborhood derby against Levallois Metropolitans, and how much it means to you that you came up with a 92-85 win away from home. Two-guard lineup seems to be working, keep it going! Season record: 7-6.

13

Sidigas Avellino slept through the start of their game against UCAM Murcia, and falling by three points in Spain made them so mad that they dismantled Trento in Italy by a score so high that my math doesn't cover it - 110-72. Matt Costello is a legit contender for the Rookie of the Year in Europe award* with the way he's dominating down low for the white-and-green squad. Season record: 6-3.
*not a real thing.

12

SIG Strasbourg are always around there somewhere, lurking around the Top 10. For all of those still not convinced about their strength, take out your schedule and mark it down, the next three games could be season-defining, because it doesn't get any harder than Prometheus, followed by ASVEL domestically, followed by Virtus Bologna. Season record: 8-4.

11

We kinda knew what to expect when UCAM Murcia brought back Ovie Soko's shoulders, Marcos Delia's length, and Kevin Tumba tenacity down low, with the addition of Emanuel Cate's high octane productivity. But the rebounding numbers are ridiculous, just crazy, they grab 35.3 percent of all available offensive rebounds! At a point, you just start praying they make the shots so you don't have to bother with boxing out those bigs... Season record: 7-5.

10

MONTAKIT FUENLABRADA DEFEATED BARCELONA FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2011, ENDING A 16-GAME LOSING STREAK AGAINST THE BLAUGRANA. (It almost made me forget about the whole -30 against Hapoel Jerusalem in Spain last week.)
Season record: 6-5.

9

UNET Holon were just a double overtime in Venice away from having an eight game winning streak going for them. Instead, it's "only" a five-game run, including three straight wins in three straight Hapoel derbies, against Eilat, Beer Sheva and Tel Aviv. That must create some confusion, right? Beautiful team to watch, another one excelling in the passing numbers, so stay tuned. Season record: 7-3.

8

If these were the Basketball Champions League-exclusive Power Rankings, Segafredo Virtus Bologna would be in first place, but their 94-75 defeat to the hands of Venezia in the Italian League takes them all the way down to 8th spot. Tell you what, if they connect on wins in their next three BCL games, we will look past the domestic record and put them into first spot. All they have to do is defeat Besiktas and Promitheas away from home, and Strasbourg in Bologna... Season record: 6-3.

7

Same as Bologna, domestic league defeat takes Brose Bamberg down - or up, really, with our descending order of the Power Rankings. They need to forget about the 92-66 blowout in Braunschweig, potential wins over Antwerp and Giessen could build a lot of confidence ahead of the huge game against Hapoel Jerusalem on November 14. Season record: 7-3.

6

So, you stop guys like Giannoulis Larentzakis and Jonas Maciulis, you hold Dusan Sakota to below .500 shooting, you double-team Xavier Rathan-Mayes, and protect the ball from the neverending wingspan of Howard Sant-Roos...only for Vince Hunter to fly higher than Vince Carter on his way to MVP of the Week honors. AEK are 3-1 in the toughest group of the competition, acting just like the defending champs should. Season record: 6-4.

5

Neptunas Klaipeda are the team that defeated both Zalgiris and Rytas away from home this season. I wrote about them in my Help-Side Column, so they already know I love them. Season record: 10-3.

4

In Greek mythology, Prometheus was that guy who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. In the Basketball Champions League, Promitheas Patras guys also do a lot of stealing, league leading 15.8 percent of opponents' possessions end up with Promitheas steals, and they are giving humanity a lot of highlights with Rion Brown, Octavius Ellis and others flying high. Season record: 7-2.

3

Hard to believe, but Umana Reyer Venezia finally lost a game, against Tenerife, and that one was a typical Tuesday/Wednesday night in Venice, going down to the wire and flirting with overtime. The aforementioned win over Bologna in Serie A got them back on track, and putting up 94 points against Virtus - who own a 89.5 defensive rating in the Basketball Champions League, the best of the pack - sends another message to the rest of Europe. Season record: 8-1.

2

Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem shook off the defensive troubles of allowing 100+ points in back to back games. They have done so by upping the ante on the offensive end, 105 points against Fuenlabrada and 92 against Ironi Nahariya go to show that teams will be in trouble if they try and run with Amar'e Stoudemire's boys. Season record: 8-3.

1

No alarms and no surprises, please. Iberostar Tenerife are looking better than in 2017, when they won this competition! They are a complete package, with a 123.1 offensive rating and a 98.1 defensive rating, numbers just out of this world for the Spanish side, and the way they move the ball is the reason why people fall in love with basketball. Diccon Lloyd-Smeath analyzed it in detail here, give it a click, you won't regret it, I promise. Season record: 8-3.




*The power rankings are entirely subjective and is in no way a true, accurate ranking systems. All comments are purely those of the author.