21/10/2019
Long Read
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Basketball Champions League Power Rankings: Volume 1
MIES (Switzerland) - Basketball Champions League is back, which also means that our Power Rankings are here to stay, too. The format remains the same as last season, domestic results are taken into account, because you can't view this as an isolated competition, but as part of what a basketball team is going through all season long, in all competitions, all the time.
32
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Sorry, Gaziantep. But at 0-1 in the Basketball Champions League and 1-3 in the BSL, you are stuck at the bottom of the list. Or technically, at the top, because this is a drop down list... |
31
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Similar to what's going on with Gaziantep, PAOK have just a single win this season across all competitions. They had Besiktas on the ropes last week, but forgot how to play in the last five minutes, allowing the Turkish black-and-white to claim the Best Black-and-White Team of the Week award*. *There is no such thing. |
30
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Four defeats for EB Pau-Lacq-Orthez in six games this season, including a 20-point beatdown in Athens, up against AEK, which wasn't the nicest welcome to this competition by the former champs. But there are positives for EBPLO - of the aforementioned four defeats, AEK was the only double digit loss for the French side. |
29
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Falco Szombathely had a busy schedule to start the season, already playing eight games. Six wins doesn't sound bad, not at all, but Dijon blew them out by 19 to end their five game winning streak in all competitions. Which also means that a win or two in the Basketball Champions League could turn Falco into a Nymburk-kind-of-animal in a hurry. |
28
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Should we be worried because UNET Holon only won two of their five games to start the season? I guess not. But still. Should we? |
27
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You know who you are, Lietkabelis? You're Even Steven this season. There will be teams who win big and lose big. There will be teams with losing records going on late season runs, but you will always break even. See, you are 4-4 this season already. Let's call it even. |
26
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Mornar Bar had a rude awakening in Latvia. But trust me, these guys, they will be there in the Play-Offs. Because teams with Jacob Pullen, Derek Needham, Antabia Waller, Damir Markota, Milko Bjelica, Mirza Begic and others, those teams are always there for the big time games and events. Mirno more! |
25
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Polski Cukier Torun are the sweetest team this competition ever had. Because Polski Cukier means Polish Sugar. Oh, and their teams is also sweet, going 4-0 in the Polish League, advancing by a single point in the Basketball Champions League Qualifiers, and standing their ground against BAXI Manresa in Spain. Once they start winning in the Group Phase, they'll be a Top 16 team, for sure. |
24
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Telenet Giants Antwerp against Teksut Bandirma this week. Or, as we like to call it, the Kindergarten Derby. A lot of changes happened in Antwerp over the summer, but their first game away at San Pablo Burgos showed that they will once again have the youngsters and the athleticism to draw some attention all over Europe. But they also need to win some Basketball Champions League games in order to move up here. |
23
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Speaking of young Belgian teams, Filou Oostende also had really good stretches against SIG Strasbourg last week. Slow starts have always tortured them in the Basketball Champions League, so it would be really nice if they could get a positive record as soon as possible, something like the 4-0 they already picked up in Belgian League. They will face Holon at home this time around, need to protect the home court if they want to advance. |
22
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Let's not talk about Ricky Ledo's shooting performance last week, okay? Okay. Because he already forgot about it, putting up 27 points in 29 minutes, with 7 rebounds and 5 assists to his name, leading Anwil Wloclawek to a 106-103 win over Enea Astoria Bydgoszcz, away from home. That's the kind of numbers I had in mind when I picked him for the player to watch this season. |
21
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Already wrote about Teksut Bandirma and their youngsters, so feel free to click the link for more. Yes, I'm linking my story to my other story. That's how it's done these days. |
20
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People in charge of our Social Media are super excited about Brose Bamberg. Because Retin Obasohan arrived. Say no more. Oh, and he is from Antwerp, too. So, is it a good time to start calling them Telenet Brose Bamwerp? Brose Giants Antberg? |
19
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Hard to judge Nizhny Novgorod's actual form and their chances of making a bang (again), when they had to open up their season away from home in San Cristobal de La Laguna. And beating Tenerife over there is basically mission impossible. But a 3-1 record in the VTB League suggests that Nizhny are the real deal. |
18
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Yeah, as if Adrian Banks wasn't a big enough of a threat with his 20+ performances every time he took the court, Happy Casa Brindisi made the casa even happier with 10 assists, including one which went through the defender's legs and straight into John Brown's path for a massive dunk. They lost the game to Neptunas, but a 4-1 Legabasket team is something you should be afraid of. |
17
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Yeah, if you should be afraid of Brindisi because of their 4-1 Italian League record, you should be absolutely terrified of Casademont Zaragoza's 4-1 record in the Liga Endesa. Also, that just shows you how good Bonn were last week, when they kept this Zaragoza team without a chance in Germany. |
16
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So, which SIG Strasbourg is the real one? The one that stormed away from Filou Oostende? The one who put up 103 points away at Le Portel? Or the one that lost all the other games they played this season? |
15
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So, which BAXI Manresa is the real one? The one that stormed away from Torun? The one who held Unicaja Malaga to 69 points and defeated them by double digits? Or the one that lost all the other games they played this season? |
14
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The fact that Neptunas Klaipeda had a man flirting with triple-double in their home win in the Basketball Champions League is no surprise. But the fact that they are just 2-4 in the Lithuanian League is a gigantic surprise. Keep the form here going and get back to .500 in your domestic league, and you'll be a top 10 team, for sure. |
13
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Trevis Simpson is a man with a cartoon-like last name, he played high school basketball for a school named Coffee, and he is now a member of a team which was named after a Bob Marley song. Doesn't get any better than that. And he was on our Coast To Coast Podcast, too. Rasta Vechta could be the most fun team of this entire League, I tell you. |
12
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Crazy to think that this team was in the second division not so long ago... A win in Israel, against UNET Holon, which is always a tough environment to be in, proved that Turk Telekom are back with high ambitions, trying to go deep in both the Turkish League and the Basketball Champions League. Wait, you don't need me to tell you that - you can read what Turk Telekom people are saying right here. |
11
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Got to tell you, I watched Lester Medford playing for MZT Skopje last season. Seeing him in a VEF Riga shirt, it just makes you feel like VEF got the steal of the summer by signing him, because he's got what it takes to win games. Like the one against Mornar, for instance. VEF are 6-0 this season in all competitions, taking their perfect record to Peristeri this week. Peristeri also perfect, so yeah, that'll be fun. |
10
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Guess what. Besiktas Sompo Sigorta have their own small-ball lineup of death. Keep an eye on situations when Nemanja Djurisic plays the five, because he did that against Bandirma over the weekend and ended up with 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field. Zaragoza in town on Tuesday, game of the week for all of us, easily. |
9
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This is the highest Telekom Baskets Bonn have ever been in the Power Rankings. In fact, we are so impressed with their win over Casademont Zaragoza on Gameday 1, that we made Diccon Lloyd-Smeath rewatch the game and come up with something about what makes this Bonn team so different and so dangerous. I mean, they defeated Bayern Munich already. You know how tough that is, right? Right. |
8
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AEK are horrible in their own domestic championship - it will change, no doubt about it - but their first game in the Basketball Champions League was out of this world. Sharing DLS' piece here, too, because you need to see how Keith Langford reads the low post coverage. |
7
|
Of course a team named Peristeri winmasters is mastering wins all over the place. They are a perfect 5-0 this season in the Basketball Champions League and Greek League, not much to add to that fact. |
6
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A basketball insider with a deep knowledge of French basketball texted me, saying that JDA Dijon will be candidates to win this whole thing. I'd share the screenshot of it, but this box is not big enough for a photo. But I'm telling you the truth. Trust me. David Holston, Rasheed Sulaimon, the dunking Abdoulaye Loum... Fun basketball. |
5
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Grass is green, water is wet, Iberostar Tenerife are good. Like, +20-away-at-Manresa-kind-of good. Despite all the roster changes made, the culture of winning just stayed with Tenerife, and that's something not a lot of teams can say worldwide. So book the tickets to the Final Four already, why not... |
4
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Last official defeat for ERA Nymburk? Against Brose Bamberg, back in February, 78-71. Since then, Nymburk have won... (hold up, counting) ...Nymburk have won 32 (YES, THIRTY TWO) games in a row! Including a massive, comfy, dominant 91-71 triumph against Brose Bamberg last week. Czech champs are up to no good. Again. Pay attention. |
3
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It's not a Basketball Champions League Gameday until someone wins by a single point in dramatic fashion. That's what happened with Dinamo Sassari last week, that's why Dyshawn Pierre was the MVP of the Week, and you should probably watch their games, too, because they have already played two overtime games and three more single digit games since the start of the season. |
2
|
San Pablo Burgos are the new sweethearts of Europe. Their seven game winning run to start the season ended last weekend, but hey, at least JP Tokoto got the dunk of the week month season decade century millennium game, so you should click here and take a look at why everybody loves Burgos. |
1
|
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem were here for a long time last season, but failed to reach the Final Four. Seems like that gave them some added motivation for this campaign, because they went 3-0 in the Winner Cup to lift the first trophy of the season, then 3-0 in the Israeli Basketball Super League, and 1-0 in the Basketball Champions League. Message sent - message received. |
*The power rankings are entirely subjective and is in no way a true, accurate ranking systems. All comments are purely those of the author.
Igor Curkovic
Igor Curkovic is Basketball Champions League's writer and editor since day one of the competition, specializing in Live Blog coverage of the games and sorting out the teams on Mondays, in the Power Rankings. When he's not watching basketball, he's commentating Croatian Second Division soccer games for TV.
