10/12/2019
Long Read
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Basketball Champions League Power Rankings: Volume 7
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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Five game losing streak in the Basketball Champions League. Say it with me, Polski Cukier Torun: Hello Darkness My Old Friend... |
31
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Six game losing streak in the Basketball Champions League. But hey, at least you are 12-0 in your domestic championship, so you don't have to do the Hello Darkness My Old Friend bit, VEF Riga. |
30
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Mornar Bar finally won a game in the Basketball Champions League last week, and backed it up with a 76-67 win on the road in Novo Mesto, against Krka, in the Adriatic League. Chance to pick up their first three-game winning streak of the season as VEF Riga are coming down to Montenegro this week. |
29
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Here's some perspective on how tough this season for Besiktas Sompo Sigorta is. They lost to Darussafaka over the weekend, which was their 12th defeat in all competitions since the start of the campaign. Here are the dates of their 12th defeats over the previous three seasons. Season 2018-19: January 26, 2019. Season 2017-18: March 11, 2018. Season 2016-17: June 3, 2017!!! It's also the first time since 2015 that Besiktas suffered 12 defeats in the first half of the season. |
28
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Not the best sign when you allow 96 and 101 in your last two home games respectively, and you have AEK coming to town up next. EB Pau-Lacq-Orthez aren't really in the finest of forms right now... |
27
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Down at 2-5, the only good news for Telenet Giants Antwerp is that they are still just two wins away from the fourth spot in their group. Oh, and that 19-year-old Vrenz Bleijenbergh can dish out 5 assists without a turnover in 16 minutes in a tough environment like Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem's home court. That's good, too. |
26
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Gaziantep won four of their last five games in all competitions, they moved all the way up to the Play-Off positions in Turkey, but the schedule is getting a bit too busy towards the end of the year. They are away at Peristeri, then away at Besiktas, then at home against Nymburk, then away at Turk Telekom and finally at home against Bahcesehir College. Ouch. |
25
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Four defeats in last five games for UNET Holon. But they are going back on the road, and they already proved they are a dangerous team when they get together for road trips, so don't just write this W in for Turk Telekom against them this week. |
24
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Happy Casa Brindisi are unhappy this week because it seems that Kelvin Martin will be out for a long time. Come back stronger, champ! Take Brindisi all the way up to the Top 10 of the Power Rankings when you do! |
23
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Alperen Sengun scored 20 on the road last week. Alperen Sengun played only 24 minutes on the road last week. Alperen Sengun knocked down 10-of-11 from the charity stripe last week. Alperen Sengun is 17. Teksut Bandirma are fun! (But still with room for improvement at 3-4, of course.) |
22
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Did you see the crowd in Anwil Wloclawek v AEK? Okay, now just imagine how crazy it could get if the Polish champs make it to the Play-Offs this season, huh!? They will have to improve their defense if they want in, 118.0 points allowed per 100 possessions will not scare anybody away... |
21
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PAOK have a point to prove this week. They are playing Besiktas and need to win to take the Best Black and White Team of the Basketball Champions League award with them! |
20
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Lietkabelis have won all three games in which Zeljko Sakic has scored 20+ points in the Basketball Champions League this season. They have lost all four games in which Sakic scored below the 20-point mark. You know what to do, Dinamo Sassari. Keep the Croatian Sensation quiet, and you'll walk away with a W this week. |
19
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Keep an eye on Filou Oostende this week. Because SIG Strasbourg are coming to town, and you know that Strasbourg broke their hearts on the last Gameday last season, keeping them just below the line with a late three-pointer and a 100-94 win away from home. Oostende waited a long time for another chance to take on Strasbourg at home... |
18
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Five wins in a row, Zoltan Perl as the first ever Hungarian-born MVP of the Week in the Basketball Champions League... Good times for Falco Szombathely! You know that their arena will be packed to the rafters when JDA Dijon visit them this week - that's a beautiful chance to keep the fans singing and send out a message to the rest of Europe. |
17
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Every week, same old story with Telekom Baskets Bonn. If they are winning in the German League, they are losing in the Basketball Champions League, and the other way around. In fact, Bonn haven't won back-to-back games since mid-October. That was two months ago! |
16
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Time to see what Neptunas Klaipeda are made of. They took a huge slap to the face when Falco Szombathely blew them out by 24 last week, so a game against Brindisi in Italy will show us are they willing to fight back or just turn the other cheek. |
15
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Watched Philipp Herkenhoff live this past summer, playing the FIBA U20 European Championship in Tel Aviv, Israel. He was selected to the All-Star Five, so it feels so good to see him take the same kind of effort and attitude to the international scene with his club nowadays, as Rasta Vechta have a gem in the making here. |
14
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A six-game winning streak in French League ended last weekend, but SIG Strasbourg aren't losing their heads because of it. They showed a lot of character to bounce back after an abysmal start to the season, and don't be surprised to see them on a charge in the Basketball Champions League now. Win in Oostende could be crucial in their attempts to climb back over .500. |
13
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We were a bit scared when we saw Nizhny Novgorod lose six straight games in all competitions, but now they are back in the win column again, handing defeats to VEF Riga and Astana ahead of the toughest possible matchup - they are facing the 7-0 Tenerife side this week, followed by a game against Brose Bamberg. Season defining moments here... |
12
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San Pablo Burgos are a team that is 5-1 over the last six games, a team that can score 93 points on Real Madrid in Madrid, a team that can go and beat Jerusalem, Estudiantes, Unicaja and Vechta in a matter of days. Their club logo shows up when you Google "hot right now" with the way they are playing...but they are still only the third best team in their group. |
11
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Same old story every week. BAXI Manresa win in Europe, lose in Spain. Crazy to think they are just 3-9 in their league, when they are 5-2 with wins over Sassari and Turk Telekom here. But that just goes along the lines of their inconsistency, because they are 2-0 against team over .500 in the Basketball Champions League, and just 3-2 against teams with a losing record. |
10
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Trips to Bamberg and Gaziantep are up next for ERA Nymburk, so they could either be out of the Top 10 here, or all the way at the podium. Oh, and a quick update that they are 15-0 in Czech League this season, so yeah, that always gets them back in the right rhythm. |
9
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The fact that Peristeri winmasters lost to Ionikos a couple of days ago is not that worrying - they are still sharing the second spot in the standings in Greece, with a 7-3 record. But the fact that they had to play a double overtime game could prove costly, we'll see how much gas is there left in the tank after that exhausting game, and ahead of their duel with Gaziantep here. |
8
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Erm... Sound the alarms? Nope, probably not yet, even though Brose Bamberg lost three straight in all competitions. But two of those were one-possession games and one was away at Tenerife - you don't need me to tell you how tough is it to get a W over there, do you? Bamberg will figure it out. Teams that can move the ball around like this usually figure it out. |
7
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It's on us, Turk Telekom. We jinxed you by putting you all the way up in third spot in the last Power Rankings, so blame the three defeats in four games on us, it's okay. Now that we sorted that out, get back to winning ways, okay? Okay. |
6
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Probably the most efficient way of describing how good Dinamo Sassari are is by saying that even with just two wins in last four games, they are still 15-5 for the season, which would rank them in third spot in the Eastern Conference, behind Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, and second in the Western Conference, trailing only LA Lakers. Or, let's put it this way. Their winning percentage (.750) would put them between Inter and Juventus in Serie A, or keep them tied with Leicester for second in the Premier League. See? THAT is how good they are. |
5
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Typology of four-game winning streaks: (1) a four-game winning streak - when you win four straight games; (2) a Four-Game Winning Streak - when you win four straight, but you scored 84 or more in all four. (3) A FOUR-GAME WINNING STREAK!!! - when you are Casademont Zaragoza and you defeat BAXI Manresa, Real Madrid, Happy Casa Brindisi and Estudiantes while scoring 84 or more in all four. Congrats, Zaragoza! Remember, you can make it a FIVE! GAME! WINNING! STREAK! against Telekom Baskets Bonn this week. |
4
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Speaking of high scoring: JDA Dijon put up 100 against Le Mans, 98 against Besiktas (in Istanbul) and 101 against JL Bourg (in Bourg-en-Bresse). I'm doing my best not to turn this into another David Holston appreciation box... ... ... ... ... ...but he's ranked #6 in the MVP Race so far. |
3
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How was your weekend on a scale of 1 to James Feldeine scored 41 points in 29 minutes while knocking down 6-of-10 shots from beyond the arc, 8-of-10 from inside the arc and 7-of-7 from the free throw line? Mine was something like 3.5, honestly. (Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem are playing Bandirma this week. Keifer Sykes scored 43 against them to set the BCL record last season. Feldeine to set the new mark? Could happen.) |
2
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AEK are 10-1 in their last 11 games in all competitions. AEK have not one, but two MVP candidates in that race. AEK are the strongest they've ever been - and we're talking about the 2018 champions here... And the craziest part? They can still get so much better, because they aren't a Top 5 team in any of the basic or advanced stat other than the three-point shooting percentage (third with 39.8, just behind Holon and Vechta). That means we are talking about a 10-1 team over the last 11 games that can still improve on defense and offense... Mad. |
1
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Iberostar Tenerife are still the only unbeaten team of the Basketball Champions League. That simple. And even if they lose to Nizhny Novgorod this week, they will still be the best team of the league because there is no other club with a single defeat at the halfway point of the Regular Season. |
*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.
