09 October, 2018
05 May, 2019
25/03/2019
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Power Rankings: Bamberg on their longest winning run in three years

MIES (Switzerland) - Play-Offs are here! Time to find the hottest team of the eight with our Power Rankings -  domestic championships are also taken into consideration.

8

Team: Iberostar Tenerife
Season record: 26-16
Current form: Lost 6 of last 7
Last Power Ranking: 13
Well, the only reason why there's a green arrow next to the name of Tenerife is because they were 13th in the Power Rankings two weeks ago... Troubled times for Txus Vidorreta, as our 2017 champs won only one of their last seven games in all competitions. And they've got a trip to Jerusalem up next...

7

Team: Nanterre 92
Season record: 28-16
Current form: Won 5 of last 6
Last Power Ranking: 6
Watching the Portland Trail Blazers play, it's unreal to see how much Damian Lillard elevated his game, when the team was in need, once CJ McCollum went down with that knee injury. What's that got to do with Nanterre? Well, Dame is just another version of Jeremy Senglin, and CJ is just another version of Dominic Waters. Now, we all know Lillard/Senglin can do it by himself...but for how long? Two, three games? Maybe five? Up against teams with loaded backcourts? Virtus are in town on Wednesday, that's a huge test.

6

Team: Nizhny Novgorod
Season record: 29-18
Current form: Won 5 of last 6
Last Power Ranking: 5
How good are the Russians this season? How about a 101-61 win over our good old friends from Zielona Gora!? They drop a place in the Power Rankings just because of that huge defeat in Venice, which could still be a good thing for BC NN here - they have learned their lesson, no time to flex and relax in between two Basketball Champions League games. They will be ready for 80 minutes of intensive battle v New Kids on the Block Antwerp.

5

Team: Segafredo Virtus Bologna
Season record: 24-1-16
Current form: Won 3 straight
Last Power Ranking: 9
Two words for you: Sale. Djordjevic. Virtus are 3-0 since the coaching change happened, and it seems like they've got a lot more coming up, like they could go all the way in the Basketball Champions League, and the Italian Serie A, too. They take the honor of being the best team from Groups A, B and D in the Basketball Champions League, but those four from C keep on extending their winning runs...

4

Team: Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem
Season record: 34-10
Current form: Won 2 of last 3
Last Power Ranking: 2
Hapoel have won 11 of their last 12 games at home in all competitions. That's a good stat, right? So how come they dropped to fourth!? Well, to answer my own question, it is only because of the 101-82 blowout defeat to the hands of Hapoel Holon in the Israeli League. Should we be worried? Another 19-point defeat now would be next to impossible to catch in this phase of the Basketball Champions League, so stay hot, Hapoel. Please.

3

Team: Telenet Giants Antwerp
Season record: 33-13
Current form: Won 9 of last 10
Last Power Ranking: 4
Dear lord, we've created a monster! Antwerp's sole defeat over the last 10 games was away at Murcia, which did not matter in that tie, and it was also just a one-point loss, so there you go - these guys are as hot as any other team in all of Europe right now! Okay, almost as hot. Because Bamberg and AEK, man, just look at their current form.

2

Team: Brose Bamberg
Season record: 33-10
Current form: Won 11 straight!
Last Power Ranking: 3
It seemed like Bamberg's winning run is coming to an end, with Vechta holding a three-point lead and just six seconds left on the game clock. Then, Tyrese Rice went and did the most Tyrese Rice thing possible, hitting an off balance one-legged corner three pointer to send it to OT... Bamberg's streak stands at 11 games, their longest since 2016, when they went on to win the Bundesliga on a 13-game winning run. (And it was extended to 18 games at the start of the following season.)

1

Team: AEK
Season record: 31-9
Current form: Won 10 of last 11
Last Power Ranking: 1
The defending champs are the only team in this bunch who are still in single digits in defeats for the season. How crazy is that!? Their 2018 run had some upsets and late game shots in it, but this one is all about AEK, they are dominating and looking even better than last season. Oh, and their only defeat in this stretch? Against PAOK, which did not matter because they protected their aggregate win against the Thessaloniki squad. The only part better than AEK and Bamberg's runs is that they are going head to head on Wednesday, 20:00 CET!




*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

Igor Curkovic is a Basketball Champions League writer and editor since day one of the competition, specializing in Power Rankings and his Takeaways on Gamedays. When he's not covering basketball, he's probably watching a Hajduk Split game somewhere.