Euroleague
Season2000–01
Number of teams24
Finals
ChampionsItaly Kinder Bologna
(2nd title)
  Runners-upSpain Tau Cerámica
Finals MVPArgentina Manu Ginóbili
Awards
Regular Season MVPFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan Tomašević
Statistical leaders
Points United States Alphonso Ford 26.0
Rebounds Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan Tomašević 11.5
Assists Croatia Ivica Marić 5.9
Index Rating Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan Tomašević 30.9

The 2000–01 Euroleague was the inaugural basketball season of the EuroLeague, under ULEB and its newly formed Euroleague Basketball Company authority. Overall it was the 44th season of the premier competition for European men's professional basketball clubs overall. Initially not recognised or sanctioned by FIBA and considered a breakaway competition. It started on October 16, 2000, with a regular season game between hosts Real Madrid Teka and Olympiacos, which was held at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion, in Madrid, Spain,[1] and it ended with the last championship finals game on May 10, 2001, which was held at the PalaMalaguti arena, in Bologna, Italy.

This season did not feature all of the top-tier level European club basketball teams, as some of them opted to compete in the 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague competition instead, after the row erupted between the previous EuroLeague governing body, FIBA, and the newly established Euroleague Basketball Company. It was the first time in European basketball that several clubs did not qualify to a European competition based on performance, but instead wild cards were given. Top clubs also signed licences with the right to participate in upcoming seasons regardless of their domestic league ranking.

A total of 24 teams competed for the EuroLeague title, which was in the end won by Kinder Bologna. Dejan Tomašević was the EuroLeague Regular season MVP, and Manu Ginóbili was the EuroLeague Finals MVP.

European Champions' Cup teams divided

The FIBA European Champions' Cup was originally established by FIBA and it operated under its umbrella from 1958 until the summer of 2000, concluding with the 1999–2000 season. Euroleague Basketball Company was created by ULEB clubs in 2000. At the time the leagues of ULEB were Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, England and Switzerland.[2] However against the will of their domestic leagues clubs from Lithuania, Croatia, Russia, Israel and Slovenia opted for the Euroleague competition despite the fact their leagues were not members of ULEB.

FIBA had never trademarked the "EuroLeague" name and had no legal recourse on the usage of that name, so they had to find a new name for their league. The following 2000–01 season started with two top European professional club basketball competitions: FIBA SuproLeague (renamed from the FIBA EuroLeague) and Euroleague.

Top clubs were split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Tau Cerámica, and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball. Lugano Tigers the Swiss champions were the last team to join the ULEB side and enter the competition.

Rules, format changes and dates

On 11 July 2000 in Thessaloniki during the ULEB Assembly format changes and dates were set for the new competition [3] The Official List of the teams will include a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 16 players. Ten players will be allowed on the bench while 2 USA players per team were permitted. There was no Final Four but a best of three series in the Final.

Andrea Bassani (ex-General Manager of the Italian League) was appointed in the Assembly as the Manager of Marketing and Media of the Euroleague.

Referees

Kostas Rigas was elected the commissioner. Three referees will officiate every Euroleague game. The team of Officials will be made up of 45 referees which signed guaranteed contracts for three years with no age restriction. However FIBA did not allow them to officiate in their domestic leagues in 2000-01.

Dates

Games will be played on Thursdays, with the possibility of moving them forward to Wednesday when necessary.

  • Regular season: 19 October 2000 to 8 January 2001
  • Play-offs 1/8 finals- 1,8,15 February 2001
  • Play-offs ¼ finals: 22 feb, 1, 8March 2001
  • Semi-finals: 27, 29 March, 3, 5, 12 April 2001
  • Finals: 17, 19 April, 1, 3, 10 May 2001

Team allocation

A total of 24 teams from 14 countries participate in the competition.

Distribution

The table below shows the default access list.

Teams entering in this round Teams advancing from previous round
Regular season
(24 teams)
Playoffs
(16 teams)
  • 4 group winners from the regular season
  • 4 group runners-up from the regular season
  • 4 group third-placed teams from the regular season
  • 4 group fourth-placed teams from the regular season

The competition culminated in a best 3 out of 5 playoff series.

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round

  • 1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
  • WC: Wild card
Regular season
Italy Paf Bologna (1st) Greece AEK (4th) Croatia Cibona VIP (1st) Germany Opel Skyliners (3rd)
Italy Benetton Treviso (2nd) Greece Peristeri (5th) Croatia Zadar (2nd) Slovenia Union Olimpija (3rd)
Italy Kinder Bologna (3rd) Spain Real Madrid Teka (1st) Lithuania Žalgiris (2nd) Belgium Region Wallone Spirou (4th)
Italy Müller Verona (4th) Spain FC Barcelona (2nd) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost (1st) Portugal Ovarense Aerosoles (1st)
Greece PAOK (2nd) Spain Adecco Estudiantes (3rd) Israel Hapoel Jerusalem (WC) Switzerland Lugano Snakes (1st)
Greece Olympiacos (3rd) Spain Tau Cerámica (4th) Russia Saint Petersburg Lions (WC) United Kingdom Haribo London Towers (1st)

Regular season

The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into four groups, each containing six teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 10 games for each team in the first stage. The top 4 teams in each group advanced to the next round, The Top 16. The complete list of tiebreakers is provided in the lead-in to the Regular Season results.

If one or more clubs were level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:

  1. Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
  2. Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
  3. Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group)
  4. Points scored in all group matches
  5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Group A

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification Italy PAF Greece PER Lithuania ZAL Spain EST Switzerland LUG Croatia ZAD
1 Italy Paf Bologna 10 8 2 812 760 +52 Advance to Playoffs 71–69 91–85 81–72 81–66 81–77
2 Greece Peristeri 10 7 3 841 786 +55 83–70 74–92 91–81 85–68 92–73
3 Lithuania Žalgiris 10 6 4 866 816 +50 73–56 86–73 77–80 105–89 97–85
4 Spain Adecco Estudiantes 10 4 6 820 821 −1 76–90 86–91 87–77 97–76 93–81
5 Switzerland Lugano Snakes 10 3 7 777 914 −137 72–100 80–91 95–87 77–76 75–74
6 Croatia Zadar 10 2 8 840 859 −19 87–91 79–92 86–87 80–72 118–79

Source: Euroleague

Group B

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification Italy KIN Greece AEK Spain TAU Croatia CIB Russia SPL Belgium RWC
1 Italy Kinder Bologna 10 9 1 835 734 +101 Advance to Playoffs 81–66 76–73 106–88 84–78 106–87
2 Greece AEK 10 8 2 805 746 +59 78–77 64–52 83–75 84–73 97–73
3 Spain Tau Cerámica 10 6 4 749 700 +49 59–65 85–65 92–66 97–88 76–64
4 Croatia Cibona 10 3 7 773 832 −59 69–74 72–81 62–60 75–70 85–70
5 Russia Saint Petersburg Lions 10 2 8 778 840 −62 78–82 69–90 79–81 92–90 83–77
6 Belgium Region Wallone Spirou 10 2 8 769 857 −88 58–80 89–97 71–74 100–91 80–68

Source: Euroleague

Group C

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification Greece OLY Spain RMB Slovenia UOL Italy BEN Israel JER Portugal OVA
1 Greece Olympiacos 10 7 3 861 738 +123 Advance to Playoffs 91–84 82–70 82–73 102–69 101–67
2 Spain Real Madrid Teka 10 7 3 859 789 +70 75–73 82–70 64–75 104–64 116–94
3 Slovenia Union Olimpija 10 7 3 823 752 +71 69–73 88–79 78–74 95–68 102–79
4 Italy Benetton Treviso 10 6 4 847 777 +70 95–87 87–88 69–71 78–71 106–81
5 Israel Hapoel Jerusalem 10 3 7 784 881 −97 83–70 74–87 76–88 79–104 106–71
6 Portugal Ovarense Aerosoles 10 0 10 746 983 −237 53–100 73–80 70–92 76–86 82–94

Source: Euroleague

Group D

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification Spain FCB Greece PAO Federal Republic of Yugoslavia POD Italy VER United Kingdom LON Germany SKY
1 Spain FC Barcelona 10 8 2 856 757 +99 Advance to Playoffs 58–67 92–75 96–84 82–76 86–60
2 Greece PAOK 10 7 3 846 773 +73 91–102 89–72 97–94 70–58 100–70
3 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost 10 7 3 844 819 +25 77–85 83–71 77–73 101–83 79–73
4 Italy Müller Verona 10 6 4 920 854 +66 94–90 102–88 86–91 102–76 90–70
5 United Kingdom Haribo London Towers 10 1 9 775 878 −103 82–97 61–93 88–95 89–98 86–61
6 Germany Opel Skyliners 10 1 9 696 856 −160 51–68 73–80 79–94 80–97 79–76

Source: Euroleague

Playoffs

Bracket

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding, the numbers to the right indicate the result of games including result in bold of the team that won in that game, and the numbers furthest to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. {{smalldiv|

First Round QuarterFinal SemiFinal Final
                            
A1 Italy Paf Bologna 76 75 2
B4 Croatia Cibona 64 74 0
A1 Italy Paf Bologna 74 57 88 2
C2 Spain Real Madrid Teka 68 88 70 1
C2 Spain Real Madrid Teka 91 76 2
D3 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost 63 62 0
B1 Italy Kinder Bologna 103 92 74 3
A1 Italy Paf Bologna 76 84 70 0
B1 Italy Kinder Bologna 113 85 2
A4 Spain Adecco Estudiantes 70 80 0
B1 Italy Kinder Bologna 80 81 2
C3 Slovenia Union Olimpija 79 79 0
D2 Greece PAOK 75 77 69 1
C3 Slovenia Union Olimpija 64 85 73 2
B1 Italy Kinder Bologna 65 94 80 79 82 3
B3 Spain Tau Cerámica 78 73 60 96 74 2
C1 Greece Olympiacos 94 96 2
D4 Italy Müller Verona 92 84 0
C1 Greece Olympiacos 72 76 0
B3 Spain Tau Cerámica 78 98 2
A2 Greece Peristeri 79 68 0
B3 Spain Tau Cerámica 81 81 2
B2 Greece AEK 67 65 62 0
B3 Spain Tau Cerámica 70 90 76 3
D1 Spain FC Barcelona 85 82 0
C4 Italy Benetton Treviso 86 99 2
B2 Greece AEK 97 74 71 2
C4 Italy Benetton Treviso 89 90 56 1
B2 Greece AEK 69 73 2
A3 Lithuania Žalgiris 60 71 0

}}

First Round

In a best-of-three series the remaining 16 teams were placed against each other. The games were held between the 31st of January and the 14th of February, 2001, with the top 8 teams advancing to the Playoffs.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg3rd leg
Paf Bologna Italy 2–0 Croatia Cibona 76–64 75–74
Kinder Bologna Italy 2–0 Spain Adecco Estudiantes 113–70 85–80
Peristeri Greece 0–2 Spain Tau Cerámica 79–81 68–81
AEK Greece 2–0 Lithuania Žalgiris 69–60 73–71
Olympiacos Greece 2–0 Italy Müller Verona 94–92 96–84
FC Barcelona Spain 0–2 Italy Benetton Treviso 85–86 82–99
Real Madrid Teka Spain 2–0 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost 91–63 76–62
PAOK Greece 1–2 Slovenia Union Olimpija 75–64 77–85 69–73

Quarterfinals

In a best-of-three series the remaining eight teams were placed against each other. The games were held between 21 February and 7 March 2001, with the top 4 teams advancing to the semifinals.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg3rd leg
Paf Bologna Italy 2–1 Spain Real Madrid Teka 74–68 57–88 88–70
Kinder Bologna Italy 2–0 Slovenia Union Olimpija 80–79 81–79
Olympiacos Greece 0–2 Spain Tau Cerámica 72–78 76–98
AEK Greece 2–1 Italy Benetton Treviso 97–89 74–90 71–56

Semifinals

In a best-of-five series the remaining four teams were placed against each other. The games were held between the 27th of March and the 7th of April, 2001.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 3rd leg 4th leg 5th leg
Kinder Bologna Italy3–0Italy Paf Wennington Bologna103–7692–8474–70
AEK Greece0–3Spain Tau Cerámica65–9067–7062–76

Finals

The culminating stage of the Euroleague season, the two remaining teams that won the semifinal series played each other in a best-of-five series.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 3rd leg 4th leg 5th leg
Kinder Bologna Italy3–2Spain Tau Cerámica65–7894–7380–6079–9682–74
2000–01 Euroleague Champions
Italy
Kinder Bologna
2nd Title

Awards

Top Scorer

Player Team
United States Alphonso FordGreece Peristeri

Regular Season MVP

Player Team
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan TomaševićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost

Finals MVP

Player Team
Argentina Manu GinóbiliItaly Kinder Bologna

Finals Top Scorer

Player Team
Argentina Manu GinóbiliItaly Kinder Bologna
United States Elmer BennettSpain Tau Cerámica
United States Victor AlexanderSpain Tau Cerámica

All-Euroleague First Team

Player Team
United States Louis BullockItaly Müller Verona
United States Alphonso FordGreece Peristeri
United States Derrick HamiltonRussia Saint Petersburg Lions
Italy Gregor FučkaItaly Paf Wennington Bologna
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan TomaševićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost

All-Euroleague Second Team

Player Team
United States Jemeil RichSwitzerland Lugano Snakes
Greece Panagiotis LiadelisGreece PAOK
Spain Pau GasolSpain FC Barcelona
Greece Ioannis GiannoulisGreece PAOK
United States Rashard GriffithItaly Kinder Bologna

Round MVP

Regular season

Week Player Team PIR
1Greece Panagiotis LiadelisGreece PAOK42
2Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan TomaševićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost34
Italy Gianluca BasileItaly Paf Wennington Bologna
3Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Milenko TopićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost39
4Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan Tomašević (2)Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost42
5United States Derrick HamiltonRussia St. Petersburg Lions38
6Croatia Darko KrunićCroatia Zadar39
7Italy Gregor FučkaItaly Paf Wennington Bologna42
8United States Kebu StewartIsrael Hapoel Jerusalem47
9United States Derrick Hamilton (2)Russia St. Petersburg Lions40
10Argentina Marcelo NicolaItaly Benetton Treviso36

Playoffs

Game Player Team PIR
8thF G1United States Alphonso FordGreece Peristeri
45
8thF G2Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan Tomašević (3)Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost
34
Croatia Dino RađjaGreece Olympiakos
Italy Riccardo PittisItaly Benetton Treviso
8thF G3Greece Angelos KoroniosGreece PAOK
20
Croatia Emilio KovačićSlovenia Union Olimpija
4F G1Italy Gregor Fučka (2)Italy Paf Wennington Bologna
43
4F G2United States Rashard GriffithItaly Kinder Bologna
32
4F G3Italy Carlton MyersItaly Paf Wennington Bologna
45
SF G1Lithuania Saulius ŠtombergasSpain Tau Cerámica
43
SF G2United States Elmer BennettSpain Tau Cerámica
33
SF G3Argentina Fabricio ObertoSpain Tau Cerámica
25
Final G1United States Victor AlexanderSpain Tau Cerámica
32
Final G2France Antoine RigaudeauItaly Kinder Bologna
21
Final G3Argentina Manu GinóbiliItaly Kinder Bologna
31
Final G4United States Elmer Bennett (2)Spain Tau Cerámica
28
Final G5United States Rashard Griffith (2)Italy Kinder Bologna
25

Individual statistics

Rating

Rank Name Team Games Rating PIR
1.Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan TomaševićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost1237130.92
2.United States Derrick HamiltonRussia Saint Petersburg Lions1028328.30
3.United States Alphonso FordGreece Peristeri1230525.42

Points

Rank Name Team Games Points PPG
1.United States Alphonso FordGreece Peristeri1231226.00
2.Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan TomaševićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost1227522.92
3.Greece Panagiotis LiadelisGreece PAOK1329522.69

Rebounds

Rank Name Team Games Rebounds RPG
1.Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan TomaševićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost1213811.50
2.Croatia Dino RađaGreece Olympiacos141379.79
3.Belgium Ron EllisBelgium Region Wallone Spirou10969.60

Assists

Rank Name Team Games Assists APG
1.Croatia Ivica MarićCroatia Zadar10595.90
2.United States Elmer BennettSpain Tau Cerámica221205.45
3.Italy Riccardo PittisItaly Benetton Treviso14543.86

Other statistics

Category Player Team Games Average
Steals Croatia Ivica MarićCroatia Zadar
10
3.70
United States Jemeil RichSwitzerland Lugano Snakes
Blocks Ukraine Grigorij KhizhnyakLithuania Žalgiris
12
3.17
Turnovers Russia Sergei BazarevichRussia Saint Petersburg Lions
10
4.50
Fouls drawn Greece Panagiotis LiadelisGreece PAOK
13
7.08
Minutes United States Derrick HamiltonRussia Saint Petersburg Lions
10
38:35
2P% France Stéphane RisacherGreece Olympiacos
14
73.7%
3P% Argentina Jorge RaccaGreece PAOK
13
59.3%
FT% United States Henry WilliamsItaly Müller Verona
12
94.7%

Individual game highs

CategoryPlayerTeamStatistic
PIR United States Kebu StewartIsrael Hapoel Jerusalem
47
Points Italy Carlton MyersItaly Paf Wennington Bologna
41
United States Alphonso FordGreece Peristeri
Rebounds United States Victor AlexanderSpain Tau Cerámica
19
Assists United States Elmer BennettSpain Tau Cerámica
13
Steals Argentina Manu GinóbiliItaly Kinder Bologna
7
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Bojan BakićFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Budućnost
Blocks Croatia Stojan VrankovićItaly Paf Wennington Bologna
10
Three pointers Lithuania Saulius ŠtombergasSpain Tau Cerámica
9
Turnovers Russia Sergei BazarevichRussia Saint Petersburg Lions
11

Aftermath

In May 2001, Europe had two continental champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague. The leaders of both organizations realized the need to come up with a new single competition. Negotiating from the position of strength ULEB dictated proceedings, and FIBA essentially had no choice but to agree to their terms. As a result, the EuroLeague was fully integrated under Euroleague Basketball Company's umbrella, and teams that competed in the FIBA SuproLeague during the 2000–01 season joined it as well. It is today officially admitted that European basketball had two champions that year, Maccabi of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of the Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague.

A year later, Euroleague Basketball Company and FIBA decided that Euroleague Basketball's EuroLeague competition would be the main basketball tournament on the continent, to be played between the top level teams of Europe. FIBA Europe would also organize a European league for third-tier level teams, known as the FIBA Europe League competition, while Euroleague Basketball would also organize its own second-tier level league, combining FIBA's long-time Korać Cup and Saporta Cup competitions into one new competition, the EuroCup. In 2005, Euroleague Basketball and FIBA decided to cooperate with each other, and did so jointly until 2016.

In essence, the authority in European professional basketball was divided over club-country lines. FIBA stayed in charge of national team competitions (like the FIBA EuroBasket, the FIBA World Cup, and the Summer Olympics), while Euroleague Basketball took over the European professional club competitions. From that point on, FIBA's Korać Cup and Saporta Cup competitions lasted only one more season before folding and merged to the FIBA Europe Champions Cup in 2002 which was when Euroleague Basketball launched the ULEB Cup.

See also

References and notes

  1. "EL.net interview: Eduardo Portela". Archived from the original on 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
  2. ULEB members in 2000
  3. ULEB Assembly 2000

Sources

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