2000–01 Euroleague Explained

Nextseason:2000–01 SuproLeague
2001–02
Euroleague
Season:2000–01
T Bg:
  1. 2A2D62; border:2px solid orange;
T Color:white
Champions: Kinder Bologna
(2nd title)
Runners Up: Tau Cerámica
Teams:24
Final Four Mvp N:ARG
Award4:Regular Season MVP
Award4 Link:EuroLeague Regular Season and Top 16 MVP
Award4 N:FRY
Award5:Top 16 MVP
Award5 N:FRY
Finals Mvp N:ARG
Finals Mvp Link:EuroLeague Final Four MVP
Pir:30.9
Pir N:FRY
Ppg:26.0
Ppg N:USA
Rpg:11.5
Rpg N:FRY
Apg:5.9
Apg N:CRO

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 it was 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 ultimately 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

See main article: FIBA–EuroLeague dispute.

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 that 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 are 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 commissioner. Three referees will officiate every Euroleague game. The team of officials will be made up of 45 referees who have 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.

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 roundTeams 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

Regular season
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width=210 width=210 width=210 width=210
width=210 width=210 width=210 width=210

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

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification PAF PER ZAL EST LUG ZAD
1 Paf Bologna1082812760+52Advance to Playoffs71–6991–8581–7281–6681–77
2 Peristeri1073841786+5583–7074–9291–8185–6892–73
3 Žalgiris1064866816+5073–5686–7377–80105–8997–85
4 Adecco Estudiantes1046820821−176–9086–9187–7797–7693–81
5 Lugano Snakes1037777914−13772–10080–9195–8777–7675–74
6 Zadar1028840859−1987–9179–9286–8780–72118–79
Source: Euroleague

Group B

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification KIN AEK TAU CIB SPL RWC
1 Kinder Bologna1091835734+101Advance to Playoffs81–6676–73106–8884–78106–87
2 AEK1082805746+5978–7764–5283–7584–7397–73
3 Tau Cerámica1064749700+4959–6585–6592–6697–8876–64
4 Cibona1037773832−5969–7472–8162–6075–7085–70
5 Saint Petersburg Lions1028778840−6278–8269–9079–8192–9083–77
6 Region Wallone Spirou1028769857−8858–8089–9771–74100–9180–68
Source: Euroleague

Group C

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification OLY RMB UOL BEN JER OVA
1 Olympiacos1073861738+123Advance to Playoffs91–8482–7082–73102–69101–67
2 Real Madrid Teka1073859789+7075–7382–7064–75104–64116–94
3 Union Olimpija1073823752+7169–7388–7978–7495–68102–79
4 Benetton Treviso1064847777+7095–8787–8869–7178–71106–81
5 Hapoel Jerusalem1037784881−9783–7074–8776–8879–104106–71
6 Ovarense Aerosoles10010746983−23753–10073–8070–9276–8682–94
Source: Euroleague

Group D

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification FCB PAO POD VER LON SKY
1 FC Barcelona1082856757+99Advance to Playoffs58–6792–7596–8482–7686–60
2 PAOK1073846773+7391–10289–7297–9470–58100–70
3 Budućnost1073844819+2577–8583–7177–73101–8379–73
4 Müller Verona1064920854+6694–90102–8886–91102–7690–70
5 Haribo London Towers1019775878−10382–9761–9388–9589–9886–61
6 Opel Skyliners1019696856−16051–6873–8079–9480–9779–76
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

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.|}

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.

|}

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.

width=250Team 1width=80Agg.width=250Team 2width=801st legwidth=802nd legwidth=803rd legwidth=804th legwidth=805th leg
Kinder Bologna 3–0 Paf Wennington Bologna103–7692–8474–70
0–3 Tau Cerámica65–90*67–7062–76

Finals

See main article: 2001 Euroleague 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.

width=250Team 1width=80Agg.width=250Team 2width=801st legwidth=802nd legwidth=803rd legwidth=804th legwidth=805th leg
Kinder Bologna 3–2 Tau Cerámica65–7894–7380–6079–9682–74

Awards

Finals Top Scorer

PlayerTeam
Tau Cerámica
Tau Cerámica

All-Euroleague First Team

PlayerTeam
Müller Verona
Peristeri
Paf Wennington Bologna
Budućnost

All-Euroleague Second Team

PlayerTeam
Lugano Snakes
PAOK
PAOK
Kinder Bologna

Round MVP

See main article: EuroLeague MVP of the Round.

Regular season

WeekPlayerTeam
1 Panagiotis Liadelis PAOK42
234
Paf Wennington Bologna
3 Milenko Topić Budućnost39
4 Dejan Tomašević (2) Budućnost42
5 Derrick Hamilton St. Petersburg Lions38
6 Darko Krunić Zadar39
7 Gregor Fučka Paf Wennington Bologna42
8 Kebu Stewart Hapoel Jerusalem47
9 Derrick Hamilton (2) St. Petersburg Lions40
10 Marcelo Nicola Benetton Treviso36

Playoffs

GamePlayerTeam
8thF G1 Alphonso Ford Peristeri
8thF G2 Dejan Tomašević (3)
Benetton Treviso
8thF G3
Union Olimpija
4F G1 Gregor Fučka (2) Paf Wennington Bologna
4F G2 Rashard Griffith Kinder Bologna
4F G3 Carlton Myers Paf Wennington Bologna
SF G1 Saulius Štombergas Tau Cerámica
SF G2 Elmer Bennett Tau Cerámica
SF G3 Fabricio Oberto Tau Cerámica
Final G1 Victor Alexander Tau Cerámica
Final G2 Antoine Rigaudeau Kinder Bologna
Final G3 Manu Ginóbili Kinder Bologna
Final G4 Elmer Bennett (2) Tau Cerámica
Final G5 Rashard Griffith (2) Kinder Bologna

Individual statistics

Rating

Rankwidth=200Namewidth=200TeamGameswidth=75Ratingwidth=40PIR
1. Dejan Tomašević Budućnost1237130.92
2. Derrick Hamilton Saint Petersburg Lions1028328.30
3.1230525.42

Points

Rankwidth=200Namewidth=200TeamGameswidth=75Pointswidth=40PPG
1. Alphonso Ford 1231226.00
2. Dejan Tomašević Budućnost1227522.92
3. Panagiotis Liadelis PAOK1329522.69

Rebounds

Rankwidth=200Namewidth=200TeamGameswidth=75Reboundswidth=40RPG
1. Dejan Tomašević Budućnost1213811.50
2. Dino Rađa Olympiacos141379.79
3. Ron Ellis Region Wallone Spirou10969.60

Assists

Rankwidth=200Namewidth=200TeamGameswidth=75Assistswidth=40APG
1. Ivica Marić Zadar10595.90
2. Elmer Bennett Tau Cerámica221205.45
3. Riccardo Pittis Benetton Treviso14543.86

Other statistics

width=125Categorywidth=200Playerwidth=200TeamGamesAverage
Steals
Lugano Snakes
Blocks
Turnovers
Fouls drawn
Minutes
2P%
3P%
FT%

Individual game highs

width=125Category !width=200Player width=200Team Statistic
PIR
Points
Peristeri
Rebounds
Assists
Steals
Budućnost
Blocks
Three pointers
Turnovers

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

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: EL.net interview: Eduardo Portela . 2008-03-19 . https://archive.today/20080606192930/http://217.13.116.51/noticia.jsp?temporada=E05&jornada=14&id=1089 . 2008-06-06 . dead .
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20010406215807/http://www.euroleague.net/index.jsp ULEB members in 2000
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20010406215843/http://www.euroleague.net/news_salonica.jsp ULEB Assembly 2000