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European Competition Draws 2021-22

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Both competitions had their matchups drawn on Thursday:

EuroLeague:

The qualifier groups were already decided before the draw due to regionalization, but the order of games was determined with games played September 21st through 23rd.  Sfantu Gheorghe was picked as the host site for the eastern group, but the Romanian champions will not play on opening day with Kayseri and Szekszard squaring off to open proceedings.  Sepsi will then play Szekszard on Wednesday and Kayseri on Thursday with the top team grabbing a spot in EuroLeague and the other two teams dropping down to EuroCup.  Schio will welcome the other western qualifier teams to Italy and opens on Tuesday against Valencia before playing Bourges.  Bourges and Valencia will then play the Thursday game with the fight for the last EuroLeague spot figuring to be quite competitive.

The two groups were also drawn and there are going to be some intriguing matchups.  Defending champions Ekaterinburg will have finals rematches against Avenida.  Czech champions USK Praha will look to bounce back from a disappointing last campaign, but French cup winners Lattes Montpellier and Italian champions Reyer Venezia also figure to have quarterfinal expectations from Group A.  Nobody knows what to expect from MBA, which has been playing with an all-Russian team while Riga has shown the ability to play spoiler and the eastern qualifier will be at least expect to avoid elimination at this stage.  Group B is highlighted by the latest set of games between the great Turkish rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.  Every team will enter believing that they should be in the quarterfinals including the survivor of the tough western qualifier.  Sopron will be looking to return to the semifinals while Dynamo Kursk is aiming to get back to that level.  Landes has momentum after winning the French championship, Girona enters as cup winner from Spain, and Arka Gdynia has strengthened their roster after winning the title in Poland.  With the top four teams in each group advancing to the quarterfinals, the next two teams will join EuroCup at the quarterfinal stage, and the bottom two teams will be eliminated.

EuroCup:

Qualifiers:

With so many teams applying to play this season, there are a number of qualifying games to be played.  The teams listed second will host the first games on or around September 23rd and the teams listed first will host the return games on or around September 30th with the combined score determining the winners.  Once group play finishes, the top two teams in each group will advance to the Round of 32 along with the top four third-place teams from each conference.

There are six matchups on the eastern conference side.  Elitzur Holon is looking to give Israel another team in the competition, but will have a tough task against Hatay, which has plenty of experience at this level as part of a large Turkish contingent.  Eleftheria Moschatou is a bit of a mystery as a newer entry from Greece and will face Bydgoszcz of Poland.  Also from Poland, Lublin will face Spartak Moscow with both teams having entered the competition this season with the expectation of the group stage and more only to draw each other.  Elazig is another experienced Turkish team welcoming a new team from Greece to the mix in PAOK.  Niki Lefkadas completes the group of Greek unseeded teams, although they have participated recently, drawing a tough team in Hungary’s PEAC.  Csata will also be representing Hungary, facing Umea, the only Swedish team to enter this season.

The western conference has seven matchups, including some unexpected newcomers.  Teams in the far west will play each other as Haukar hosts the first game in Iceland and then Uniao Sportiva welcomes them to the Azores.  Italian upstarts Magnolia Campobasso face Spain’s Ensino.  Ulriken Eagles, a surprise entry from Norway will feel like they can succeed against Belgium’s Liege while Slovakia’s Piestanske Cajky will feel the most unlucky with a tough task against France’s Carolo.  Also from France, Tarbes faces Belgium’s Kortrijk.  Grengewald Hueschtert is trying to bring representation from Luxembourg to the competition, but Italy’s Dinamo Sassari should feel like they are the favorites even as an unseeded team.  London Lions had a similar hope for British basketball, but their solid roster will get a test when they have to travel out to Gran Canaria.

Eastern Conference:

With so many teams involved this season, there look to be some strong groups even before the last teams are known.  Group A certainly qualifies as Polkowice looks to return to past levels, surprise Greek champions Panathinaikos are preparing for this competition, and there will be significant travel to the east to Krasnoyarsk to face Enisey.  Hatay or Elitzur Holon will complete the group and either one is likely to be considered one of the tougher qualifier teams.  Hungary’s Gyor and Prometey, which as a team from Ukraine knew that they would not face a team from Russia, are still waiting for two teams to join them in Group B.  One team will be the runners-up from the eastern EuroLeague qualifier and the group could get even tougher with Elazig facing PAOK in a qualifier.  Turkey’s Cukurova Mersin Yenisehir has announced a loaded roster and figure to be the favorites in Group C with Poland’s Gorzow, Belarus’s Horizont Minsk, and the qualifying winner between Spartak Moscow and Lublin looking to join them in the knockout round.  Group D also only has two teams set in Israel’s Ramla and Turkey’s Nesibe with the last place team from the EuroLeague eastern qualifier joining and the qualifying winner between PEAC and Niki Lefkadas looking more likely to have an uphill battle.  Group E has experience in Russia’s Nadezhda Orenburg, which is looking to bounce back from last season, and Olympiacos, which was unable to retain their group in Greece.  Serbian champions Crvena zvezda may have a fan friendship with Olympiacos on a multi-sport level, but Red Star will be looking to make a name for themselves by joining this competition and Eleftheria Moschatou will try to increase Greek presence in this group if they can prevail in their qualifier against Bydgoszcz.  Group F has experienced teams in Turkey’s Orman and Hungary’s DVTK, but the intriguing name is Russian upstarts Nika Syktyvkar as more experience is set to be added with either Umea or Csata from the qualifiers.

Western Conference:

There are still a number of blank spots to be filled after qualifying games, but there are already a number of strong groups in this conference.  The second-place team from the tough EuroLeague western qualifier drops into Group G along with Swiss champs Fribourg, Spain’s Tenerife, and a qualifying winner between Grengewald Hueschtert and Dinamo Sassari.  Group H looks to be one of the toughest with Spain’s Gernika, France’s Roche, and Italy’s Virtus Bologna waiting for the qualifying winner between Carolo and Piestanske Cajky.  Group I has two Belgian teams in Namur and Mechelen, but they will not be favored against the third-place team from the EuroLeague western qualifier and the qualifier winner between Ensino and Magnolia Campobasso could also be tough.  Lyon figures to be significantly stronger than anyone else in Group J, but Slovakia’s Ruzomberok, Spain’s Estudiantes, and a qualifying team in either Liege or Ulriken Eagles will still be looking to make some noise.  Group K has three experienced teams in Belgium’s Braine, Germany’s Keltern, and Brno from the Czech Republic, but the qualifying winner between Islas Canarias and London Lions just adds more strength to this group.  Villeneuve from France and KP Brno from the Czech Republic are waiting for two qualifiers in Group L with Uniao Sportiva-Haukur and Tarbes-Kortrijk needing to be played to complete the picture.

European Competition Teams 2021-22

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It was exciting news on Wednesday as FIBA Europe announced a spectacular number of teams have applied for places in both EuroLeague and EuroCup.  With so many teams, qualifying games for the last places will be intense and there will be chances to see continental competition in new countries.  Qualifiers and groups will be drawn on August 19th with qualifying games set for September.

EuroLeague:

20 teams applied for spots in EuroLeague this season and it was decided that 14 of the 16 spots in the regular season would be awarded directly, leaving intense qualifiers for the last pair of spots.  As the top country in the rankings, Russia had three direct places, awarded to defending champions Ekaterinburg, league runners-up Dynamo Kursk, and surprise league bronze medalists MBA.  Three countries received two spots each with Istanbul’s great rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray participating after squaring off in the finals in Turkey.  France and Spain award their second priority spot to their cup winner so Lattes Montpellier joins champions Landes for France and Uni Girona joins champions Avenida for Spain.  Five league champions received single direct berths for their countries in Hungary’s Sopron, the Czech Republic’s USK Praha, Poland’s Arka Gdynia, Italy’s Reyer Venezia, and Latvia’s Riga.

There will be a new qualifying format this season with six teams competing for two spots, preventing the traditional home-and-home two game format.  Since losing teams will drop down to EuroCup, which remains regionalized, teams will not be drawn and were simply split geographically.  Qualifying will be conducted at a single site for each group with the winner entering EuroLeague.  In the Eastern Conference, Kayseri from Turkey, Hungarian runners-up Szekszard, and Romanian champions Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe will be competing for the spot.  The Western Conference figures to have must-watch games with three big name teams who finished as runners-up in their domestic leagues in French powerhouse Bourges, ambitious Spanish side Valencia, and longtime Italian power Schio.

EuroCup:

With 57 teams applying for EuroCup, the competition was able to expand to 48 teams.  Accounting for teams dropping from EuroLeague qualification, 31 of those teams were given direct spots in the regular season.  That leaves 26 teams playing home-and-home two game qualifiers for the last 13 points.  The teams that will be seeded and unseeded in the qualifying draw have already been decided with the seeded team hosting the second game of each series after the unseeded team hosts the first game.

Eastern Conference:

As expected, there will be heavy representation from Russia and Turkey in this half of the groups.  Nika Syktyvkar joins after an impressive first season in the top division while Nadezhda Orenburg hopes to bounce back from a poor season, and Enisey Krasnoyarsk will be welcoming teams to their home far in the east.  Nesibe and Orman represent Turkey as well as Cukurova Mersin Yenisehir, which has already announced a very ambitious roster with the specific aim of making noise in this competition.  Gyor and DVTK represent Hungary while Polkowice and Gorzow represent Poland.  The other country to get two direct places is Greece as Panathinaikos joins after an impressive league title with rivals Olympiacos continuing to play here as well.  Ramla, which has been Israel’s representative for several years, returns along with the champions of Belarus and the European League, Horizont Minsk, and ambitious Prometey from Ukraine, which figures to be better equipped to deal with this competition in their second attempt.  The final team that does not have to go through qualifiers is Serbia’s champions Crvena zvezda, which is most commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in the English-speaking world.

This conference will have 12 teams compete in the qualifiers with the teams holding seeds being veterans at this level.  Those are Russia’s Spartak Moscow, Hatay and Elazig from Turkey, PEAC from Hungary, Bydgoszcz from Poland, and Umea of Sweden.  Lublin from Poland and Csata from Hungary look to increase representation for their countries among the unseeded teams.  Unprecedented participation from Greece could be possible with PAOK, Eleftheria Moschatou, and Niki Lefkadas will all try to navigate tricky paths.  Another country that has not had much participation with different roster rules in play is Israel, but Elitzur Holon will try to put together a group that can do so.

Western Conference:

As usual, the teams from France and Spain will enter as favorites from this half of the groups.  France has Lyon, Villeneuve, and Roche earning direct places while Spain has Gernika, Estudiantes, and Clarinos.   Belgium will also have three teams with direct places in Namur, Braine, and Mechelen.  Both teams from Brno will represent the Czech Republic while Virtus Bologna is the only Italian team with a direct spot.  Swiss champions Fribourg return and German champions Keltern and Slovak champions Ruzomberok are back in the picture after one year absences.

More teams entered from this side of the dividing line so 14 teams were placed into the qualifiers.  Carolo and Tarbes from France lead the teams awarded seeds.  Both Spanish teams have seeds as well in Ensino Lugo and Islas Canarias, which looks to bring continental competition to Gran Canaria to join their Canary Islands rivals from Tenerife.  Belgium’s Liege and Portugal’s Uniao Sportiva also have seeds with some experience in this competition while the last seed is Grengewald Hueschtert of Luxembourg, which participated last season.  Italy will have two unseeded teams, Magnolia Campobasso and Dinamo Sassari, which looks to increase the number of clubs in the country with success on both the women’s and men’s side of basketball.  Belgium’s Kortrijk and Slovak runners-up Piestanske Cajky look to increase representation for their countries.  The last three teams bring the excitement of participation from new countries into the mix.  British champions London Lions will be trying to qualify both their teams into the regular season of continental competition.  Haukar will try to bring the competition to the far west in Iceland.  Norway is often disconnected from basketball in the rest of Europe and the participation of Ulriken gives hope that that could change and they could take other steps like fielding a senior national team.

EuroCup Final April 11th

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April 11, 2021

Sunday in Szekszard started with the 3rd place game that was added for this format as DeWanna Bonner led the hosts past Carolo 68-55 to at least finish on a winning note.  That set up an excellent final clash between teams that had been consistently strong in this competition.  The game more than lived up to the hype and stayed close throughout.  The veterans paced each team as Yvonne Anderson led top seed Reyer Venezia and Queralt Casas took charge for Valencia, but it was the key young player who made the deciding play.  Raquel Carrera drew the foul right at the end and calmly sank both free throws to give Valencia an 82-81 win and leave a big final impression ahead of the WNBA draft.

3rd Place:

(4) Szekszard vs. (7) Carolo 68-55 KSC Bonner 25/6r Studer 15/6a McCall 10/11r Goree 4 Krnjic 0 CARO Akhator 18/6r Miyem 18 Nared 5 Turner 4

Final:

(1) Reyer Venezia vs. (3) Valencia 81-82 VEN Anderson 26 Howard 16 Fagbenle 12 Petronyte 10/11r Penna 10 Attura 5 Pan 2 VAL Casas 20 Allen 16/7r Trahan-Davis 15/6r Carrera 13 Gulich 6/7r Romero 6

EuroCup Semifinals April 9th

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April 9, 2021

Szekszard was the site of this year’s Final Four with a single-site format replacing the travel of the previous two-game series format.  The semifinals were played on Friday with the hosts up first against top seed Reyer.  The game was close throughout, but a late rally helped the top seed avoid an upset and advance 63-58.  Valencia blasted out of the gates with Raquel Carrera making her WNBA draft stock rise a little higher.  Carolo fought back in the second half to make it respectable, but the outcome was never in any real doubt as the 3 seed advanced

(1) Reyer Venezia vs. (4) Szekszard 63-58 VEN Howard 16 Anderson 14/6r/6a Penna 10 Petronyte 10 Attura 5 Fagbenle 4/8r Pan 0 KSC Goree 13/8r Friskovec 12 Bonner 10/10r Studer 10/6r/7a Krnjic 4/7r McCall 4

(7) Carolo vs. (3) Valencia 68-80 CARO Pouye 6/7r Akhator 11 Miyem 10 Nared 8 Turner 6 VAL Carrera 22/8r Trahan-Davis 15 Casas 12 Gulich 8/6r Allen 8 Romero 3

EuroCup Quarterfinals March 18th-19th

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The quarterfinals started on Thursday.  In Kayseri, DeWanna Bonner helped Szekszard overcome Elazig’s duo of Kelsey Mitchell and Emma Cannon to win 77-67 in the 4-5 matchup.  Rebekah Gardner and 9 seed Sepsi fought hard at home against top seed Reyer, but fell short 78-64.  3 seed Valencia took care of business late against 11 seed Villeneuve to advance 81-67 at home.  The last game was played on Friday in Sfantu Gheorghe and there was no more magic for 15 seed Fribourg as 7 seed Carolo advanced 85-56.

March 18, 2021

(4) Szekszard vs. (5) Elazig 77-67 KSC Bonner 21/14r Studer 16/6a Goree 14/9r Friskovec 12 McCall 10/12r Krnjic 1 ELOI Mitchell 24/6r Cannon 20/20r Vitola 13/6r Baric 4 Ozelci 3

(1) Reyer Venezia vs. (9) Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe 78-64 VEN Anderson 15/6r/7a Carangelo 15 Fagbenle 13/6r Howard 13/6r Petronyte 10 Penna 8 Attura 2 Pan 0 SSIC Gardner 24/6r/6a Parau 12 Pasic 12 Tobin 5 Pavlopoulou 1

(3) Valencia vs. (11) Villeneuve 81-67 VAL Allen 20 Gil 20 Casas 19 Trahan-Davis 10/9r Gulich 4 Romero 2 ESBV Djaldi-Tabdi 19 Ygueravide 16 Peters 7/6r Hurt 7 Berkani 3

March 19, 2021

(15) Fribourg vs. (7) Carolo 56-85 FRIB Konig 15 Koenen 14 Fogg 14 Giroud 4/11r CARO Miyem 18 Akhator 14/6r Cado 14 Turner 11 Nared 9/11r

Bracket:

(1) Reyer Venezia vs. (4) Szekszard
(7) Carolo vs. (3) Valencia

EuroCup Round of 16 March 16th-17th

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The knockout round started on Wednesday in three locations as all stages will be single elimination this year.  In Sfantu Gheorghe, the reward for Reyer Venezia dominating the regular season and earning the top seed was a potentially tricky matchup against Gorzow, but their opponents were missing a key player and Borislava Hristova’s efforts to pick up the slack in a 72-63 final.  The 12 seed Kayseri hosted a pod with their game matching them against fellow Turkish side Elazig.  Kalani Brown and Tye Harris nearly got the win for the hosts, but Kelsey Mitchell and Kristine Vitola helped the 5 seed advance 88-86.  The first game in Valencia provided the first seeding upset as Lisa Berkani led 11 seed Villeneuve past 6 seed Spartak Moscow.  Back in Kayseri, there was curiosity about DeWanna Bonner’s impact on 4 seed Szekszard this late in the season and she helped them build a lead late to get past 13 seed Hainaut 66-53.  Andra Mandache 9 seed Sepsi looked to be cruising at home, but 8 seed Gernika, which cannot field its full roster in continental competitions, fought back and forced overtime only to fall short 76-73.  3 seed Valencia got an easy 80-57 win over 14 seed DVTK at home to end the first day.  Since two pods were being played in Sfantu Gheorghe, two series started on Wednesday.  Elitzur Ramla had to tweak their roster, which put Betnijah Laney in the starring role in this competition as well, but the 2 seed found themselves in trouble early and a late charge was not enough as 15 seed Fribourg held on to a 78-73 win behind Abigail Fogg and Ace Konig.  Jaime Nared and 7 seed Carolo finished the round with an 81-46 win over 10 seed Cegled.

March 16, 2021

(1) Reyer Venezia vs. (16) Gorzow 72-63 VEN Howard 13/9r Fagbenle 12/6r Anderson 11/10r Petronyte 10/8r Pan 7 Penna 5 Attura 2 GORZ Hristova 20 Green 14/6r Walker-Kimbrough 7

(5) Elazig vs. (12) Kayseri 88-86 ELOI Mitchell 25 Vitola 23/13r Takmaz 19 Baric 14/13a Cannon 7/14r Ozelci 0 KYS Brown 34 Harris 22 Johnson 7 Laksa 5/8r

(6) Spartak Moscow vs. (11) Villeneuve 62-69 SPM Williams 19/12r Levchenko 16/6a ESBV Berkani 23/6r Hurt 16/9r Peters 5/8r

(4) Szekszard vs. (13) Hainaut 66-53 KSC Bonner 26 McCall 13/21r Goree 10/11r Krnjic 0 SAHB Day 13 Bailey 12/7r Gustavsson 2 Ewodo 0

(8) Gernika vs. (9) Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe 73-76(OT) LOIN Lo 15/7r Roundtree 15 Ivanovic 14 Buch 14 Cornelius 2 Bjorklund 2 SSIC Mandache 21/7r Gardner 19/8r Pasic 16 Ruzickova 10 Tobin 2/7r Pavlopoulou 2

(3) Valencia vs. (14) DVTK 80-57 VAL Allen 14 Gil 12/12r Gulich 12/7r Romero 11 Trahan-Davis 6 DVTK Medgyessy 17 Hayes 15/7r Mokango 10 Aho 1 Montai-Vukov 0

March 17, 2021

(2) Elitzur Ramla vs. (15) Fribourg 73-78 RAM Laney 30/11r Mitchell 17/10r Muzovic 12 Shafir 7 Baron 3 Diamant 0 FRIB Fogg 20/10r Konig 20 Koenen 17 Giroud 10/14r

(7) Carolo vs. (10) Cegled 81-46 CARO Nared 25/9r Akhator 14/10r Miyem 12/6r Sy 10/6r Turner 9/6a CEKK Moore 15/6r McBryde 9

Bracket:

(1) Reyer Venezia vs. (9) Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe
(4) Szekszard vs. (5) Elazig
(3) Valencia vs. (11) Villeneuve
(7) Carolo vs. (15) Fribourg

Watch EuroCup Round of 16 Here Tuesday and Wednesday!

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Times listed are Central European, then Eastern Daylight:

Reyer Venezia vs. Gorzow, Tuesday 3pm/10am:

Elazig vs. Kayseri, Tuesday 3pm/10am:

Spartak Moscow vs. Villeneuve, Tuesday 4pm/11am:

Szekszard vs. Hainaut, Tuesday 6pm/1pm:

Gernika vs. Sepsi, Tuesday 6pm/1pm:

Valencia vs. DVTK, Tuesday 7pm/2pm:

Elitzur Ramla vs. Fribourg, Wednesday 3pm/10am:

Carolo vs. Cegled, Wednesday 6pm/1pm: