Wikipedia

2000–01 Euroleague

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.

Euroleague
Season2000–01
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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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, 8 March 2001
  • Semi-finals: 27, 29 March, 3, 5, 12 April 2001
  • Finals: 17, 19 April, 1, 3, 10 May 2001

Team allocation

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

Distribution

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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

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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
  PAOK (2nd)   Kinder Bologna (3rd)   Cibona VIP (1st)   Žalgiris (2nd)
  Olympiacos (3rd)   Müller Verona (4th)   Zadar (2nd)   Ovarense Aerosoles (1st)
  AEK (4th)   Real Madrid Teka (1st)   Spirou Charleroi (4th)   Saint Petersburg Lions (WC)
  Peristeri (5th)   FC Barcelona (2nd)   Opel Skyliners (3rd)   Union Olimpija (3rd)
  Paf Wennington Bologna (1st)   Adecco Estudiantes (3rd)   Haribo London Towers (1st)   Lugano Snakes (1st)
  Benetton Treviso (2nd)   Tau Cerámica (4th)   Hapoel Jerusalem (WC)   Budućnost (1st)

Regular season

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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

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

Source: Euroleague

Group B

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

Source: Euroleague

Group C

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

Source: Euroleague

Group D

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

Source: Euroleague

Playoffs

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Bracket

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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.

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

First Round

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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 leg 3rd leg
Paf Bologna   2–0   Cibona 76–64 75–74
Kinder Bologna   2–0   Adecco Estudiantes 113–70 85–80
Peristeri   0–2   Tau Cerámica 79–81 68–81
AEK   2–0   Žalgiris 69–60 73–71
Olympiacos   2–0   Müller Verona 94–92 96–84
FC Barcelona   0–2   Benetton Treviso 85–86 82–99
Real Madrid Teka   2–0   Budućnost 91–63 76–62
PAOK   1–2   Union Olimpija 75–64 77–85 69–73

Quarterfinals

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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 leg 3rd leg
Paf Bologna   2–1   Real Madrid Teka 74–68 57–88 88–70
Kinder Bologna   2–0   Union Olimpija 80–79 81–79
Olympiacos   0–2   Tau Cerámica 72–78 76–98
AEK   2–1   Benetton Treviso 97–89 74–90 71–56

Semifinals

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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   3–0   Paf Wennington Bologna 103–76 92–84 74–70
AEK   0–3   Tau Cerámica 65–90* 67–70 62–76
  • Note:The game was replayed between the second and the third game. AEK won the originally game 75-74 after overtime. Dimos Dikoudis scored the winning basket into appears. After Tau's appeal, ULEB's judge decided the replay of the game.

Finals

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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.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 3rd leg 4th leg 5th leg
Kinder Bologna   3–2   Tau Cerámica 65–78 94–73 80–60 79–96 82–74
2000–01 Euroleague Champions
 
Kinder Bologna
2nd Title

Awards

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Top Scorer

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Player Team
  Alphonso Ford   Peristeri

Regular Season MVP

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Player Team
  Dejan Tomašević   Budućnost

Finals MVP

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Player Team
  Manu Ginóbili   Kinder Bologna

Finals Top Scorer

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Player Team
  Manu Ginóbili   Kinder Bologna
  Elmer Bennett   Tau Cerámica
  Victor Alexander   Tau Cerámica

All-Euroleague First Team

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Player Team
  Louis Bullock   Müller Verona
  Alphonso Ford   Peristeri
  Derrick Hamilton   Saint Petersburg Lions
  Gregor Fučka   Paf Wennington Bologna
  Dejan Tomašević   Budućnost

All-Euroleague Second Team

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Player Team
  Jemeil Rich   Lugano Snakes
  Panagiotis Liadelis   PAOK
  Pau Gasol   FC Barcelona
  Ioannis Giannoulis   PAOK
  Rashard Griffith   Kinder Bologna

Round MVP

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Main article: EuroLeague MVP of the Round

Regular season

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Week Player Team PIR
1   Panagiotis Liadelis   PAOK 42
2   Dejan Tomašević   Budućnost 34
  Gianluca Basile   Paf Wennington Bologna
3   Milenko Topić   Budućnost 39
4   Dejan Tomašević (2)   Budućnost 42
5   Derrick Hamilton   St. Petersburg Lions 38
6   Darko Krunić   Zadar 39
7   Gregor Fučka   Paf Wennington Bologna 42
8   Kebu Stewart   Hapoel Jerusalem 47
9   Derrick Hamilton (2)   St. Petersburg Lions 40
10   Marcelo Nicola   Benetton Treviso 36

Playoffs

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Game Player Team PIR
8thF G1   Alphonso Ford   Peristeri
45
8thF G2   Dejan Tomašević (3)   Budućnost
34
  Dino Rađja   Olympiakos
  Riccardo Pittis   Benetton Treviso
8thF G3   Angelos Koronios   PAOK
20
  Emilio Kovačić   Union Olimpija
4F G1   Gregor Fučka (2)   Paf Wennington Bologna
43
4F G2   Rashard Griffith   Kinder Bologna
32
4F G3   Carlton Myers   Paf Wennington Bologna
45
SF G1   Saulius Štombergas   Tau Cerámica
43
SF G2   Elmer Bennett   Tau Cerámica
33
SF G3   Fabricio Oberto   Tau Cerámica
25
Final G1   Victor Alexander   Tau Cerámica
32
Final G2   Antoine Rigaudeau   Kinder Bologna
21
Final G3   Manu Ginóbili   Kinder Bologna
31
Final G4   Elmer Bennett (2)   Tau Cerámica
28
Final G5   Rashard Griffith (2)   Kinder Bologna
25

Individual statistics

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Rating

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Rank Name Team Games Rating PIR
1.   Dejan Tomašević   Budućnost 12 371 30.92
2.   Derrick Hamilton   Saint Petersburg Lions 10 283 28.30
3.   Alphonso Ford   Peristeri 12 305 25.42

Points

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Rank Name Team Games Points PPG
1.   Alphonso Ford   Peristeri 12 312 26.00
2.   Dejan Tomašević   Budućnost 12 275 22.92
3.   Panagiotis Liadelis   PAOK 13 295 22.69

Rebounds

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Rank Name Team Games Rebounds RPG
1.   Dejan Tomašević   Budućnost 12 138 11.50
2.   Dino Rađa   Olympiacos 14 137 9.79
3.   Ron Ellis   Region Wallone Spirou 10 96 9.60

Assists

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Rank Name Team Games Assists APG
1.   Ivica Marić   Zadar 10 59 5.90
2.   Elmer Bennett   Tau Cerámica 22 120 5.45
3.   Riccardo Pittis   Benetton Treviso 14 54 3.86

Other statistics

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Category Player Team Games Average
Steals   Ivica Marić   Zadar
10
3.70
  Jemeil Rich   Lugano Snakes
Blocks   Grigorij Khizhnyak   Žalgiris
12
3.17
Turnovers   Sergei Bazarevich   Saint Petersburg Lions
10
4.50
Fouls drawn   Panagiotis Liadelis   PAOK
13
7.08
Minutes   Derrick Hamilton   Saint Petersburg Lions
10
38:35
2P%   Stéphane Risacher   Olympiacos
14
73.7%
3P%   Jorge Racca   PAOK
13
59.3%
FT%   Henry Williams   Müller Verona
12
94.7%

Individual game highs

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Category Player Team Statistic
PIR   Kebu Stewart   Hapoel Jerusalem
47
Points   Carlton Myers   Paf Wennington Bologna
41
  Alphonso Ford   Peristeri
Rebounds   Victor Alexander   Tau Cerámica
19
Assists   Elmer Bennett   Tau Cerámica
13
Steals   Manu Ginóbili   Kinder Bologna
7
  Bojan Bakić   Budućnost
Blocks   Stojan Vranković   Paf Wennington Bologna
10
Three pointers   Saulius Štombergas   Tau Cerámica
9
Turnovers   Sergei Bazarevich   Saint Petersburg Lions
11

Aftermath

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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

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References and notes

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  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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