March 24, 2016 - Eurocup Quarterfinals, Game 2 MVP: Dominique Sutton, Dolomiti Energia Trento
The
Eurocup has reached the most important moment of the season. A long
road that started in October reached a point were there are only four
survivors left with one last obstacle to overcome: the semifinals. The
last stop before reaching this stage was Game 2 of the Quarterfinals,
in which Dominique Sutton of Dolomiti Energia Trento shined to claim
sole possession of the weekly MVP award thanks to a career-high index
rating performance of 34. Sutton led his team with 20 points (also a
career-high for him) including 8 of 9 twos, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3
steals and 6 drawn fouls for a great all-around performance that
allowed his team to sweep the series against powerhouse EA7 Emporio
Armani Milan and continue a magical season in European competition.
Next in line was Strasbourg's Kyle Weems, who scored a monster 35
points (career-high for him as he was averaging 9.3 per game this
season before this game) that included 10 of 13 twos and 5 of 15 threes
with no free throws at all. Read more here.
March 22, 2016 - Eurocup Quarterfinals, Game 2: Do-or-die time, once again
It is decision time in the Eurocup Quarterfinals.
Two road warriors - Strasbourg and Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas -
took leads in their respective series and now return home to defend
their margins. Two other teams - FC Bayern Munich and Dolomiti Energia
Trento - grabbed double-digit leads at home and will try to qualify by
holding those differences away from home. Every point, every possession
counts through one game on Tuesday and three on Wednesday to decide the
semifinalists! Read more here.
Here is the schedule for Game 2:
QUARTERFINAL A
Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul vs. FC Bayern Munich 72-59
QUARTERFINAL B
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas vs. Stelmet Zielona Gora 83-86
QUARTERFINAL C
Strasbourg vs. Nizhny Novgorod 91-91
QUARTERFINAL D
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan vs. Dolomiti Energia Trento 79-92
March 18, 2016 - Eurocup Quarterfinals, Game 1 tri-MVPs: Alen Omic, Mardy Collins, Deon Thompson
The
last eight teams standing are done with the first game of the
Quarterfinals. Game 2 promises big thrills to see what the four
semifinalists are. In the meantime, as many as three players emerged as
co-MVPs of the week thanks to respective index rating performances of
27, the highest among winning players: Alen Omic of Herbalife Gran
Canaria Las Palmas, Deon Thompson of FC Bayern Munich and Mardy Collins
of Strasbourg. Omic scored 20 points, pulled 8 boards, dished a
career-high 4 assists and drew 5 fouls. Thompson led his team to the
win with also 20 points, 9 boards and 4 drawn fouls. Finally, Collins
led Strasbourg to the win with 24 points (8 of 9 twos), 3 rebounds, 2
assists and 1 steal. Read more here.
March 15, 2016 - Eurocup Quarterfinals, Game 1: Race for title resumes
The quest to become a first-time Eurocup champion
resumes when eight survivors open the two-game quarterfinals starting
March 15. The only remaining team that has won any international
trophies, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, has done so nine times. For three
other contenders - Nizhny Novgorod of Russia, Herbalife Gran Canaria
Las Palmas of Spain and Dolomiti Energia Trento - the Eurocup would be
the first trophy of any kind for their clubs. All the rest have won at
least one national league or cup before, but a Eurocup title would mark
their biggest achievement outside their own countries. The fun begins
with two games each on Tuesday and Wednesday at the home courts of the
teams that finishes lower in the Last 32 group stage. Read more here.
Here is the schedule for Game 1:
QUARTERFINAL A
FC Bayern Munich vs. Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul 99-89
QUARTERFINAL B
Stelmet Zielona Gora vs. Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas 82-93
QUARTERFINAL C
Nizhny Novgorod vs. Strasbourg 85-94
QUARTERFINAL D
Dolomiti Energia Trento vs. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 83-73
March 11, 2016 - Inside the quarterfinals
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas vs. Stelmet Zielona Gora
Gran Canaria has accomplished a lot during its 10
seasons competing in the Eurocup; it ranks third all-time with 86 wins
and could join a select group if it wins its quarterfinals series. Only
five teams have made back-to-back trips to the semifinals – Estudiantes
Madrid (2003, 2004), Hemofarm Vrsac (2005, 2006), Bilbao (2009, 2010),
Valencia Basket (2012, 2013, 2014) and Unics Kazan (2014, 2015) – and
Gran Canaria, last season’s runner-up, will join that group if it gets
past Zielona Gora. Early in Game 1 of this series, Gran Canaria will
become the fourth team to score 10,000 Eurocup points; it enters the
series with 9,995. Read more here.
FC Bayern Munich vs. Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul
This is first Eurocup quarterfinals appearance for
Bayern and first time since 2008 that Galatasaray has reached this
stage. Galatasaray is making its fifth appearance in the competition.
It reached ULEB Cup Final Eight in Turin, Italy in 2008, where it faced
Besiktas JK Istanbul, which was coached by current Galatasaray boss
Ergin Ataman, and edged its city rival 60-61 on a game-winning
three-pointer by Cuneyt Erden. Two days later Galatasaray was ousted in
the semifinals by the eventual champ DKV Joventut Badalona 90-83.
Bayern is in its third Eurocup season, and it got into the elimination
rounds for the first time last season. However, after going undefeated
in the Last 32, Bayern then lost in a two-game eighthfinals series
against Valencia Basket by an aggregate scorer of 174-118. Read more here.
Strasbourg vs. Nizhny Novgorod
In just its second Eurocup campaign, Nizhny Novgorod
is back in the quarterfinals and hoping to reach the semifinals again,
too. Back in 2013-14, Nizhny eliminated Hapoel Jerusalem in the
quarterfinals, but got ousted against eventual champion Valencia Basket
in the semis. Four key players remain on the squad from two seasons
ago: Semen Antonov is the team's second-best scorer (13.1), and also
second assists (2.3) and free throws (86.8%); Evgeny Baburin has a
team-best 1.5 steals; Vladimir Ivlev makes 59.6% of his two-points
shots; and Dimitriy Khvostov is Nizhny's top three-point shooter (50%)
and plays the second-most minutes (29:48). This is also Strasbourg's
second quarterfinals appearance, but its first since 2007 and, to no
one's surprise, no player or coach is still with the team from nine
years ago. Read more here.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan vs. Dolomiti Energia Trento
One of these two teams, either EA7 Emporio Armani
Milan or Dolomiti Energia Trento, will become just the second Italian
team to reach the Eurocup Semifinals and the first since 2011. Over the
years, Italian clubs have been quite active in the competition with a
total of 20 clubs taking part since the ULEB Cup opened its doors in
2002. To date the most successful has been Benetton Treviso, which
played a total of five Eurocup seasons between 2007 and 2012 and peaked
when it knocked out BG Goettingen in the quarters to reach the 2011
Eurocup Finals. Benetton hosted that event, but fell in the semifinals
to Cajasol Seville. EA7 Milan scorer Alessandro Gentile was an 18-year
starter on that Benetton team. Read more here.
March 6, 2016 - Eurocup Quarterfinals at a glance
FC Bayern Munich vs Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul
FC Bayern Munich is now in uncharted waters after
reaching the Eurocup Quarterfinals for the first time in club history.
Bayern knocked out German League rival ALBA Berlin in the eighthfinals
after tying the first game in the German capital and winning Game 2 at
home by 9. The backcourt duo of Alex Renfroe (14.4 ppg, 4.6 apg.) and
Anton Gavel (9.6 ppg., 44.4% 3FG) together with forward Dusko Savanovic
(10.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg.) led the way for a deep Bayern squad in the
previous round, but with seven different players averaging at least 8
points in the Eurocup this season, Coach Svetislav Pesic has many other
options he can turn to going forward, too. Worth noting is that Bayern
has won it only two Eurocup road games outside of Germany so far this
season.
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas vs Stelmet Zielona Gora
Last season’s runner-up, Herbalife Gran Canaria Las
Palmas is back contending for Eurocup glory again. Already known for
having one of toughest home floors in the competition, Gran Canaria
enters the quarterfinals having won six straight on the road, four of
which were by double-digit margins, including a 65-82 Eighthfinals Game
1 win over Limoges CSP. Gran Canaria has plenty of options on offense
where 11 of its players have scored at least once in double figures.
Its average of 84.9 points per game is the most among teams to survive
the Last 32 and the same is true for assists (19.2 apg.). Big man Alen
Omic is team’s top scorer (13.4 ppg.) and rebounder (8 rpg.), but Gran
Canaria’s strength most lies in its backcourt with Kevin Pangos (12.5
ppg., 5.1 apg.), Sasu Salin (11.9 ppg.) and D.J. Seeley. But there is a
lot more to Gran Canaria than just offense. The team rebounds (36.9
rpg.) better than any other quarterfinalist and ranks seventh in
offensive rebounding (12.1 orpg.).
Strasbourg vs Nizhny Novgorod
Strasbourg’s hot and cold Eurocup campaign hit a
high note in eighthfinals Game 2 with a 64-93 road thrashing of EWE
Baskets Oldenburg to reach the quarterfinals for the second time and
first since 2007. Coach Vincent Collet’s side started the season in the
Turkish Airlines Euroleague and then took the Eurocup by storm with
wins in its first four games. However three straight losses followed,
including the opening leg of the eighthfinals at home, but Strasbourg
shined in the return leg to advance in style. Among its many weapons
were power forward Matt Howard (9.9 ppg., 9 rpg.), whose 22 rebounds
were best in the eighthfinals, while no player made more three-pointers
in that stage than Rod Beaubois’s (14.3 ppg.) 7. Swingman Mardy Collins
(12.3 ppg., 4.1 apg., 1.4 spg.) is another key piece for the club,
which ranks third in the Eurocup in steals (8.4 spg.) and sixth in
assists (18.8 apg.).
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan vs Dolomiti Energia Trento
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan did not appear in Eurocup
for more than a decade, but now has made it to the quarterfinals by
winning six of its last seven games, which includes a hard-fought sweep
of Banvit Bandirma in the eighthfinals. Milan has as deep of a bench as
any team in the competition, with eight players averaging 8 or more
points per game, and five of them posting double figures. One of them,
team star Alessandro Gentile is nearing his return from injury.
Krunoslav Simon leads the team in scoring (14.5 ppg.) and assists (3.5
apg.), and also grabs the second-most rebounds (4.5 rpg.). Mid-season
acquisition Rakim Sanders (14.3 ppg.), pivot man Jamel McLean (11.8
ppg., 5.6 rpg.) and former Eurocup Rising Star Award winner Milan
Macvan (10.9 ppg.) are the other prime weapons; Macvan collected 24
points plus 10 rebounds in Milan’s 83-79 Italian League win over Trento
in mid-January. Read more here.
The
Eurocup has reached the most important moment of the season. A long
road that started in October reached a point were there are only four
survivors left with one last obstacle to overcome: the semifinals. The
last stop before reaching this stage was Game 2 of the Quarterfinals,
in which Dominique Sutton of Dolomiti Energia Trento shined to claim
sole possession of the weekly MVP award thanks to a career-high index
rating performance of 34. Sutton led his team with 20 points (also a
career-high for him) including 8 of 9 twos, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3
steals and 6 drawn fouls for a great all-around performance that
allowed his team to sweep the series against powerhouse EA7 Emporio
Armani Milan and continue a magical season in European competition.
Next in line was Strasbourg's Kyle Weems, who scored a monster 35
points (career-high for him as he was averaging 9.3 per game this
season before this game) that included 10 of 13 twos and 5 of 15 threes
with no free throws at all. Read more 
The
last eight teams standing are done with the first game of the
Quarterfinals. Game 2 promises big thrills to see what the four
semifinalists are. In the meantime, as many as three players emerged as
co-MVPs of the week thanks to respective index rating performances of
27, the highest among winning players: Alen Omic of Herbalife Gran
Canaria Las Palmas, Deon Thompson of FC Bayern Munich and Mardy Collins
of Strasbourg. Omic scored 20 points, pulled 8 boards, dished a
career-high 4 assists and drew 5 fouls. Thompson led his team to the
win with also 20 points, 9 boards and 4 drawn fouls. Finally, Collins
led Strasbourg to the win with 24 points (8 of 9 twos), 3 rebounds, 2
assists and 1 steal. Read more 
