By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Power Rankings in the middle of a double-action week? Why not, we ask you back! Despite three games left in Round 22, with 12 teams already completing their contests, there’s a clear picture of what’s going on with Olympiacos being really impressive.
The Reds have proven beyond any doubt that they are so far the best team in the league and the scary part is that despite their injury woes, they continue to improve and play better.
As usual, status, momentum, form, and importance of results were the criteria for ranking the 18 teams.
#18 ALBA BERLIN
Previous ranking: 18 (-)
Record: 6-15
Home: 4-7
Away: 2-8
Offense-Defense: 81.2-83.9
The EuroLeague was over a long time ago for ALBA Berlin. It remains to be seen what its final position will be in the standings and especially whether it can play a spoiler role in the hunt for the playoffs since almost all its remaining games this season are against teams in the top eight or teams that are trying to sneak into the postseason.
#17 EA EMPORIO ARMANI MILAN
Previous ranking: 12 (-5)
Record: 7-15
Home: 3-8
Away: 4-7
Offense-Defense: 71.5-77.6
Not even the worst enemy of Milan would have expected that after 22 games in the EuroLeague this season, Milan would end up with just seven wins. The last one against Baskonia was nothing more than a pleasant change to the pattern after five consecutive defeats.
#16 LDLC ASVEL VILLEURBANNE
Previous ranking: 16 (-)
Record: 8-14
Home: 4-7
Away: 4-7
Offense-Defense: 75.2-80
They will either lose a lot of games in a row or win a lot (less) in a row. This sums up the streaky course of ASVEL this season, which remains stuck in the last places in the standings.
#15 PANATHINAIKOS ATHENS
Previous ranking: 15 (-)
Record: 8-13
Home: 6-5
Away: 2-8
Offense-Defense: 79-82.4
Panathinaikos has just been reinforced with Matt Thomas and Dimitris Agravanis, however, it may have done it too late to help the club in the EuroLeague. The Greens have seven losses in the last nine games and pretty much that’s the end of the road for them.
#14 CRVENA ZVEZDA MERIDIANBET BELGRADE
Previous ranking: 9 (-5)
Record: 10-12
Home: 6-5
Away: 4-7
Offense-Defense: 75.4-77.9
The first six consecutive victories (Rounds 8-13) under Coach Dusko Ivanovic are a distant memory for Red Star. With three consecutive defeats and six in the last nine games, the goal of qualifying for the playoffs has moved outside its hands, while consecutive difficult trips to Milan and Tel Aviv follow soon.
#13 FC BAYERN MUNICH
Previous ranking: 17 (+4)
Record: 9-13
Home: 6-5
Away: 3-8
Offense-Defense: 76.9-78.8
Four wins in six games entering 2023 is not bad at all for Bayern. Unfortunately for the team, 2022 was so bad that up to this point, it has never been ranked higher than 13th in the standings.
#12 VIRTUS SEGAFREDO BOLOGNA
Previous ranking: 13 (+1)
Record: 10-12
Home: 7-5
Away: 3-7
Offense-Defense: 78-80.5
It has been five games (2-3) since the last time Virtus won back-to-back contests (Rounds 17 and 18). It is one of just five teams that have never been in the top eight in the standings so far this season (Crvena Zvezda, Bayern, ASVEL and Panathinaikos are the other four).
#11 MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV
Previous ranking: 7 (-4)
Record: 11-11
Home: 9-1
Away: 2-10
Offense-Defense: 81.8-82.2
Maccabi is constantly losing ground in the battle for the playoffs and is also the team with the worst record in the EuroLeague away from home. The strength of their gym will not be enough even if they continue to get home wins. To be exact, if they continue like this, they will not have the advantage in any playoff series if they make it, and also the tiebreakers are not in their favor.
#10 ANADOLU EFES ISTANBUL
Previous ranking: 8 (-2)
Record: 10-11
Home: 6-4
Away: 4-7
Offense-Defense: 83-79.8
Everyone is waiting for the back-to-back champion to find its mojo again and of course, that remains more than possible. Until then, however, the team continues to live with the risk of not even making the playoffs and their opponents in the top spots of the standings with the risk of meeting Efes in the playoffs.
#9 PARTIZAN MOZZART BET BELGRADE
Previous ranking: 10 (+1)
Record: 11-11
Home: 8-3
Away: 3-8
Offense-Defense: 84.2-83.5
With seven wins in the last nine games, Partizan is pushing for a return to the top eight for the first time since Round 8. However, it has not done it so far and remains a little bit behind in the playoff race. The very next game against Zalgiris in Kaunas will reveal more about whether or not it can make it.
#8 CAZOO BASKONIA VITORIA-GASTEIZ
Previous ranking: 3 (-5)
Record: 12-10
Home: 9-2
Away: 3-8
Offense-Defense: 85.4-83.3
2023 is proving to be particularly tough for Baskonia which has lost five out of six games in January. All this when they prevailed in what seemed to be a lost game against Efes (114-111) for the only victory in this period.
#7 FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL
Previous ranking: 6 (-1)
Record: 13-9
Home: 7-4
Away: 6-5
Offense-Defense: 83.1-80.5
After a tough end to 2022, Fenerbahce appeared to be coming together again as it went on a three-game winning streak. However, with two wins coming in overtime (88-94 over Panathinaikos, 98-94 over Monaco) and back-to-back defeats following, it is obvious that Fener at this point is very different from the team that was the first in the standings early in the season.
#6 VALENCIA BASKET
Previous ranking: 14 (+8)
Record: 12-10
Home: 7-5
Away: 5-5
Offense-Defense: 82-83
With five consecutive wins, it is undisputed that Valencia is the hottest team in the EuroLeague so far in 2023. Time will tell if it can return to the playoffs for the first time since 2011, but this run is more than impressive.
#5 ZALGIRIS KAUNAS
Previous ranking: 11 (+6)
Record: 12-9
Home: 8-2
Away: 4-7
Offense-Defense: 76.1-76.8
Zalgiris Kaunas remains the pleasant surprise of the season and has been consistently in the positions leading to the playoffs since Round 17. If it wasn’t for the historic turnaround by Panathinaikos (from +15 at halftime to losing 89-65) things would be even better for the Lithuanian powerhouse.
#4 AS MONACO
Previous ranking: 4 (-)
Record: 13-8
Home: 8-2
Away: 5-6
Offense-Defense: 82.3-82.5
At 2-3 in 2023, Monaco has lost significant ground in the battle for home-court advantage in the playoffs. Still, it remains constantly near the top of the standings. However, Monaco will need to take a step forward to stay on course.
#3 FC BARCELONA
Previous ranking: 1 (-2)
Record: 14-8
Home: 7-4
Away: 7-4
Offense-Defense: 89.7-78
Since the middle of December, Barcelona has not strung together consecutive victories. The team has practically confirmed all those who say that Barcelona is currently underperforming, but on the flip side, this means that the room for improvement is vast.
#2 REAL MADRID
Previous ranking: 5 (+3)
Record: 14-7
Home: 7-3
Away: 7-4
Offense-Defense: 83.6-77.3
Real Madrid constantly confirms that it has one of the deepest rosters in the EuroLeague and its place as a title contender. The recent defeat to Olympiacos (73-60 in Round 20) was its first in 2023 and since then they have alternated between the 1 and 2 positions.
#1 OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS
Previous ranking: 2 (+1)
Record: 15-7
Home: 6-3
Away: 7-4
Offense-Defense: 85.4-76.4
Olympiacos has the universal admiration of all opponents by playing some of the best basketball in the league. The recent 20-point win against Fenerbahce for a 2-0 record in the games between them, a feat they have achieved also against Real Madrid, further strengthens the argument.