By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Few teams around Europe are closing 2017 in such a glorious way. Monaco leads the ProA standings with a 12-3 record and after nine games in the Basketball Champions League remains unbeaten.
Is there anyone who can challenge their perfection in the BCL? That’s the big question and so far it seems that Monaco can complete the regular season without a defeat.
First of all, Monaco is expected to add more depth to its roster with the possible addition of Ali Traore. And while a center with the experience of Traore can be an important boost, the team is already sizzling.
Dominance in every part of the game
This dunk pretty much summarizes what Monaco is doing on the court against every opponent so far.
However, the numbers also prove that Monaco is by far the best team of the Basketball Champions League until this point.
Monaco has the third best offensive production with 85,1 points per game, behind Oldenburg (88.8) and Karsiyaka (85.3).
However, what’s really impressive is that Monaco also has the best defense of the competition, letting their opponents score just 66,1 points per game. In order to make the comparison, the same number for Oldenburg is 81 points and for Karsiyaka 84,2. Mind you that Monaco is a direct opponent of both the Germans and the Turks since they all are part of Group A.
And there’s even more. Monaco is both the Basketball Champions League top team in assists (21,2) with a solid 1,6 assists to turnovers ratio and also the top team in steals with 11,3 per game. They are the only team that averages more than 10 steals per game.
Being on top of just one of this categories would be an amazing feat. Being on top of all three of them and also being the third best offense creates an amazing mix of potential.
And as 2018 is about to begin, Monaco is clearly the team to beat in the Basketball Champions League.
Photo credit: BCL