By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Status, dynamics, form and the significance of results were the criteria for ranking the 18 teams.
#18 FC BAYERN MUNICH
Previous ranking: 16 (-2)
Record: 7-17
At home: 6-6
Away: 1-11
Offense-Defense: 74.1-81.9
With nine defeats in the last ten games and a general weakness away from Munich, Bayern shouldn’t ask for much as they move forward in the regular season. The sixth-worst offense and the sixth-worst defense combine for the competition’s -worst point differential (188). As if those weren’t enough, Bayern also commits the most turnovers (15.0 per game). This is how they’ve reserved the last place for themselves for the last six rounds now.
#17 ZENIT ST PETERSBURG
Previous ranking: 17 (-)
Record: 7-17
At home: 3-9
Away: 4-8
Offense-Defense: 74.8-80.8
Zenit has four defeats in the last five games. Those, in combination with their overall course, were more than enough to warrant a change of their coach, with Xavi Pascual arriving in place of Joan Plaza. They are ranked fourth from last in offense (including fourth in turnovers with 13.8) and in the middle in defense (eighth-worst), stats that haven’t allowed them to beat any teams from the current top eight or to get any higher than 14th place, which was way back in Round 5.
#16 LDLC ASVEL VILLEURBANNE
Previous ranking: 7 (-9)
Record: 9-15
At home: 8-5
Away: 1-10
Offense-Defense: 74.4-81.4
Up until Round 16, ASVEL was on the margins of the positions that lead to the playoffs. With seven defeats in the last eight games, that looks like a distant memory. The fact that half of those defeats came in games against teams from the current top six (Real Madrid, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens, in that order) or away from home (Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, Efes, Panathinaikos, KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz), where they’re not doing well anyway (second-worst record), didn’t help the situation. On top of everything else, they’re also the team with the third-worst offense and the seventh-worst defense.
#15 ALBA BERLIN
Previous ranking: 14 (-1)
Record: 8-16
At home: 4-7
Away: 4-9
Offense-Defense: 85.2-89.3
The wins in Piraeus, Belgrade and Milan would mean a lot for any other team, but not for ALBA, who have the league’s second-worst home record. They have a problem when they don’t get close to their average scoring (85.2 points per game), which is the third-best in the competition (first in assists with 19.8 and, at the same time, third in turnovers with 13.9), since they also have the worst defense. It’s not that they’re not trying (they’ve been in five of this season’s 14 overtimes), but…