By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Baxi Manresa, Hapoel U-NET Holon, Lenovo Tenerife, and MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg will battle it out in Bilbao Arena. The Basketball Champions League Final Four crowning the champion of the 2021-22 season will go down in history and certainly will be decided on the basketball court. However, reimagining the season-ending stage into a European song contest has its perks.
As the BCL with 17 teams from eight countries reaching the Final Four through the six years of competition history, the Eurovision Song Contest offers the opportunity for singers representing multiple countries to shine in a fair competitive environment. When it is all said and done in Bilbao, Turin’s Eurovision will be next up.
Drawing similarities between the Champions League and Eurovision develops several interesting points.
Eurohoops connects the 2021-22 BCL finalists to songs, singers or bands that are an integral part of Eurovision’s track record through the years.
Baxi Manresa – Maneskin (Zitti e buoni)
The most recent Eurovision winner, Maneskin rocked Rotterdam and Europe entirely performing “Zitti e buoni”, just like the players guided by Pedro Martinez rocked through the competition this season.
Red-hot Chima Moneke as the lead singer in a contest-winning performance would not be such a stretch. Add Ismael Bako, Joe Thomasson, and Luke Maye to the mix, and you got a Maneskin version of a basketball team.
“I feel like this team, in ten years, people will still be talking about this team,” Moneke described his experience at the Catalonia outlet appearing on a recent episode of BCL Diaries. Expect the UC Davis product to deliver an equally strong winning speech, if Manresa gets the job done in Bilbao.
“We just want to say to the whole of Europe, to the whole world, rock and roll never dies!” Damiano David paved the way after Maneskin was named the 2021 Eurovision winner.
Hapoel U-NET Holon – Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta (A-Ba-Ni-Bi)
From the 2021 winners back to 1978 when Israel topped Eurovision for the first time. “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta is a great example to follow considering Hapoel U-NET Holon is the first Israeli team making it this far in the BCL.
Israel actually went on for a second straight triumph in Eurovision as Milk and Honey’s “Hallelujah” ranked first in Jerusalem, the next year. Hapoel Holon’s head coach Guy Goodes and his players can focus on this Final Four, at least for now.
Tyrus McGee reuniting with plenty of old teammates got the band back together. Chris Johnson making things happen on both ends of the court and the remaining players build a strong case for Hapoel Holon to become the first Champions League winner from Israel.
Lenovo Tenerife – Johnny Logan (What’s Another Year)
The last team standing in the inaugural Basketball Champions League season link to Johnny Logan was the simplest of them all. “What’s Another Year” achieved success in 1980, marking the first of Logan’s three wins, and its title is a perfect fit to lasting BCL original Lenovo Tenerife dancing through its latest strong campaign.
The Irish singer and composer won Eurovision again in 1987 with “Hold Me Now” and wrote the 1992 winning song “Why Me” performed by Linda Martin. The team based in the Canary Islands will be looking for the second Champions League title in team history but is surely successful enough to draw comparisons with Logan.
Giorgi Shermadini will be a tough matchup in Bilbao, the birthplace of Tenerife head coach Txus Vidorreta. Help from players the likes of Marcelo Huertas and Kyle Wiltjer, among others, has been scary for Tenerife’s opponents the entire season.
MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg – Alexander Rybak (Fairytale)
“Fairytale” and Alexander Rybak proved unstoppable in the 2009 Eurovision contest. It has not been easy to halt MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg or Jonah Radebaugh, especially in recent games.
The youngest solo male winner of the contest was 23 when he performed in Moscow. Maybe it was not the greatest idea going for a repeat in 2018 with “That’s How You Write A Song”, as he settled for fifteenth place.
Sitting out the past couple of seasons, John Patrick’s side returned to the Champions League and qualified to the Final Four, four years after the first appearance and finishing fourth in Athens. Unlike Rybak, it can only go up from here.
From 6 to 14 May, the Basketball Champions League Final Four and Eurovision take center stage.
Basketball Champions League Final Four schedule:
Semifinals (6/5)
Hapoel U-NET Holon – Lenovo Tenerife (18:00 CET)
MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg – Baxi Manresa (21:00 CET)
Finals (8/5)
Third-place game (17:00 CET)
Championship game (20:00 CET)
Eurovision schedule:
First semifinal (10/5, 21:00 CET)
Second semifinal (12/5, 21:00 CET)
Final (14/5, 21:00 CET)
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League