By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The nature of competitive sports align with teams and attached players dealing with upsets, eliminations, and more, besides actually achieving success.
The 2022-23 edition of the Basketball Champions League provides a large sample of early exits. Projected contenders bowing out displayed the solid playing field across the board for the Regular Season and Play-In rounds.
Eurohoops picked five players plus one head coach to be missed the most in the Round of 16.
Following the eight teams knocked in the Regular Season, eight more failed to convert the second opportunity via the Play-Ins. The 16 surviving sides certainly deserved to move on but forcing plenty of household names to spectator status for the remainder of the season adds to the intrigue spilling out of a very exciting season.
Errick McCollum
Widely considered the biggest upset of the season so far, Pinar Karsiyaka was swept by UCAM Murcia in the best-of-three series of the Play-In stage. The team based in Izmir was limited to 2-4 in Group B of the Regular Season narrowly missing the chance for homecourt advantage in the Play-In. Counting the Murcia series, the extremely disappointing overall W-L tally of 2-6.
Starpower on the roster included Errick McCollum, coincidently turning 35 today (22/1). Coming in packing a legendary career overseas, mainly in Europe, he was labeled as the leading player in a club seeking an extended run. For the second year in a row after reaching the championship game of the 2020-21 season, Karsiyaka fell in the Play-Ins.
The experienced guard produced team highs of 18.8 points, 6.5 assists, and an efficiency rating of 16.9 over the eight outings in the Champions League. But not enough to make the Round of 16.