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.
Toney Douglas
A veteran of 409 NBA games, Toney Douglas switched to Europe over the last six years. Arriving in the BCL Qualifiers for the second time, he instead enjoyed reaching the Regular Season and also being part of this season’s Cinderella story. Benfica exceeded expectations but was overpowered by Darussafaka in the Play-Ins.
The Portugal champions making it through the Lisbon Qualification Group was initially considered a stretch, considering strong teams the likes of Brose Bamberg and Budivelnyk among the other challengers. The veteran point guard delivering 9.0 points, 4.0 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game helped in a big way.
Douglas, 36, added team highs of 14.6 points, 3.9 assists, and an efficiency rating of 15.3 per contest over the eight games between the Regular Season and Play-Ins in an improbable run to remember coming to an end.
Breein Tyree
The first overseas experience included a brilliant run at the continental level for Breein Tyree. The former Ole Miss standout was the main scoring force for Filou Oostende in the latest impressive run of a roster packed with young players in the Champions League.
The Belgium champions probably deserved more. They lacked the clinching win after beating Bahcesehir Koleji in Game 1 of the best-of-three series on the road. Consequently, Tyree highlighting a long list of promising upstarts will not continue in the BCL season.
Tyree, 25, tallied a team-high 17.4 points to go with 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.1 steals per game over nine appearances in FIBA’s club continental competition.