[lptitle title=”Begin the countdown”]
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By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid are in danger of becoming the first European champions to be disqualified from as early as the regular season of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. What have the teams that have won the trophy done in the very next season? Eurohoops.net looks back.
How long does the… aura of the European champion last? Does winning the Euroleague trophy give an extra boost to those teams in the very next season so they can have a good start and also an ideal finish to the year?
Prompted by Real Madrid, who have made by far the worst start of a European champion in the last 15 years, Eurohoops.net searched to find what has taken place in the past, revealing that, until recently, the gold dust from winning the Euroleague had been enough for most teams.
From 2000-01 champions Kinder Bologna, to the Real team of the 2014-15 period, only two have won back to back Euroleague titles (Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv in 2005 and Olympiacos Piraeus in 2013), and another five have qualified to the Final Four but didn’t win. Furthermore, three European champions have been disqualified during the playoffs and four during the Top16!
Read on for more details!
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[lptitle title=”Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv“]
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2014-15
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
Regular period: 7-3 wins (2nd)
Top 16: 9-5 wins (3rd)
Playoffs: Disqualification in 3-0 wins from Fenerbahce Istanbul
A year after their triumph against all odds in Milan, Maccabi reached the Euroleague Playoffs with many ups and downs throughout the season. In the 2014-15 season they were knocked out easily from the Final Four in 3-0 wins from Fenerbahce, which is normal considering the big changes in the roster that team had compared to the one that won the trophy. David Blatt moved to the NBA, while the protagonists of that year, Ricky Hickman, Tyrese Rice and Shawn James, also left Tel Aviv.
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[lptitle title=”Olympiacos“]
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2013-14
Olympiacos
Regular period: 10 wins (1st)
Top 16: 8-6 wins (3rd)
Playoffs: Disqualification in 3-2 wins from Real Madrid
The team that had two consecutive Euroleague trophies didn’t manage to reach the Final Four for the fifth time in the last six years. Olympiacos had an impressive start to the season with a 10-0 record during the regular period, but “paid for” the injuries of Vassilis Spanoulis, Georgios Printezis and Stratos Perperoglou in that same period midway through the Top16 when they suffered four defeats in a row. This was preceded by the loss of Acie Law with a serious injury after Christmas as well as the summer departures of Kyle Hines, Pero Antic and Kostas Papanikolaou. In any case, the red-and-whites succumbed in the fifth game of the Playoffs.
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