By John Rammas / irammas@eurohoops.net
Which team is at the top of Eurohoops’ second Power Rankings and what does the overall situation look like? Status, dynamics, form and the significance of results were the criteria for ranking the 16 teams.
16. Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz
Previous ranking: 9 (-7)
Record: 1-4
Home: 1-1
Away: 0-3
Offense-Defense: 70,4-78,2
If there is a right way to make a mistake, Baskonia has been doing it very well until recently. The proof for this is the first four defeats, which resulted in the replacement of Pablo Prigioni by Pedro Martinez. Nothing went well until the last play when they hosted Panathinaikos (85-84). Even though they scored well above their average for their first win, they still have the second-worst offense in the competition.
15. Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Previous ranking: 8 (-7)
Record: 0-5
Home: 0-3
Away: 0-2
Offense-Defense: 73,8-84,8
Their schedule hasn’t helped much but they haven’t helped themselves, either, and the two defeats at home to Madrid (74-88) and CSKA (80-98) as well as the defeat away to Fenerbahce (81-70) are the least of the bad things that have hit Efes. With the fourth-worst offense and the second-worst defense in the competition, they couldn’t escape from Unicaja and their third home defeat (74-79).
14. AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
Previous ranking: 13 (-1)
Record: 1-4
Home: 1-1
Away: 0-3
Offense-Defense: 81,2-87,6
Even though they are more competitive, Milan have picked up where they left off last season: the bottom of the rankings. They have only one win (78-74 over Barcelona), as their schedule hasn’t helped them a lot, with travels to Moscow (93-84), Madrid (100-90) and Tel Aviv (79-68), plus Fenerbahce’s visit (86-92). This is more or less how their defense has come to be the worst in the competition.
13. Unicaja Malaga
Previous ranking: 14 (+1)
Record: 2-3
Home: 1-1
Away: 1-2
Offense-Defense: 70,2-78,4
The worst offense among all 16 teams hasn’t prevented Unicaja from being relatively satisfied with their course so far. Their win over the champions, Fenerbahce, (68-67) on the opening night and the one over Efes (74-79) a few days ago, are characteristic of what they are after, while the defeat by Valencia (91-53) will have to be the example to be avoided until the end of the season.
12. Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
Previous ranking: 16 (+4)
Record: 2-3
Home: 2-1
Away: 0-2
Offense-Defense: 80-80,8
Zvezda went through a summer that was full of uncertainty but now it’s their turn to bring that uncertainty to each of their opponents. Especially when playing at home, whether in the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall (90-82 over Barcelona) or the Kombank Arena (87-84 over Maccabi). The exception is their last game, against Bamberg (69-75). They lose much of their power away from home but at least they have been competitive so far (78-76 at Zalgiris, 85-78 at Khimki).
11. Zalgiris Kaunas
Previous ranking: 15 (+4)
Record: 2-3
Home: 1-1
Away: 1-2
Offense-Defense: 78,6-83,4
Sarunas Jasikevicius’s Zalgiris are characterized by their fighting spirit once again this season and this has provided them with a rather satisfactory start. They had the misfortune of playing with Khimki (85-77), Madrid (66-87) and recently CSKA (94-91), all in a short period of time and this is why they have the third worst-defense in the competition, but in the meantime, they managed to make their mark in Barcelona (75-81).
10. Brose Bamberg
Previous ranking: 12 (+2)
Record: 3-2
Home: 1-1
Away: 2-1
Offense-Defense: 77,4-79,6
Bamberg started in reverse (71-88 to Maccabi, 93-83 to Panathinaikos) but they picked up speed quickly and now have the best run (together with CSKA) with three wins in a row and of all kinds: at home (78-72 over Baskonia) and away (76-80 over Unicaja, 69-75 over Zvezda). That relative equilibrium is reproduced in their performance on offense and defense.
9. Valencia Basket
Previous ranking: 11 (+2)
Record: 3-2
Home: 2-0
Away: 1-2
Offense-Defense: 77-68,2
After first surprising everyone at home by winning the domestic league, Valencia continue on a similar course in their return to the EuroLeague. Erick Green is showing the way on offense and everyone is showing the way on defense (the best among all 16 teams). Valencia can also win away from home (63-80 over Baskonia), where they have suffered their only defeats, but those were not exactly unexpected (75-70 to Khimki, 79-66 to Fenerbahce).
8. FC Barcelona Lassa
Previous ranking: 6 (-2)
Record: 2-3
Home: 2-1
Away: 0-2
Offense-Defense: 80,4-74,2
The opening night was highly promising for Barcelona (98-71 over Panathinaikos), but what followed not so much, as they had to wait until Round 5 and another Greek team to get their second win (73-51 over Olympiacos). Three defeats had intervened, two of which came away from home (90-82 to Zvezda, 78-74 to Milan), and those say a lot about the team.
7. Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens
Previous ranking: 5 (-2)
Record: 2-3
Home: 2-0
Away: 0-3
Offense-Defense: 76,2-83
The older guys are leading the way but the younger ones are not following yet and Panathinaikos already has three defeats, two of them by a wide margin (98-71 to Barcelona, 81-63 to CSKA) and one by a single shot (85-84 to Baskonia). The last one was similar to the way they beat Fenerbahce (70-68), in their most important result so far, but they’re going to have to start winning away, too.