How experienced is each Final Four team?

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By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net

How experienced is each of the teams in the Final Four?

They say that the only thing you cannot teach is experience. And in Madrid will compete players and coaches with little, a lot or no experience in winning Euroleague Final Four games. Who are the most experienced and those with the most games and trophies?

Experience in these kinds of games can be important concerning the mental preparation of the players and the coaches, for the management of games or the responses in crucial moments. A lot has been decided because of the know-how. However, there will always be the example of teams (taking under consideration only the last few years) like Olympiacos in 2012 (only Vassilis Spanoulis and the substitute center Lazaros Papadopoulos had won the Euroleague in the past) or Maccabi last year (only David Blu had done it before) that did not have a lot of experience in Final Fours but made the big surprise. We take into account as participation even if a player took part only in one Euroleague game that season.

Let’s take a look then, at what these players and coaches of the four finalists have done in previous Final Fours.

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It’s the team that has the fewest players with past experience in a Final Four environment. Nikos Zisis celebrated the trophy in 2008 in Madrid once again with CSKA, while the other trophy holder, Ricky Hickman, will watch from the sidelines with an injury. Also, Jan Vesely took part in the Final Four in Paris in 2010 with Partizan.

However, the Turks have the coach with the biggest experience and winning spirit in the history of European basketball. Zeljko Obradovic has the Midas touch in Europe having won the Euroleague eight times with four different teams. Will he do it once more with a fifth?

*He is injured and will not take part in the Final Four

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