By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
This season will mark the first time since 2012, that the VTB League champion will emerge from a Final Four tournament, instead of a best-of-five series. And CSKA Moscow coach Dimitris Itoudis isn’t a big fan of the idea.
When asked about this transition during a recent interview, Itoudis explained why he thinks that the playoff series consist a preferable format and added that if the Final Four is held for increasing CSKA‘s losing chances (CSKA has won VTB six years in a row), then the club might as well leave the league.
Per Match:
“- Is it a new challenge to win the VTB League in the Final Four format?
– Itoudis: It’s not for me to decide how to hold tournaments. The coach’s task is to win them. Whatever the format is. A playoff series with three wins, or a Final Four – it’s not easy for anyone to become a champion. But the playoffs are the best system in basketball. The fairest. And yet, I think that VTB will lack something unique. Imagine this: semi-finals of five matches, full halls in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Khimki, Krasnodar or somewhere else. This won’t happen now.
– Maybe the rest of the clubs just got tired of the fact that CSKA always becomes the champion, and they decided to increase their chances through a new format?
– Itoudis: And what should CSKA do now? Lose on purpose? If the purpose of the league is to prevent CSKA from winning the title, why not withdraw CSKA in general from the championship? Well, let’s say we lose. And then what? Will everyone be happy?”
The Greek coach has also been an advocate of playoff series in the EuroLeague Top 4, instead of the current Final Four system.
Itoudis won the EuroLeague with CSKA in 2016, ending the team’s 7-year drought while leading them to three (2015, 2016, 2017) VTB League titles during his stint in Moscow.