2000–01 Euroleague
Season | 2000–01 |
---|---|
Champions |
Kinder Bologna (2nd title) |
Runners-up | Tau Cerámica |
Teams | 24 |
Awards | |
Finals MVP | Manu Ginóbili |
Regular Season MVP | Dejan Tomašević |
Statistical leaders | |
Index Rating |
25.2 |
Points |
19.7 |
Rebounds |
8.7 |
Assists |
5.5 |
The 2000–01 Euroleague was the inaugural basketball season of the EuroLeague, under the newly formed Euroleague Basketball Company's authority, and it was the 44th season of the premier competition for European men's professional basketball clubs overall. It started on October 16, 2000, with a regular season game between hosts Real Madrid and Olympiacos, which was held at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion, in Madrid, Spain,[1] and it ended with the last championship finals game on May 10, 2001, which was held at the PalaMalaguti arena, in Bologna, Italy.
This season did not feature all of the top-tier level European club basketball teams, as some of them opted to compete in the 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague competition instead, after the row erupted between the previous EuroLeague governing body, FIBA, and the newly established Euroleague Basketball Company.
A total of 24 teams competed for the EuroLeague title, which was in the end won by Kinder Bologna. Dejan Tomašević was the EuroLeague Regular season MVP, and Manu Ginóbili was the EuroLeague Finals MVP.
European Champions' Cup teams divided
The EuroLeague (or historically called, the FIBA European Champions' Cup) was originally established by FIBA, and it operated under its umbrella from 1958, until the summer of 2000, concluding with the 1999–2000 season. That was when Euroleague Basketball Company was created.
Because FIBA had never trademarked the "EuroLeague" name, and Euroleague Basketball simply used it without any legal ramifications, because FIBA had no legal recourse to prevent it, so they had to find a new name for their league. Thus, the following 2000–01 season started with 2 separate top European professional club basketball competitions: the FIBA SuproLeague (previously known as the FIBA EuroLeague) and the brand new 2000–01 Euroleague season.
The rift in European professional club basketball initially showed no signs of letting up. Top clubs were also split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Tau Cerámica, and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball.
Competition system
- 24 teams (some of the national domestic league champions from the best leagues, and a variable number of other clubs from some of the most important national domestic leagues), playing in a tournament system. The competition culminated in a best 3 out of 5 playoff series.
Regular season
The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into four groups, each containing six teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 10 games for each team in the first stage. The top 4 teams in each group advanced to the next round, The Top 16. The complete list of tiebreakers is provided in the lead-in to the Regular Season results.
If one or more clubs were level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:
- Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
- Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
- Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group)
- Points scored in all group matches
- Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match
Group A
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Paf Wennington Bologna | 10 | 8 | 2 | 812 | 760 | +52 | Advance to Playoffs |
2 | Peristeri | 10 | 7 | 3 | 841 | 786 | +55 | |
3 | Žalgiris | 10 | 6 | 4 | 866 | 816 | +50 | |
4 | Adecco Estudiantes | 10 | 4 | 6 | 820 | 821 | −1 | |
5 | Lugano Snakes | 10 | 3 | 7 | 777 | 914 | −137 | |
6 | Zadar | 10 | 2 | 8 | 840 | 859 | −19 |
Group B
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kinder Bologna | 10 | 9 | 1 | 835 | 734 | +101 | Advance to Playoffs |
2 | AEK Athens | 10 | 8 | 2 | 805 | 746 | +59 | |
3 | Tau Cerámica | 10 | 6 | 4 | 749 | 700 | +49 | |
4 | Cibona | 10 | 3 | 7 | 773 | 832 | −59 | |
5 | Saint Petersburg Lions | 10 | 2 | 8 | 778 | 840 | −62 | |
6 | Spirou Charleroi | 10 | 2 | 8 | 769 | 857 | −88 |
Group C
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Olympiacos | 10 | 7 | 3 | 861 | 738 | +123 | Advance to Playoffs |
2 | Real Madrid | 10 | 7 | 3 | 859 | 789 | +70 | |
3 | Union Olimpija | 10 | 7 | 3 | 823 | 752 | +71 | |
4 | Benetton Treviso | 10 | 6 | 4 | 847 | 777 | +70 | |
5 | Hapoel Jerusalem | 10 | 3 | 7 | 784 | 881 | −97 | |
6 | Ovarense Aerosoles | 10 | 0 | 10 | 746 | 983 | −237 |
Group D
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | FC Barcelona | 10 | 8 | 2 | 856 | 757 | +99 | Advance to Playoffs |
2 | PAOK | 10 | 7 | 3 | 846 | 773 | +73 | |
3 | Budućnost | 10 | 7 | 3 | 844 | 819 | +25 | |
4 | Müller Verona | 10 | 6 | 4 | 920 | 854 | +66 | |
5 | London Towers | 10 | 1 | 9 | 775 | 878 | −103 | |
6 | Opel Skyliners | 10 | 1 | 9 | 696 | 856 | −160 |
Playoffs
Bracket
Eightfinals 31 January –14 February | Quarterfinals 21 February – 7 March | Semifinals 27 March – 7 April | Finals 17 April – 10 May | |||||||||||
Kinder Bologna | 2 | |||||||||||||
Adecco Estudiantes | 0 | |||||||||||||
Kinder Bologna | 2 | |||||||||||||
Union Olimpija | 0 | |||||||||||||
PAOK | 1 | |||||||||||||
Union Olimpija | 2 | |||||||||||||
Kinder Bologna | 3 | |||||||||||||
Paf Bologna | 0 | |||||||||||||
Paf Bologna | 2 | |||||||||||||
Cibona | 0 | |||||||||||||
Paf Bologna | 2 | |||||||||||||
Real Madrid | 1 | |||||||||||||
Real Madrid | 2 | |||||||||||||
Budućnost | 0 | |||||||||||||
Kinder Bologna | 3 | |||||||||||||
Tau Cerámica | 2 | |||||||||||||
AEK Athens | 2 | |||||||||||||
Žalgiris | 0 | |||||||||||||
AEK Athens | 2 | |||||||||||||
Benetton Treviso | 1 | |||||||||||||
FC Barcelona | 0 | |||||||||||||
Benetton Treviso | 2 | |||||||||||||
AEK Athens | 0 | |||||||||||||
Tau Cerámica | 3 | |||||||||||||
Olympiacos | 2 | |||||||||||||
Müller Verona | 0 | |||||||||||||
Olympiacos | 0 | |||||||||||||
Tau Cerámica | 2 | |||||||||||||
Peristeri | 0 | |||||||||||||
Tau Cerámica | 2 | |||||||||||||
Eightfinals
In a best-of-three series the remaining 16 teams were placed against each other. The games were held between the 31st of January and the 14th of February, 2001, with the top 8 teams advancing to the Playoffs.
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Paf Wennington Bologna | 2–0 | Cibona | 76–64 | 75–74 | |
Kinder Bologna | 2–0 | Adecco Estudiantes | 113–70 | 85–80 | |
Peristeri | 0–2 | Tau Cerámica | 79–81 | 68–81 | |
AEK Athens | 2–0 | Žalgiris | 69–60 | 73–71 | |
Olympiacos | 2–0 | Müller Verona | 94–92 | 96–84 | |
FC Barcelona | 0–2 | Benetton Treviso | 85–86 | 82–99 | |
Real Madrid | 2–0 | Budućnost | 91–63 | 76–62 | |
PAOK | 1–2 | Union Olimpija | 75–64 | 77–85 | 69–73 |
Quarterfinals
In a best-of-three series the remaining eight teams were placed against each other. The games were held between the 21st of February and the 7th of March, 2001, with the top 4 teams advancing to the Semi finals.
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Paf Wennington Bologna | 2–1 | Real Madrid | 74–68 | 57–88 | 88–70 |
Kinder Bologna | 2–0 | Union Olimpija | 80–79 | 81–79 | |
Olympiacos | 0–2 | Tau Cerámica | 72–78 | 76–98 | |
AEK Athens | 2–1 | Benetton Treviso | 97–89 | 74–90 | 71–56 |
Semifinals
In a best-of-five series the remaining four teams were placed against each other. The games were held between the 27th of March and the 7th of April, 2001.
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg | 4th leg | 5th leg |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kinder Bologna | 3–0 | Paf Wennington Bologna | 103–76 | 92–84 | 74–70 | ||
AEK Athens | 0–3 | Tau Cerámica | 65–90 | 67–70 | 62–76 |
Finals
The culminating stage of the Euroleague season, the two remaining teams that won the semi final series played each other in a best-of-five series.
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg | 4th leg | 5th leg |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kinder Bologna | 3–2 | Tau Cerámica | 65–78 | 94–73 | 80–60 | 79–96 | 82–74 |
Awards
Regular Season MVP
Player | Team |
---|---|
Dejan Tomašević | Budućnost |
Finals MVP
Player | Team |
---|---|
Manu Ginóbili | Kinder Bologna |
All-Euroleague First Team
Player | Team |
---|---|
Louis Bullock | Müller Verona |
Alphonso Ford | Peristeri |
Derrick Hamilton | Saint Petersburg Lions |
Gregor Fučka | Paf Wennington Bologna |
Dejan Tomašević | Budućnost |
All-Euroleague Second Team
Player | Team |
---|---|
Jemeil Rich | Lugano Snakes |
Panagiotis Liadelis | PAOK |
Pau Gasol | FC Barcelona |
Ioannis Giannoulis | PAOK |
Rashard Griffith | Kinder Bologna |
Aftermath
In May 2001, Europe had two continental champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague. The leaders of both organizations realized the need to come up with a new single competition. Negotiating from the position of strength, Euroleague Basketball Company dictated proceedings, and FIBA essentially had no choice but to agree to their terms. As a result, the EuroLeague was fully integrated under Euroleague Basketball Company's umbrella, and teams that competed in the FIBA SuproLeague during the 2000-01 season joined it as well. It is today officially admitted that European basketball had two champions that year, Maccabi of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of the Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague.
A year later, Euroleague Basketball Company and FIBA decided that Euroleague Basketball's EuroLeague competition would be the main basketball tournament on the continent, to be played between the top level teams of Europe. FIBA Europe would also organize a European league for third-tier level teams, known as the FIBA Europe League competition, while Euroleague Basketball would also organize its own second-tier level league, combining FIBA's long-time Korać Cup and Saporta Cup competitions into one new competition, the EuroCup. In 2005, Euroleague Basketball and FIBA decided to cooperate with each other, and did so jointly until 2016.
In essence, the authority in European professional basketball was divided over club-country lines. FIBA stayed in charge of national team competitions (like the FIBA EuroBasket, the FIBA World Cup, and the Summer Olympics), while Euroleague Basketball took over the European professional club competitions. From that point on, FIBA's Korać Cup and Saporta Cup competitions lasted only one more season before folding, which was when Euroleague Basketball launched the EuroCup.