2000–01 Euroleague

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	Gregor Fučka 25.2
Points	Gregor Fučka 19.7
Rebounds	Rashard Griffith 8.7
Assists	Elmer Bennett 5.5
← 1999–2000 2000–01 SuproLeague 2001–02 →

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:

1. Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
2. Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
3. Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group)
4. Points scored in all group matches
5. 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.

See also

• 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague

References and notes

External links

• 2000–01 Euroleague
• 2000–01 Euroleague
• Eurobasket.com 2000–01 Euroleague