Euroleague 2000-01

The inaugural Euroleague season 2000-01 under the new ULEB authority started on October 16 2000 with a regular season game between hosts Real Madrid and Olympiacos at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion in Madrid, Spain [ [http://217.13.116.51/noticia.jsp?temporada=E05&jornada=14&id=1089 EL.net interview: Eduardo Portela] ] , and ended with the championship finals game on May 10, 2001, at the PalaMalaguti arena in Bologna, Italy. This Euroleague season did not feature all the best European teams as some of them opted to compete in the FIBA Suproleague after the row erupted between the previous Euroleague governing body FIBA, and the newly established ULEB.

The total of 24 teams competed for the ULEB Euroleague title, which was in the end won by Kinder Bologna. Dejan Tomašević was the regular season MVP and Manu Ginobili was the Finals MVP.

Format

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.

Playoffs

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 Top 8.

In a "Best of Three" series the remaining 8 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, to play each other in a best of five series.

Finals

The culminating stage of the Euroleague season, the two remaining teams that won the semi final series played a each other in a best of five 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.

Group C

Quarter Finals

In a "Best of Three" series the remaining 8 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.

Awards

Regular Season MVP

*flagicon|FR Yugoslavia Dejan Tomašević ( flagicon|FR Yugoslavia Budućnost Podgorica )

Finals MVP

*flagicon|Argentina Emanuel Ginobili ( flagicon|ITA Kinder Bologna )

All Euroleague First Team 2000-2001

*flagicon|USA Louis Bullock ( flagicon|ITA Muller Verona )
*flagicon|USA Alphonso Ford ( flagicon|GRE Peristeri Athens )
*flagicon|USA Derrick Hamilton ( flagicon|RUS Saint Petersburg Lions )
*flagicon|ITA Gregor Fučka ( flagicon|ITA Fortitudo Bologna )
*flagicon|FR Yugoslavia Dejan Tomašević ( flagicon|FR Yugoslavia Budućnost Podgorica )

All Euroleague Second Team 2000-2001

*flagicon|USA Jemeil Rich ( flagicon|Switzerland Lugano )
*flagicon|GRE Panagiotis Liadelis ( flagicon|Greece PAOK Thessaloniki )
*flagicon|ESP Pau Gasol ( flagicon|Spain FC Barcelona )
*flagicon|GRE Ioannis Giannoulis ( flagicon|Greece PAOK Thessaloniki )
*flagicon|USA Rashard Griffith ( flagicon|Italy Kinder Bologna )

Notes

External links

* [http://www.euroleague.net/ Euroleague.net] - Official Euroleague homepage.
* [http://www.eurobasket.com/ Eurobasket.com] - Popular basketball news site.
* [http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/ TalkBasket.net] - Basketball forum.