2000–01 Euroleague


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 Teka and Olympiacos, which was held at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion, in Madrid, Spain, 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 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 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 Elite 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.

Team allocation

A total of 24 teams from 14 countries participate in the competition.

Distribution

The table below shows the default access list.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous round
Regular season

  • 4 best-placed teams from:
  • *Greece
  • *Italy
  • *Spain
  • 2 best-placed teams from Croatia
  • 1 best-placed teams from:
  • *Belgium
  • *Germany
  • *Great Britain
  • *Lithuania
  • *Portugal
  • *Slovenia
  • *Switzerland
  • *Yugoslavia
  • 2 Wild cards
Playoffs
  • 4 group winners from the regular season
  • 4 group runners-up from the regular season
  • 4 group third-placed teams from the regular season
  • 4 group fourth-placed teams from the regular season
The competition culminated in a best 3 out of 5 playoff series.

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round
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
  4. Points scored in all group matches
  5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

    Group A

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification PAF PER ZAL EST LUG ZAD
1 Paf Wennington Bologna1082812760+52Advance to Playoffs—71–6991–8581–7281–6681–77
2 Peristeri1073841786+55Advance to Playoffs83–70—74–9291–8185–6892–73
3 Žalgiris1064866816+50Advance to Playoffs73–5686–73—77–80105–8997–85
4 Adecco Estudiantes1046820821−1Advance to Playoffs76–9086–9187–77—97–7693–81
5 Lugano Snakes1037777914−13772–10080–9195–8777–76—75–74
6 Zadar1028840859−1987–9179–9286–8780–72118–79—

Source:

Group B

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification KIN AEK TAU CIB SPL RWC
1 Kinder Bologna1091835734+101Advance to Playoffs—81–6676–73106–8884–78106–87
2 AEK1082805746+59Advance to Playoffs78–77—64–5283–7584–7397–73
3 Tau Cerámica1064749700+49Advance to Playoffs59–6585–65—92–6697–8876–64
4 Cibona1037773832−59Advance to Playoffs69–7472–8162–60—75–7085–70
5 Saint Petersburg Lions1028778840−6278–8269–9079–8192–90—83–77
6 Region Wallone Spirou1028769857−8858–8089–9771–74100–9180–68—

Source:

Group C

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification OLY RMB UOL BEN JER OVA
1 Olympiacos1073861738+123Advance to Playoffs—91–8482–7082–73102–69101–67
2 Real Madrid Teka1073859789+70Advance to Playoffs75–73—82–7064–75104–64116–94
3 Union Olimpija1073823752+71Advance to Playoffs69–7388–79—78–7495–68102–79
4 Benetton Treviso1064847777+70Advance to Playoffs95–8787–8869–71—78–71106–81
5 Hapoel Jerusalem1037784881−9783–7074–8776–8879–104—106–71
6 Ovarense Aerosoles10010746983−23753–10073–8070–9276–8682–94—

Source:

Group D

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDQualification FCB PAO POD VER LON SKY
1 FC Barcelona1082856757+99Advance to Playoffs—58–6792–7596–8482–7686–60
2 PAOK1073846773+73Advance to Playoffs91–102—89–7297–9470–58100–70
3 Budućnost1073844819+25Advance to Playoffs77–8583–71—77–73101–8379–73
4 Müller Verona1064920854+66Advance to Playoffs94–90102–8886–91—102–7690–70
5 Haribo London Towers1019775878−10382–9761–9388–9589–98—86–61
6 Opel Skyliners1019696856−16051–6873–8079–9480–9779–76—

Source:

Playoffs

Round of 16

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.

Quarterfinals

In a best-of-three series the remaining eight teams were placed against each other. The games were held between 21 February and 7 March 2001, with the top 4 teams advancing to the semifinals.

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 1Agg.Team 21st leg2nd leg3rd leg4th leg5th leg
Kinder Bologna 3–0 Paf Wennington Bologna103–7692–8474–70
AEK 0–3 Tau Cerámica65–9067–7062–76

Finals

The culminating stage of the Euroleague season, the two remaining teams that won the semifinal series played each other in a best-of-five series.
Team 1Agg.Team 21st leg2nd leg3rd leg4th leg5th leg
Kinder Bologna 3–2 Tau Cerámica65–7894–7380–6079–9682–74

2000–01 Euroleague Champions

Kinder Bologna
2nd Title

Awards

Top Scorer

Regular Season MVP

Finals MVP

Finals Top Scorer

All-Euroleague First Team

All-Euroleague Second Team

Round MVP

Regular season

WeekPlayerTeam
1 Panagiotis Liadelis PAOK42
2 Dejan Tomašević Budućnost34
2 Gianluca Basile Paf Wennington Bologna34
3 Milenko Topić Budućnost39
4 Dejan Tomašević Budućnost42
5 Derrick Hamilton St. Petersburg Lions38
6 Darko Krunić Zadar39
7 Gregor Fučka Paf Wennington Bologna42
8 Kebu Stewart Hapoel Jerusalem47
9 Derrick Hamilton St. Petersburg Lions40
10 Marcelo Nicola Benetton Treviso36

Playoffs

GamePlayerTeam
8thF G1 Alphonso Ford Peristeri
45
8thF G2 Dejan Tomašević Budućnost
34
8thF G2 Dino Rađja Olympiakos
34
8thF G2 Riccardo Pittis Benetton Treviso
34
8thF G3 Angelos Koronios PAOK
20
8thF G3 Emilio Kovačić Union Olimpija
20
4F G1 Gregor Fučka Paf Wennington Bologna
43
4F G2 Rashard Griffith Kinder Bologna
32
4F G3 Carlton Myers Paf Wennington Bologna
45
SF G1 Saulius Štombergas Tau Cerámica
43
SF G2 Elmer Bennett Tau Cerámica
33
SF G3 Fabricio Oberto Tau Cerámica
25
Final G1 Victor Alexander Tau Cerámica
32
Final G2 Antoine Rigaudeau Kinder Bologna
21
Final G3 Manu Ginóbili Kinder Bologna
31
Final G4 Elmer Bennett Tau Cerámica
28
Final G5 Rashard Griffith Kinder Bologna
25

Individual statistics

Rating

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Other statistics

Individual game highs

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, 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.