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Provisional team list, ULEB Cup 2006-07



BELGIUM ----- Dexia Mons Hainaut

BELGIUM ----- Telindus Oostende

BULGARIA ---- PBC Lukoil Academic

FRANCE ------- Nancy

FRANCE ------- Strasbourg

GERMANY ----- Alba Berlin

GERMANY ----- GHP Bamberg

GREECE ------- AEK

GREECE ------- PAOK

ISRAEL -------- Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem

ITALY ---------- Montepaschi Siena

ITALY ---------- Snaidero Udine

LATVIA -------- BK Ventspils

LITHUANIA ---- Lietuvos Rytas

NETHERLANDS Eiffeltowers Den Bosch

POLAND ------- Anwil Wloclawek

RUSSIA -------- BC Khimki

RUSSIA -------- Dynamo St. Petersburg

SERBIA -------- BC FMP

SERBIA -------- KK Crvena Zvezda

SERBIA -------- KK Hemofarm

SPAIN ---------- Gran Canaria Grupo Dumas

SPAIN ---------- Real Madrid

TURKEY -------- Besiktas JK Cola Turka



The draw will be made on September 14.

The draw.



GROUP A



Lietuvos Rytas

AEK Athens

Gran Canaria

Sluc Nancy

KK Hemofarm

Brose Baskets



GROUP B



BC FMP

BK Ventspils

Snaidero Udine

Anwil Wloclawek

Strasbourg

Besiktas ColaTurka



GROUP C



BC Khimki

Hapoel Migdal

Lukoil Academic

Montepaschi

Alba Berlin

Oostende



GROUP D



Real Madrid

Dynamo SP

Mons Hainaut

C. Zvezda

PAOK

EiffelTowers



The main favourites are Real Madrid, Lietuvos Rytas and probably Montepaschi. They will probably go far. Real looks the strongest team in competition but I hope that Rytas can go all the way and return to Euroleague.

GROUP A

Brose Baskets 49-83 Nancy

Lietuvos Rytas 81-69 Hemofarm

Gran Canaria 63-57 AEK



GROUP B

Besiktas 65-76 Ventspils

FMP 90-61 Anwil Wloclawek

Strasbourg 81-75 Snaidero



GROUP C

Montepaschi 79-63 Alba Berlin

Khimki 87-79 Hapoel Migdal

Lukoil 91-77 Oostende



GROUP D

Unics Kazan 89-71 Dexia Mons

EiffelTowers 84-77 Real Madrid

PAOK 68-78 Crvena Zvezda

Incidentally - I caught the end of the Rytas - Hemofarm game on Eurosport 2. The commentators talked about how the Lithuanians were the favourites for the group and how they were one of the favourites, if not the favourites, for the competition. What do people think? Any substance to those claims?

It is true that Lietuvos Rytas are group favourites. And only group but also one of the favourites to win the cup. Rytas chairman Vainauskas said that club's target is to win ULEB Cup and come back to Euroleague. The squad doesn't look as good as last and that's understandable because it was formed for ULEB Cup. There are realistic chances for Lietuvos Rytas to win the title but it will be very dfficult when there are teams like Real Madrid and Khimki fighting for the same title.

PAOK 68-78 Crvena Zvezda



Needless to comment <!-- s:p -->[img]{SMILIES_PATH}/tongue.gif[/img]<!-- s:p -->

GROUP A

AEK 82-76 Brose Baskets

Hemofarm 73-81 Gran Canaria

Nancy 101-107 Lietuvos Rytas

GROUP B

Snaidero 82-73 Besiktas

Anwil 76-85 Strasbourg

Ventspils 69-78 FMP

GROUP C

Oostende 93-88 Khimki

Alba Berlin 78-61 Lukoil

Hapoel 85-80 Montepaschi

GROUP D

Crvena Zvezda 87-84 Unics

Real Madrid 69-45 PAOK

Dexia Mons 92-84 EiffelTowers



Lietuvos Rytas win again. That was expected win but unexpectedly hard. They will have to play much better to win the cup and to achieve their target. It is really surprising why doesn't the coach let Zukauskas to play. His experience would be very useful.

GROUP A

Brose Basket 78-77 Lietuvos Rytas

Gran Canaria 55-75 Nancy

AEK 73-93 Hemofarm

GROUP B

Besiktas 74-73 FMP

Strasbourg 72-68 Ventspils

Snaidero 85-73 Anwil

GROUP C

Khimki 102-104 Montepaschi

Lukoil 68-66 Hapoel Migdal

Telindus 69-80 Alba Berlin

GROUP D

Unics Kazan 106-88 EiffelTowers

PAOK 83-69 Dexia Mons

Crvena Zvezda 100-81 Real Madrid



That was the result which caused firing of Sharon Drucker from Lietuvos Rytas coach position.



It's good to see Unics winning with Antanas Sireika in charge and three Lithuanian players in his squad.



Crvena Zvezda keep great form and they managed to beat favourites Real Madrid by 19 points.

GROUP A

Brose B. 64-71 Hemofarm

Nancy 86-69 AEK

Lietuvos Rytas 72-70 Gran Canaria

GROUP B

Besiktas 74-61 Anwil

Ventspils 77-74 Snaidero

FMP 79-78 Strasbourg

GROUP C

Khimki 82-77 Alba Berlin

Hapoel Migdal 87-88 Telindus

Montepaschi 77-63 Lukoil

GROUP D

Unics Kazan 100-94 Real Madrid

Dexia Mons 70-81 Crvena Zvezda

EiffelTowers 71-78 PAOK



Even though the new coach has been in charge for only 5 days but there was a serious improvement on Rytas defence. Unfortunatelly offence wasn't working as good as it should. Rytas players made only 2 of 17 3-pointers. Zmago Sagadin promised to solve all the problems in one month. He is a very good coach and hopefully he can brign back Rytas to the Euroleague.

GROUP A

Nancy 93-83 Brose B.

Hemofarm 76-69 Lietuvos Rytas

AEK 70-58 Gran Canaria

GROUP B

Ventspils 89-74 Besiktas

Anwil 78-85 FMP Zeleznik

Snaidero 75-73 Strasbourg

GROUP C

Hapoel 75-85 Khimki

Alba Berlin 71-73 Montepaschi

Telindus 60-67 Lukoil

GROUP D

Dexia Mons 106-108 Unics Kazan

Real Madrid 84-61 EiffelTowers

Crvena Zvezda 81-85 PAOK



Lietuvos Rytas played poorly. They hit only two 3-pointers. Defence wasn't working very well neither. Coach Zmago Sagadin is planning to release one or two players and replace them with new ones. Rytas is likely to win remaining matches and shoul fnish first in the group.



STANDINGS

Group A

Team W L



Nancy 4 2

Lietuvos Rytas 4 2

Hemofarm 4 2

Gran Canaria 3 3

AEK Athens 2 4

Brose Baskets 1 5



Group B

Team W L



BC FMP 5 1

Strasbourg 4 2

BK Ventspils 3 3

Snaidero Udine 3 3

Besiktas ColaTurka 2 4

Anwil Wloclawek 1 5



Group C

Team W L



Montepaschi 5 1

Lukoil Academic 4 2

Khimki 3 3

Hapoel Migdal 2 4

Alba Berlin 2 4

Oostende 2 4



Group D

Team W L



Crvena Zvezda 5 1

Unics Kazan 4 2

PAOK 4 2

Real Madrid 3 3

Dexia Mons 1 5

EiffelTowers 1 5

GROUP A

Brose Basket 80-71 AEK

Gran Canaria 82-73 Hemofarm

Lietuvos Rytas 80-74 Nancy

GROUP B

B. Cola Turka 65-71 Snaidero

Strasbourg 76-77 Anwil

BC FMP 96-100 Ventspils

GROUP C

Khimki 90-75 Telindus

Lukoil 70-76 Alba Berlin

Montepaschi 85-91 Hapoel

GROUP D

Unics Kazan 94-72 Crvena Zvezda

PAOK 53-76 Real Madrid

EiffelTowers 92-73 Dexia Mons



Sagadin's training sessions are really exhausting players. This game just proved that. I'm glad they have won. Sagadin is a good coach and will get 120% out of the team.

There was one funny thing in the game. Nancy brought the wrong kits so Lietuvos Rytas borrowed them their white shirt. So both teams were playing in Rytas shirt <!-- s -->[img]{SMILIES_PATH}/laugh.gif[/img]<!-- s --> Here are the pics:





Andrius Slezas - Lietuvos Rytas





Tariq Kirksay - Nancy

Group A

Team W L

Nancy 6 3

Lietuvos Rytas 6 3

Hemofarm 6 3

Gran Canaria 5 4

Brose Baskets 2 7

AEK Athens 2 7



Group B

Team W L

BC FMP 7 2

BK Ventspils 6 3

Snaidero Udine 5 4

Strasbourg 4 5

Anwil Wloclawek 3 6

Besiktas ColaTurka 2 7



Group C

Team W L

Montepaschi 7 2

Hapoel Migdal 4 5

Khimki 4 5

Alba Berlin 4 5

Lukoil Academic 4 5

Oostende 4 5



Group D

Team W L

Real Madrid 6 3

Unics Kazan 6 3

Crvena Zvezda 6 3

PAOK 6 3

EiffelTowers 2 7

Dexia Mons 1 8

Final group standings



Group A

Team W L

Lietuvos Rytas 7 3

Nancy 7 3

Hemofarm 6 4

Gran Canaria 5 5

Brose Baskets 3 7

AEK Athens 2 8



Group B

Team W L

BC FMP 8 2

BK Ventspils 7 3

Strasbourg 5 5

Snaidero Udine 5 5

Anwil Wloclawek 3 7

Besiktas ColaTurka 2 8



Group C

Team W L

Montepaschi 8 2

Khimki 5 5

Hapoel Migdal 5 5

Alba Berlin 4 6

Lukoil Academic 4 6

Oostende 4 6



Group D

Team W L

Real Madrid 7 3

Unics Kazan 7 3

Crvena Zvezda 7 3

PAOK 6 4

EiffelTowers 2 8

Dexia Mons 1 9



Play-Off draw







Rytas got very good draw and the first impression is that they should go all the way to the final. All the strongest teams (Real Madrid, Montepaschi, Khimki and Unics) can only meet Rytas in the final. Chances of repeating 2005 success for Lithuanian champions are quite good. It would be great to have two teams in Euroleague again.

First was played yesterday.



Gran Canaria 84-88 FMP

Hapoel Migdal 88-73 Ventspils

Strasbourg 89-86 Nancy

Snaidero 75-72 Lietuvos Rytas

Crvena Zvezda 89-77 Khimki

Hemofarm 73-90 Unics

PAOK 62-79 Montepaschi



Lietuvos Rytas had a poor game but still could have won. They were without 3 injured important players. But they will be available for the second leg at home. Rytas must win by at least 4 points to advance to the quarter finals. Coach Zmago Sagadin is confident that the team will do that so I am.



Ventspils, Hemofarm and PAOK are in very tough situation and are almost out. I remember a couple of years ago one team has lost first leg by 20+ points but managed to win second game by 30+ and advanced to the next round!

Well ?algiris' season in Europe is over, so I'll probably be paying more attention to Rytas. Plus, ULEB Cup is on Eurosport 2 often, which I can watch on TV.

On Tuesday second leg will be played. Eurosport 2 will be broadcasting some matches. Here's the list of what they will be showing.



Tuesday, February 13

16:45 GMT Lietuvos Rytas vs. Snaidero Udine LIVE

19:00 GMT Nancy vs. Strasbourg LIVE

21:00 GMT Real Madrid vs. Alba Berlin LIVE (will connect at the end of Nancy-Strasbourg)

Wednesday, February 14

13:00 GMT BC FMP vs Gran Canaria (Delayed)

14:30 GMT BK Ventspills vs Hapoel Jerusalem (Delayed)



Euroleague and ULEB Cup highlights on internet [url="http://http"]here[/url]

I watched the Rytas game and it was probably closer than it should have been but they're through.



And now I've found out that they've parted ways with their coach for some reason.



I mean, if they'd lost then sure but having won? Puzzling. Apparently it's because of poor recent performances.



Seems like the wrong thing to do. But who knows.

Rytas lost by 13 to Strasbourg. But the second leg is still to come, and that one is at home.



I watched the second half, and what I saw were the good bits since they won the second half by 10 points, but clearly the messed up the first half. Rush had a great game, as always. His threes are always great to watch.



It will be tough at home, especially as they'll have to claw back that number of points. But their record at home is like 17-1. Or something along those lines. I'm sure it will be a great game.

Finally I got the time to post here. So many things needs to be updated... Unfortunatelly I found only a couple of new posts <!-- s -->[img]{SMILIES_PATH}/sad.gif[/img]<!-- s -->



BC FMP* 88 - 70 Hapoel Migdal



Lietuvos Rytas* 72 - 56 Strasbourg



Real Madrid* 79 - 78 Crvena Zvezda



Montepaschi 96 - 97 Unics Kazan*



Semi-Finals:



Lietuvos Rytas vs BC FMP



Real Madrid vs Unics Kazan



What a game it was for Rytas. Having 3rd coach this season. The blame goes for club board <!-- s:thudown: -->[img]{SMILIES_PATH}/thudown.gif[/img]<!-- s:thudown: --> They want to control the team. The match started quite good for Rytas and slowly they got such needed 14 points advantage. At one point they led by 18. But from the second part of 3rd quarter they started struggling and couldn't score even easy shots. 4 mins left to the end of 4th quarter Strasbourg reduced Rytas' lead to 5. It looked like Lietuvos Rytas will be knocked out. And then Mindaugas Lukauskis hit the 3. Immediately after that Kareem Rush added another 3 pointer. Roberts Stelmahers hit one more to make the run 9-0. So Rytas had 14 lead.

One of the main problems of Rytas was very slow offense. They defended well but in the offence they were stall.

Rytas reached their lowest target - advanced to the semis. Next rival is Serbian team FMP Zeleznik. They have a lot of talent and we all know how good Serbian clubs are. Rytas will play first game at home and they need to get most of it because it will be very hard i away match.

The Rytas match was a cracker!



Certainly looking forward to the next one, but it will be a lot tougher. I'm glad I can watch it on the TV, too.



Sadly, no-one's been posting here, and by the looks of it, not many people come on here any more, either which is quite saddening.