2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague

2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague
FIBA SuproLeague logo.
League	FIBA SuproLeague
Sport	Basketball
Season
Season MVP	Nate Huffman (Maccabi Elite)
Top scorer	Miroslav Berić (Partizan)
Final Four
Champions	Maccabi Elite
Runners-up	Panathinaikos
Final Four MVP	Ariel McDonald (Maccabi Elite)

FIBA SuproLeague was the FIBA professional club basketball Champions' Cup for the 2000–01 season. Up until that season, there was one cup, the FIBA European Champions' Cup (which is now called the Euroleague), though in this season of 2000–01, the leading European teams split into two competitions: the FIBA SuproLeague and Euroleague Basketball Company's Euroleague 2000–01.

European Champions' Cup teams divided

The Euroleague (or historically called, the European Champions' Cup) was originally established by FIBA and it operated under its umbrella from 1958 until the summer of 2000, concluding with the 1999–00 season. That was when Euroleague Basketball Company was created.

Amazingly, FIBA had never trademarked the "Euroleague" name and Euroleague Basketball simply used it without any legal ramifications because FIBA had no legal recourse to do anything about it, so they had to find a new name for their league. Thus, the following 2000–2001 season started with 2 separate top European professional club basketball competitions: the FIBA SuproLeague (previously known as the FIBA Euroleague) and the brand new Euroleague 2000–01 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, CSKA Moscow and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Baskonia and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball.

Format

The first phase was a regular season, in which the twenty competing teams were drawn into two groups, each containing ten teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 18 games for each team. The top 8 teams in each group advanced to the Round of 16, and the winners of this round advanced to the Quarter-finals. Both of the rounds were played in a Best-of-three playoff System. The winning teams of the Quarter-finals qualified to the Final Four, which was held in the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris on 10–13 in May 2001.

Regular Season

If one or more clubs are level on won-lost record, tiebreakers are 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 are 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

Key to colors

Top eight places in each group advance to Playoff

Group A Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Panathinaikos 18 13 5 1477 1364 +113 2. CSKA Moscow 18 12 6 1429 1376 +53 3. Split Croatia Osiguranje 18 12 6 1363 1335 +28 4. Ülker 18 11 7 1481 1419 +62 5. Alba Berlin 18 9 9 1439 1408 +31 6. ASVEL 18 9 9 1413 1400 +13 7. Lietuvos Rytas 18 7 11 1522 1536 −14 8. Śląsk Wrocław 18 7 11 1432 1446 −14 9. Montepaschi Siena 18 6 12 1406 1495 −89 10. Maccabi Ness 18 4 14 1294 1477 −183

Group B Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Maccabi Elite 18 15 3 1616 1343 +273 2. Efes Pilsen 18 13 5 1478 1386 +92 3. Partizan 18 11 7 1492 1517 −25 4. Iraklis 18 10 8 1494 1504 −10 5. Scavolini Pesaro 18 9 9 1594 1518 +76 6. Pau-Orthez 18 9 9 1486 1432 +54 7. Telindus Oostende 18 8 10 1478 1544 −66 8. Krka 18 7 11 1401 1487 −86 9. Bayer Leverkusen 18 6 12 1559 1624 −65 10. Plannja 18 2 16 1394 1637 −243

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Panathinaikos	2–0	Krka	82–65	86–79
CSKA Moscow	2–0	Telindus Oostende	94–76	77–70
Efes Pilsen	2–1	Lietuvos Rytas	89–78	69–73	86–67
Maccabi Elite	2–0	Śląsk Wrocław	81–75	85–62
Ülker	1–2	Scavolini Pesaro	91–81	83–96	85–88
Split Croatia Osiguranje	2–0	Pau-Orthez	79–78	85–83
Partizan	1–2	ASVEL	80–73	76–94	62–73
Iraklis	1–2	Alba Berlin	78–67	77–88	75–86

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Panathinaikos	2–0	Alba Berlin	87–77	71–69
CSKA Moscow	2–0	ASVEL	78–63	82–76
Efes Pilsen	2–1	Split Croatia Osiguranje	95–69	64–72	82–59
Maccabi Elite	2–0	Scavolini Pesaro	80–69	84–77

Final Four

Semi finals

May 11, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Panathinaikos	74–66	Efes Pilsen
Maccabi Elite	86–80	CSKA Moscow

3rd place game

May 13, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Efes Pilsen	91–85	CSKA Moscow

Final

May 13, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Panathinaikos	67–81	Maccabi Elite

2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague Champions
Maccabi Elite 3rd Title

Final standings

	Team
	Maccabi Elite
	Panathinaikos
	Efes Pilsen
	CSKA Moscow

Awards

FIBA SuproLeague Season MVP

• Nate Huffman (Maccabi Elite)

FIBA SuproLeague Final Four MVP

• Ariel McDonald (Maccabi Elite)

Two continental champions

In May 2001, Europe had two continental champions, Maccabi Elite 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.

The current Euroleague is formed

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 have been jointly cooperating since then.

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

• Euroleague Basketball Company's Euroleague 2000–01 season

External links

• Linguasport.com SuproLeague 2001
• Eurobasket.com SuproLeague
• SuproLeague At The FIBA Europe Site