# Euroleague 2003: top-16 draw



## WonderPelekanos (Dec 17, 2002)

Group D: CSKA, Efes Pilsen, Unicaja, Cibona 
Group E: Panathinaikos, Ulker, Skipper, Montepaschi 
Group F: Benetton, Tau, Virtus, Maccabi 
Group G: Barcelona, Olimpja, Olympiakos, Asvel

There's something _strange_. We knew that the 6th best team would have been included in the group of the best 2nd. 
Barcelona was the best 2nd, and Montepaschi the best 6th... but Montepaschi finished in the group with Panathinaikos (a first). 
And Barcelona got Asvel, the easiest team... 
And F4 will be played in Barcelona...

Stop now. I don't want to fall in a Ercyes-syndrom now  (but I'm sure that in TB we'll be able to read something nice).


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## Zelena Hracka (Dec 16, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>WonderPelekanos</b>!
> Group D: CSKA, Efes Pilsen, Unicaja, Cibona
> Group E: Panathinaikos, Ulker, Skipper, Montepaschi
> Group F: Benetton, Tau, Virtus, Maccabi
> ...


Yeah, how come? Barca and MPS Siena "SK" should have been in the same group. Did ULEB give reasons for the-last-minute change of the draw rules?

This is not strange. This is *very* strange. 

And also it would make much more sense for Siena *not* to be in PAO's group since they were together in Group B of the regular season. Same with Olympiakos and ASVEL. What's the point of two teams that already have played 2 times to have to play again against each other when they could face some new opponents? Siena should have been in Barca's group and ASVEL in PAO's, both because of the Rules and because they were in the same Reg.S. group with a team of their new T16 group.

Of course having two teams from the same Reg.S. Group together in a T16 Group is inevitable, but in this case the Rules should have prevented this happening again (as it happened with the TAU/Maccabi and Efes/Cibona pairings).


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## WonderPelekanos (Dec 17, 2002)

I got an idea. There has not been any change in the draw, but simply ULEB didn't communicate well how the creation of the top-16 would have worked. At the end, the best second would have been able to meet one of the three fifths, and the best sixth. 
Not "the best sixth". This is just an opinion, and I'm just waken up so don't pay too much attention to it. 
Yaaaaaawn.


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## Zelena Hracka (Dec 16, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>WonderPelekanos</b>!
> I got an idea. There has not been any change in the draw, but simply ULEB didn't communicate well how the creation of the top-16 would have worked. At the end, the best second would have been able to meet one of the three fifths, and the best sixth.
> Not "the best sixth". This is just an opinion, and I'm just waken up so don't pay too much attention to it.
> Yaaaaaawn.


Maybe you are right, but definately this is NOT what you conclude when you read the draw rules, as they are described in www.euroleague.net. 

So, either ULEB has altered the rules OR the guy that had written that section (and made the corresponding table) in EL's web-site wasn't given approprite instructions. 

What the heck! It's not the first time we get confused with draws, isn't that right?


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## WonderPelekanos (Dec 17, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Zelena Hracka</b>!
> What the heck! It's not the first time we get confused with draws, isn't that right?


What do you mean?


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## Zelena Hracka (Dec 16, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>WonderPelekanos</b>!
> 
> 
> What do you mean?


Oh, nothing important, I just recalled the confusion FIBA had caused in Eurobasket 1997 when they didn't define clearly whether the teams that would qualify from the first round will carry with them all the points, or simply the points they gathered against teams that also qualified. 

Remember, Greece thought that didn't need to beat Bosnia in the last game (because Bosnia wasn't able to qualify and therefore the game was of no importance) but eventually (the next day) FIBA informed the teams that all the points will be carried to the second phase. Of course Greece beat Bosnia (with Alvertis 8-meter buzzer-beater) but still the whole issue was discussed for a few days.

And also some confusion was caused in a couple of football draws, which I can't remeber what they were about, to be frank.


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## Zelena Hracka (Dec 16, 2002)

PAO, announced that they will give their next two games (with Skipper and PAOK) in the gym of Kesariani, current home of Near East, until the air-conditioning system is installed in the Patisia Gym that they were using so far. 

This can be dangerous I think, especially for the game against the bolognese team. PAO is out of shape, they'll miss Alvertis (a victim of the arctic conditions of the Patisia Gym) and they will host an umpredictable team in the opener of the group. We'll see how it goes.


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## WonderPelekanos (Dec 17, 2002)

Panathinaikos won and ULEB didn't allow the Greens to play in Kaisariani. The gym of Near East is too little, 1300 places available (2500 in Patisia). 
Attendance for Panathinaikos - Skipper, 1000... in the Arctic pack. Congratulations. 

I want to put here the words of Walter Fuochi, one of the best Italian journalists ("La Repubblica"): _"Il Pao, oltre a Lakovic (6/7 al tiro, 7/8 liberi), ha avuto Buford (8/13) e Fotsis (5/10), poi s´è fatto bello, della partita vinta dai soci, anche quell´insopportabile pavone di Kutluay (5/8)._

Translation: _"PAO, in addition to Lakovic (6/7 from the field, 7/8 ft), had Buford (8/13) and Fotsis (5/10), *then he made himself beautiful, in the game won by his partners, this unbearable peacock of Kutluay (5/8)*"_.


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## Zelena Hracka (Dec 16, 2002)

It is sad, isn't it? You are the EL holders. Your president gives his heart for the team. You have a great coach and a great team. You live in a city of 4.5 million people. And yet again you fail to gather more than 1000 people for a EL game.

It is a shame. Damn Football. I don't get it. 

 

I don't have the time to look for the link, but if you check the photogallery of the italian section of TB, about the game of PAO Vs Skipper, you will find a photo of Pozzecco that worths a thousand words, in respect to the temperature in the Patisia Gym.


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## Zelena Hracka (Dec 16, 2002)

Here it is:


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