Leagues of Europe Reference Thread

this thread will hopefully lead you to where you want to find news about some former NBA players currently competing in Europe.

The Russian League: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=264358

The Greek League Thread: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=250436

The Italian League: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=267401

Israeli League Thread: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=250435

The Spanish League: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=298856 has been added

if anyone wants me to start threads for other leagues/teams let me know so I could get started on that

here are the Euroleague/Eurocup Threads

Main Euroleague Thread: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=289570

Main EuroCup Thread: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=294780

Euroleague Previews: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=278720 (submitted from Euroleague.net and Ball In Europe.com)
Eurocup Previews: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=294784 (Group Analysis Submitted from EurocupBasketball.com; Club Profiles Submitted from Euroleague.net)
Euroleague/EuroCup Predictions: prosportsdaily.com/f...wthread.php?t=251405 - If you feel your up to guessing whats what in the leagues

European Basketball Websites: The Official Website of the Euroleague: www.euroleague.net/

Eurocup Official Website: www.eurocupbasketball.com/

FIBA Europe: www.fibaeurope.com/Default.asp

EuroBasket.com: www.eurobasket.com/index.asp (No# 1 web site about global basketball)
Ball in Europe: www.ballineurope.com/ - European Basketball Blog
The Hoop Blog: thehoop.blogspot.com

I found this somewhere and thought it should be posted

Quote:

A lot of people mistake the Euroleague for a real "league" like the NBA, where there's a fixed number of teams that face each other 2-5 times a year, then 16 teams reach the playoffs and battle for the championship. The Euroleague is actually more of a tournament. Here's the format:

REGULAR SEASON October 22, 2007 to Jan. 31, 2008

The Regular Season stage has 3 groups of 8 teams (a total of 24 teams). This is the first stage of the Euroleague.

Round Robin System with 14 games each club.

The Top 5 teams of each group plus the single

best sixth-placed team advance to the Top 16.

TOP 16 Feb. 13, 2007 to March 20, 2008

Unlike the NCAA's "Sweet 16", the Euroleague's "Top 16" is round robin. There are 4 groups of 4 teams (a total of 16 teams).

Round Robin System with 6 games each club.

The four group winners and the four second-place teams

in each group will advance to the 1/4 finals.

QUARTERFINALS April 1 to 10, 2008

The 1/4 finals isn't a one game elimination stage either. It's actually a best of three series.

Four best-of-three quarterfinal playoff series between

first and second-place finishers from the Top 16.

The four series winners advance to the Final Four.

FINAL FOUR in MADRID (Spain) May 2 to 4, 2008

The Final Four is THE event in European basketball. Like the NCAA's Final Four, it's one game elimination.

The four quarterfinals winners will meet in single-game semifinals.

The semifinals losers will play one game for third place.

The semifinals winners will play in the single-game Final.

The winner of the Final will be the Champion of the Euroleague.

RULES

The Euroleague's rules are very similiar to the NBA's rules, with a few exceptions:

-A game is 40 minutes long (4X10 minute quarters) instead of 48 minutes long.

-The three point line is a little closer (6.25 meters/20 ft 6 in from the basket) while the NBA three point line is 23 feet, 9 inches (7.23 m) from the basket.

-Holding the ball for 5 seconds without dribbling is a violation.

-The paint is smaller and is shaped like a trapazoid instead of a rectangle.

-There is no such thing as a "Defensive 3 Second" violation, which means a player can stand under the basket as long as he wants on defense.

of course it's changed a little since last year, but this is the basic idea