Eurocup 2012-13 Draw Completed

Starting on November 7 and culminating in a one game, winner-take-all, final to be held on April 13, 2013, the Eurocup 2012-13 will feature 32 of the best teams in Europe. The teams were set, the groups were not, so on Tuesday, the process was completed in Barcelona to determine the eight, four-team Groups that will make up the Eurocup 2012-13 competition.

The 32 teams come from 17 countries and were seeded in such a way that ever group contains teams from four different countries. According to the Eurocup website, “The groups are highlighted by several national champions: CEZ Basketball Nymburk of the Czech Republic, in Group A; Belgacom Spirou of Belgium in Group B; VEF Riga of Latvia in group C; and BC Dontesk of Ukraine in Group E. The groups also feature a couple of former Eurocup champions: Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem in Group A and two-time winner Valencia Basket of Spain in Group D. Among the newcoming teams to the Eurocup are s.Oliver Baskets Wuerzburg of Germany in Group D, Stelmet Zielona Gora of Poland in Group F, Ratiopharm Ulm of Germany in Group G and Dinamo Sassari of Italy in Group A.”

The competition format will be as follows:

The regular season will begin on November 7th and finish on December 12th and will consist of each team playing the other three teams in their group twice, home and away. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top two teams in each group will move on to the “Last 16” round. In that round, four new groups of four teams will be created based on the positions of the teams in their respective groups:

The “Last 16” round will begin play on January 9th and run through February 20, 2013, with each team playing the other three teams in their new groups twice, home and away.

The top two teams from each Group in the “Last 16” round will then qualify for the Quarterfinals, which will be played starting on March 6th and finishing on March 13th, 2013. Each Quarter-Final match up will be a two-game, home and away, series that will be determined by the overall score from the two games. The first place team in the match-up gets the second game at home.

At the end of the Quarter-Final Round, the four remaining teams will square off in the Semi-Finals, which will begin on March 20th and end on March 27th, 2013. Once again, the format for the Semi-Finals is a two-game, home and away, series with the cumulative score from the two games determining the two squads that will move on to the Finals. To determine the two teams that will get the second of the two games at home, the following list will determine the higher seeded team:
1). The team finishing in the higher “Last 16” place.
2). If both teams finished in the same spot in the “Last 16”, the team with the highest number of wins in the “Last 16” round.
3). In case #3 is still a tie, the team with a higher cumulative score difference in the “Last 16” round.

The two winning teams from the semi-finals will meet up on April 13th, 2013 in a one-game Championship contest for the Eurocup Final. The winning team will qualify for the 2013-14 Turkish Airlines Euroleague competition. The location of the Eurocup final will be announced at a later date.