Eurocup: 8 Tickets up for grabs in Week 6

It was just another day at the office on Wednesday as 13 Eurocup 2012-13 games were contested. OK, not so much, it was anything but normal as there were 12 spots in the Last 16 still up for grabs resulting in multiple buzzer-beaters, huge road win upsets, a losing streak continues and a winning streak continues. As the maintenance crews began clearing away what remained of Week 5, the Last 16 picture was as fuzzy as it was, but four clubs did punch their tickets, bringing the total securely moving on to eight. Week 6 will prove to be a thriller from top to bottom as half of the seats at the Last 16 table are available, and the head-to-head match-up will be intense.

Currently there are eight teams that have been given their invites to the Last 16 party: Bilbao, Triumph, Valencia, Galatasaray, Kazan, Stelmet, Spartak and Red Star.

Eurocup Last 16 Picture:
Group A
Heading into Week 6 there’s not one thing set in Group A, no clear group leader, no teams qualified yet, nothing. Two games will decide everything as CEZ Basketball Nymburk (3-2) hosts Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem (2-3) and BC Prienai (2-3) will host BC Kudivelnik Kiev (3-2). Nymburk and Budivelnik have the clear advantage as they are one win up on Hapoel and Prienai, if they win, they move on, if they both lose, statisticians will need to put in a bit of overtime to sort out the mess. Here are the scenarios (we think…):

Option A
CEZ Nymburk beats Hapoel
Budivelnik Kiev beats Prienai

Result:
Nymburk and Budivelnik advance with 4-2 records
Nymburk is 1st due to winning the tie breaker by 3

Option B
CEZ Nymburk beats Hapoel
Prienai beats Budivelnik

Result
Nymburk is in and wins group
If Prienai wins by more than 27, Prienai is in
If Prienai wins by 27 or less, Budivelnik is in

Option C
Hapoel beats CEZ Nymburk
Budivelnik beats Prienai

Result:
Budivelnik is in and wins group
If Hapoel wins by more than 17, Hapoel is in
If Hapoel wins by 17 or less, Budivelnik is in

Option D
Hapoel beats CEZ Nymburk
Prienai beats Budivelnik

Result:
This option brings all four teams to even 3-3 records and based on the Eurocup 2012-13 Bylaws, the first tie breaker is goal differential (actually that’s the second tie breaker, the first is records of the teams within the tied teams, they would all be 3-3 in games involving each other, so they move to the next tie breaker, goal differential). The group winner wouldn’t be able to be determined until scores are known:

Team	For	Against	Diff
CEZ Nymburk	395	369	26
BC Budivelnik Kiev	385	368	17
Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem	391	401	-10
BC Prienai	371	404	-33

• If BC Prienai wins by 25 or more
  – Prienai is in, Nymburk is out
• If Hapoel wins by 18 or more
  – Hapoel is in, Budivelnik is out
• If the combination of the two games is 28 or more (but neither are more than listed above)
  – Hapoel is in, Budivelnik is out

Group B
Gescrap Bilbao Basket (5-0) is in and their come-from-behind road win Wednesday prevented Buducnost VOLI from locking up a spot. VOLI (3-2) must square off with Lukoil Academic Sofia (2-3) in Week 6, with Buducnost holding a slim three-point advantage in the tie-break. If Buducnost wins, they’re in, if Sofia wins by more than three, they advance.

Group C
BC Triumph Lyubertsy (5-0) is in. Le Mans Sarthe Basket (2-3) and VEF Riga (2-3) will battle it out for the Last 16 spot with Le Mans hosting. Le Mans won the first match 80:89 on Riga’s home turf, so the advantage swings to the French club.

Group D
Valencia Basket (4-1) is in. Banvit BK Bandirma (3-2) will travel to Germany to take on s.Oliver Baskets (3-2) with the winning club moving to the Last 16. The first game was won by Banvit at home, 101:82

Group E
Galatasaray (4-1) is in. PBC Lokomotiv Kuban (3-2) hits the road to meet up with Trefl Sopot (1-4), and BC Donetsk (2-3) hosts Galatasaray (4-1). If Kuban wins, they are in. If Kuban loses and Donetsk wins, Donetsk wins the tie-break by four points as the teams split their two match-ups (both lost their home games). The Donetsk 64:71 road win upset over Kuban on Wednesday messed up what looked like a sure thing for Kuban.

Group F
Unics Kazan and Stelmet are both in. Stelmet is 3-2 and Telenet Oostende is 2-3, but even if Stelmet loses and Telenet wins to even their records at 3-3, Stelmet wins the tie-break based on the 85:61 home win for Stelmet (+16) and the 80:74 home win for Telenet, giving Stelmet a 10-point advantage. Stelmet’s road win over unbeaten Kazan was huge for them, the fact that it was a 15-point game makes it all the more impressive. On top of the Stelmet upset was the Panionios BC Athens, who was 0-4 going into their match-up with Telenet Oostende (were 2-2), overtime win in Athens. The win essentially knocked Telenet out of contention and avenged an earlier 84:65 loss in Oostende.

Group G
Spartak St. Petersburg (5-0) is in. The advantage for the second spot in Group G has to go to Ratiopharm Ulm (2-3) heading into Week 6. Even though they are a game behind Cholet (3-2) in the standings due to a Rudy Jomby buzzer-beater on Wednesday giving Cholet a 69:71 road win over Ulm, Ratiopharm wins the tie-break based on the 22-point win at Cholet, giving Ulm a 20-point margin. Rationpharm takes on winless Cibona Zagreb (0-5), who is currently riding a 21-game International Cup Competition losing streak; while Cholet will host Spartak. Cholet only lost by nine in St. Petersburg, so it’s not a done deal; if they win at home next week, they move on.

Group H
KK Crvena Zvezda (5-0) is in and sporting an 11 game winning streak between the Eurocup and Adriatic League which doesn’t help Cajasol Seville’s (2-3) chances any. They are currently tied with Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari (2-3) for the second Last 16 seat and have to travel to Belgrade to face the red and white in front of the ever enthusiastic crowd at the Pionir. Sassari will host Orleans Loiret Basket (1-4). To make matters even more difficult for Sassari, they lose the tie-break with Cajasol by one based on the fact that they split their match-ups, with each winning on the road, but Seville winning by three and Sassari taking an OT contest by two. Advantage – Seville.

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Group E

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Group F

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Group G

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Group H

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