The table above shows where the last 10 EuroCup champions ranked in both offensive and defensive efficiency. With four of the earliest five champions listed eclipsing the 1.00 points per possession line and posting gaudy efficiency differentials, there was a clear formula for championship success through the 2015-16 season. That was turned on its head during the 2016-17 campaign when the field of competing clubs was condensed significantly.
From there, defense abruptly became the recipe for EuroCup success before an exceptional Valencia team nearly ran the table between EuroLeague seasons to close the decade. Since that season, things have gotten far less predictable. Both 2020-21 champion AS Monaco and 2021-22 winner Virtus Segafredo Bologna exceeded expectations in postseason play as neither was particularly exceptional during the regular season relative to their predecessors. While both were good, neither was great. Monaco finished third in Group C in 2021 while Virtus finished just fourth in Group B in the EuroCup’s current format last season.
What stood out about both of those teams was the way they navigated postseason play. Their success in that regard following their modest regular season performance raises the question of whether the days of truly dominant EuroCup champions are over. Has the parity and format of the league made it so that it is now more important that a team survive than thrive? If that’s the case, how far open is the door to outliers?
Looking to the Future
It seems possible that Frutti Extra Bursaspor’s run from a second-to-last place in its regular season group last season to disputing the EuroCup Final answers that question. The door may well be off the hinges at this point as a team that can set itself on the right path and find a rhythm at the right time could take advantage to rewrite the script.
This season already seems to be lining up with the EuroCup’s turn toward season-long parity and the possibility that as many as a dozen teams could conceivably be in contention to lift the trophy at the end of the year. With only four teams escaping the first two rounds without a loss and eight of them scoring road wins, the landscape may already be flattening out. Not enough basketball has been played yet to make grand assumptions, and if we’ve learned anything from the last two years, it is wise to expect the unexpected in the EuroCup. Championship contention figures to be a moving target all season, and that unpredictability is very compelling.
Looking Ahead to Round 3
The team with the largest point-differential to this point is Hapoel Tel Aviv, who owes much of its success to J’Covan Brown. The veteran scoring guard is averaging 20 points and 9 assists per game and was nothing short of spectacular against Paris Basketball in Round 2. While the 32-year-old has spent the last half dozen years in Israel, he has played some of his best basketball in his first EuroCup games and will look to continue his strong play in Ankara against Turk Telekom – a club he called home during the 2015-16 campaign.
