The 2001–02 Euroleague was the second season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 45th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs overall. The season started on October 10, 2001, and ended on May 5, 2002.

The Final Four was hosted in the PalaMalaguti in Bologna, Italy. A number of 32 teams competed for the championship, which was won by Panathinaikos. Mirsad Türkcan was named Regular season MVP, while Dejan Bodiroga was awarded EuroLeague Top 16 MVP and EuroLeague Final Four MVP.

Unification of FIBA Suproleague and ULEB Euroleague FIBA and ULEB at the end of the 2000–01 season, struck a deal for the unification of the ULEB Euroleague and Suproleague in a new competition, that would be named Euroleague.

The following 21 teams had a guaranteed spot in the 2001-02 Euroleague (8 from FIBA and 13 from ULEB): Croatia (2): K.K. Cibona V.I.P, K.K. Zadar England (1): London Towers France (2): Asvel Lyon-Villeurbanne, E.B. Pau Orthez Germany (2): Opel Skyliners, Alba Berlin Greece (2): Olympiakos, Panathinaikos Israel (1): Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv Italy (3): Kinder Bologna, Paf Bologna, Benetton Treviso Lithuania (1): Zalgiris Kaunas Russia (1): C.S.K.A. Moscow Slovenia (1): Union Olimpija Ljubljana Spain (2): F.C. Barcelona, Real Madrid Turkey (2): Efes Pilsen, Ülker S.C. Yugoslavia (1): K.K. Buducnost

Also, 8 teams from Belgium (1), Greece (2), Italy (1), Poland (1), Spain (2) and Yugoslavia (1) accessed the competition via their national championships.

Regarding the 3 remaining spots, there was also a preliminary round in the beginning of July 2001 between 12 teams, one from each of the following countries: Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey.FIBA and ULEB have finally the deal of the reunification of the Euro and Suproleague (2001) - Eurobasket.com

Euroleague opening tournament The 2001–02 season was the first run by ULEB and its company, the Euroleague Basketball, after FIBA Europe agreed that it would no longer organise Europe's top competition. Given that the previous season there were two main competitions, the 2000–01 FIBA Suproleague and the 2000–01 Euroleague, thus two European champions (Maccabi Tel Aviv and Kinder Bologna), it was decided that an opening tournament would be played to determine the unofficial champion. The Euroleague opening tournament was hosted in Ljubljana by Union Olimpija and was won by Cibona VIP, the only guest of the tournament, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 78–67 in the final.

Competition system 41 teams in total with the qualification rounds, and 32 teams at the first group stage (the national domestic league champions from the best leagues, and a variable number of other clubs from the most important national domestic leagues), playing in a tournament system. The competition culminated in a Final Four.

Team allocation

Distribution The table below shows the default access list.

Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundFirst qualifying round(6 teams) The champion from Sweden The runners-up teams from: Germany Lithuania Slovenia The third-placed teams from: Croatia TurkeySecond qualifying round(8 teams) The champion teams from: Portugal Switzerland The runners-up teams from: Belgium Israel The third-placed from France 3 winner teams from first qualifying roundThird qualifying round(4 teams) 4 winner teams from second qualifying roundRegular season(32 teams)21 licensed teams 2 best-placed teams from: Greece Spain 1 best-placed team from: Belgium Italy Poland Russia Yugoslavia 2 winner teams from third qualifying roundTop 16(16 teams) 4 group winners from the regular season 4 group runners-up from the regular season 4 group third-placed teams from the regular season 4 group fourth-placed teams from the regular seasonFinal Four(4 teams) 4 group winners from the top 16

Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round (TH: EuroLeague title holders)

1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs LC: 2-year or 3-year licence

Regular season FC Barcelona LC Kinder BolognaTH LC ALBA Berlin LC Telindus Oostende Real Madrid LC Skipper Bologna LC Opel Skyliners LC Kinder London Towers (3rd)LC Tau Cerámica Scavolini Pesaro Ural Great Maccabi EliteTH LC Unicaja Málaga Benetton Treviso LC CSKA Moscow (4th)LC Žalgiris LC Panathinaikos LC Cibona VIP LC Ülker LC Idea Śląsk Olympiacos LC Zadar LC Efes Pilsen LC Union Olimpija LC Peristeri Pau-Orthez LC Budućnost LC AEK ASVEL LC Partizan ICN Second qualifying round Spirou Le Mans Hapoel Jerusalem Portugal Telecom Lugano Snakes First qualifying round Split CO Telekom Bonn Lietuvos Rytas Krka Alvik Darüşşafaka

Qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

Second qualifying round

Third qualifying round

Regular season The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into four groups, each containing eight teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 14 games for each team in the first stage. The top 4 teams in each group advanced to the next round, The Top 16. The complete list of tiebreakers is provided in the lead-in to the Regular Season results.

If one or more clubs were level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were applied in the following order: Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group) Points scored in all group matches Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Top 16 The remaining 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams each. Each team played every other team in its group twice, once at home and once away. The top teams of each of the four groups advanced to the Final Four.

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Final Four

2001–02 Euroleague Champions Panathinaikos 3rd title

Awards Top Scorer PlayerTeam Alphonso Ford Olympiacos

Regular season MVP PlayerTeam Mirsad Türkcan CSKA Moscow

Top 16 MVP PlayerTeam Dejan Bodiroga Panathinaikos

Final Four MVP PlayerTeam Dejan Bodiroga Panathinaikos

Finals Top Scorer PlayerTeam Manu Ginóbili Kinder Bologna

All-Euroleague First Team PlayerTeam Tyus Edney Benetton Treviso Marko Jarić Kinder Bologna Manu Ginóbili Kinder Bologna Dejan Bodiroga Panathinaikos Dejan Tomašević Tau Cerámica

All-Euroleague Second Team PlayerTeam Ariel McDonald Maccabi Elite Alphonso Ford Olympiacos Mirsad Türkcan CSKA Moscow Marcelo Nicola Benetton Treviso Joseph Blair Scavolini Pesaro

Round MVP

Regular season WeekPlayerTeam 1 Asım Pars Ülker392 Jaka Lakovič Krka553 Gregor Fučka Skipper Bologna374 Gregor Fučka (2) Skipper Bologna455 Mirsad Türkcan CSKA Moscow 36 Sasha Đjorđjević Real Madrid6 Valeri Daineko Ural Great407 Dimos Dikoudis AEK428 Andrius Giedraitis Telindus Oostende439 Ruslan Avleev Ural Great4710 Mirsad Türkcan (2) CSKA Moscow4311 Nikola Prkačin Cibona VIP4112 Mirsad Türkcan (3) CSKA Moscow 34 Ron Ellis Spirou13 Grigorij Khizhnyak Žalgiris 36 Beno Udrih Union Olimpija Yann Bonato ASVEL14 Grigorij Khizhnyak (2) Žalgiris36

Top 16

WeekPlayerTeam 1 Ruslan Avleev (2) Ural Great422 Alphonso Ford Olympiacos293 Memo Okur Efes Pilsen364 Matjaž Smodiš Kinder Bologna385 Marcus Brown Efes Pilsen416 Mirsad Türkcan (4) CSKA Moscow34

Individual statistics Rating RankNameTeamGamesRatingPIR1. Mirsad Türkcan CSKA Moscow 1743925.822. Joseph Blair Scavolini Pesaro 1435225.143. Mate Skelin Krka 1435125.07

Points RankNameTeamGamesPointsPPG1. Alphonso Ford Olympiacos 2049524.752. Gordan Giriček CSKA Moscow1841322.943. Jaka Lakovič Krka 1429320.93

Rebounds RankNameTeamGamesReboundsRPG1. Mirsad Türkcan CSKA Moscow 1721712.762. Joseph Blair Scavolini Pesaro 1416711.933. Mate Skelin Krka 141379.79

Assists RankNameTeamGamesAssistsAPG1. Elmer Bennett Tau Cerámica15795.272. Michael Hawkins Idea Śląsk 14705.003. John Celestand ASVEL 13624.77

Other statistics CategoryPlayerTeam Games Average Steals Manu Ginóbili Kinder Bologna 22 2.55 Blocks Grigorij Khizhnyak Žalgiris 14 3.21 Turnovers Michael Hawkins Idea Śląsk 14 3.71 Fouls drawn Roger Huggins Spirou 14 7.14 Minutes Ralph Biggs Telindus Oostende 14 36:46 2P% Giannis Giannoulis Panathinaikos 15 82.5% 3P% Nenad Čanak Partizan 14 56.1% FT% Sergei Chikalkin Benetton Treviso 21 91.7%

Individual game highs Category Player Team Statistic PIR Jaka Lakovič Krka 55Points Vlado Šćepanović Partizan 40 Rebounds Mirsad Türkcan CSKA Moscow 23 Assists John Celestand ASVEL 12 Steals Jorge Garbajosa Benetton Treviso 7 Blocks Grigorij Khizhnyak Žalgiris 7Three-pointers Marcelo Nicola Benetton Treviso 7 Alberto Herreros Real Madrid Vlado Šćepanović Partizan Turnovers Pascal Roller Opel Skyliners 8 Jaka Lakovič Krka Sasha Đjorđjević Real Madrid Mirsad Türkcan CSKA Moscow

See also 2001–02 FIBA Saporta Cup 2001–02 FIBA Korać Cup

References

Sources 2001-02 at Eurobasket.com Awards

External links Euroleague 2001/02 ULEB Euroleague 2001/02 Euroleague.net – official Euroleague homepage