The 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague was FIBA Europe's professional club basketball tournament for the 2000–01 season. Up until that season, there was one cup, the FIBA European Champions' Cup (which is now called the EuroLeague), though in this season of 2000–01, the leading European teams split into two competitions: the FIBA SuproLeague and Euroleague Basketball Company's Euroleague 2000–01.

The season started on 18 October 2000, and ended on 13 May 2001. The competition's Final Four took place at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, in Paris, France. The 2000–01 SuproLeague was the last European top tier club competition organised by FIBA.

European Champions' Cup teams divided

The European Champions' Cup was originally established by FIBA and it operated under its umbrella from 1958 until the summer of 2000, concluding with the 1999–2000 season. Euroleague Basketball was created on 1 July 2000.

FIBA had never trademarked the "EuroLeague" name and had no legal recourse on the usage of that name. Therefore, FIBA had to find a new name for their league and chose "SuproLeague". The 2000–01 season started with two top European professional club basketball competitions: the FIBA SuproLeague (renamed from the FIBA EuroLeague) and the brand new Euroleague.

Top clubs were split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Tau Cerámica, and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball.

Competition system and format 20 teams (national domestic league champions, and runners-up from various national domestic leagues), playing in a tournament system.

The first phase was a regular season, in which the twenty competing teams were drawn into two groups, each containing ten teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 18 games for each team. The top 8 teams in each group advanced to the Round of 16, and the winners of this round advanced to the Quarterfinals. Both of the rounds were played in a Best-of-three playoff system. The winning teams of the Quarterfinals qualified to the SuproLeague Final Four, which was held in the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, in Paris, on 10–13 May 2001.

Teams Regular season ASVEL (2nd) Iraklis (7th) Efes Pilsen (2nd) Śląsk Wrocław (1st) Pau-Orthez (3rd) Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv (1st) Ülker (3rd) CSKA Moscow (1st) Alba Berlin (1st) Maccabi Ness Ra'anana (2nd) Telindus Oostende (2nd) Krka (1st) Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2nd) Montepaschi Siena (6th) Croatia Osiguranje Split (3rd) Plannja Basket (1st) Panathinaikos (1st) Scavolini Pesaro (9th) Lietuvos rytas (1st) Partizan ICN (2nd) Qualification round 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 Standings

Results

Group B Standings

Results

Playoffs Bracket Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding, the numbers to the right indicate the result of games including result in bold of the team that won in that game, and the numbers furthest to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round.

Eight-Finals

Quarter-Finals

Final four

Semifinals 11 May, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris

3rd place game 13 May, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris

Final 13 May, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris

2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv3rd title

Final standings Pos Team Maccabi Tel Aviv Panathinaikos Efes Pilsen 4 CSKA Moscow

Awards

All official awards of the 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague: FIBA SuproLeague Player of the Year — Nate Huffman ( Maccabi Tel Aviv) FIBA SuproLeague Final Four MVP – Ariel McDonald ( Maccabi Tel Aviv) FIBA SuproLeague Top Scorer – Miroslav Berić ( Partizan) FIBA SuproLeague Finals Top Scorer – Dejan Bodiroga ( Panathinaikos)

FIBA SuproLeague All-Final Four Team FIBA SuproLeague All-Final Four Team Ariel McDonald (MVP) Maccabi Tel Aviv Anthony Parker Maccabi Tel Aviv Dejan Bodiroga Panathinaikos Andrei Kirilenko CSKA Moscow Nate Huffman Maccabi Tel Aviv

Statistics

Individual statistics

Points RankNameTeamGamesPointsPPG1. Miroslav Berić Partizan2046523.32. Charles Thomas Plannja 1329122.43. John Best Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1737822.2 Source: FIBA Europe

Rebounds RankNameTeamGamesReboundsRPG1. Roberto Chiacig Montepaschi Siena181699.42. Andrei Kirilenko CSKA Moscow222039.23. Nate Huffman Maccabi Tel Aviv242169.0 Source: FIBA Europe

Assists RankNameTeamGamesAssistsAPG1. Raimonds Miglinieks Śląsk Wrocław201397.02. Laurent Sciarra ASVEL 231426.23. Chuck Evans Bayer 04 Leverkusen 18975.4 Source: FIBA Europe

Blocks RankNameTeamGamesBlocksBPG1. Andrei Kirilenko CSKA Moscow 22472.12. Andrei Fetisov CSKA Moscow 24381.63. Dejan Koturović Alba Berlin 23351.5 Source: FIBA Europe

Other statistics CategoryPlayerTeamGamesAverage Steals Ralph Biggs Telindus Oostende 20 2.1 Turnovers Andrius Giedraitis Lietuvos rytas 15 3.7 Minutes Charles Thomas Plannja 13 38.5 FT % Damir Mulaomerović Efes Pilsen 26 89.2% 2-Point % Andrei Kirilenko CSKA Moscow 22 63.9% 3-Point % Laurent Pluvy ASVEL 23 54.2%

Individual game highs CategoryPlayerTeamStatistic Opponent Points Miroslav Berić Partizan 38 Telindus Oostende (Dec 7, 2000)Rebounds Lazaros Papadopoulos Iraklis Thessaloniki 21 Alba Berlin (Apr 5, 2001) Hüseyin Beşok Efes Pilsen Plannja (Jan 4, 2001) Assists Raimonds Miglinieks Śląsk Wrocław 15 Montepaschi Siena (Nov 15, 2000) Blocks Hüseyin Beşok Efes Pilsen 7 Plannja (Jan 4, 2001) Steals Veselin Petrović Partizan 9 Plannja (Feb 15, 2001)

Team statistics CategoryTeamAverage Points Maccabi Tel Aviv 88.0 Rebounds Iraklis Thessaloniki 33.8 Assists ASVEL 18.0 Blocks CSKA Moscow 4.3 Steals Montepaschi Siena 10.1 Turnovers Plannja 14.8 FT % Scavolini Pesaro 79.4% 2-Point % Panathinaikos 56.4% 3-Point % Scavolini Pesaro 40.4%

Two continental champions In May 2001, Europe had two continental champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague. The leaders of both organizations realized the need to come up with a new single competition. Negotiating from the position of strength, Euroleague Basketball Company dictated proceedings and FIBA essentially had no choice but to agree to their terms. As a result, the EuroLeague was fully integrated under Euroleague Basketball Company's umbrella, and teams that competed in the FIBA SuproLeague during the 2000–01 season joined it as well. It is today officially admitted that European basketball had two champions that year, Maccabi of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of the Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague.

Formation of the Euroleague A year later, Euroleague Basketball Company and FIBA decided that Euroleague Basketball's EuroLeague competition would be the main basketball tournament on the continent, to be played between the top-level teams of Europe. FIBA Europe from 2002 would also organize a European league for third-tier level teams, known as the FIBA Europe League competition, while Euroleague Basketball would also organize its own second-tier level league, combining FIBA's long-time FIBA Saporta Cup and FIBA Korać Cup competitions into one new competition, the EuroCup. In 2005, Euroleague Basketball and FIBA decided to cooperate with each other and did so until 2016.

In essence, the authority in European professional basketball was divided over club-country lines. FIBA stayed in charge of national team competitions (like the FIBA EuroBasket, the FIBA World Cup, and the Summer Olympics), while Euroleague Basketball took over the European professional club competitions. From that point on, FIBA Saporta Cup and FIBA Korać Cup competitions lasted only one more season before folding, which was when Euroleague Basketball launched the EuroCup.

See also 2000–01 Euroleague 2000–01 FIBA Saporta Cup 2000–01 FIBA Korać Cup

References

External links

Eurobasket.com 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague Eurobasket.com 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague awards 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague at FIBA Europe