2008–09 Eurocup Basketball was the seventh edition of Europe's second-tier level transnational competition for men's professional basketball clubs, the EuroCup, and the first to be contested under the Eurocup name. From the inception of the competition in 2002, it had been known as the ULEB Cup. The EuroCup is the European-wide league level that is one tier below the EuroLeague level.

During this season, there were 48 teams, from 22 countries. After the preliminary rounds, there were 32 teams left for the regular season, with the 16 eliminated teams being relegated down and parachuting into Europe's third-tier transnational competition, the EuroChallenge. Lithuanian club Lietuvos Rytas of Vilnius, won the tournament and promotion to the top level EuroLeague for the next season.

Teams of the 2008–2009 Eurocup

Country Teams Clubs Russia 5 Khimki Dynamo Moscow Ural Great Perm UNICS Triumph Lyubertsy France 4 Chorale Roanne ASVEL Le Havre Cholet Spain 4 Pamesa Valencia Iurbentia Bilbao Cajasol Kalise Gran Canaria Germany 3 Telekom Baskets Bonn Artland Dragons Brose Baskets Greece 3 Maroussi Costa Coffee Aris Panellinios Serbia 3 Hemofarm Crvena zvezda FMP Turkey 3 Türk Telekom Beşiktaş Cola Turka Galatasaray Café Crown Belgium 2 Spirou Telindus Oostende Italy 2 Fortitudo Bologna Benetton Treviso Israel 2 Bnei HaSharon Hapoel Jerusalem Latvia 2 Barons LMT ASK Riga Lithuania 2 Lietuvos rytas Šiauliai Poland 2 Turów Zgorzelec Energa Czarni Słupsk Ukraine 2 Azovmash Kyiv Austria 1 Allianz Swans Gmunden Bulgaria 1 Lukoil Academic Croatia 1 Zadar Czech Republic 1 ČEZ Nymburk Estonia 1 Tartu Ülikool Rock Montenegro 1 Budućnost Netherlands 1 MyGuide Amsterdam Switzerland 1 Benetton Fribourg

Format The competition format was also revamped. A total of 48 clubs participated, down from 54 in the previous year's competition. The competition was jointly organized by Euroleague Basketball Company and FIBA Europe.

First preliminary round

Sixteen teams competed in the first preliminary round, which was organised by FIBA Europe. These teams were paired in two-legged matches, with winners decided on aggregate score. The eight winners advanced to the second preliminary round, and the eight losers parachuted into the third-tier European competition, the EuroChallenge. The matches were played from October 14 through October 21.

Due to a decision of the Italian Basketball Federation to revoke Capo d'Orlando's first division license, followed by an Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) tribunal rejected appeal by the club, Capo d'Orlando lost the right to participate in European competitions.Clubs Replaced In European Competitions As a result, Benetton Treviso automatically qualified to the group stage, while Benetton Fribourg advanced to the second qualification round where they met Kalise Gran Canaria.Benetton Basket Tamoil subs Orlandina Basket, Benetton Olympic Fribourg joins second qualifying round

Second preliminary round

The second preliminary round, also organised by FIBA Europe, also featured 16 teams, with the eight winners from the first preliminary round joined by eight automatic qualifiers to that phase. As in the first preliminary round, matches were two-legged and decided on aggregate score, with the winners advancing to the Eurocup regular season and the losers parachuting into the EuroChallenge. Matches were played from November 4 to November 11.

Regular season

Thirty-two teams—24 automatic qualifiers and the eight survivors of the second preliminary round—entered the Regular Season. From this point onward, the competition is organised by Euroleague Basketball Company. The teams were divided into eight groups of four teams each, with each group playing a double round-robin schedule. The first and second-place teams in each group advanced to the Last 16. Regular Season matches were held from November 25, 2008 until January 13, 2009.

Last 16

For the first time in the history of the competition, a second group phase was played. The survivors of the Regular Season were divided into four-team groups, each playing a double round-robin schedule. This phase has a direct analogue in the top-tier EuroLeague, which conducts an identical group phase, the Top 16, at the same stage of the competition. As in the EuroLeague Top 16, the first- and second-place teams in each group advance to the next phase. However, unlike the EuroLeague, which conducts a separate quarterfinal round before its Final Four, the Eurocup sent its surviving teams into a single knockout tournament, the Final Eight. Last 16 matches were played from January 27 to March 10, 2009.

Final eight

Like the Euroleague Final Four, this was a knockout tournament, conducted in one-off matches, held at a single site. The semifinal losers played a single match for third place, and the semifinal winners played a single match for the Eurocup title and an automatic place in the 2009-10 Euroleague. This phase was carried over from the prior ULEB Cup format. Matches were played from April 9 through April 12.

This was the last season for the Final Eight format. From 2009–10 onward, a quarterfinal round has been introduced, consisting of two-legged ties between a group winner and the runner-up from a separate group, with the winner of each tie determined on aggregate score. The quarterfinal winners will advance to the Eurocup Finals, with one-off semifinals followed by a one-off final.

Preliminary rounds Sixteen teams participated in the first preliminary round, and after the first preliminary round matches, sixteen teams played in a second preliminary round, with the top eight teams from the first preliminary round. Teams that were eliminated from the first or second preliminary round games competed in the EuroChallenge 2008-09.

First preliminary round

Second preliminary round

Regular season

+ Key to colors     Top two places in each group advance to Top 16

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E AZO LRY ASV GRA AZO76-6687-7492-90 LRY83-6495-7474-64 ASV85-8393-9069-81 GRA74-8294-8378-80 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Azovmash 6 4 2 484 472 +12 2. Lietuvos rytas 6 3 3 491 465 +26 3. ASVEL 6 3 3 475 514 -39 4. Kalise Gran Canaria 6 2 4 481 480 +1 Group F SPI CZV TUR BRO SPI71-6589-6964-62 CZV93-9197-6982-65 TUR61-8676-8667-56 BRO65-8453-6739-69 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Spirou 6 5 1 485 415 +70 2. Crvena zvezda 6 5 1 490 425 +65 3. PGE Turów 6 2 4 411 453 -42 4. Brose Baskets 6 0 6 340 433 -93

Group G VAL ART FOR FMP VAL84-6780-7483-58 ART79-8987-7873-62 FOR71-7789-9388-61 FMP65-8493-6559-70 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Pamesa Valencia 6 6 0 497 414 +83 2. Artland Dragons 6 3 3 464 495 -31 3. Fortitudo Bologna 6 2 4 470 457 +13 4. FMP 6 1 5 398 463 -65 Group H BIL HEM NYM BUD BIL78-6793-7269-66 HEM62-8282-7489-85 NYM79-9280-8275-70 BUD65-6770-5963-66 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Iurbentia Bilbao 6 6 0 481 411 +70 2. Hemofarm 6 3 3 441 469 -28 3. ČEZ Nymburk 6 2 4 446 482 -36 4. Budućnost 6 1 5 419 425 -6

Top 16 The second grand stage begins from January 27, 2009.

+ Key to colors     Top two places in each group advance to final eight

Group I DYN KHI MAR PNE DYN73-6894-7391-84 KHI69-7794-69101-94 MAR76-8071-5883-85 PNE72-7773-8959-71 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Dynamo Moscow 6 6 0 492 442 +50 2. Khimki 6 3 3 479 457 +22 3. Maroussi Costa Coffee 6 2 4 443 470 -27 4. Panellinios 6 1 5 467 512 -45 Group J BEN ZAD UNI TÜR BEN94-8168-6689-87 ZAD76-8493-9194-86 UNI81-5969-7172-57 TÜR67-9989-8266-86 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Benetton Treviso 6 5 1 493 458 +35 2. Zadar 6 3 3 497 513 -16 3. UNICS 6 3 3 465 414 +51 4. Türk Telekom 6 1 5 452 522 -70

Group K VAL HEM AZO CZV VAL65-6068-6682-80 HEM66-6284-7488-73 AZO91-8889-7162-74 CZV73-8565-9172-95 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Pamesa Valencia 6 4 2 450 436 +14 2. Hemofarm 6 4 2 460 428 +32 3. Azovmash 6 3 3 477 457 +20 4. Crvena zvezda 6 1 5 437 503 -66 Group L BIL LRY SPI ART BIL67-5982-7871-62 LRY73-7177-56105-64 SPI59-7978-7488-79 ART84-7970-7982-94 TeamPldWLPFPADiff 1. Iurbentia Bilbao 6 4 2 449 415 +34 2. Lietuvos rytas 6 4 2 467 406 +61 3. Spirou 6 3 3 453 473 -20 4. Artland Dragons 6 1 5 441 516 -75

Final eight The Final Eight was the last stage of EuroCup 2008-09.

Quarter finals April 2, Pala Alpitour, Turin

April 3, Pala Alpitour, Turin

Semi finals April 4, Pala Alpitour, Turin

Final April 5, Pala Alpitour, Turin

2008–09 Eurocup Champions Lietuvos rytas 2nd title

Individual statistics

Points RankNameTeamGamesPointsPPG1. Khalid El-Amin Azovmash1119717.90

Rebounds RankNameTeamGamesReboundsRPG1. C. J. Wallace Benetton Treviso13967.38

Assists RankNameTeamGamesAssistsAPG1. Khalid El-Amin Azovmash11585.27

Awards

Eurocup 2008–09 MVP

Chuck Eidson ( Lietuvos rytas )

Eurocup 2008–09 Finals MVP

Marijonas Petravičius ( Lietuvos rytas )

All-Eurocup team

Season Position All-Eurocup First Team Club Team All-Eurocup Second Team Club Team Chuck EidsonLietuvos rytas Khalid El-AminTürk Telekom Kelly McCartyKhimki Gary Neal Treviso Boštjan NachbarDynamo Moscow Travis HansenDynamo Moscow Marko BanićBilbao Matt NielsenValencia Todor GečevskiZadar Sandro NicevićTreviso

Rising Star

Milan Mačvan ( Hemofarm )

Coach of the Year

Oktay Mahmuti ( Benetton Treviso )

See also 2008–09 Euroleague EuroChallenge 2008–09

References

External links EuroCup Official Website European Basketball Website