After talking with ISB parent, Vlade Divac at Parent-Teacher Conferences on Tuesday, I learned that the Adriatic Basketball League is sort of a minor basketball league. He follows the Euroleague Basketball
The league consists of 24 teams from around Europe. The teams each year are selected by the ULEB, a consortium of professional basketball leagues. The teams are selected on their performances in recent domestic leagues and contracts with ULEB. There are three teams from the Adriatic Basketball Association that Serbian teams play in. There is one team from Croatia, one from Slovenia, and two-time defending league champion, Partizan of Belgrade, Serbia.
The Euroleague Basketball has a strange format of play. The 24 teams are placed into 4 groups of 6 teams. Each group plays a round-robin schedule of 10 games. Partizan is in Group D along with teams from Moscow, Madrid, Athens, Milan, and Istanbul. This stage is from October 22 – January 15.
The top two teams in each group moves on to the next round of 16 teams, appropriately called, The Top 16..The 16 teams are put into 4 groups of 4. Once again there is a home and home round robin format so each team plays 6 games. This stage is from January 28 to March 12.
The top two teams in each group advances to the Quarterfinal Playoffs. First place teams are matched with second place teams. Each pair plays a best of five series.
The winners of each quarterfinal series advance to the Final Four. The final four is the same as the NCAA Final Four, in that it is a knockout round.
In summary, it goes from 24 to 16 to 8 to 4, and then a champion. A team that wins the league, could play 21 to 23 games.
The Serbian representative, Partizan, last year made it to the Quarterfinal Playoffs. This year they are second in their group with a 2-1 record. Below is their first round schedule.
2008-2009 Games Regular Season
| 1 | L, | at Efes Pilsen | 61 – 60 |
| 2 | W, | vs Real Madrid | 81 – 77 |
| 3 | W, | vs AJ Milano | 81 – 76 |
| 4 |
at Panionios On Telecoms
|
Nov. 13
|
|
| 5 |
vs CSKA Moscow
|
Nov. 26
|
|
| 6 |
vs Efes Pilsen
|
Dec. 03
|
|
| 7 |
at Real Madrid
|
Dec. 11
|
|
| 8 |
at AJ Milano
|
Dec. 17
|
|
| 9 |
vs Panionios On Telecoms
|
Jan. 07
|
|
| 10 |
at CSKA Moscow
|
Jan. 14
|
Bill's Blog 