2001–02 Euroleague


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 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 :
Also, 8 teams from Belgium, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain and Yugoslavia 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.

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, 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, 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 round
First qualifying round

Second qualifying round
  • 3 winner teams from first qualifying round
    • Third qualifying round
    • 4 winner teams from second qualifying round
    Regular season
  • 2 winner teams from third qualifying round
    • Top 16
    • 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 season
    Final Four

    Teams

    The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting 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:
    1. Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
    2. Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
    3. Overall point difference in all group matches
    4. Points scored in all group matches
    5. 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
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    Awards

    Round MVP

    Top 16

    WeekPlayerTeam
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