Bad week for Baltic basketball clubs

  • 2011-10-05
  • By Jared Grellet

RIGA - Four Baltic basketball clubs have all failed in their respective goals in the past week as they attempted to qualify for three different transnational basketball competitions for the up and coming season.
Last week saw a number of qualification games taking place across Europe as basketball clubs have been attempting to qualify for a variety of transnational tournaments which all begin in October. Amongst those attempting to qualify for different tournaments were Lithuanian clubs Lietuvos Rytas and Siauliai, and Latvian clubs VEF Riga and Ventspils.

At the top end of the scale, Lietuvos Rytas and VEF Riga were both attempting to navigate their way through the difficult qualifying draw to play in Europe’s premier club basketball competition, the EuroLeague, where they could have joined Zalgiris Kaunas, who earned direct qualification on account of last season winning the Lithuanian domestic competition.
In order to qualify, each team needed to win three games over the course of four days, alongside 14 other clubs from across Europe, who were also fighting for the final two spots up for grabs in the regular season. Should they trip at any hurdle, they would automatically be redirected to Europe’s second-tier club competition, the Eurocup.

VEF Riga was the first team to trip, doing so in their opening game as they fell to German club Alba Berlin on Thursday evening, 82-60. Given it was the first time in history that the club has attempted to qualify for the tournament, their failure to do so perhaps should not come as any real surprise.
The same, however, could not be said for Lietuvos Rytas, who last year made it through to the final 16 of the 24 team competition. All began well for the Vilnius-based club, who cruised past KK Budocnost of Montenegro, 83-64, in their first game on Thursday.

Hosting Croatian club KK Cibona Zagreb on Saturday night, Lietuvos Rytas was once more making it look easy as they waltzed past their opposition, 88-71, halting a 20 year run that the Croat club has enjoyed among Europe’s elite teams.
However, Lietuvos Rytas would be brought back down to earth at the final hurdle on Sunday night as they took on Galatasaray of Turkey.

Leading by eight points at the end of the opening quarter, disaster struck when starting point guard Tyrese Rice picked up a leg injury, forcing him from the court. In his absence, Galatasaray went on a 15-2 run to be leading by two points at the half. Despite returning in the second-half, Rice was evidently still struggling with his injury as Galatasaray pulled away to eventually win, 71-63.

Now, Lietuvos Rytas will be joining fellow Lithuanian club Rudupis and VEF Riga in the Eurocup, a competition that they won in the 2008-2009 season. Rudupis earned direct qualification to the Eurocup on account of finishing third in the Lithuanian domestic competition, with this season marking the first time the club will play at this level.
One team that will not be joining them in the Eurocup is Ventspils, who needed to compile a better aggregate score than Ukrainian club Azovmash in a two game home-and-away series in order to qualify for the regular season. Ventspils started well enough in their qualification bid, winning the opening game on Sept. 27, 75-74, following a successful three-point shot from American Jahmar Young on the buzzer.

However, on the return leg on Tuesday evening, Ventspils would not experience the same fortunes as Azovmash easily took the second game, 79-65, to confirm their place in the main draw of the 32 team competition.
On account of losing, Ventspils will now compete in Europe’s third-tier club competition, FIBA EuroChallenge. Ventspils also competed in the 2010/2011 EuroChallenge season, going as far as the quarterfinals before losing a three-game series, 2-1, to Belgian club Telenet Oostende.

At a more localized level, Lithuanian basketball club Siauliai was attempting to qualify for the 18-team Russian-based VTB League, where they would have been playing alongside fellow Lithuanian clubs Lietuvos Rytas and Zalgiris Kaunas, Latvian club VEF Riga and Estonian club Kalev/Cramo.

The qualifying process saw five clubs from Finland, Russia and Poland travel to Siauliai, where they fought it out for the two remaining spots in the main draw. Beginning on Sept. 27, the six teams were divided into two groups, playing the other two teams in their respective groups with the top two teams from each group then advancing to the next round where they faced the top two teams from the other group. At that stage, the two teams boasting the best records were handed the final two spots in the VTB regular season.

Yet home court advantage would count for little for Siauliai, who lost their opening game to Russian club Krasnye Krylia, 98-78, before then falling to Ukrainian club Dnypro, 88-84, an evening later, leaving them in last place in their group to subsequently see them become the first team to be relegated from the competition.
Alongside these various tournaments, 10 Baltic teams will also participate in the Baltic-wide Baltic Basketball League (BBL) while a further 10 clubs will also take part in the BBL’s second tier competition, the BBL Challenge Cup. All teams will also compete in their respective domestic leagues.