2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague

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==

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 Final standings ==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 ==Statistics==

Individual statistics Points Source: FIBA Europe Rebounds Source: FIBA Europe Assists Source: FIBA Europe Blocks Source: FIBA Europe Other statistics Individual game highs Team statistics ==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==