By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Valencia got the right to play in Euroleague via Eurocup after a great last season, but the Spanish team had the worst performance of the last decade for a Eurocup winner in the top European competition. The Spanish team has the worst record and became the third Eurocup title holder that didn’t qualify to the Top 16.
Before the start of the season Valencia was considered one of the favorites to qualify in the next round and maybe the second biggest favorite behind Olympiacos and alongside Galatasaray to get the top of the group.
In contrary Valencia was disappointing and was by far the underachiever of this season. They lost three games by small margin (less four points) but played generally bad defense and during the first round, because of Dwight Buycks who couldn’t adjust the top Euroleague level, their performance was a mess.
With one more game to play, Valencia already has the worst winning record among all the teams that qualified to the Euroleague after winning the Eurocup trophy. All these years, only Lietuvos Rytas and Joventut didn’t qualify to the Top16, but at least they had better record (4-6). So, even if Valencia beats Neptunas, they will be worse.
It’s ironic, but the best performance of past Eurocup winners in Euroleague belongs to Unics Kazan three years ago and also to Valencia in 2011, when they reached they Euroleague play offs. Not bad…
| Season | Eurocup Winner | Reg. Season | Top 16 | Play offs |
| 2014 | Valencia | 2-7 (6th)* | – | – |
| 2013 | Lokomotiv Kuban | 6-4 (3rd) | 7-7(5th) | – |
| 2012 | Khimki | 6-4 (2nd) | 7-7(5th) | – |
| 2011 | Unics Kazan | 7-3 (3rd) | 3-3 (2nd) | 0-3 |
| 2010 | Valencia | 5-5 (4th) | 3-3 (2nd) | 2-3 |
| 2009 | Lietuvos Rytas | 4-6 (5th) | – | – |
| 2008 | Joventut | 4-6 (5th) | – | – |
| 2007 | RealMadrid | 11-3 (2nd) | 3-3 (3rd) | – |
| 2006 | DynamoMoscow | 10-4 (2nd) | 4-2 (2nd) | – |
| 2005 | Lietuvos Rytas | 8-6 (3rd) | 3-3 (3rd) | – |