By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
2017 was a landmark year for the EuroLeague. The top club competition grew even further in the course of this year, giving us some big emotions, and 2017 was essentially the year we really got to know the league’s exciting new format in full swing.
Eurohoops selected the 10 top events for 2017 based on their importance as well as… the extent to which we will remember them in the years to come! The highlight was definitely Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul’s first European title, which was also the first ever in the history of Turkish basketball!
2017 was the year Ekpe Udoh became the MVP of the Final Four, and it was a year that Sergio Llull and Keith Langford will certainly remember. A year in which Luka Doncic’s star took on a glorious glow, Sarunas Jasikevicius became great as a coach and Olympiacos Piraeus reached yet another final.
Let’s take a look at them all, one by one!
Fenerbahce: The dream came true!
Fenerbahce won their first ever title in Istanbul and, as such, made 2017 a landmark year in their history but also in the history of Turkish basketball. The management worked together with Zeljko Obradovic and Maurizio Gherardini, maintainging a core group and making the necessary corrective moves every summer. First came the qualification for the Final Four of 2015, then the lost championship game of 2016. Finally, in their third attempt, Fenerbahce went all the way and picked up the “Holy Grail” of European basketball.
Led by Bogdan Bogdanovic and Udoh, together with a multitude of important players, the wild course to the final began in the playoffs. Even though they didn’t have a home-court advantage, they won the series with Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens 3-0, beat Real Madrid in the semifinal, and on May 21 became the new European champions by overcoming the last obstacle, Olympiacos, with a 80-64 win. It was the first title for Fenerbahce but also for Turkish basketball in general!