# 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 EuroLeague Final Four MVP.

## 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 (Maccabi Tel Aviv and Kinder Bologna), 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 (the national domestic league champions from the best leagues, and a variable number of other clubs from the most important national domestic leagues), 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 round | Teams advancing from previous round |
| First qualifying round (6 teams) | The champion from Sweden The runners-up teams from: Germany Lithuania Slovenia The third-placed teams from: Croatia Turkey | |
| Second qualifying round (8 teams) | The champion teams from: Portugal Switzerland The runners-up teams from: Belgium Israel The third-placed from France | 3 winner teams from first qualifying round |
| Third qualifying round (4 teams) | | 4 winner teams from second qualifying round |
| Regular season (32 teams) | 4 best-placed teams from: Greece Italy Spain 2 best-placed teams from: Croatia France Turkey Yugoslavia The champion teams from: Belgium Germany Israel Lithuania Poland Russia Slovenia 3 Wild Cards | 2 winner teams from third qualifying round |
| Top 16 (16 teams) | | 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 (4 teams) | | 4 group winners from the top 16 |

### Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round (TH: EuroLeague title holders)
* 1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
* WC: Wild card
Regular season :
| FC Barcelona (1st) | Kinder Bologna (1st) | ALBA Berlin (1st) | Telindus Oostende (1st) |
| Real Madrid (2nd) | Skipper Bologna (2nd) | Opel Skyliners (WC) | Kinder London Towers (WC) |
| Tau Cerámica (3rd) | Scavolini Pesaro (3rd) | Ural Great (1st) | Maccabi Elite (1st) |
| Unicaja Málaga (4th) | Benetton Treviso (4th) | CSKA Moscow (WC) | Žalgiris (1st) |
| Panathinaikos (1st) | Cibona VIP (1st) | Ülker (1st) | Idea Śląsk (1st) |
| Olympiacos (2nd) | Zadar (2nd) | Efes Pilsen (2nd) | Union Olimpija (1st) |
| Peristeri (3rd) | Pau-Orthez (1st) | Budućnost (1st) | |
| AEK (4th) | ASVEL (2nd) | Partizan ICN (2nd) | |
| Second qualifying round ||||
| Spirou (2nd) | Le Mans (3rd) | Hapoel Jerusalem (2nd) | Portugal Telecom (1st) |
| Lugano Snakes (1st) | | | |
| First qualifying round ||||
| Split CO (3rd) | Telekom Bonn (2nd) | Lietuvos Rytas (2nd) | Krka (2nd) |
| Alvik (1st) | Darüşşafaka (3rd) | | |

## Qualifying rounds
### First qualifying round

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Darüşşafaka | 135–171 | Telekom Bonn | 81–94 | 54–77 |
| Lietuvos Rytas | 158–159 | Split CO | 87–71 | 71–88 |
| Alvik | 0–40 | Krka | 0–20 | 0–20 |
* ^ Alvik withdrew.

### Second qualifying round

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Portugal Telecom | 150–198 | Spirou | 77–92 | 73–106 |
| Telekom Bonn | 166–159 | Split CO | 76–73 | 90–86 |
| Krka | 40–0 | Lugano Snakes | 20–0 | 20–0 |
| Le Mans | 0–40 | Hapoel Jerusalem | 0–20 | 0–20 |
* ^ Lugano Snakes withdrew.
* ^ Le Mans withdrew.

### Third qualifying round

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Spirou | 162–141 | Hapoel Jerusalem | 84–70 | 78–71 |
| Krka | 162–153 | Telekom Bonn | 89–82 | 73–71 |

## 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:
* 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | BEN | MTA | OLY | EFES | UNI | SLA | ALB | SPI |
| 1 | Benetton Treviso | 14 | 11 | 3 | 1206 | 1142 | +64 | Advance to Top 16 | — | 87–83 | 89–81 | 88–86 | 98–94 | 88–72 | 100–71 | 86–78 |
| 2 | Maccabi Elite | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1101 | 1021 | +80 | Advance to Top 16 | 80–74 | — | 78–73 | 76–78 | 82–60 | 75–56 | 82–70 | 94–78 |
| 3 | Olympiacos | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1205 | 1098 | +107 | Advance to Top 16 | 87–91 | 94–91 | — | 87–72 | 81–80 | 101–79 | 91–75 | 107–78 |
| 4 | Efes Pilsen | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1059 | 1032 | +27 | Advance to Top 16 | 87–78 | 68–72 | 79–80 | — | 75–71 | 63–51 | 78–72 | 78–65 |
| 5 | Unicaja Málaga | 14 | 6 | 8 | 1054 | 1052 | +2 | | 67–68 | 79–84 | 86–79 | 66–67 | — | 65–66 | 86–79 | 79–68 |
| 6 | Idea Śląsk | 14 | 4 | 10 | 1001 | 1061 | −60 | | 91–93 | 79–65 | 75–80 | 74–79 | 58–63 | — | 71–66 | 94–95 |
| 7 | Alba Berlin | 14 | 3 | 11 | 1065 | 1153 | −88 | | 89–83 | 64–65 | 69–88 | 73–74 | 72–84 | 75–64 | — | 99–87 |
| 8 | Spirou | 14 | 3 | 11 | 1049 | 1181 | −132 | | 76–83 | 63–74 | 56–76 | 79–75 | 75–77 | 53–71 | 100–91 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | KIN | FCB | ULK | UOL | SKY | ŽAL | PER | LON |
| 1 | Kinder Bologna | 14 | 12 | 2 | 1163 | 969 | +194 | Advance to Top 16 | — | 91–81 | 68–60 | 86–70 | 69–62 | 90–54 | 87–72 | 94–72 |
| 2 | FC Barcelona | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1211 | 1050 | +161 | Advance to Top 16 | 69–85 | — | 85–64 | 81–61 | 90–81 | 90–86 | 73–77 | 101–63 |
| 3 | Ülker | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1104 | 1051 | +53 | Advance to Top 16 | 51–75 | 77–87 | — | 75–63 | 78–76 | 79–66 | 93–79 | 107–64 |
| 4 | Union Olimpija | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1085 | 971 | +114 | Advance to Top 16 | 85–89 | 80–74 | 78–80 | — | 81–55 | 87–66 | 81–74 | 73–40 |
| 5 | Opel Skyliners | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1037 | 1060 | −23 | | 80–79 | 74–88 | 74–70 | 56–79 | — | 84–75 | 72–55 | 61–57 |
| 6 | Žalgiris | 14 | 5 | 9 | 1054 | 1097 | −43 | | 91–67 | 72–92 | 79–82 | 70–81 | 73–75 | — | 81–78 | 90–72 |
| 7 | Peristeri | 14 | 3 | 11 | 1058 | 1158 | −100 | | 59–87 | 72–101 | 82–95 | 67–75 | 89–93 | 62–70 | — | 99–75 |
| 8 | Kinder London Towers | 14 | 0 | 14 | 910 | 1266 | −356 | | 57–96 | 67–99 | 75–93 | 58–91 | 77–94 | 58–81 | 75–87 | — |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | PAO | RMB | SKI | CSKA | KRK | PAU | BUD | ZAD |
| 1 | Panathinaikos | 14 | 12 | 2 | 1176 | 1073 | +103 | Advance to Top 16 | — | 77–88 | 81–70 | 83–80 | 98–92 | 67–63 | 91–82 | 102–64 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1211 | 1123 | +88 | Advance to Top 16 | 70–78 | — | 87–82 | 82–86 | 87–93 | 92–80 | 90–71 | 114–84 |
| 3 | Skipper Bologna | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1193 | 1151 | +42 | Advance to Top 16 | 77–79 | 93–77 | — | 97–99 | 73–88 | 83–75 | 109–79 | 95–85 |
| 4 | CSKA Moscow | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1221 | 1189 | +32 | Advance to Top 16 | 85–91 | 77–92 | 75–77 | — | 86–80 | 80–69 | 88–83 | 96–92 |
| 5 | Krka | 14 | 7 | 7 | 1245 | 1222 | +23 | | 82–81 | 79–95 | 94–100 | 107–93 | — | 84–93 | 101–74 | 91–94 |
| 6 | Pau-Orthez | 14 | 7 | 7 | 1126 | 1114 | +12 | | 67–79 | 78–74 | 86–69 | 91–83 | 74–84 | — | 87–90 | 101–73 |
| 7 | Budućnost | 14 | 3 | 11 | 1108 | 1257 | −149 | | 72–84 | 72–82 | 70–86 | 72–103 | 77–72 | 77–79 | — | 110–97 |
| 8 | Zadar | 14 | 2 | 12 | 1156 | 1307 | −151 | | 81–85 | 73–81 | 76–82 | 73–90 | 97–98 | 79–83 | 88–79 | — |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | TAU | AEK | URA | SCA | ASV | PAR | CIB | OOS |
| 1 | Tau Cerámica | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1219 | 1057 | +162 | Advance to Top 16 | — | 82–62 | 112–84 | 86–68 | 90–66 | 80–85 | 81–58 | 114–78 |
| 2 | AEK | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1152 | 1102 | +50 | Advance to Top 16 | 85–82 | — | 99–85 | 68–70 | 87–65 | 106–70 | 72–69 | 86–79 |
| 3 | Ural Great | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1266 | 1260 | +6 | Advance to Top 16 | 94–88 | 86–77 | — | 99–88 | 103–98 | 110–111 | 85–66 | 109–79 |
| 4 | Scavolini Pesaro | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1124 | 1137 | −13 | Advance to Top 16 | 75–85 | 68–89 | 103–85 | — | 65–99 | 98–86 | 88–75 | 86–75 |
| 5 | ASVEL | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1147 | 1135 | +12 | | 73–71 | 86–84 | 73–75 | 63–80 | — | 78–91 | 99–84 | 89–76 |
| 6 | Partizan ICN | 14 | 6 | 8 | 1138 | 1191 | −53 | | 59–65 | 69–74 | 85–80 | 68–80 | 82–88 | — | 81–76 | 86–77 |
| 7 | Cibona VIP | 14 | 5 | 9 | 1110 | 1165 | −55 | | 96–95 | 89–90 | 102–97 | 71–74 | 70–82 | 85–71 | — | 85–76 |
| 8 | Telindus Oostende | 14 | 3 | 11 | 1138 | 1247 | −109 | | 74–88 | 102–73 | 79–84 | 88–81 | 77–88 | 104–94 | 74–84 | — |

## 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | BEN | FCB | SKI | SCA |
| 1 | Benetton Treviso | 6 | 4 | 2 | 538 | 481 | +57 | Advance to Final Four | — | 89–75 | 96–90 | 94–66 |
| 2 | FC Barcelona | 6 | 4 | 2 | 499 | 483 | +16 | | 76–75 | — | 77–59 | 90–76 |
| 3 | Skipper Bologna | 6 | 2 | 4 | 482 | 509 | −27 | | 73–86 | 97–93 | — | 73–86 |
| 4 | Scavolini Pesaro | 6 | 2 | 4 | 487 | 533 | −46 | | 101–98 | 87–88 | 71–90 | — |

### Group F

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | KIN | EFS | RMB | UGR |
| 1 | Kinder Bologna | 6 | 4 | 2 | 460 | 432 | +28 | Advance to Final Four | — | 77–71 | 71–82 | 72–61 |
| 2 | Efes Pilsen | 6 | 3 | 3 | 506 | 481 | +25 | | 73–76 | — | 63–67 | 101–84 |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 6 | 3 | 3 | 500 | 528 | −28 | | 58–86 | 92–109 | — | 88–95 |
| 4 | Ural Great | 6 | 2 | 4 | 516 | 541 | −25 | | 87–78 | 85–89 | 104–113 | — |

### Group G

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | PAO | OLY | AEK | UOL |
| 1 | Panathinaikos | 6 | 5 | 1 | 496 | 467 | +29 | Advance to Final Four | — | 88–78 | 96–92 | 85–67 |
| 2 | Olympiacos | 6 | 4 | 2 | 480 | 452 | +28 | | 92–75 | — | 75–69 | 85–89 |
| 3 | AEK | 6 | 2 | 4 | 474 | 475 | −1 | | 66–73 | 66–75 | — | 97–87 |
| 4 | Union Olimpija | 6 | 1 | 5 | 450 | 506 | −56 | | 72–79 | 66–75 | 69–85 | — |

### Group H

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification | MTA | TAU | CSK | ULK |
| 1 | Maccabi Elite | 6 | 4 | 2 | 410 | 370 | +40 | Advance to Final Four | — | 77–78 | 69–68 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Tau Cerámica | 6 | 4 | 2 | 496 | 472 | +24 | | 65–94 | — | 73–87 | 101–69 |
| 3 | CSKA Moscow | 6 | 3 | 3 | 486 | 485 | +1 | | 81–77 | 73–90 | — | 86–80 |
| 4 | Ülker | 6 | 1 | 5 | 395 | 460 | −65 | | 78–91 | 72–89 | 96–91 | — |
* ^ Ülker withdrew.

## Final Four

| Semifinals 3 May | Semifinals 3 May | Final 5 May | Final 5 May |
| Benetton Treviso | 82 |
| Kinder Bologna | 90 | | |
| Kinder Bologna | 90 | Kinder Bologna | 83 |
| | | Panathinaikos | 89 |
| Panathinaikos | 83 | Panathinaikos | 89 |
| Maccabi Elite | 75 | | |
* 2001–02 Euroleague Champions
* Panathinaikos 3rd title

## Awards
### Top Scorer

| Player | Team |
| Alphonso Ford | Olympiacos |

### Regular Season MVP

| Player | Team |
| Mirsad Türkcan | CSKA Moscow |

### Top 16 MVP

| Player | Team |
| Dejan Bodiroga | Panathinaikos |

### Final Four MVP

| Player | Team |
| Dejan Bodiroga | Panathinaikos |

### Finals Top Scorer

| Player | Team |
| Manu Ginóbili | Kinder Bologna |

### All-Euroleague First Team

| Player | Team |
| Tyus Edney | Benetton Treviso |
| Marko Jarić | Kinder Bologna |
| Manu Ginóbili | Kinder Bologna |
| Dejan Bodiroga | Panathinaikos |
| Dejan Tomašević | Tau Cerámica |

### All-Euroleague Second Team

| Player | Team |
| Ariel McDonald | Maccabi Elite |
| Alphonso Ford | Olympiacos |
| Mirsad Türkcan | CSKA Moscow |
| Marcelo Nicola | Benetton Treviso |
| Joseph Blair | Scavolini Pesaro |

### Round MVP
#### Regular season

| Week | Player | Team | PIR |
| 1 | Asım Pars | Ülker | 39 |
| 2 | Jaka Lakovič | Krka | 55 |
| 3 | Gregor Fučka | Skipper Bologna | 37 |
| 4 | Gregor Fučka (2) | Skipper Bologna | 45 |
| 5 | Mirsad Türkcan | CSKA Moscow | 36 |
| 5 | Sasha Đjorđjević | Real Madrid | 36 |
| 6 | Valeri Daineko | Ural Great | 40 |
| 7 | Dimos Dikoudis | AEK | 42 |
| 8 | Andrius Giedraitis | Telindus Oostende | 43 |
| 9 | Ruslan Avleev | Ural Great | 47 |
| 10 | Mirsad Türkcan (2) | CSKA Moscow | 43 |
| 11 | Nikola Prkačin | Cibona VIP | 41 |
| 12 | Mirsad Türkcan (3) | CSKA Moscow | 34 |
| 12 | Ron Ellis | Spirou | 34 |
| 13 | Grigorij Khizhnyak | Žalgiris | 36 |
| 13 | Beno Udrih | Union Olimpija | 36 |
| 13 | Yann Bonato | ASVEL | 36 |
| 14 | Grigorij Khizhnyak (2) | Žalgiris | 36 |

#### Top 16

| Week | Player | Team | PIR |
| 1 | Ruslan Avleev (2) | Ural Great | 42 |
| 2 | Alphonso Ford | Olympiacos | 29 |
| 3 | Memo Okur | Efes Pilsen | 36 |
| 4 | Matjaž Smodiš | Kinder Bologna | 38 |
| 5 | Marcus Brown | Efes Pilsen | 41 |
| 6 | Mirsad Türkcan (4) | CSKA Moscow | 34 |

## Individual statistics
### Rating

| Rank | Name | Team | Games | Rating | PIR |
| 1. | Mirsad Türkcan | CSKA Moscow | 17 | 439 | 25.82 |
| 2. | Joseph Blair | Scavolini Pesaro | 14 | 352 | 25.14 |
| 3. | Mate Skelin | Krka | 14 | 351 | 25.07 |

### Points

| Rank | Name | Team | Games | Points | PPG |
| 1. | Alphonso Ford | Olympiacos | 20 | 495 | 24.75 |
| 2. | Gordan Giriček | CSKA Moscow | 18 | 413 | 22.94 |
| 3. | Jaka Lakovič | Krka | 14 | 293 | 20.93 |

### Rebounds

| Rank | Name | Team | Games | Rebounds | RPG |
| 1. | Mirsad Türkcan | CSKA Moscow | 17 | 217 | 12.76 |
| 2. | Joseph Blair | Scavolini Pesaro | 14 | 167 | 11.93 |
| 3. | Mate Skelin | Krka | 14 | 137 | 9.79 |

### Assists

| Rank | Name | Team | Games | Assists | APG |
| 1. | Elmer Bennett | Tau Cerámica | 15 | 79 | 5.27 |
| 2. | Michael Hawkins | Idea Śląsk | 14 | 70 | 5.00 |
| 3. | John Celestand | ASVEL | 13 | 62 | 4.77 |

### Other statistics

| Category | Player | Team | Games | Average |
| Steals | Manu Ginóbili | Kinder Bologna | 22 | 2.55 |
| Blocks | Grigorij Khizhnyak | Žalgiris | 14 | 3.21 |
| Turnovers | Michael Hawkins | Idea Śląsk | 14 | 3.71 |
| Fouls drawn | Roger Huggins | Spirou | 14 | 7.14 |
| Minutes | Ralph Biggs | Telindus Oostende | 14 | 36:46 |
| 2P% | Giannis Giannoulis | Panathinaikos | 15 | 82.5% |
| 3P% | Nenad Čanak | Partizan | 14 | 56.1% |
| FT% | Sergei Chikalkin | Benetton Treviso | 21 | 91.7% |

### Individual game highs

| Category | Player | Team | Statistic |
| PIR | Jaka Lakovič | Krka | 55 |
| Points | Vlado Šćepanović | Partizan | 40 |
| Rebounds | Mirsad Türkcan | CSKA Moscow | 23 |
| Assists | John Celestand | ASVEL | 12 |
| Steals | Jorge Garbajosa | Benetton Treviso | 7 |
| Blocks | Grigorij Khizhnyak | Žalgiris | 7 |
| Three-pointers | Marcelo Nicola | Benetton Treviso | 7 |
| Three-pointers | Alberto Herreros | Real Madrid | 7 |
| Three-pointers | Vlado Šćepanović | Partizan | 7 |
| Turnovers | Pascal Roller | Opel Skyliners | 8 |
| Turnovers | Jaka Lakovič | Krka | 8 |
| Turnovers | Sasha Đjorđjević | Real Madrid | 8 |
| Turnovers | Mirsad Türkcan | CSKA Moscow | 8 |