2002–03 Euroleague

Euroleague
The Final Four was held in Palau Sant Jordi
Season	2002–03
Games played	220 (total)
Teams	24 (from 13 countries)
Finals
Champions	FC Barcelona (1st title)
Runners-up	Benetton Treviso
Third place	Montepaschi Siena
Fourth place	CSKA Moscow
Awards
Regular Season MVP	Joseph Blair
Top 16 MVP	Mirsad Türkcan
Final Four MVP	Dejan Bodiroga
Statistical leaders
Points Miloš Vujanić 25.8 Rebounds Mirsad Türkcan 11.8 Assists Ed Cota 6.5 Index Rating Mirsad Türkcan 24.0
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 Euroleague was the third season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 46th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs overall. The 2002–03 season featured 24 competing teams from 13 countries without qualifying rounds as FIBA organised its own top-tier competition and many teams competed in the 2002–03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup. The final of the competition was held in Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain, with hosts FC Barcelona defeating Benetton Treviso 76–65.

Team allocation

Distribution

The table below shows the default access list.

	Teams entering in this round
Regular season (24 teams)	17 teams with 3-year licences 2 best-placed teams from: Spain 1 best-placed team from: Greece Italy Poland Yugoslavia 1 Wild card.
Top 16 (16 teams)	3 group winners from the regular season 3 group runners-up from the regular season 3 group third-placed teams from the regular season 3 group fourth-placed teams from the regular season 3 group fifth-placed teams from the regular season 1 group sixth placed team 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)

• Licensed clubs: 3-year licence
• 1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
• WC: Wild card

Regular season
Licensed clubs
ASVEL (1st)	FC Barcelona (3rd)	Maccabi Elite (1st)
Pau-Orthez (2nd)	Real Madrid (5th)	Žalgiris (2nd)
Olympiacos (2nd)	Efes Pilsen (1st)	CSKA Moscow (5th)
Panathinaikos (3rd)TH	Ülker (2nd)	Union Olimpija (1st)
Benetton Treviso (1st)	Cibona VIP (1st)	Budućnost (2nd)
Skipper Bologna (2nd)	ALBA Berlin (1st)
Associated clubs
Kinder Bologna (3rd)	Tau Cerámica (1st)	Partizan Mobtel (1st)
Montepaschi Siena (5th)WC	Unicaja Málaga (2nd)
AEK (1st)	Idea Śląsk (1st)

Regular season

The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into three 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 5 teams in each group and the best sixth-placed team advanced to the next round. The complete list of tiebreakers was 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:

1. Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
2. Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
3. Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group)
4. Points scored in all group matches
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	Benetton Treviso	14	11	3	1253	1108	+145	Advance to Top 16
2	FC Barcelona	14	11	3	1137	1048	+89
3	Efes Pilsen	14	8	6	1072	998	+74
4	Skipper Bologna	14	8	6	1085	1087	−2
5	Cibona VIP	14	7	7	1066	1118	−52
6	Pau-Orthez	14	6	8	1076	1124	−48
7	Alba Berlin	14	4	10	1064	1172	−108
8	AEK	14	1	13	1000	1098	−98

Source: Euroleague

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	Panathinaikos	14	11	3	1103	1039	+64	Advance to Top 16
2	Tau Cerámica	14	9	5	1126	1090	+36
3	Union Olimpija	14	9	5	1105	1052	+53
4	Unicaja Málaga	14	7	7	1060	1058	+2
5	Maccabi Elite	14	7	7	1129	1081	+48
6	Montepaschi Siena	14	6	8	1132	1092	+40
7	Žalgiris	14	5	9	1141	1195	−54
8	Budućnost	14	2	12	1108	1297	−189

Source: Euroleague

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	CSKA Moscow	14	12	2	1148	1004	+144	Advance to Top 16
2	Ülker	14	10	4	1115	1064	+51
3	Olympiacos	14	7	7	1066	1041	+25
4	Virtus Bologna	14	6	8	1102	1119	−17
5	ASVEL	14	6	8	1114	1138	−24
6	Real Madrid	14	6	8	1094	1113	−19
7	Idea Śląsk Wrocław	14	5	9	1039	1125	−86
8	Partizan Mobtel	14	4	10	1109	1183	−74

Source: Euroleague

Top 16

The surviving teams were divided into four groups of four teams each, and again a round robin system was adopted, resulting in 6 games each, with the top team advancing to the Final Four. Tiebreakers were identical to those used in the Regular Season.

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	CSKA Moscow	6	5	1	499	399	+100	Advance to Final Four
2	Efes Pilsen	6	4	2	425	431	−6
3	Cibona VIP	6	2	4	447	499	−52
4	Unicaja Málaga	6	1	5	474	516	−42

Source: Euroleague

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	Montepaschi Siena	6	4	2	510	484	+26	Advance to Final Four
2	Skipper Bologna	6	3	3	350	448	−98
3	Panathinaikos	6	3	3	482	506	−24
4	Ülker	6	2	4	480	484	−4

Source: Euroleague

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	Benetton Treviso	6	6	0	522	452	+70	Advance to Final Four
2	Maccabi Elite	6	4	2	537	477	+60
3	Tau Cerámica	6	2	4	502	516	−14
4	Virtus Bologna	6	0	6	448	564	−116

Source: Euroleague

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	FC Barcelona	6	5	1	448	424	+24	Advance to Final Four
2	Olympiacos	6	3	3	427	419	+8
3	Union Olimpija	6	3	3	445	438	+7
4	ASVEL	6	1	5	436	475	−39

Source: Euroleague

Final four

Main article: 2003 Euroleague Final Four

The Final Four was played from 9 May until 11 May 2003 and was held in the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona.

	Semifinals 9 May				Final 11 May
	CSKA Moscow	71
	FC Barcelona	76
					FC Barcelona	76
					Benetton Treviso	65
	Montepaschi Siena	62
	Benetton Treviso	65
					Third place
					CSKA Moscow	78
					Montepaschi Siena	79

Awards

Top Scorer

Player	Team
Miloš Vujanić	Partizan

Regular season MVP

Player	Team
Joseph Blair	Ülker

Top 16 MVP

Player	Team
Mirsad Türkcan	Montepaschi Siena

Final Four MVP

Player	Team
Dejan Bodiroga	FC Barcelona

Finals Top Scorer

Player	Team
Dejan Bodiroga	FC Barcelona

All-Euroleague First Team

Player	Team
Tyus Edney	Benetton Treviso
Alphonso Ford	Montepaschi Siena
Dejan Bodiroga	FC Barcelona
Jorge Garbajosa	Benetton Treviso
Victor Alexander	CSKA Moscow

All-Euroleague Second Team

Player	Team
Miloš Vujanić	Partizan
Marcus Brown	Efes Pilsen
Andrés Nocioni	Tau Cerámica
Mirsad Türkcan	Montepaschi Siena
Nikola Vujčić	Maccabi Elite

Euroleague All-Stars

On 2 October 2002 Euroleague All-Star Team led by Tyus Edney defeated Real Madrid in exhibition game 91–85.

• Real Madrid – Euroleague All-Stars 85–91

Real Madrid (22+15+21+27): Michael Hawkins 2, Alberto Herreros 16, Angulo 7, Derrick Alston 6, Hernández-Sonseca 11; Digbeu 14, Dragan Tarlac 16, Victoriano 13, Macej Lampe, Nadeau.

Euroliga Stars(21+23+14+33): Tyus Edney 16, McDonald 9, Alvertis 2, Turkcan 2, Nicola 8; Kakiouzis 18, Luis Scola 8, Gregor Fucka 11, Navarro 3, Shelef 2, Vujcic 12, Weis; Coach: Zeljko Obradovic.

See also

• 2002–03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup

External links

• Euroleague.net – Official Euroleague homepage.
• Eurobasket.com – Popular basketball news site.
• TalkBasket.net Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine – Basketball forum.
• 02-03 Awards