Euroleague 2014/15 Qualifying And Regular Season Draw

Such is the size and scale of the Euroleague, and the fact that there are so many teams desperate to be part of the premier sporting event in European basketball, it is necessary to have qualifying draws. Euroleague has just unveiled the schedule for the new season’s qualifying round and regular season, which means that basketball fans in Europe are starting to get a little bit more excited about the 2014/15 season.

Draw for the qualifying round

This draw will be a seeded draw with teams entering an eight team bracket. The draw will feature four seeds, which have earned this ranking due to the criteria laid out in the bylaws of the league. If any team gains entry into the draw after a renouncement will find that they are seeded according to the ranking of the club. Any team that has been provided a wild card, from the General Assembly, will be ranked higher than the over teams.

Procedure for the draw

The following steps will be taken for the qualifying draw:

Four different urns will be used, with each urn containing all of the seeds of a specific ranking.
More specifically, this means one urn will have all 1 seed teams, one urn will have all 2^nd seed teams, one urn will have all 3^rd seed team and the remaining urn will host all 4^th seed teams.
1^st ranked seeds will be drawn first and as they are drawn, they will be placed into the first available slot allocated to a 1^st seed. This process continues all of the 1^st seeds have been drawn.
Then the 2^nd seeds are drawn and as they are, they will be placed into the first available slot allocated to a 2^nd seed. This process continues until all of the 2^nd seeds have been drawn. The process is then continued for the 3^rd seeds and the 4^th seeds.

The seeds are as follows:

seeds: Unics Kazan and VEF Riga
seeds: Hapoel Jerusalem and ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne
seeds: CEZ Basketball Nymburk and Telenet Ostend
seeds: Stelmet Zielona Gora and Strasbourg

The bracket for the qualifying round

The four teams that win in Qualifying Round1 progress to Qualifying Round 2. The two teams that win in Qualifying Round 2 progress to Qualifying Round 3. The team that wins Qualifying Round 3 progresses to the Euroleague regular season.

Draw for the regular season

Group Draw

The draw is carried out reflecting the seeding of the teams involved.

The 23 teams that qualify directly for the Euroleague will be ranked into 6 different seeding categories. Each seeding category will have four teams in it. The seeding is calculated through the use of the previous three years of European action. A club receives 2 points for winning a game and 1 point for tieing or losing a game from the start of a regular season. A clubs 2 bonus points for reaching the final 16, a further 2 bonus points for qualifying for the final 8, 1 further bonus point for reaching the final four and then a further bonus point for reaching the final.

Results obtained by the poorest performing side from the league/country will be collated every season and this creates a position for that league/country in the overall ranking. This creates the lowest position that a club from that league/country are able to achieve in the draw.

If a minimum of two teams are ranked the same, the first tie-breaker comes in counting the total wins a team has received in three years and the team with the highest amount will be ranked higher. If there is still a tie, the final standings of the previous seasons Euroleague will decide, and then rankings from the Eurocup. If there is still a tie, domestic championship standings (post playoff) will be involved and if there is still a stalemate; the drawing of lots will take place.

The first four ranked teams will be the 1 seeds, the next four ranked teams the 2^nd seeds and so on. The lowest ranked three teams of the 23 will be 6 seeds and they will be joined by the team from the qualifying round.

Restrictions of the group draw

It is not possible for two teams from the same country to participate in the same group for the regular season, although there is an exception when five teams from one country take part in a regular season. For the purpose of the draw, teams that qualify for Euroleague via the Adriatic League are deemed to be coming from the same country.

Procedure for the group draw

Teams are selected from each seeding urn, with all of the same seeds drawn one after each other before progressing to the next urn, before all of the teams have been selected. For each spot, the urn will be emptied and refilled, taking care to remove any teams that are ineligible for a particular group, depending on the same restrictions. For instance, if a team from one country is placed into a group as seed 1, all of the other teams from that country will be removed for the relevant draw. The possibility of restrictions means that some teams are placed directly into a particular group.

Draw calendar

A computer draw, held at random, is used to determine where teams are positioned within the group. This calendar draw sees each teaming being a latter from A to F and these letters establish the matchups for the regular season. The games are held as follows:

Round 1: F-C, D-, E-A
Round 2: A-F, B-E, C-D
Round 3: F-D, E-C, A-B
Round 4: F-B, C-A, D-E
Round 5: E-F, A-D, B-C
Round 6: A-E, B-D, C-F
Round 7: F-A, E-B, D-C
Round 8: D-F, C-E, B-A
Round 9: B-F, A-C, E-D
Round 10: F-E, D-A, C-B

When team plays A at home, D will always play away from home and vice versa. This pattern is repeated for B and F, and for C and E.

Restrictions on the calendar draw

Teams taking part in the opening game of the Euroleague will be allocated specific letters.

When there are teams playing in the same city or local area, they will be allocated into a letters pairing that ensures that when one team is at home, the other will be away from home.