Opening odds on Fiba Europe Cup winner
Yesterday some bookies were opening the odds on Fiba Europe Cup winner. Medi Bayreuth was first with odd 4.00, followed by Pinar Karsiyaka with 4.00, then Bahcesehir with 4.50, Ventspils – 8.00, U-Banca Transilvania – 8.00, Bakken Bears – 11.00, Tsmoki-Minsk – 17.00 and BC Kyiv – 30.00.
I was expecting the odds from September, but the bookmakers were too smart to give it. They knew that it’s a small competition where the bettors can take bigger advantage in front of them. Since the beginning of the competition, I made my choices speaking about the title contenders and now I see that ‘my teams’ Pinar Karsiyaka, Bahcesehir and U-Banca Transilvania are among the first 5 teams rated by the betting websites.
The next smart move of the bookies was to placed the Germans of Bayreuth with the first chance to win Fiba Europe Cup, to distract the people from the real title contender: Pinar Karsiyaka. But that move didn’t work since now the Turkish powerhouse went down to odd 3.00, which is closer to their true value. I am expecting them to drop even more to 2.50 for instance. Why? Because of the next reasons:
- they had an amazing season in one of the best league in Europe – Turkey. They smashed Banvit, Galatasaray, Darussafaka, Fenerbahce, losing with the powerful Anadolu Efes in overtime with only 2 points. Which other teams remained in the race for the Fiba Europe Cup title showed something similar this season?
- Pinar has the most experienced group of players, combining great foreigners (reigning BasketballCL champions Amath M’Baye and Tony Taylor, Tony Crocker, Jordan Morgan, D.J. Kennedy) with talented homegrown players, coming from the national team of Turkey, where they had the same coach: Ufuk Sarica.
- Pinar Karsiyaka had till now the most amazing winnings in Fiba Europe Cup, many of them by more than 20-30 points margin which is proving their high level.
If their motivation and focus will remain high, I don’t see any other team able to face Pinar Karsiyaka this season in Fiba Europe Cup.
Photo: Fiba Europe Cup
Gratian Cormos
