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Artland have lots of ups and downs. They can play very well offensively, but they can also fail real bad. Basically, they rely on transition and back shots, and have problems against defensively strong teams. The Germans only scored 63 points in the first match against Gran Canaria, played a defensively oriented game, but the context is completely different today. Artland got defeated against Oostende last week, and lost any chance to get to the second round of the Eurocup, and GranCa got another win and 8-0 ratio, so they'll definitely be the first in the group. From the guest coach statements, it's obvious some substitute players will get more minutes. To the Spaniards, the game against Canarias this weekend is a lot more important because they're not so good in the national championship. They'd love nothing better than to skip the last two rounds of the Euroleague and focus on practices, and the injured players recovery and ACB league. In circumstances like that, it's hard to find a reason why they'd insist on a firm defense tonight. There's no imperative or pressure about the result. Details

I think it's a great surprise that Tubingen has so much patience with coach Igor Perovic. For a couple of seasons they've barely managed to keep the prime league status, and this season is no better. Currently they're in the danger zone with only two wins, they've lost all five away matches, and convincingly so. They're also without their best scorer Wallace. They've replaced him with Mihailovic who in his debut has 0/11 shots from the game... This week they broke their contract with Wiggins, they plan to bring someone else and it doesn't look promising. They're usually bad against Ludwigsburg. They lost the last four head-to-head matches. Next to it, Tubingen's defense is terrible, on average they concede 94.2 points in away matches and their style should suit the host. Ludwigsburg so far didn't fill out all of the expectations and there's no doubt that we should expect them to be very motivated. Last weekend in a heavy away match in Bamberg they were very close to a surprise, but the home team were complete, strengthened in the paint and here I expect them to show that they're better than Tubingen. Details

The margin looks huge at first, 170 points for European basketball, but of course, the context is key. It would be stupid to write such a prediction if you don't expect for the match to go to 180+ points, and considering the clubs game styles, that can be expected. Telekom are a team who have this season over or close to this border brought over teams such as Zaragoza, Brose, Reggiana, Strasbourg... Their style is first and foremost offense, short attacks, great outside shooting. They will always accept outrunning, and today they're hosting the ultra fast Hagen whose philosophy is run and gun. Hagen managed to pull well over this margin Frankfurt, the ideal defense team of the league, and then Oldenburg, Alba, Brose, and, of course, Bayern, with whom Telekom played a 190+ match last weekend. It's not that weird, Bayern, Telekom, Hagen and Gottingen are clubs who play the fastest basketball in Germany and in their head-to-head matches it's always better to look for an over, no matter the fact that the border will be around 170 points. In preseason Hagen beat Telekom 93-89. In the last two season they played six times and only once were they below today's margin. Details

Leuven will be without their two very important players today. Olivier Troisfontaines may as well be their best defense player, but they will miss Jason Westrol even more. He is by far their best player, their leader, top scorer with 14.4 points, top rebounder and leading in assists. Leuven have a short roster, mostly made of young Belgian players. We need to wait and see how good they will be able to stand up to Oostende, who beat them the last two seasons in all 8 head-to-head meetings. Leuven managed to beat only Brussels home and hardly so, with all the players at their disposal. The better team beat them by 20 or more goals (Mons by 43 last weekend). Oostende are doing well in Europe, but when it comes to Belgian league, they have yet to find their match. They stared the season with a defeat to Spirou and went on to record 8 consecutive wins, with 6 out of their 9 games being on the road. They beat Mons away by 13, Pepinster by 14, Liefe by 28, Antwerp by 12- All of them are currently better than Leuven. Team under is a good option here as well, but it's not widely available and I will thus go with the home team's win with a handicap. They are one level above this Leuven, who are, on top of that, out of shape. Details

Melilla are one of the better teams in the 2. Spanish league, on paper at least, but their current score is 2-5. Not inline with expectations, but this means we should see them with extra motive today. They lost too many close matches lately, so it's no wonder coach Alcoba points out that home games are crucial and wants to make their arena a fortress. Today they've got a chance they will not miss, I think, as Valladolid are coming, who've dropped in form in the past few weeks. They lost decisively to Prat and to weakened Navarra, and on Sunday were beaten at home by not so strong Clavi. The Valladolid crew are hurt more by their two best shooters getting injured than by the losses, as Roman Montanez and Sergio De La Fuente are out. De La Fuente is also their best rebounder with 8.3 rebounds per game. This part is a particularly painful problem as they lost two great centers during the season, first Sonseca then Rubio. As Valladolid usually rotate 7-8 players, with two starters missing they'll struggle to split time. With all that in mind, the set odds for Melilla to win certainly have value. Details

Turow are on a 1-6 record, Barcelona 7-0. Turow will not make it through to the next stage, while Barcelona don't have to worry about fighting off contenders for top spot. This is a game neither side will stress about. Turow are talking about fatigue more and more lately, which is affecting their defense intensity, causing them to concede a lot of points even against the weakest of Polish teams. Turow rarely play games at under 160 points, but they did in Barcelona, even though it was another fast-paced game. Barcelona had 70 shots from the floor and additional 30 or so free throws, while Turow recorded 60 shots...When it comes to style, Turow are similar to Bayern, whom Barcelona beat away 99-77 recently. When not under pressure, the Catalan team mostly play fast-paced game and that is precisely what I expect to happen today. I don't think Turow will be able to stop them, but I expect a better offense performance on Turow's part. Details

Artland have 1-6 ratio in the Eurocup, and it's clear they don't have a chance going through to the second round, The math keeps them in, but by what they showed so far, the Dragons are simply not their true selves this season. They've even been struggling in the national championship lately. They had loads of luck on the weekend and defeated Bremerhaven in the overtime they got thanks to the last second shot. The worst of all is that today, they're playing against Oostende, their black cat. They lost to the Belgian championship six times in a row in the last three seasons. Last year, the Dragons got two defeats in the same phase of the Eurocup, and lost to the same team in the pre-season, too (62-97 and 83-88). They lost this season in the third round, as well. It was a one way street. You could see what bothered Artland the most. It was the Belgian's aggressive game, very intense in the defense. In the German league, Artland can do with their three-pointer oriented basketball, but not in the Eurocup, so they score under 70 points. Oostende are great at home, their form is clearly rising in the last weeks, and with 3-4 ratio, they've got everything under control in the last three rounds. Details

Graz somehow managed to beat Fürstenfeld, who have yet to beat anyone after 12 rounds, but both before and after that match the Graz team still look more like a group of amateurs than a serious first league team. Their form hasn't improved a bit since they started the season, when they used to lose by as many as 70 points. Over the last four rounds they never lost by less than 21 points, and the last round match at Swans saw them going down by -47. The fact they're playing this at home is actually not a plus, as they suffered most of their worst defeats in this very arena, where they lost all six matches, and the smallest margin was against less than impressive Klosterneuburg by -14. Vienna ended a 6 win series on Thursday against defending champions Güssing, which will almost certainly serve to motivate them today. The Viennese team beat Graz with a +37 lead at home, with less than a full roster due to administrative issues, and they recently rounded out their roster. They only lost against the best teams in away matches so far, Güssing and Swans, and managed to beat Arkadia and Wels, much better teams than Graz, by +12 in away matches. We should also point out Vienna are offensively the best team in the league, while Graz concede an average of 97, 33 more than they make. With all this in mind, I don't see how the home team can avoid a 20+ defeat. Details

Gussing's offense performances are clearly improving - they have not scored less than 88 points in any of the last 3 games. Their game with Vienna ended at 180 points last Thursday. Swans are even better offense-wise than Vienna. The visitors are averaging 90 points, with their away games ending at 170 points on average. They basically played only three unders this season - twice against the tough Oberwart. When Gussing and Swans met the first time, the visitors won 90-85. They played 4 times last season and only one of those games ended at 160 points. Gussing is the team without proper centers that prefer faster pace. Swans didn't look for wins through defense until now. Details

I expected odds of 1.30 - 1.35 for this one, on the win of Coruna, so the current odds definitely have value. The fact is that Coruna aren't in a good streak, and five out of eight matches were away ones, and they are known to be stronger at home. At home they've played against some very strong teams, they won Lleida and Burgos, and lost only against Ourenseo. The coach points out that despite a bad series, he is calm and expect a true reaction. In truth, Coruna have more quality and are more experienced than Prat, and the motivational factor could be on their side. Prat are rookies in the second league and aren't important. Up until now they've scored three victories, but none at home. Their team is made out of young players. They've lost all four foreign matches. In away ones this club scored around 67.5 points, while for Cofuna it's 67.3 at home. I expect the hosts to react properly, to focus and in such circumstances they are bigger favorites than the odds would suggest. Details

I opted for the total under of points at Bayern vs.Oldenburg game last week. Oldenburg had massive offense problems back then and scored under 70 points. They now play a team better than Bayern. The team from Bamber is getting where coach Trinchieri wants them. They are taking advantage of physical strength and play very aggressive defense. Only offense-oriented Telekom scored over 80 against them in the last 10 games. Oldenburg's new point guard Ware still needs some more time, while shooter Jenkins probably won't be on the roster today either. Their driving force is the key, but Brose have three great guards to try and limit them (Mbakwe, Theis, Duncan). Oldenburg are averaging more than 80 points in the championship, but the stats are hyped by the games with Hagen and Tubingen, team that don't really play defense. Against better teams such as Bayern and their Eurocup opponents, Oldenburg's average is well below this margin. Details

They say one swallow does not a summer make, so one Tarnobrzeg's win can't convince us they're not an amateur team whose style can't go hand in hand with professional basketball. They defeated Asseco in the last round because Assecco got relaxed after leading by ten points, and obviously underestimated Tarnobrzeg where all three Americans started playing well. They scored 73 out of 93 points. Depending on them so much is a big problem for the home team. They can win some games, but not expect that the center can score 5 three pointers in every match. The Szczecin guests have a simple task today. They have to limit at least one American and Tarnobrzeg will automatically be 30% weaker. Szczecin are new in the first league, but their game has head and tail and their current placement isn't showing their real quality. They got two wins so far, but nobody outplayed them, and if they were a bit calmer in the final moments, they could've had at least 4 wins. For example, they lost to Stelmet by 3 in the away game, and against Slupsk in the overtime in the last round, they defeated Trefl and Anwil, lost by an inch to Koszalin... The guests are well aware this is their real chance to get points, they have better defense, and a much wider roster, so they're more dominating in the paint. Details

Bayern's center John Bryant is currently playing his best game since he came to Bavaria's capital. Coach Pesic trusts him more and more, so his time spent in game rose from 20 to around 30 minutes. On Sunday he scored 25 points and added 12 rebounds to it. In Bundesleague he didn't score less than 12 points, while in the Euroleague he's on an average of 11.6 points and nine rebounds, but he's shaping up in that. Last week against Fener he scored 15 points. He was very good against Barcelona as well. He scored 16 points, added 11 rebounds (three in offense) which is a good proof that he can stand up to Tomic. It's important to point out that Bryant is the only real option in Bayern's paint. Idbihi practically doesn't play anymore lately, and Stimac wasn't longer than 16 minutes in game in November. Details

Mathematically, this margin is justified. The best offenses of the Bundesleague are meeting, but we should point out the German league is full of clubs not really playing defense, and serving only to boost the stats. For example, Bayern defeated Tubingen 107-81, Hagen 98-74, went over 170 points against Gottingen and very fast Ludwigsburg. Oldenburg boosted their offensive numbers against Hagen (122-83), Tubingen (98-89), and Artland (85-92). Last year, Bayern and Oldenburg faced each other seven times, and it never went over 170 points in 40 minutes (it went over in a game with two overtimes). So far, they played 11 times and went over this margin only once, by a few points. This is still a derby, and both teams have lots of problems. Bayern lack a few important backs, Oldenburg have a point guard who's playing the Bundesleague for the first time after McKie left them all of a sudden. They could also be without the important scorer Jenkins. Details

The odds at Kayseri's win were over 2 last night and still remain pretty high, influenced by the first Euroleague round in which Torun as a debutante almost beat Nadezda in Russia. Torun were 17 points up but lost in the end. Agu Spor lost to Fenerbahce home in their Euroleague opener. But, we need to point out that Nadeza played a horrible game, with their coach saying he has never seen such a poor performance in his carrier. Agu Spor were ailing, but even like that almost managed to beat the prime candidate for the title. Lara Sanders, their top player and best Turkish national team player this summer was out and as coach Avci said, she makes the team 30% better. She proved him right over the weekend by scoring 17 points and adding 12 rebounds in a Turkish league game. Agu Spor lost to Fenerbahce mostly because their rebounding was off, but Sanders is bound to make that game segment better. Torun had 20 rebounds less than Nadezda and visitors will clearly have better rebounding today. Agu Spor are better quality-wise, Torun lost the Polish championship game three days ago 62-73 to prove it. Playing two competitions will be tough for the Polish team, while Kayseri have much bigger roster and more experience than the team that will be forced to do with only about 6 players in Euroleague. 2 of them played the whole game with Nadezda. Granted, Torun are playing home, which might count for some advantage, but the first round proved that home arena is more a burden than anything else in women's basketball. Details

Clavijo and Melilla's head to head games last season ended at 159 and 167 points and neither team in the mean time gave up on offense-oriented game. Clavio played unders against defensively more powerful teams, like Navarra and Qurense. Their games with Oviedo, Prat and Palma were more efficient. Coach Perez said he will try and fasten the pace today to overpower the opponent. They scored and concede around 77 points on average home, almost managing to score 80 against the tough Breogan. Melila played unders with Qurense and Navarra, but just like Clavijo, played more efficient games with teams like Oviedo, Prat and Palma. Melilla are the team that will embrace the faster pace Calvijo will attempt to set up and I think point over seems like a good choice at this margin. Details

A win over Bayern was a historical achievement for Turow, marking their opening success in Euroleague and acquiring some extra confidence ahead of this game. They now face Polpharma, one of the weakest teams of the Polish championship. Coach Rajkovic says he will be happy only if his team play with as much determination and effort as they do in Euroleague. Visitors have never won in Zgorzelec. They lost the last three away games by 22 points or more and seemed to have much better teams the few previous seasons. They are particularly bad away, having lost to Kutno by 18 points, Rosa by 42, and to less-than-convincing Anwil by 23 last round. It was Anwil's only win this season. Turow beat Rosa by 19 only three days after the tough away game in Barcelona. They had more time to rest and prepare after the Bayern game, meaning fatigue won't be a problem today. Extra problem for Polipharma is the fact they can't count on their only proper point guard Blackmon. They have Meier and Ravenel in the paint, but we'll have to wait and see what exaclty twe two of them will be able to do faced with Kulig, Dylewicz and other centers at Turow. Turow score an average of 91 point in the Polish league, while Polpharma concede as many away. The visitors will clearly have a lot of problems stopping Turow's fast-pace game. Details

Tarnobrzeg didn't show any progress in the championship so far. They almost don't play defense. They concede about 100 points per game, and it reminds us of street basketball. They lost all the games with a double-digit difference, from the better clubs like Turow and Slask by 36 and 24. Their coach, also the club president, keeps saying they need reinforcements, but they don't have the money to bring any. They're playing against Koszalin today, who can be described as one of the best Polish clubs. Coach Miličić points out Koszalin never had a roster this wide. They showed quality by defeating Asseco by +16, or Trefl by +28, and those two are way above Tarnobrzeg. Koszalin concede 30 points per game less than their today's opponent. They're much stronger defensively, as well as in the paint because the home team don't have a true center. In the Polish league, every club has to have two Polish players on court at all times, which is a big problem for Tarnobrzeg because Polish players in the team are much weaker than those playing in Koszalin. Details

Rincon will once again suffer the consequences of being Unicaja's farm team. Since Unicaja play CSKA in Euorleague today and don't have a few important players at their disposal (Suarez, Stefansson, Marković), coach Plaza plans to take a few of Rincon's players. We don't have the names of those players but Mou Soluade and Kenan Karahodzic are probably the duo joining Unicaja today. The two of them are very important for Rincon, with Soluade averaging 10.2 points and 2.4 assists and Karahodzic adding 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds. Soluade spends more time in the game than any other Rincon's players while Karahodzic plays 21 minute per game. It's quite possible that the two of them aren't the only ones to join Unicaja today, given all the absences and the fact Soluade and Karahodzic were part of Unicaja's team even when the Euroleague contender had all the player at their disposal. Rincon have not won a single game so far, getting close in Valladolid when Soluade and Karahidzic finished with 30 points combined (the whole team scored 64). Huesca won one out of the first 4 games but their opponents were tough - 4 out of the 5 prime candidates for promotion. Good thing is, they are getting better each next round as proved in their win over Coruna. Huesca don't have to deal with absences after having two weeks to prepare for this game. Details

The Romanian league is definitely one step below the Estonian, maybe even more. You can see that the best with investments. The Estonian Tartu thus lost their main player over the summer, Vincent Simpson, and another key player, Vilmantas Dylis, left. The additions weren't numerous nor especially good and this Tartu now consists of almost all Estonian players, with two Lithuanians. They've already lost a couple of matches in the Estonian league in the first seven rounds. They were beat by Kalev, Rapla and Tarvas, and they hardly managed to beat Valga. All in all, they're not thrilling, and Energa Rovinari is a team who have great ambitions in the Eurochallenger. The backbone of the team are seven foreigners, out of which the play Giordan Watson is the best and who was in the club last season as well. In the paint are the excellent Watson and Milosevic, and the solid Izraeli Karpels. In the even stronger Romanian championship in the first four rounds they were defeated only once, a minimum one in the first round, and after that it was three consecutive and convincing wins. Details