Bakken Bears conquer the Power Rankings

MUNICH (FIBA Europe Cup) – The last 32-team edition of the Power Rankings is headlined by Bakken Bears breaking up the dominance of Dinamo Sassari and Pallacanestro Varese, and Alba Fehervar continuing their monumental rise.

RANK	CLUB	MOVE	COMMENT
32			BK JIP Pardubice will now be known as the FIBA Europe Cup team that allowed the most points in a single game – 129 against Avtodor Saratov. Technically speaking, does that count as inscribing your name in the record books?
31			A plot twist! Having spent the entire Regular Season at the bottom of the Power Rankings, Steaua Bucuresti climbed out of the hole with a week to spare. The five-point margin in the 74-69 defeat against Z Mobile Prishtina was their smallest yet.
30			The plight of Istanbul BBSK: lost by 9 to Donar in Week 1; lost by 18 to Spirou in Week 2; lost by 26 to Karsiyaka in Week 3; lost by 38 to Donar in Week 4; lost by 47 points to Spirou.
29			Not much to see here, with Rilski Sportist dropping their fifth game in a row in the Regular Season. On the bright side, they could still finish third in Group F with a win over FC Porto.
28			The yay-nay divide: yay to seeing Kyrylo Fesenko back on the floor, but a nay to having to witness Dnipro lose to Aris by 25 in a one-sided Group G contest that guaranteed the Ukrainian side a bottom-place finish.
27			Still a zero in the win column for Leicester Riders and that might not change this week, but international basketball is a learning process. And competitive margins suggest that the British side is on the right track.
26			If FIBA Europe Cup games were set in the Planet of the Apes, Cherkaski Mavpy might have held up better against the Bakken Bears than in the 121-89 blowout in Aarhus. They still moved up a spot in the Power Rankings, because Istanbul BBSK's nightmare has still not come to an end.
25			FC Porto's dreams of the Second Round were shot down and put to rest by Pallacanestro Varese. On top of that, they have lost FOUR in a row in the Portuguese Basketball League. How does one say ouch in Portuguese?
24			It's time to say goodbye, Belfius Mons-Hainaut. A narrow defeat to Petrolina AEK put an end to the Belgian side's mathematical chances of making it out of Group B.
23			A cold first-half shower in Leicester was enough to mobilize Falco Vulcano, who went on to win 95-84 and double their win tally in the already-decided Group H.
22			Is that "Another one bites the dust" in the background? Yup, must be it – CSM CSU Oradea spun out of the Second Round race with a 76-72 defeat against ZZ Leiden. Take it away, Freddy!
21			Where was THIS team before? Had Aris played like they did in an 86-61 blowout victory against Dnipro, their FIBA Europe Cup journey might have lasted longer than just the Regular Season.
20			A one-point 63-62 win over Belfius Mons-Hainaut was a squeeze for Petrolina AEK, but it was enough to force a winner-takes-all situation for the last game at home against Tsmoki-Minsk.
19			There's no giving up in Sakarya BSB. They did what they needed to do to stay in the race for the Second Round, defeating s.Oliver Wurzburg 80-60, and maintained an outside chance to make it out of Group A.
18			The Stefan Moody-led Tsmoki-Minsk were in a winning mood, with the blur of a point guard putting up 31 points in an 84-73 victory against Balkan. Having led by as many as 22 points, the Belarusian side were close to snatching the tie-breaker but crumbled under pressure down the stretch.
17			Losing two in a row does look a bit bad on Balkan, but limiting the defeat to 11 points allowed the Nebojsa Vidic-coached Bulgarian club to progress to the next stage of the competition nevertheless. So while their Power Ranking arrow is red, they're through to the Second Round.
16			New Heroes Den Bosch really showed Ironi Ness Ziona who is boss in town, using a 47-17 start of the game to bag a 102-87 victory, boosting their point differential in a potential three-way tie with Avtodor and Ness Ziona.
15			We thought Donar Groningen beating Istanbul BBSK 85-47 last week was special, but we have reconsidered after Spirou Basket laid the hammer down on the Turkish side with a 92-45 scoreline in Charleroi this week.
14			Having been very close to handing Levski their first defeat of the campaign in Group G, Kataja Basket couldn't keep it tidy down the stretch and had to settle for the second seed after losing 102-95.
13			Having qualified to the Second Round of the FIBA Europe Cup after three unsuccessful tries, Z Mobile Prishtina celebrated the historic achievement with a 74-69 win over Steaua Bucuresti. The 74-69 win itself was far less memorable than the atmosphere at the Palace of Youth and Sports — many teams in the competition have the right to be jealous.
12			It turns out, Sakarya BSB are kryptonite to s.Oliver Wurzburg. Let's see if the missed opportunity to finish the job and clinch a Second Round berth will prove costly for the German club, who could be another defeat away from elimination.
11			The victims of the Power Rankings curse (oh yes, that's a thing!), Ironi Ness Ziona suffered an ugly defeat against New Heroes Den Bosch after we ranked them all the way in fifth place last week.
10			They might not get the usual A+ for style in the 76-72 victory over CSM CSU Oradea, but it was enough to get ZZ Leiden through to the Second Round with a 4-1 record.
9			Although the Donar Groningen puzzle remains unsolved for Pinar Karsiyaka, the Turkish side are still in a favorable position to advance to the Second Round in Group C.
8			Szolnoki Olaj beat two teams ranked above them in the Power Rankings last week, dethroning Dinamo Sassari 87-74 in the FIBA Europe Cup on Wednesday and defeating Alba Fehervar 73-63 in the Hungarian championship a couple of days later. That's two thumbs and four Power Ranking spots up from us.
7			Splash, splash, splash! Avtodor Saratov set a new FIBA Europe Cup record for most points scored in a single game in a 129-91 shoot-out. The previous all-time best belonged to CEZ Nymburk, who once put 121 points past Hibernia in the 2015-16 season. No question here, Avtodor are moving on up!
6			Donar Groningen have now won THIRTEEN home games in a row in the FIBA Europe Cup after a thrilling 89-83 triumph over Pinar Karsiyaka. The fact that their last and potentially decisive fixture of the Regular Season against Spirou Basket will be played at the MartiniPlaza should give the team's fans plenty of optimism.
5			The longest streak in the FIBA Europe Cup, baby! Holding an extra win from the Qualifiers, the Branislav Dzunic-coached Alba Fehervar registered a league-best sixth consecutive victory, defeating Rilski Sportist 104-83 in Bulgaria. Allerik Freeman is proving to be a handful for everyone in Group F, averaging 19.6 points and 4.7 assists per game this season.
4			No longer undefeated and no longer at the top of the Power Rankings, Dinamo Sassari were overtaken by Szolnoki Olaj in Group H after coming out flat against the Hungarian title-holders in the second half. Losing three straight in Italy also doesn't help their stock.
3			Pallacanestro Varese punched their ticket to the Second Round with an 89-71 victory against FC Porto in Group F with coach Attilio Caja sharing the minutes around in Portugal. On the home front, they were able to end the two-game cold spell with a win over Cremona to climb to 4-3 in the Lega Basket Serie A.
2			Thanks to Dinamo Sassari slipping up in Hungary, Lukoil Levski moved up a spot almost by default. They were pretty close to seeing their winning streak snapped by Kataja Basket in Finland, but a 17-5 run to finish the game kept their perfect status intact. The only team in the Regular Season to have already secured the top spot in their group, they'll already be thinking about the Second Round.
1			The era of Italian dominance in the Power Rankings has come to an end with the mighty Bakken Bears becoming the third team this season to assume the number one spot after Pallacanestro Varese and Dinamo Sassari. Five wins in a row with an average 31.2 victory margin has the Danish flag, the oldest continuously used national flag in the world, flying high in the FIBA Europe Cup.