MIES (Switzerland) - BasketNews and the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, have officially partnered to launch the BCL Fantasy League. The league is hosted exclusively on BasketNews.
The league enables fans and fantasy freaks to build super teams and manage their roster like Sam Presti during free agency. If you get it right, there are monthly prizes to be won, with the grand prize being a trip to the BCL Final Four with full accommodation.
TWO WAYS TO PLAY
To keep the competition fierce and dynamic, the game features two distinct game modes:
Classic (Budget) Mode:
Build a winning roster while sticking to a strict budget, navigating player market values, injuries, and hot streaks. Managers can also use strategic wildcards to gain an edge over the competition.
Draft Mode:
Set up private leagues with friends and take turns picking players. Since each BCL star can only be selected once per league, every draft pick matters.
HOW TO JOIN
Ready to test your skills and compete for a trip to the Final Four? Sign up now and build your squad at fantasy.basketnews.com!
We'll get you started with some roster-building tips in this article, but the first thing you need to understand is that you have a €10,000,000 budget to assemble a team consisting of 10 players from three different positions:
4 guards
4 forwards
2 centers
The scoring system is based on a simple formula: a player's efficiency points (EFF), plus or minus 10% depending on whether his team wins or loses.
You can read the full rules here but let's get into some basic ideas to build your roster.
Top Performers
We kick things off by looking at the absolute best five players you could have picked in your starting five for Gameday 1:
Khalif Battle of Cibona put up an monster 33 EFF after scoring 32 points, dishing out 5 assists with only 1 turnover and shooting 75 percent overall. At just €850k to purchase, Battle gave his owners insane value on Gameday 1 and still only sits at 1 percent owned. If you were in that 1 percent last week, bully for you bro!
The second most popular player in the game, Unicaja's, Willy Hernangomez came in second with 32 EFF from 23 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, in just 20 minutes of action. Unicaja blew the game out against BC Juventus Utena and Willy still did the business in very limited minutes. He's now worth €1.58m after going up 80k in value, 32 percent of you own him and will no doubt be sitting pretty on your asset again next week.
SIG Strasbourg's Abdoulaye N'Doye absolutely dominated Legia Warszawa on his way to 30 EFF on Gameday 1. 15 points, 10 assists, 5 steals, just 1 turnover, and 100 percent shooting gave N'Doye one of the most wildy efficient performances you could ever hope to see. At €1.33m he is currently 0 percent owned. Expect that to change next week but Strasbourg don't have a game this week, so maybe hold off on a panic buy for now.
Hometown hero Gytis Radzevicius is back in Vilnius with Rytas and wasted no time at all reminding everyone how capable he is of stuffing the stat sheet. His 30 EFF came from a 21 points and 12 rebounds double-double, on 64 percent shooting. His teammate Kay Bruhnke was the most popular player in the game last week, but Radzo won't take long to overtake him if he keeps this up. He's gone up €70k to €1.57m off the back of that performance, you probably don't have long to hop on the bandwagon before the ticket price is too expensive.
The last member of the Top 5 performers on Gameday 1 was also the easiest player to pick. Holon's Adama Sanogo gives you center numbers and efficiency, whilst also being able to select another center in your lineup. Expect Sanogo and Hernangomez to become the template front court for most managers moving forwards. Sanogo put up 29 EFF on 22 points and 13 rebounds. He shot 50 percent and only had 1 turnover. He's still within reach at €1.45m, if you don't have him yet, you are probably taking a huge risk.
Top Ranking: Termatzis
Next we want to give props and shine a light on the top manager in the league so far. Our titan team from the first term goes by the name Termatzis.
With 203.85 points and a capital gain of 250k, it's safe to say this manager is feeling pretty good about life so far. Here is the starting 5 and 6th Man selection.
Bastien Vautier (Surne Bilbao) - 1.25m, 20.9 points
Adama Sanogo (Hapoel Maoz Daniel Holon) - 1.45m, 26.1 points
Gytis Radzevicius (Rytas Vilnius) - 1.57m, 99 points (Triple Captain)
Zoltan Perl (Falco Vulcano Szombathely) - 1.3m, 24.3 points
Jaylen Hands (SIG STrasbourg) - 1.17m 17.6 points
6th Man - Howard Sant-Roos (UCAM Murcia) - 1.05m 0 points
Termatzis gambled big on Radzevicius by using his Triple Captain Wildcard and it paid off in a big way: 99 points is an unbelievable haul!
Their other selections also strayed from the template and paid off. Adama Sanogo is the only name you will see in a lot of teams from Gameday 1. We suspect that Gytis Radzevicius will be pretty soon.
Great work Termatzis, see if you can keep it going!
Wildcard Strategies
With fewer games and fewer teams playing this week, it's not the ideal week for a Bench Boost because of the compromises you will likely have to make to field 10 players. We still have unlimited transfers as well, so, using your Unlimited Trade chip would also be a monumental waste.
That only leaves one play left and that's obviously your triple captain. If you feel like you are already getting left behind and need to make a splash to catch up, maybe have a look at Marcus Keene for Trabzonspor against Sabah BC.
Keene came up clutch with 26 EFF from 24 points and 6 assists against Nanterre 92 last week and he's in red hot form right now.
The Basketball Champions League's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA or the Basketball Champions League.
The Basketball Champions League takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.