Parity in South America makes the Liga a great tournament

BUENOS AIRES (Martìn Seldes' Brave New World) - How many times have you seen a team from Ecuador being as close as Mavort has been in last week's games against a Brazilian, an Argentinean and a Venezuelan team?

This is what we love about the Liga Sudamericana de Clubes - to see how these teams from countries without a great basketball history grow year after year.

At the end, the two finallists from last year's tournament, Obras (ARG) and Pinheiro (BRA), made it to the next round. But Mavort was close, really close in every game.

I don't have to be Einstein to discover that Argentina and Brazil's clubs still rule in the region. Actually, every final of the FIBA Americas League for clubs has been played by teams from those countries. And that's once a year since 1996.

The first week of this year's league showed a competitive team from Ecuador that lost every game but was always close.

Mavort lost by 11 points to Centauros (VEN) after winning the first three and a half quarters. After that, Mavort kept Pinheiros close during 34 minutes and did almost the same against Obras.

The most interesting was that in the first two games, far far away from those days in which those teams used to lose every game by 30 or more points, everyone felt that Mavort could win the games. They didn't.

Mavort 73 - Centauros 84
Mavort 73 - Pinheiros 82
Mavort 91 - Obras 104

I'm writing about the parity of the games in South America. And that's a good sign. Teams from Ecuador and Chile are growing, while we still don't know if we can expect the same from teams of Peru and Bolivia.

Teams from Venezuela and Uruguay are almost on the same level than clubs from Argentina and Brazil. Actually, Centauros (VEN) beat Obras (ARG) and put the champion's future in the tournament on risk.

After the first week of the tournament, I can tell anyone that it's a good idea to watch it. Whatever you are.

We also celebrate that you can watch it on TV in South America thanks to DirecTV. The satellite TV provider joined ESPN and local cable channels (such as TyCSports in Argentina or SporTV in Brazil) to help basketball's difusion.

Parity plus good TV transmissions are a good combo for basketball lovers.

This week, we can try with the second Group. Uniceub (ARG) and the city of Brasilia will host Regatas Corrientes (ARG), Malvin (URU) and Amistad (BOL) as from Tuesday.

The following week, three-time Argentinean champions Peñarol will open the stadium in Mar del Plata - the same that hosted the FIBA Americas in 2011 - to Flamengo (BRA), Hebraica Macabi (URU) and Deportes Castro (CHI).

By last, Group D will be in Vargas, Venezuela. The host Cocodrilos will play Libertad (ARG), Sao Jose (BRA) and El Bosque (PER).

Every week, the games start on Tuesday and finish on Thursday with the host teams playing always in the night sessions.

The first two teams from each group will advance to two semifinals 4 from which four teams will qualify to the final 4.

We don't know which teams will be there but we know that the tournament will be great and neck and neck.

Martìn Seldes

FIBA

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