For a unique perspective on the most exciting months of the season, Euroleague.net brings you media blogger Flavio Tranquillo, a ranking expert on world basketball at its finest. Flavio has long been known as the voice of basketball in his native Italy- and for good reason. But in addition to communicating his expertise as an announcer, Flavio has the background of a coach, the curiosity of a journalist, and most importantly, the devotion of a basketball lover!

And then there were...six! Two more teams to qualify, four still trying, while 14 have been eliminated since the start of the regular season. Raise your hand if back in October you correctly predicted that Fenerbahce Ulker would have not made the Top 16 and that Panathinaikos would have been the first team ousted from the Top 16, joined the following week by Efes Pilsen, Montepaschi and Unicaja - while Prokom and either Maroussi or Partizan advance. Please, I want you to play lotto on my behalf week-in and week-out …

Still to be decided are the winners of the Maroussi-Partizan and Khimki-Caja Laboral battles. The Group E rivals, Maroussi and Partizan, play both on the road, @Panathinaikos and @Regal Barcelona, respectively. Coach Vujosevic's Partizan team has won one more game but has a minus-5 differential in the head-to-head matchup with Maroussi. Last week, both teams were beaten soundly by the two prohibitive favourites in the group. I think Panathinaikos in Belgrade showed the power of a clear mind. Once eliminated from playoff contention, the former defensive champions forgot the shooting blues and made 11 of 19 threes en route to a 16-point win. The basketball becomes so light when you don't have anything to lose or gain …. Witnessing the game...

Vladimir Stankovic, Euroleague.net

Veteran sportswriter and Euroleague.net collaborator Vladimir Stankovic has been following the best basketball on the continent longer than almost anyone journalist, writing for decades about the sport in major publications in both Serbia and Spain. For the new 2009-10 season, he offers a series of opinion blogs about what's happening on and off the court in the Euroleague.

Olympiacos, Regal FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Maccabi Electra, CSKA Moscow and Asseco Prokom are already in the Quarterfinal Playoffs. Congratulations to all of them, but my first lines today I want to dedicate to the outgoing champs, Panathinaikos. They arrived in Belgrade this week already out of the race for the playoffs with a 0-4 record, but were willing to show it all had been an accident, just a bunch of circumstances that sometimes fall into place. In the Greek League against Olympiacos last weekend, the Greens already showed that they are going up again, especially in the backcourt. And in Belgrade, even without Nikola Pekovic, they defeated his former team,...

For a unique perspective on the most exciting months of the season, Euroleague.net brings you media blogger Flavio Tranquillo, a ranking expert on world basketball at its finest. Flavio has long been known as the voice of basketball in his native Italy- and for good reason. But in addition to communicating his expertise as an announcer, Flavio has the background of a coach, the curiosity of a journalist, and most importantly, the devotion of a basketball lover!

Well, there are so many things to talk about after the fourth episode of the Top 16 saga … First and foremost, let's celebrate the Game and its being as good as it is unpredictable. And this Game can be very unpredictable. Panathinaikos being eliminated with two games to be played and Prokom virtually advancing already...is that unpredictable enough? If not, try these...

• Regal Barcelona shocking the world by putting together an 18-3 run in OAKA, of all places, to dethrone Panathinaikos.
• Real Madrid looking so down for three quarters, risking elimination, coming all the way back, apparently allowing Siena to save the point differential between them with 5 seconds to go, and then going crazy for Sergio Lull pulling a 3+1 that definitely brought some good memories to coach Messina.
• Olympiacos having the game apparently won in Zagreb, then allowing Cibona back in it, and then re-winning it down the stretch.
• Caja Laboral, after being dismantled by Real Madrid in the national cup, winning against Khimki in Moscow with its back to the wall and also getting even in the oh-so-important point differential department.
• Partizan and Maroussi battling each other...