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His basketball journey began in one famous land of the north, Alaska, and has found glory in another, the Russian capital of Moscow. In between, CSKA Moscow guard Trajan Langdon has played the sport at the highest levels possible. His professional career hit a peak on May 4 with CSKA's second Euroleague title in three seasons after a Final Four in which he was voted MVP and named to the All-Euroleague First Team. Langdon, who turns 32 this week, has found his niche on the other side of the world from where he started, although on occasion, as he says in this Euroleague.net interview, he has gotten closer to home than even he expected. "Vladivostok is on the water, and looking out across it I realized that Alaska was probably a two- or three-hour flight away, which is a crazy way to come all around the world," Langdon told Euroleague.net "And it did enter my mind that some of the experiences I have had, using basketball as a tool and as a guide, are really unbelievable...If I would have stayed in the NBA, there is no way I would have been able to experience the things I have been able to. Coming to Europe has been an eye-opener and will always be an experience I will never forget."
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Montepaschi Siena
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Some may look at Montepaschi Siena and head coach Simone Pianigiani as the new kid on the block at this Final Four, but he's hardly concerned with what others think.
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Tau Ceramica
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This may be Tau Ceramica head coach Neven Spahija's first Final Four appearance, but that doesn't mean he is lacking experience.
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CSKA Moscow
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CSKA Moscow head coach Ettore Messina is already on the short list of Europe's best coaches ever as he seeks his fourth Euroleague crown at the 2008 Final Four in Madrid.
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Maccabi Elite
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Zvika Sherf of Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv arrives at the Final Four as one of the most experienced head coaches to never have lifted the Euroleague crown.
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Montepaschi Siena
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His first Euroleague season has been a learning experience for Romain Sato, but fortunately for his team, Montepaschi Siena, he's a quick learner.
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Maccabi Elite
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Yotam Halperin is living the dream of countless Israeli schoolboys, that of playing for Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, the country's signature sports team, at the very top of European basketball.
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Tau Ceramica
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Tau Ceramica's Zoran Planinic is entering the prime of his career and has had a season to prove it, guiding his club back to the Final Four in his second season with Tau.
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CSKA Moscow
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CSKA Moscow small forward Ramunas Siskausas is the only defending champion at the 2008 Final Four as he tries to accomplish something that no player has done before…
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Partizan Igokea
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After turning 30 last month, Partizan Igokea point guard Milt Palacio is living through the most exciting chapter of his career just when, perhaps, he expected it least.
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Panathinaikos
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When the going gets tough, there isn't a team on the planet that wouldn't want power forward Mike Batiste of Panathinaikos in uniform.
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Fenerbahce Ulker
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For many Euroleague fans - as for the victims of his blocked shots - Omer Asik of Fenerbahce Ulker came out of nowhere this season to be a defensive force on his team.
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Montepaschi Siena
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When he burst on the Euroleague scene with a nifty nickname and a game to match, Bootsy Thornton ended his first season with Montepaschi Siena by averaging the fourth-most points in the highest-scoring Final Four ever.
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Real Madrid
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Real Madrid is one of four unbeaten teams in the Top 16 so far, and one major factor in that success is small forward Alex Mumbru, an unsung hero who leads the team in minutes played.
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Efes Pilsen
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You can count on a single hand the number of Euroleague players who have been able to score on mighty Panathinaikos the way that Drew Nicholas did to open the Top 16.
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Lietuvos Rytas
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Arguably the most unexpected star to emerge from the Euroleague regular season was super-efficient big man Marijonas Petravicius of Lietuvos Rytas.
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Maccabi Elite
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Rarely can a player become a star without much ego, but Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv big man Terence Morris may be an exception to that rule.
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Partizan Igokea
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The basketball talent farm that is Belgrade, Serbia, seems bottomless in depth sometimes. So it is that for the second time in months a young big man from Partizan Igokea is wowing everyone who watches him.
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Maccabi Elite
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On a per-minute basis, very few Euroleague players this season can claim to outperform a newcomer who arrived late from a country that never had a Euroleague player before.
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Fenerbahce Ulker
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One of the remarkable feats of modern basketball was reached last week, when Mirsad Turkcan of Fenerbahce Ulker became the first Euroleague player this decade to pull 1,000 rebounds.
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Zalgiris
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The Euroleague's top scorer all decade is remarkable, in part, because he is seldom thought of solely as a shooting star.
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Armani Jeans Milano
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Very few teenagers walk into the Euroleague and score in double digits through their first six games, but Danilo Gallinari of Armani Jeans Milano is not like most teenagers.
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Chorale Roanne
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The first thing people notice when Marc-Antoine Pellin of Chorale Roanne takes the court for an opening tipoff is his size.
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