With only one week to go in the Euroleague regular season, there has been a NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge coup of sorts coming from the north, with Lithuanians taking both the Week 9 prize and the lead in the overall standings. Vosylius Vytautas was the big gun in Week 9, posting a score of 253.2 with his team, "Lopai". That stands as the single highest score of the entire season so far, even though Vosylius won by less than 2 points. Vosylius will receive an official Euroleague game ball and this season's official Media Guide on DVD. And he'll be entered in the end-of-season drawing for more prizes. The weekly prizes and end-of-season drawing mean that even if you don't have NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge teams yet, or you want to start new ones, there are still plenty of new chances to win for you, too. Meanwhile, the overall NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge standings took another dramatic turn in Week 9, with the third different first-place team taking over in as many weeks - and with just one more to go until the first major prize of the season is won. Now leading the overall regular season standings is Vidas Kaluzevicius, who vaulted into the lead with his team "Lithuania 37th" amassing 1,517.1 points over the first nine weeks. To get an idea of how Vidas has rallied, his team was 17th two weeks earlier and almost 75 points behind first place. Since then, he has averaged almost 208 points per week. Vidas leads by just 2.2 points, however, over the previous first-place team. Remember, the Week 10 deadline is at 18:30 CET on Wednesday, January 14, one hour before all three Group D games begin play. Get set for an amazing regular season finish in NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge, too!
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FANTASY CHALLENGE RUNDOWN
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GROUP A
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Air Avellino:
- Head coach Zare Markovski has a full squad available for his club’s regular-season finale. |
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Cibona:
- Forward Vedran Vukusic missed last weekend’s Adriatic League game with a back injury and is in question for Thursday’s game at Avellino. |
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Le Mans:
- Head coach J.D. Jackson has a full squad available for Thursday’s game at Olympiacos. |
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Maccabi Electra:
- Head coach Pini Gershon has a full squad available for Thursday’s game at Unicaja. |
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Olympiacos:
- Forward Panagiotis Vasilopoulos remains sidelined due to a broken middle finger on his left hand.
- Forward Josh Childress missed Sunday’s Greek League game due to back pains and is in doubt for Thursday’s game. |
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Unicaja:
- Head coach Aito Garcia Reneses has a full squad available for Thursday’s game against Maccabi.
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GROUP B
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Asseco Prokom:
- Center Pat Burke did not travel for Wednesday’s game at Panathinaikos due to an operation that will keep him out some time, the club said on its website Tuesday.
- Guard David Logan did not travel for Wednesday’s game at Panathinaikos due to a leg muscle injury, the club said on its website Tuesday.
- Guard Daniel Ewing did not travel for Wednesday’s game at Panathinaikos due to fever, the club said on its website Tuesday. |
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Montepaschi Siena:
- Point guard Morris Finley has missed the past month with a calf injury and is not expected to take part in Wednesday’s game at Nancy.
- Guard Rimas Kaukenas has missed time due to an injury to his left hand and is doubtful again this week. |
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SLUC Nancy:
- Guard T.J. Parker is expected to miss the entire season with a knee injury.
- Forward Victor Samnick is questionable due to an ankle injury for Wednesday's home game against Montepaschi Siena. |
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Panathinaikos:
- Head coach Zeljko Obradovic has a full squad available for the game against Asseco Prokom. |
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Regal FC Barcelona:
- Forward Ersan Ilyasova will sit out Wednesday’s game against Zalgiris with a leg injury, the team announced. |
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Zalgiris:
- Center Loren Woods did not fly with the team to play Wednesday’s decisive game at Barcelona due to a knee injury. |
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GROUP C
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Alba Berlin:
- Center Patrick Femerling continues to be troubled by a knee injury and is not expected to play this week. |
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DKV Joventut:
- Head coach Sito Alonso has a full squad available for Thursday’s game at Tau Ceramica. |
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Fenerbahce Ulker:
- Shooting guard Gordan Giricek remains sidelined due to a stomach muscle injury.
- Center Omer Asik is sidelined long term after undergoing surgery to repair damaged ligaments in his knee. |
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Lottomatica Roma:
- Guard Sani Becirovic is expected to be fit after missing Sunday’s Italian League fixture due to illness. |
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Tau Ceramica:
- Head coach Dusko Ivanovic has a full squad available for Thursday’s game against DKV Joventut. |
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Union Olimpija:
- Guard Saso Ozbolt will return to action this week after missing the last week with a finger injury.
- Guard Junior Harrington has signed with the club and could make his Euroleague debut against Alba Berlin. |
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GROUP D
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Armani Jeans Milano:
- Big man Pape Sow underwent surgery for broken nose last week, which could cause him to miss Wednesday’s game against Panionios.
- Guard Ariel Filloy has undergone surgery on a broken bone in his right hand and is expected to miss three weeks. |
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CSKA Moscow:
- CSKA Moscow head coach Ettore Messina has a full squad available for Wednesday’s game against Partizan. |
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Efes Pilsen:
- Center Mario Kasun has returned to practice after undergoing surgery on his wrist. He will travel with the club to Madrid and there is a chance that he could see some action in Wednesday’s decisive game.
- Forward Mustafa Abi remains sidelined after undergoing knee surgery.
- Guard Engin Atsur continues to suffer from pain on the back of the foot and is out. |
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Panionios On Telecoms:
- Big man Demos Dikoudis is in doubt after suffering an injury on his chin during a Greek League game, for which he underwent surgery. |
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Partizan Igokea:
- Forward Zarko Rakocevic remains sidelined after breaking a finger on his left hand in an Adriatic League game last month. |
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Real Madrid:
- Forward Axel Hervelle remains sidelined after suffering a broken nose in a Spanish League game last month. |