I Feel Devotion is the motto of the Euroleague again this year and the true reality is there has never been so much devotion to a season than the Euroleague and it’s organizers are feeling now. The format change of the regular season and Top 16 to just an all out 16 team “everyone plays everyone” is playing out to be one of the best decisions in the history of the competition. I wont lie, I liked the older format and was not happy about the change but I must continue to be honest and realize that this is the way to do things. Congratulations to the competition committee and the players for making this such an exciting season.

Now let’s get down to the important stuff while the players had to take a break this week and play in their respective domestic league championships. The standings are somewhat to be expected although it has not been an easy road for any team up until this point. Each team has had their fair share of ups and downs throughout the first 22 games of the season. The teams that have been able to control the bad times and take advantage of the good are the ones we find up top.

The usual suspects like Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce and Olympiakos occupy the coveted top 4 positions and would retain home court advantage if things were to end today. The good news is we still have 8 more rounds of this over the next two months and things will change. Right now the next 4 spots are held by Panathinaikos, Red Star, Baskonia and Anadolu Efes but here is where it gets tricky. Only two games separate the 9th place Darussafaka team from the 5th place Greeks from Panathinaikos and only three from 4th place Fenerbahce. Trying to understand this competition is difficult if you have never lived it, every week is of the utmost importance and there is no room for failure especially in these final 8 weeks.

The question here is, Who is going to win this thing? Well, according to 888sport.com the all out favorite is second place CSKA Moscow paying at 2.40 and the next favorite at 3.50 is Real Madrid, the league leaders as of Round 23. Fenerbahce Ukler pays 3.75 and Olympiakos is at 9.00.

As you can see by these odds this looks to be a 3 team race to the finals, since after these numbers Panathinaikos comes in paying 31.00 and a bunch of teams at 51.00. To me Real Madrid looks most consistent this season and just built some internal confidence by winning their National Competiton with three very difficult games. CSKA looked to be the best team with the best roster until losing 5 of their last 9 games and slipping from the top spot they controlled since October.

I love this league and as most of you know who read these articles I am not a person to bet on futures. I like immediate results and paydays and have been pretty luck lately finding the hot teams like Red Stars 7 game win streak and Baskonia when playing at home, but if you like the future thing than here is my opinion. We must look for value on our money and that is why I like Olympiakos. This a team that is always danegerous and almost impossible to beat at home. If they get to the Final Four in Turkey we all know they automatically become a threat to take home the title as they have done so many times before when unexpected and at 9.00 to 1 they are to me the best future bet on the table.