Virtual EuroLeague Power Ranking: solid Vezenkov and struggling debutants / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: BNS Credit BNS The best 31 gamers in one competition, playing with the official rosters of 31 European clubs (all 18 Euroleague included and filled up by 11 EuroCup Teams and others). Let's have a look at the power rankings so far and how pro gamers and professional basketball stars, such as Sasha Vezenkov, Jaleen Smith, or Simon Birgander, do.

1. FC Barcelona JLB_2K (5-0)

The reigning Virtual Euroleague Champion is the hottest contender for the title yet. Starting off hot with 5 wins of 5 so far and having games with 50+ % from the perimeter. The former NBA 2K League pro-gamer for the Dallas Mavericks Gaming Team quickly found out how to Green Release, especially with Kyle Kuric.

2. AX Armani Exchange Milan Invictus1023 (5-1)

AX Armani Exchange are the best offensive team and the third-best in defensive rating so far, controlled by Invictus1023. After losing 85-97 at the start to Zalgiris and Martynas, Milano and Invictus1023 are on the hot route, winning five in a row.

3. Real Madrid Ivan Fernandez (6-1)

Probably the toughest and most physical team in the league so far, and a dominating Walter Tavares results in a great 6-1 start for one of the best Spanish gamers.

4. Zalgiris Kaunas Martynas (5-1)

Lithuania's finest shows off some great skill and shooting with the experienced guys in his roster and turning back time with players like Milaknis hitting Greens from almost everywhere. A start that Zalgiris would have dreamed of in real-life Euroleague.

5. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv aaronfg298 (4-0)

6. Monaco godlyAngelo (4-0)

Four wins out of four is a record that speaks for itself. But you could also say that Monaco had an easier schedule at the start.

7. CSKA Moscow Viktor Vladov (11-1)

Tough times as far as shooting for the vice VEL champion from last year. Bulgarians best and most experienced 2K Gamer still being a tactical guruand so far found his way to win games. The only loss suffered was against ASVEL, where he could not stop the league's top scorer Elie Okobo.

8. LDLC ASVEL Sasha Gavalyugov (10-3)

So far, the Most Improved Player of this 2K Tournament. Sasha Gavalyugov is torching his opponents with a tremendous percentage behind the arc and has the best league scorer Okobo in his roster. He likes to play fast and shoots a lot of screens and dribbles, resulting in a lot of tough and contested green releases.

9. FC Bayern Munich Kai Schallenberg (4-2)

Kai Schallenberg is one of the better German gamers, although he has been highly underrated and has been out of the radar for eGaming teams in Germany. The winner of the Bulgarian eBasket Championship back in 2020 can do it all: defend, shoot, and he likes to push the ball.

10. Virtus Bologna Fiorenzo Marani (4-1)

The San Marinese gamer started well into the VEL and is one of the dark horses. He can play neck and neck for the whole game, even against the best gamers in the VEL.

11. Panathinaikos OPAP Athens Javier Agur (3-0)

12. Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz fferando (3-1)

13. Ratiopharm ULM Orange Gaming (4-3)

Struggling at the start, the pro gaming team of Ratiopharm Ulm "Team Orange Gaming -TOG" slowly comes back into rhythm. The team is mostly controlled by German National Team Gamer and TOG captain Dogan.

14. Gran Canaria Alvaro (2-2)

2-2 seems like a mediocre record, but Gran Canaria and Alvaro showed some high potential over those four games, right from the start,as Alvaro brought Ivan Fernandez and Real Madrid into a crunch game, followed by 78-30 and 87-37 blowout wins. Even though the last game was lost 72-82 to Monaco, Alvaro is tough to predict and should be respected by everyone.

15. Valencia Basket ihdez9 (3-1)

16. Olympiacos Piraeus Sasha Vezenkov (7-4)

Euroleague superstar Sasha Vezenkov has no problems controlling and bringing real-life tactics into the PlayStation console. Vezenkov made the Final in Bulgarian eBasketball Championship last year and competed in the last year's 1/4 finals in VEL.

17. Partizan NIS Belgrade Miguel Zua (2-2)

It's too early to tell in which direction Zua is going. He plays on a high tactical level and can surprise anyone.

18. ALBA Berlin Jaleen Smith (7-3)

A 7-0 start was followed by a 3-game losing streak. It seems like Jaleen has to find his rhythm back, same as in real-life basketball, where reigning easyCredit BBL MVP struggles to reach his top performances from last year.

19. Joventut Badalona Simon Birgander (5-9)

Professional basketball player Simon Birgander struggles so far to find his rhythm and maybe tries too much to score with himself in the game, which causes him to be more predictable.

20. UNICS Kazan Max Völlkner (2-2)

Difficult to say whether UNICS and Max will go winning or losing path. He lost both games only by 1 point. 75-76 to ALBA of Jaleen Smith and 72-73 to Efes. So it is hard to say, and maybe a mental thing to close games in crunch time.

21. FENERBAHCE Faizan Ali (1-3)

Faizan Ali got one game going and won 72-11 against Chernomorets Burgas but could not bring it into the last game, where he suffered a 59-76 loss against Baskonia.

22. Zenit St Petersburg Eusebio_14 (0-4)

Eusebio's record does not show his real potential in 2K. On average, his losses came by a margin of 11.8 points. However, he lost only by one point in his last game. Furthermore, he had a tough start schedule-wise. Soon Zenit should be reaching for the Playoff spots.

23. Boulogne Metropolitans 92 Rob2K (0-5)

A bad start for Robin and his Metropolitans. Zero wins after five games played is not what you'd expect from this gamer. The last loss was a 57-89 blowout vs Virtus Bologna. In NBA2K21, Rob had some other tournament games, which he won pretty effortlessly. He declared himself a derby but came out with a devastating loss. Expectations are high but yet to be proven by Rob2K.

24. Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar Simon Gisbertz (3-9)

Simon had to postpone and play some gamers before mid-December. Although he can be highly dangerous to contenders, he finds himself his start in the VEL is far from decent.

25. HCPKS MYPRC ACADEMY TheFreak (3-7)

It seems like HCPKS is a positive surprise, but it is also right in between the gap between the worst five teams and the rest. Looking at HCKPKS' January schedule, the future isn't looking bright.

26. Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade Florian Albat (2-5)

Florian Albats record looks a bit better than his game. In the last seconds, he won a 38-35, which is VEL low-scoring record. Later, he made a comeback from a 7-point deficit against winning less Burgas, which is not a big argument for him. He struggles the most from 3, and in the last game vs Chernomorets Burgas, he had none of 13 tries behind the arc.

27. Hamburg Towers Sebastian Klocke (4-8)

28. Buducnost VOLI Podgorica Alexander Papazov (3-7)

Papazov got a wildcard into the tournament and started pretty well but suffered four losses in the last five games.

The 18-year old struggles and has the tougher opponents ahead just around the corner in the schedule.

29. Lietkabelis Panevezys D. Preydis (1-10)

Lithuanian gamer Preydis also doesn't stand a chance, but still by far better than the last in table and power rankings: Chernomorets Burgas.

The only Lietkabelis win so far was a victory against the Bulgarian side.

30. Chernomorets Burgas Wendell Lewis (0-17)

A disastrous debut for the Bulgarian side in the Virtual Euroleague. Wendell Lewis was sent to participate for Burgas in the VEL as being the best gamer by far on the team, but the gap between Pro Gamers and European best gamers on 2K seems to be huge. Wendell loses his matches by an average of 35.8 points per game. Support BasketNews so we could make even better content.