2011-12 Euroleague First Round Primer

With the NBA still in limbo, the top caliber of basketball in the world can be found in the Euroleague, whose 2011-12 season tips off on Wednesday with a slate of four games, highlighted by Fenerbahce vs. Caja Laboral. (CSKA beat Zalgiris on Monday.) Six games to follow on Thursday and one game on Friday. The first round runs until Dec. 22.In the first round, 24 teams are divided into four opening-round groups of six teams apiece. Each team plays the other five teams in its group twice (home-away). The top four teams from each group move on to the the Top 16 round, which runs from Jan. 18-Mar. 1. Then, the top two teams in each of those group moves on to the quarterfinal round, which starts Mar. 21. The four winners of each best-of-five quarterfinal series earns a trip to Istanbul for the EL Final Four on May 11-13.As of right now (lockout could change things), the top five contenders are CSKA, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Barcelona. Other strong teams sl...