The presidents of Jeep Elite have agreed to resume the championship in early March and go to the end of the regular season. The schedule will be full by mid-June.
The French Basketball Championship has just taken a big step forward. Gathered Wednesday February 17, the presidents of the Jeep Elite clubs agreed to go through to the end of the regular season, by June 15 and play, then, a possible Final 8.
Shaken by the health crisis, the competition has been taking place since its inception, last September, intermittently. Denouncing the shortfall due to the obligation to play behind closed doors, the majority of clubs have indeed slowed down with both feet to organize league matches in their hall. A position that has led to barely a third of regular season meetings in six months of competition. Dijon, the club having played the most days in the championship, has accumulated 12 Jeep Elite matches to date. Boulazac, the least well off, has only eight. For its part, Champagne-Basket participated in 11 meetings. Knowing that the season has 34 days, each club will therefore have to play 22 to 26 matches in just over three months. The provisional calendar thus provides for four days in March, six in April, 11 in May and six during the first half of June. The pace promises to be even more intense for the teams still competing in the European Cup, such as Asvel in the Euroleague, Monaco in the Eurocup or Strasbourg in the Champions League.
While the descents have never been questioned, the last two of the regular season being promised to join Pro B, will this insane schedule push the clubs to strengthen? With a match to be played every three days, the richest squads, in terms of both quality and quantity, will in fact be more able to keep up with a pace that promises to put the physique of the players to the test. Under his conditions, new reinforcements could sign in the next few weeks, as many clubs report their financial difficulties. Châlons-Reims is a good example of this paradoxical situation. In the fight for maintenance, the Champagne team currently has only eight professional players. If the departure of Arnas Velicka was offset by the arrival of Joshiko Saibou, the place vacated by Ekene Ibekwe remains vacant. This reduced workforce was enough lately to beat Bourg-en-Bresse, a team tired by its European course, and Pau-Orthez, a team in complete collapse. Still, the whole seems far too fair to cope with an end to the season rich in high-stakes matches, played almost every three days, and ultimately to keep its place in the Jeep Elite. This scenario should be ratified during the general assembly of the LNB scheduled for Monday 22 February.
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