Zalgiris Kaunas is headed to the Euroleague Final Four [Diagrams] by Chris Filios

The EuroLeague Final Four is all set. A foursome of former champions will make their way to Belgrade. The surprise team of the year, Zalgiris Kaunas, advanced to the team’s first Final Four since 1999 with a 101-91 win over last season’s runner-up, Olympiacos Piraeus, with a 3-1 upset win in their best-of-five series.

Zalgiris Kaunas will play Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul in the semifinals, which qualified by beating Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz 83-92 on the road to win that series 3-1.

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In the other semifinal, CSKA Moscow will take on Real Madrid. CSKA Moscow beat cross-town rival Khimki Moscow to reach its 7th consecutive Final Four, while Real Madrid beat Panathinaikos, both winning their series 3 games to 1.

Zalgiris Kaunas, the small town, “small market,” and no super-star team (payroll is about half that of the other 3 teams) is returning to the Final Four 19 years after they won their only Euroleague Championship.

Zalgiris Kaunas is lead by their head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, who was the only player in history to win a continental title with three different teams– FC Barcelona, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Panathinaikos Athens. He has the chance to become just the fourth person to win the competition as both a player and coach.

Real Madrid is the most successful team in Euroleague history with nine Euroleague championships and they are playing in their sixth Final Four in eight years. Madrid took down Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens by 3-1 in their matchup. Six of the 2015 Euroleague championship team still play with Real Madrid. Sergio Rodriguez will lead them against CSKA. Coach Obradovic will be going for his 10th Euroleague Trophy this year.

You can learn a lot of basketball by watching the Euroleague teams. You should check out these diagrams above to get some unique set plays to attack your opponents. Zalgiris Kaunas