FCM small forward Vlado Jankovic enjoyed probably the best month of his career, as his impressive performances in the Greek A1 have attracted interest from everywhere. The talented 22-year old player was voted as 2nd most valuable player for the first round of the Greek A1 and his numbers (13pts, 7.3rebs, 2ass, 0.8blk, 38% in 3pts) verify this. Jankovic is helping Panionios to remain on 3rd place in Greece, with great games this month vs Olympiacos (22pts, 6rebs) and Ikaros (20pts, 11reb), earning him FCM's MVP of the Month.
FCM power forward Giorgos Printezis stepped up when a tough Euroleague season reached its crunch time. The Greek international - scorer of the unforgettable buzzer beater in last season's final against CSKA - helped the reigning champions to have a chance to defend their title. His great performances against Anadolu Efes in the quarter finals of the Euroleague, ensured that Olympiacos will be present in London's final four in May and will have a chance to repeat the success of last season and become the first team in more than a decade that has achieved to win back to back European titles, earning him April's MVP for FCM.
When FCM coach Fotis Katsikaris took over Bilbao almost three years ago, the Basque team was in great danger of relegation from the ACB. The Greek specialist - now also head coach of Russian NT - transformed Bilbao, led them to the finals of the ACB two years ago, to the quarter finals of Euroleague last season and this year it is the chance for the first silverware, as Katsikaris led his team to the Eurocup final. Bilbao eliminated Budivelnyk with two wins, after surviving a very difficult group stage and in a few days Katsikaris will have the chance to lift Bilbao's first ever European trophy. No wonder he is MVP of the month for FCM for March.
FCM guard Vernon Teel had an amazing Februrary, as the Loyola Marymount graduate had a double-double in all 4 games that he played for Elitzur Ramla in Israel, touched the triple-double in one occasion (31pts, 10reb, 9ass) and nailed it last Tuesday (29pts, 10reb, 11ass). The 25-year old player is showing his incredible versatility in Israel, dominating the National league by being top scorer (23.6 points), 7th rebounder (9.8 rebounds), 2nd in assists (6.2 assists) and 1st in steals (3.5 steals), having played 11 games so far. No wonder that his performances allow him to win the MVP of February among all FCM players.
FCM combo guard Nikos Pappas had an amazing November, providing superb performances both in Greek and in Eurocup. The 22-year old player is currently the leading scorer of the Greek league, averaging 20.6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.1 steals, taking Panionios to a great start with 6-1 wins so far. Europe has also learned his qualities as Pappas is also 4th scorer of the competition, with 21 points, having two excellent matches against Unics Kazan, scoring 34 and 24 points against one of the top teams of Eurocup. All of these were more than enough to become MVP of the Month for FCM.
