This time there will be no salvation in the offices. The
Movistar Estudiantes
has had many lives in the past decade, but has not reached seven. At the fourth, the student body
will lose the category for the first time in its history
. The vast victory of
Retabet Bilbao
against
Joventut
in Miribilla (94-73) with a festival of triples (17) condemns the Madrid team to relegation to
LEB Oro
, leaving
Real Madrid
and La
Penya
as the only clubs that have competed in all the
National League and ACB
seasons
.
A day, in short, historic for Spanish basketball and radiant for the Bilbao fans, who achieved a huge permanence that at many moments of the course seemed impossible.
One more outstanding monument for
Álex Mumbrú
in the 'Botxo'.
It is not the first time that the
Ramiro de Maeztu team
has finished a league in relegation positions, but it will be the first time that the loss of category has been effective.
In the
2011/12 season
, Estu finished second to last, but
Tenerife's
inability
to face the old canon forced it to renounce promotion, saving the Madrilenians.
In
2015/16
the situation was repeated, since
neither Palencia nor Melilla were able to meet the requirements
to upload. Their last pirouette came last season, when the pandemic break freed them from agony. Estudiantes were last, two victories away from salvation and with one more game, but the ACB agreed that there would be no relegation as the regular season could not be completed.
The fourth time will be the charm.
The
millionaire canon that turned the ACB into a semi-closed league no longer exists
and
there
will surely be a LEB Gold team to promote.
To readjust a competition that this year has had 19 teams,
only one will go up
, so
Gipuzkoa
completely lacks options to avoid burning.
Granada, Real Murcia, Coruña, Oviedo, Breogán, Palma, Castellón or Alicante
will take the student place after a
promotion playoff
that started on Friday.
For the Estudiantes, it will be the beginning of
the hardest era in their entire history
, drowned by a historical debt that puts even more stones in their backpack.
This time there will be no miracle.
A disastrous season
The season has been dramatic for the coaching team, first because of
Javier Zamora
and then because of
Jota Cuspinera
. In January, he suffered an
outbreak of covid
that kept him out of competition for several weeks and then weakened his performance. Facing his decisive game on Friday against Burgos (resolved with defeat), he had two other positives. The affliction of the pandemic caused
Gentile to
leave the club, very affected by the disease. He has also suffered important injuries such as
Vicedo and Roberson
and also
Barea
gave the scared a few weeks ago, citing family reasons.
That cocktail of circumstances was reflected in a gloomy season finale, in which Estudiantes have lost their last nine games.
Only by winning one of them would have been saved.
His own incapacity collided with the miraculous resurrection of a
Retabet Bilbao
that just a month ago seemed dead.
Also affected by an outbreak of covid (and by endless changes of players, injuries and positives throughout the season), he was left with no choice but to face his last five games in 12 days.
And, against all odds, Álex Mumbrú's men have managed to win three of the last four (Fuenlabrada, Burgos and Joventut), falling only against
Real Madrid
on the Wizink.
This Sunday, he swept a Penya who, already mathematically seventh, had nothing to play for and who was only involved in the game during the first 15 minutes.
From then on, Bilbao festival.
The Estudiantes lived it from home, since on this last day he had to rest.
The cruelest possible way to, this time, descend.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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