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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