Ari, I know what you're talking about.

In Europe it's even worse. Each and every year, the Final Four of the champions cup is hosted in a different city, and FIBA does everything in its abilities to make sure the hosting team WILL be in the Final Four, even if it's a relatively weak team.

If the town hosting the Final Four has no team in the European champions cup, then FIBA does everything in its ability to make sure that teams with big crowds make the Final Four (imagine how awful it would look if the four best teams would play with no crowd).

It's a known problem, and since in Basketball refs can REALLY make a change, it's also a thing the bastards use in order to further some teams.