Lenovo Tenerife, Unicaja, Breogán and UCAM Murcia are the Spanish representatives in this Basketball Champions League that begins, as always, with the hope for several teams of winning a major European title. If last year’s fate in the Final Four was cruel for Tenerife and Unicaja, this year both present similar squads to be classified as favorites to win the trophy.
Tenerife, a difficult first group to secure a place in the round of 16
In a calendar with so many games, eliminating the play-in to which the second and third teams in each group access seems important in the long term. In front, the powerful Early lessons Turkish with Allman leading a group of very talented Americans, the VEF Riga by Dairis Bertans or Piñeiro and the Cholet French, who arrives after passing the previous qualifying rounds. Furthermore, there will be a clash between the two top scorers in BCL history between Shermadini (Tenerife) and Hruban (Cholet).
Unicaja, ready to return stronger after its semifinal in 2023
Little hurts more than losing a Final Four at home. Unicaja fought against Bonn to try to get into the final, but Perry’s triple went wide and they could not reach that long-awaited final. Maintaining the block from last year, with the exception of Birzuela, the people from Malaga want to win this BCL and start as one of the favorites.
Szombathely, His first rival, he has been dominating Hungary for years and wants to gain a foothold in European competitions. A team that advocates for national talent with 10 Hungarian players, a country that is evolving in European basketball tournament by tournament.
Luck, or bad luck, made Unicaja face Peristeri and Le Mans. The Greek team, led by Spanoulis, has acquired North American talent and a legend of these competitions like Joe Ragland will seek to put up a fight. Feeding on players who have played in the local league, they have a squad that is difficult to beat, especially at home.
Le Mans starts one step below but has plenty of scoring capacity with its American players, with Adams and Mason carrying the greatest weight of scoring.
Murcia wants to get into the fight of the favorites
He UCAM The Endesa League has started talking face to face with the best teams in Spain and he wants to confirm it in the European Championship as well. A new practicing team, which still needs to assemble valuable pieces like Caupain but which has already seen green shoots with the connection between Hakanson and Birgander.
His main rival seems a priori to be the Turkish Tofas, with very outstanding players in the NCAA who now want to demonstrate the same in Europe. Maye, Winston or Homesley complete a squad with several Turks who could be interesting for the future.
Igokea, to the rhythm of Moody. The American has started the season wanting to claim a name in European basketball with games of more than 30 points and will also seek to make himself noticed in the BCL. The Bosnian team has several members from the Balkans who have made a good impression in European competitions and can be dangerous.
His first rival in the competition will be an unknown Italian. Tortona arrives at the BCL wanting to be noticed in Europe and for this they have created a team with several acquaintances from the Endesa League and the Euroleague, such as Daum, Radosevic, Obasohan or Kyle Weems. Maybe a little short on rotation, but with a quintet that can compete head to head with the best in the competition.
Breogán, an experience to grow
The Galician team arrives in Europe this year without any shining star like previous years in the case of Musa or Happ, but it presents a young squad that can improve a lot this year. Juan Fernández has already left many signs of his quality in the league and they will need the help of Josela or Momirov to take the reins of the team.
He is in a group with the current champion, the Bonn. The German team wants to be competitive again despite losing its great figures in the summer, as is the case of TJ Shorts, MVP last year, or the Chilean Herrera. His start in the BBL has not been what he dreamed of and it seems that it will be difficult to complete a year like the previous one.
Bursaspor It is always a competitive team with a lot of physical power. With Young and Hamilton they have great control of rebounding on both rims and with players like Floyd the scoring. The last participant of the group is the Israeli Hapoel Holonwho has already had to postpone his first match due to not being able to ensure security in his match.
Outside the Spanish groups, Pinar Karsiyaka He has also been reinforced very well with men like McCollum or Hilliard, so the points are assured. Another Turkish team like Galatasaray He has also signed Euroleague players such as ex-Valencia Radebaugh or Walden.
Another team to take into account is Israeli and several foreign players may abandon their discipline if they see that the conflict with Gaza persists, but the Hapoel Jerusalem They have started very well in the league, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv with players like Smith or Randolph giving a very good level. A very open competition, in which each match is a final and that you can follow on Teledeporte and RTVE Play.
2023-10-17 21:25:41
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