By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The last open spot in Euroleague’s regular season will be filled this week, after the qualifying round which will be hosted tomorrow until Friday in Ostend, Belgium. Eight clubs will try to get the ticket, or else they will end up in Eurocup. Eurohoops presents you with the eight “gladiators” which will need three wins in three games in order to survive. In the end, there can be only one.
VEF RIGA
The finalists of the Latvian league are on paper one of the weakest teams of the tournament. Despite the long history of the club and its basketball tradition, it will be very hard for them to avoid playing in Eurocup, like they did last season, without getting past the regular season.
STRASBOURG
The French finalists are a very interesting unit. Under French national team coach Vincent Collet, there are always just one step away from achieving something big. French national team’s point guard Antoine Diot will lead and familiar faces include big men Ali Traore and last minute addition Tadija Dragicevic.
TELENET OSTEND
Ostend is dominating Belgian basketball the last two seasons and hopes that hosting the qualifying tournament will give them an extra edge for achieving the dream of playing in Euroleague. Last season they played in the Last32 phase of Eurocup and they are hoping for something bigger this time, even if their roster is not scaring anyone.
ASVEL LYON
The team owned by NBA star Tony Parker was invited via a wildcard in the qualifying round and made a splash by signing Australian David Andersen, a former player of CSKA Moscow, Barcelona and Strasbourg during last season. Edwin Jackson is the big local star and it remains to be seen how far they can go, specially in a possible duel against Strasbourg. Add to the momentum of ASVEL the recent win in a friendly game over Barcelona.
HAPOEL JERUSALEM
A really ambitious club who comes hot from the Israeli league cup win over Maccabi Tel Aviv. Lior Eliyahu, Yotam Halperin, Derwin Kitchen, Bracey Wright and Donta Smith create a unit that can be a contender for the last Euroleague spot. They can challenge everyone and have a real chance to avoid playing in Eurocup.
CEZ NYMBURK
Darius Washington, Tre Simmons and veterans Jiri Welsh and Lubos Barton are players well tested on European courts and will not go down without a fight. We expect a good game between them and Hapoel, even if the Israelis seem to be more ready than the Czechs to go further in this tournament, as they already created momentum on the court and have a complete roster.
UNICS KAZAN
The big favorite to get three wins is the team of coach Argiris Pedoulakis. The Russians have by far the best roster of the tournament, the most experienced and the most expensive players. We also expect to see last season’s top gun in Euroleague, Keith Langford, to stay in the top competitions of the old continent. Ιn order to achieve that, Langford and his team have no margin for error, as his teammate Kostas Kaimakoglou said to Eurohoops.
STELMET ZIELONA GORA
After playing last season in Euroleague, but losing the domestic league title, the Polish finalist have one more chance to return to the “big dance”, even if in order to do that, they will have to upset from the get go Unics Kazan. The team of Zielona Gora has some accomplished players (Steve Burt, Quinton Hosley, Adam Hrycaniuk), still the Russians are much stronger.