By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
AEK and ERA Nymburk will go it again. These two clubs are both BCL originals, having started with the competition all the way back in 2016. They have met four times in the past four years, twice in the 17/18 season with AEK en route to the title, and twice in the following Regular Season last year.
The opening game of the second day of the quarterfinals tips off 18:30 (Athens time) and below you can read the detailed preview, as featured on championsleague.basketball:
AEK have won three of those encounters but the sum total difference between the clubs over those games is just +6 points to AEK. Nymburk can also claim to have won the only Play-Offs game between the two at the OAKA. In the first leg of the 2018 Round of 16, Nymburk pulled off a shock and went back to Prague with a 10 point lead.
ERA Nymburk
Head coach Oren Amiel gave Nymburk fans the news they needed to hear when he signed to stay at the club into next season. Amiel has also just been named Coach of the Year in the BCL and will be riding the momentum of the club’s best season into Final 8.
The roster has changed a lot since Nymburk beat Teksut Bandirma to secure a place in the Final 8. Luka Rupnik and Jerrick Harding have come into form a new guard partnership. Rupnik has two seasons of BCL experience and is a player that has a track record for making some spectacular shots. The Slovenian averaged over 11 points and 3.5 assists for Antwerp.
Jerrick Harding will be spending his rookie season in Europe with Nymburk and comes in from Weber State. They have high hopes for Harding as a unique scoring talent in Nymburk. Joining Rupnik and Harding on the perimeter is Omar Prewitt. Prewitt is another established BCL player and has shot over 40% from behind the arc for both Aris and Teksut Bandirma.
Vojtech Hruban and Hayden Dalton are back on the wings. Dalton gave Oren Amiel the versatility to play on the wing or at the four positions and hammered home some of the biggest dunks we saw this season. Hruban is the best news of all for Nymburk fans and without question, the player that AEK will need to focus on most. Hruban is now the all-time leading scorer across the four seasons of the BCL and his 14.8 points per game this season was a career-high – rightfully earning him a place in the Star Lineup.
The final puzzle piece in terms of import signings was Stephen Zimmerman. The American center comes in to replace Zach Hankins after spending his rookie season helping Telekom Baskets Bonn to reach the BCL Play-Offs for the first time. Zimmerman is multi-skilled and had a great habit of producing his best performances against Bonn’s toughest opponents.