By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
It’s not easy two combine two different competitions and have good results on both of them. However, with one notable exception, all Final Eight BCL participants are also among the top names of their domestic leagues, no matter how strong the competition is.
Nizhny Novgorod, the host of the event, is currently fifth (14-7) in the VTB United League and it’s considered already one of the biggest surprises of the championship.
In Turkey, Pinar Karsiyaka is third in the standings having a 20-8 record. In France, on a very peculiar season with a tone of games postponed, SIG Strasbourg has a solid 11-5 record, good enough also for the third position at the moment.
In the Czech Republic, ERA Nymburk leads the race with a 28-1 record, while in Israel Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon is third with a 13-6 record.
In Spain, Levono Tenerife is third (22-6), Hereda San Pablo Burgos is sixth (17-10) and Casademont Zaragoza with a 10-18 record and the 13th position is the only team of the eight which has really lost ground on the domestic front.
It goes without saying that the success of those teams in their domestic leagues proves beyond any doubt that the level of competition on the Basketball Champions League is getting better and better every year.
And it also creates the basis for a really competitive Final Eight among title contenders who can be considered, based on their domestic leagues’ results, some of the top teams of the old continent.
With this being just the 5th season of the Basketball Champions League, the clubs that are entering the final phase of the competition are marquee names that have emerged from their countries leagues, they have evolved via the Basketball Champions League trials and they are ready to present a hell of a show in Nizhny Novgorod between the 5th and the 9th of May.