By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Savo Vucevic is far from a stranger to the basketball world, and specifically not to the 7DAYS EuroCup. After all, he had a solid 27-22 record in the competition between 2002 and 2006 as head coach of traditional Belgian powerhouse Spirou Charleroi.
However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Since 2016, he has been sitting on the bench of JL Bourg en Bresse, leading them to the French second division title and then to fifth place in the French League and the club’s first participation ever in a European competition.
It’s not a small feat, but on the other hand, you can’t argue with the basketball DNA of the Vucevic family, which is more than obvious.
Born in 1957, Vucevic has been coaching on all levels for 36 years since ending his playing days in 1984 with Mornar Bar, his home-town team from Montenegro. He had been a teammate with his one-year-younger brother, Borislav, who moved from Bar to Bosna Sarajevo and won the EuroLeague in 1979 before spending a good part of his career in Switzerland and Belgium.
And you might have heard about Borislav’s son and Savo’s nephew: NBA All-Star center Nikola Vucevic.
The basketball abilities of the Vucevic family are self-evident and have been expressed in every possible way.
Last week, to open the season, Savo and his team of mostly EuroCup newcomers put on a show against Bahcesehir Koleji in Istanbul, getting the easy 82-99 road win and extending his personal EuroCup record to 28-22.
That doesn’t sound like much and it probably isn’t in Group A, which includes clubs with a successful presence in the competition like Umana Reyer Venice, Joventut Badalona, Partizan NIS Belgrade, and UNICS Kazan.
But the humble Bourg and Coach Vucevic not only started the season on the right foot but this weekend they beat LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in their French domestic championship.
It’s still too early to make a safe prediction, but Bourg might end up being more than expected, and the Round 2 game on Wednesday in which they host Joventut Badalona might tell us a lot more.
Taking into account the last two games of the French side, a win should not qualify as an upset, especially considering the credentials of Bourg’s coach.
After all, basketball runs in his family DNA.