By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Starting the season, a lot of attention was put on UCAM Murcia’s transformation after coming up short in last year’s Basketball Champions League Quarter-Finals.
The team that knocked them out to get to the Final Four? Unicaja Malaga. The team they will face in their first Final Four in six years? Well, you already know the answer.
However, things are completely different both from the 2017-18 season, when a certain Ibon Navarro was on board in UCAM Murcia, and from last year, where the Spanish derby ended up giving the purple-and-green club a place in the Final Four at home.
🔥 PRÓXIMA PARADA: BELGRADO
✍️ El conjunto universitario se lleva un impecable encuentro ante MHP Riesen para poner la directa a la Final Four de la Basketball Champions League (72-85)
📰 https://t.co/zcemAKtHY0#TheLegacy pic.twitter.com/T5TckZHOxG
— UCAM Murcia (@UCAMMurcia) April 9, 2024
Last year at this moment, Sito Alonso’s team was reflecting on the defeat suffered at the hands of Ibon Navarro’s current team, with 11 players still being around with the Andalucian side.
Losing by 16 points on the road and by 22 points in Murcia, they were never in contention to limit Alberto Diaz, Kendrick Perry, and teammates.
This season, they turned 0-2 to 2-0, beating MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg with the help of former yellow-and-black team’s guard Jonah Radebaugh. What made it happen?
Sito Alonso’s Extreme Makeover
Nemanja Radovic and David Jelinek: these are the only two players who stayed around in Murcia from last season. In the summer of 2023, the Spanish club made a complete extreme makeover, bringing in ten new faces.
Dylan Ennis, Troy Caupain, Howard Sant-Roos, Dustin Sleva, Moussa Diagne, Rodions Kurucs and his brother Arturs – after the beginning of the season -, Simon Birgander, and Ludvig Hakanson, while also signing the already mentioned Jonah Radebaugh and Marko Todorovic.
Similarly to what happens in Malaga, there’s not a unique leader on the court to take over, but the most charismatic figure is surely Dylan Ennis, who has called for his former fanbase in Crvena Zvezda to make an appearance in the Belgrade Arena.
The proof of that stands in the fact that there’s not one single player in the first 30 players for ViziBall’s Player Impact Estimate. The collective strength, however, gets the job done: UCAM Murcia is 2nd in Net Rating (16.28) 2nd-best in Offensive Rating (116.16), and 2nd-best in Defensive Rating (99.88).
Losing the very first game of the season on the road to debutant Tortona, they bounced back with an 8-0 run, the longest streak in the club’s history in the BCL. Tiredness started to knock on the door late, but the Quarter-Finals series against Ludwigsburg
Starting to deliver even earlier in the season in the Basketball Champions League, dreaming of making it all the way to the end, the Spanish club proved to believe by moving well on the transfer market.
After Simon Birgander and Ludde Hakanson’s injuries, they brought in Marko Todorovic and Jonah Radebaugh, who proved to be essential assets in the last and final stretch of the season.
On Friday, UCAM Murcia will try to get revenge on Unicaja Malaga. “Sometimes you have to make things different”, they said on social media when announcing the official contact extension of Sito Alonso. It’s the perfect way to sum up this upcoming appointment, the most important in six years.
“A veces hay que hacer cosas diferentes”#TheLegacy pic.twitter.com/XupHUdZKkw
— UCAM Murcia (@UCAMMurcia) January 17, 2024
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League