By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
After two exciting rounds for the Regular Season and the Last 32, the moment that all Eurocup fans have been waiting for is here.
We are talking about the Eighth-Finals of course. Sixteen teams will compete in eight two-legged knock-out series that will determine who will advance to the quarterfinals. While as a general “rule” this kind of format favors the strongest teams, some exciting surprises can be in order.
This time, almost all 8 match-ups are open to any result. There is a truly grand favorite in only one of the Eighth-Final battles, as you will read in our feature, while almost anything can happen in the rest of the games.
Eurohoops.net decided to preview these series that start tomorrow, offering an insight on the 16 teams, comparing the opponents and highlighting some certain points of interest.
ALBA BERLIN – BAYERN MUNICH
If this Eigth-Finals clash between Alba Berlin and Bayern Munich wasn’t interesting enough already, its intriguing character becomes even greater after the German Cup Final. Bayern will look for a chance of redemption, after losing the title and Alba Berlin is fully aware of that. During the current season, the score is 2 – 0 in favor of coach Obradovic‘s team, since the Bavarians had been defeated in the championship match as well.
Moreover, Alba and Bayern will almost get… bored of facing each other, since they will also meet in a game for a German Bundesliga. There are no secrets between Alba Berlin and Bayern Munich, thus no excuses, whatsoever, if any teams appears unprepared.
What will Alba Berlin do:
Apart from ploughing again through the “know how” that has been proven successful so far in the season, the team from Berlin will try to put all possible momentum from the Cup Final into good use. With Rob Lowery sidelined because of his injury, Will Cherry and Jordan Taylor will have to be ultra focused on offense but also guard their opposing guards fiercely. After all, Alex Renfroe and Nihad Dedovic are players that are not to be trifled with.
We already explained some of the reasons why general numbers in Eurocup offer little insight on this specific match up. However, it would not hurt the German Cup winners to fix their “assist/turnover” ratio. Out of all teams that have advanced in the Eighth-Finals, Alba is the worst in that department, finishing the Last 32 with 97 assists and 90 turnovers in total.
What will Bayern Munich do:
After shedding all negative psychology, coach Pesic’s players will probably need to be tougher, and more resilient in their game. For example, gaining a lead and then losing it almost in a heartbeat is not exactly the right attitude of a team that wants to make it further in the competition.
Also, the Bavarians… have to finally discover a way to stop Elmedin Kikanovic. The Bosnian big guy has been a small nightmare for Bayern, scoring 16 points in the German Championship game, and 19 for the German Cup. Eliminating this threat will be crucial, but in the meantime, John Bryant and Deon Thompson have to be steadily good on both ends of court. When they play according to the standards, the benefits for their team are multiplied and so are the problems for their opponents.