By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
One of the main ideas behind the Basketball Champions League was to give a chance to lesser-known clubs to leave their mark on the continental level. And BCL this year made it happen via U-BT Cluj-Napoca.
With the amazing run of BC Prometey cut short due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Romanian club brings a much-needed injection of new blood to European basketball.
In the BTarena venue, which holds 9.500 people, Cluj-Napoca will make it for the first time in their history to the quarterfinals of the competition.
And finally, this pretty old club, which is a local powerhouse in women’s basketball, will get its moments of glory.
CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca played its first basketball game back in 1947. It’s the first club of well-known giant Gheorghe Muresan, who left for France after one season and then left a lasting impression in the NBA.
And they have won six Romanian championship titles and five Romanian cups. This is just the third time in their history that they make it to the quarterfinals of a continental competition. They have done in the 2007 FIBA EuroCup Challenge and also in the 2020 FIBA Europe Cup.
However, the BCL is a whole new ball game for them. For the first time in their long history, the Romanians are on the same page with clubs like Manresa, Unicaja, Tenerife, Holon, Tofas, Strasbourg and of course their opponents, MHP Riesen.
And after getting a taste with their national team as one of the four hosts of the 2017 Eurobasket group taste, they are finally ready to make things happen on a more regular basis.