The Champions League returns to the Palace tonight with the visit of the Turkish Tofas, after four seasons
Four seasons and three and a half years later, European basketball evenings return to the Palacio de los Deportes de Murcia. Only Sadiel Rojas remains in the squad since that elimination in the round of 16 against the Belgian Antwerp in the 2018-19 season, the second and so far the last stage of UCAM in the Champions League, but also Sito Alonso, a newcomer in Murcia at the time, when he arrived at the end of January 2019 to replace Javi Juárez. And who would say if, by the decision of one or the other, no coach had stayed with UCAM for more than two consecutive seasons under the leadership of Gómez and Garrido.
Today, at 8.30 pm, UCAM makes its debut in this competition, a competition traditionally dominated by the Spaniards (in six seasons of its existence, four times the champion team from the Endesa League) and in which the Murcians hung the bronze in 2018, a season after his debut in Europe with the EuroCup. And while the league continues to try to grow at a forced pace, competing with the latter (under the management of the Euroleague, while the Champions League belongs to FIBA), it is the one that, according to UCAM, can go further and in which it is most worthwhile worth doing this, given the highest economic return.
Change the ball, from the Spalding of the Endesa League to the Wilson of the Champions League, but this time the color will not change. Unlike in the 2018-19 season, UCAM will also keep red as the main color in European competition, playing its home games and those in which it is possible as a visitor.
Of course the calls come back too. Alejandro Gómez has decided to return to the formula of a 13-player squad with Sito Alonso sacked by decision in every game. After the sanction of Rojas for two games (and that did not count for the Champions League), the game round starts today. In European competition, the layoff cannot be one of the players with a local training license as five are required per game and that is the total that UCAM has (Bellas, Klavzar, Jelínek, Diop and Sakho). This Sunday against Granada it could be anyone.
To open the mouth, tonight’s rival is Tofas de Bursa, a team that had to overcome the previous round to qualify, but which starts as favorites, along with UCAM, as it takes the lead in Group A, above the French Strasbourg and Hungarian Falco, the sweet expert. In the Turkish squad there are some names with a lot of individual talent, especially on the outside, where the little ones Rob Gray (Euroleague until last year), Tyler Ennis (ex NBA and Euroleague) and Josh Reaves (ex NBA) are very hard to hold on to. that of Site Without Berk Ugurlu, a fallen Ottoman promise who was part of the Karsiyaka with which UCAM experienced a thrilling quarterfinal in 2018.
The Champions League starts with problems for the organization. DAZN has decided not to broadcast the match anymore and is now (with the help of the clubs) looking for local television stations that want to take over the broadcasts. Meanwhile, the matches can be followed via streaming on the competition’s YouTube channel.
Source: La Verdad
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