Baxi Manresa can win in Zaragoza in spite of the huge odd
This game will oppose 2 teams that are representing Spain in the Basketball Champions League this season. In Liga Endesa they have totally different spots in the ranking: Manresa is at 17th with 2 victories and 7 losses while Tecnyconta Zaragoza is on the 3rd place with 6 victories and 3 losses. If you look at this ranking, of course, the host team is starting as the favorite to win the encounter. But there are many reasons that are recommending Manresa with a chance to win. Let’s review a couple of them:
- Zaragoza travelled to face Paok in Thessaloniki this weak where they had a bad game against one of the weakest team in BasketballCL. Paok, who lost in the Greek Cup with a team from 2nd league 2 weeks ago, destroyed now Zaragoza by 15 points.
- in the same time, Manresa didn’t have to make a long journey like Zaragoza because they played at home, devastating the visitors from Oostende. For Saturday’s game they have to make only a short trip to Zaragoza to face there a tired team that travelled entire Europe in the last days.
- Baxi Manresa is looking better every week, with their ace scorer Frankie Ferrari back from injury and with the additions of Luka Mitrovic and Luke Nelson. They occupy a good position in BasketballCL and now they need to focus a bit also on the domestic league.
- The veteran center Fran Vasquez didn’t play at Paok and probably will miss also this game against Manresa.
I think the odds are simply too high on Baxi Manresa. Unibet is still offering 4.60 on their win, which is an insane odd for the real value of the teams at this moment. BWIN is more realistic, having already only 3.90, but I think that the odds should be much more tied, maybe 1.50 on Zaragoza with 2.50 on Manresa.
Photo: championsleague.basketball
Gratian Cormos
