The TOP16 of the BCL is ready to start

After the Basketball Champions League regular season we had some very exciting play-in series that allowed eight more teams to advance to the Round of 16 phase of the competition. The Round of 16 will consist of four groups of four teams and the top two teams will advance further to the BCL quarterfinals.
Wurzburg and AEK Athens qualified directly to Group I by winning their respective groups in the Regular season. They are joined by Promitheas and Derthona who both won their play-in series with 2-0 against Karsiyaka and Peristeri. AEK Athens is widely considered to be the favourite in this group, but all four teams have real chances of advancing further.
In Group J Unicaja Malaga is the clear favourite. The Spanish team is the BCL defending champion, and Ibon Navarro’s team easily won its regular season group, finishing with a perfect 6-0 record. Most fans expect Galatasaray to finish second in this group. The Turkish team built a strong roster this season and even aimed to win the BCL title this season. Rytas Vilnius and Manisa are underdogs but they have the quality to make surprises.
In Group K we have two Spanish teams and the ACB League is still considered to be the best in Europe so Tenerife and Manresa are favourites to finish in the first two spots. Their challengers are Petkimspor and Reggiana. The Turkish team needed three games to defeat Hapoel Holon, while the Italians also played a very balanced series against Bonn, winning both games by just three points.
Finally, in Group L we can find the 4th Spanish team in the Round of 16 of this BCL season. Murcia is also the favourite to go further so we could see four Spanish teams in the top 8. The main contender for the second place is Nymburk, but the Czech team will not have an easy life overcoming Falco Szombathely and Nanterre, teams that had to play three play-in games where they showed they have an amazing spirit and never give up.
Imre Halasz
Image credit: FIBA