UCAM Murcia – eyeing the BCL Final Four
Last week we took a look at some of the contenders to win this season’s Basketball Champions League, including the current leaders of groups I, J and K in the Round 16. At the top of the fourth group, Group L there is another unbeaten team, namely UCAM Murcia. The team from south-east Spain is 3-0 after beating Hapoel Holon and Promitheas Patras at home and they also recorded a win in Athens against AEK.
The team coached by Sito Alonso is having a great season both in the ACB League and the BCL. The last game for Murcia before the national team break was the Copa del Rey quarterfinal matchup against Real Madrid, where the blue-golden-red team put up a great fight and lost by only 5 points against the best team in Europe. Before the Spanish Cup, they won four consecutive games in all competitions and they also beat Real on the 14th of January in Murcia. They never lost more than 3 games in a row this season and this consistency brought Murcia to the 5th place in the ACB League (there is a four-team tie for the 5th place and the 10th place is only one win away) while in the BCL they lost only one game so far, against Tortona at the start of the season.
Marko Todorovic is the leader of the team in efficiency and points per game in the BCL. The center from Montenegro has 15.5 PIR, 12.3 ppg while also grabbing 4.8 rebounds. However, Murcia has a very balanced and experienced roster, the likes of Dylan Ennis, Troy Caupain, Howard Sant-Roos, Rodions Kurucs, Nemanja Radovic and Moussa Diagne just to name a few all have huge contributions to the success of the team.
While I don’t consider Murcia to be the favourite to lift the trophy (I believe Malaga is a better team this season), they certainly have a chance. In case they will qualify for the Final Four and apply to organise the tournament it will completely change the situation, as the home crowd could give a huge boost to them.
Imre Halasz
Photo credit: FIBA
