BELGRADE (Basketball Champions League) - The Steamroller is ready for another epic European ride. Partizan KK might have been among the last teams to join the Basketball Champions League (BCL), but they are not lacking in ambition whatsoever ahead of the competition's inaugural season.

"Our goal is - and our head coach Aleksandar Dzikic talks about it daily - to give it all we've got in every single game," said Dragan Todoric, Partizan Belgrade's Sports Director. "All we ask from our players is that once the game ends, nobody looks back and thinks he could have given something more for the club. That is our philosophy, and hopefully it will get us far in all competitions."

Partizan's steamroller nickname dates back to the 1960s and the fans' favourite song about the triumphant days of the past. The black and white parts of Belgrade will be singing once again, as they need to help their team against some of the toughest teams of the BCL. AEK Athens, Besiktas, Dinamo Sassari, Zielona Gora are all in Group E with the Serbian championship runners-up.

"The rest of the BCL will see what makes our home games so special. The crowd in Belgrade will give us the support we need and our players always feed off of that atmosphere," Todoric pointed out. "But in the end, it all comes down to what happens on the floor over the 40 minutes of basketball." 

The team's biggest star may well be the man calling the plays from the sidelines. Last season, Dzikic returned where he began his coaching career in the early 1990s.

"He understands the culture of Partizan. He feels this club, he knew just how to give our players a boost of confidence once he took over the club last season," Todoric explained. "And the improvement of our results showed just how much the players trusted him." 

Dzikic has had his hands full all summer long. Only four players returned to the team, which now features seven new faces and a couple of U18 players who are learning about professional basketball.

"The biggest signing was that of Stefan Bircevic, Serbian national team member, who just got back after winning the silver medal at the Rio Olympics," Todoric pointed out. "Frank Robinson came in from Istanbul, Will Hatcher played with PAOK last season, and Kenan Karahodzic arrived from Unicaja. Djordje Majstorovic, Uros Lukovic and Branislav Ratkovica are also new members of Partizan, and Vanja Marinkovic, Mihajlo Andric, Adin Vrabac and Milos Koprivica are still with us from last season."

The list of incoming players could still grow as Partizan want to add another name or two to their club. It could be crucial in the fight for the second round of the BCL.

"We still do not know the final rosters of the other teams, so it is not easy to talk about the competition. The first goal was to get Partizan back to European competition and the BCL turned out to be the best option for us. Now it is time for us to be the best Partizan we could be in Europe."