MIES (Switzerland) - The Play-Offs Draw  on February 2 pitted together in Group K the likes of SIG Strasbourg, Turk Telekom, AEK and Nizhny Novgorod - four teams that, for one reason or another, are looking to redeem themselves for past performance in the postseason of the Basketball Champions League.

A very special thought came to mind when I saw that AEK were drawn in our group - Lassi Tuovi

In one instance, the case of SIG Strasbourg and AEK, it has to do with the residual institutional memory from a previous direct Play-Offs clash between those clubs.

Both the Greek and the French club are among the select few that have taken part in every single edition of the BCL, but in the 2017-18 season AEK eliminated Strasbourg in the Quarter-Finals, and then went on to win the trophy.

"A very special thought came to mind when I saw that AEK were drawn in our group," Strasbourg head coach Lassi Tuovi commented on the club's official website after the Tuesday draw.

"I wasn't here [at Strasbourg] in 2018, but I know how the BCL ended that season for the club. We will have the opportunity to try and take revenge three years later.

Our goal is to complete the business we left unfinished last year - Cenk Duraklar

"It's an interesting group," Strasbourg's Finnish tactician added.

"We are going to face three teams that have very different styles from what we know in the French Jeep ELITE league.

"AEK is one of the favorites every season in the BCL and has a lot of experience in this competition.

"We know Turk Telekom because we still remember the games we played against them last season. Finally, Nizhny with Alex Gavrilovic (the Nizhny center is born in Strasbourg and started his career at the reds) is a good team, but we can see them eye-to-eye and we must be able to win against them."

Interestingly, coach Tuovi added that: "at this point in the competition there are only good teams left, so I did not expect to have a draw with easy games," which is almost word-for-word what AEK head coach Ilias Papatheodorou was commenting at around the same time over in Athens in a statement released by the club.

"All the teams in this stage have quality on their rosters and good characteristics," the Greek tactician said.

"The most important thing for us will be to arrive at those games in our best possible condition and have all our players healthy."

AEK, unlike Strasbourg, would of course very much like a repeat of 2018. Winning the 2021 title would in turn enable the Greek team to feel that they... are taking care of business they left unfinished in the 2020 Final, when they fell to Hereda San Pablo Burgos at their home court in Athens.

Redemption for the 2020 Final 8 in the Greek capital is also in the minds of Turk Telekom, who enter the Play-Offs as Regular Season group winners for the second time in as many years.

"Last year, we won our group in the BCL and made it all the way to the Final 8 but we felt the impact of the pandemic and of the start of a new season, so we were unfortunately eliminated by JDA Dijon," commented Turk Telekom General Manager Cenk Duraklar.

"This year, we have the advantage again of finishing our group as leaders. There are strong teams in the BCL. We want to win the games [in Group K] and reach the Final 8.

"Our goal is to complete the business we left unfinished last year. I believe that we will represent our country successfully, together with the rest of the Turkish teams."