MIES (Switzerland) - The Basketball Champions League Season 8 tips off next week. A total of 32 teams will fight for glory, with Telekom Baskets Bonn coming back as the defending champions.

We will preview all the Regular Season action, group by group. Here it's the turn of Group B, which includes BK Opava, JDA Bourgogne Dijon, Promitheas Patras and Rytas Vilnius.

The favorite

Rytas Vilnius found success under coach Giedrius Zibenas, and their domestic core has received a major international upgrade with RJ Cole, Arnas Velicka, Justin Gorham, Javin DeLaurier and Keith Hornsby all relocating to Lithuania.

If one considers the way the 2022-23 season played out, it's easy to see why Rytas can be very motivated to put together a historic campaign this time around, starting by aiming for first place in this group.

Last season, Rytas finished in second place in their BCL Regular Season group and then failed to reach the Quarter-Finals because they finished tied at 3-3 in their Round of 16 group with BAXI Manresa, but lost the head-to-head.

The Lithuanian league seemed to be their next goal after that, but it couldn't have been any more heartbreaking than it ended. The Vilnius powerhouse were one quarter away from back-to-back titles in Lithuania, but archrivals Zalgiris Kaunas managed to win that final frame of the deciding Game 5 by nine points and won the series 3-2.

Rytas won't settle just for a place in the Round of 16 here, they want to go all the way to the top. They've been there before in European competitions, and they have the legacy of victories in major events.

The underdog

BK Opava ended what felt like an eternity, putting a stop to ERA Nymburk's 19 consecutive Czech championships and claiming in the process their fifth domestic league title to make it back to the BCL Regular Season. They've been here before, in 2018-19, when they introduced their unique sporting philosophy to the rest of the continent.

Similar to the template that Athletic Bilbao have built in soccer, BK Opava's modus operandi in basketball sees them use only their domestic firepower, with most of the players actually born in Opava or nearby. The only overseas player they have on the roster right now is Jakub Mokran, straight out of Handlova in Slovakia, just south of the border from Opava.

But despite their admirable intentions, Opava struggled in their previous BCL run five seasons ago, picking up just two wins in 14 games. With three Round of 16 contenders in this group, their lack of international experience could be troubling.

The crucial matchup

If Rytas Vilnius are the favorites to win the group and BK Opava are the underdogs, the two games between JDA Bourgogne Dijon and Promitheas Patras will have you reaching for the calculator. Especially because both of them actually expect themselves to be number one.

Dijon are the BCL veterans in this battle. This will be their sixth BCL Regular Season run, so the only French club with more BCL appearances is SIG Strasbourg  with their perfect 8-for-8 record. Led by David Holston, Dijon can boast of having achieved a third-place finish in the BCL, back in 2020.

Promitheas Patras played in the BCL in 2018-19, and they come back now looking like a much stronger team. Coach Ilias Papatheodorou has experienced a BCL Final, with AEK in 2020, so he knows what it takes to get far in a tough competition such as this one.

The first matchup will be on Gameday 3 in France, followed by a Gameday 5 fixture in Greece. If any of the two teams go 2-0, they could find themselves inches away from home court advantage in the Play-In Series or even from a direct ticket to the Round of 16.

Players to watch

RJ Cole wasted no time introducing himself to Rytas fans and has already become a contender in the race for Lithuanian League leading scorer honors this season. It's worth though keeping an eye on Arnas Velicka. The 23-year-old from Kaunas was the MVP of the Basketball Without Borders event in 2016, and enjoyed a fine youth career with the national team. He could be the best passer on the team, coming off of a 7.5 assists per game season in Germany in 2022-23.

BK Opava have a living legend on their roster in Jakub Sirina. The 35-year-old has 14.2 points and 8.5 assists per game to start the season in Czechia, showing he's still got plenty to give on a major level. Simon Pursl is another guy to keep on double-double watch all the time, but in points and rebounds.

JDA Bourgogne Dijon are bringing back David Holston, one of the best players in BCL history, who is about to turn 38 in January, but is still the same old game winner as before. Gregor Hrovat had a fine FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 experience with Slovenia, and Cameron Hunt is a major pick up as a man who averaged 17.1 points per game in Germany last season.

Promitheas Patras have a couple of Greek veterans in Antonis Koniaris and Linos Chrysikopoulos, while Arturs Kurucs and Hunter Hale bring a lot of shooting from the outside. Hale opened his account in Greece with a 32-point performance in a 15-point win over PAOK mateco, adding 6 assists and 5 rebounds in for good measure.

Format reminder

The Group B winner will move straight to the Round of 16 Group J, alongside the Group F (Bursaspor Info Yatirim, Hapoel Holon, Rio Breogan, Telekom Baskets Bonn) first-placed team, and two Play-In Series winners.

The second- and third-placed teams in Group B will meet their peers from Group A in the Play-In Series in January in best-of-three matchups for two spots in the Round of 16 Groups K and L.

The bottom-placed team in Group B will be eliminated and thus finish their European campaign in December.