MIES (Switzerland) - Back in 2018, when AEK BETSSON BC won the Basketball Champions League, they had a big clash with UCAM Murcia in the Semi-Finals. The two of them are now crossing paths again, with Promitheas Patras and Hapoel Holon joining them in this Round of 16 group.

AEK and Murcia had a long break after winning their respective Regular Season groups, while Promitheas and Holon are coming in hot on the heels of their Play-Ins success. Group L tip offs next week.

		GAMES				GAME POINTS					POINTS
#	Team	P	W	L	%	For	Agt	+/-	FA	AA
1	AEK BETSSON BC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	UCAM Murcia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Promitheas Patras	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Hapoel Holon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

AEK BETSSON BC (Greece)

How did they get here?
Five wins, one defeat in Group D, falling just short of becoming the only 6-0 team in the Regular Season. They lost their last game in Ludwigsburg, having already secured the top spot and a place in the Round of 16.
Have they been here before?
They won the League in 2018, played the Final in 2020, reached the sweet 16 in 2017 and 2021,. They stopped in the Quarter-Finals in 2019 and 2023. No wonder we consider them one of the greatest clubs to ever play in this League.
What's their biggest strength?
Coach Joan Plaza is all about getting stops, and AEK - a team traditionally leaning to offensive firepower - became a defensive-minded side. They allow 99.5 points per 100 possessions, making them the fift- best defense of the BCL this season.
What's their biggest weakness?
Coaching is not an issue, but the roster changes might be. The Queen's reign in 2023-24 is marked by players coming and leaving, and since they played their last BCL game, they brought in Jordan Morgan, Brandon Knight, Dimitris Agravanis and Austin Hollins. Will it prove a big task to get them all on the same page so fast?

UCAM Murcia (Spain)

How did they get here?
Five wins, one defeat in Regular Season Group H, narrowly edging out Bertram Derthona Tortona thanks to their tiebreaker to win the group and move to the Round of 16 directly. Tortona meanwhile got eliminated in the Play-Ins, despite their 5-1 record. That's how big of a deal that tiebreaker was.
Have they been here before?
Third place in 2018 as the Cinderella story of that season before losing to AEK in the Semi-Finals in a close game at a fully packed OAKA arena . They made it back to the Round of 16 in 2019, and got to the Quarter-Finals in 2023.
What's their biggest strength?
This is the best version of UCAM Murcia we have ever seen in the BCL, and the fact they rank second in both offensive and defensive rating speaks volumes of the balance they have achieved under coach Sito Alonso. They are also second in Net Rating, scoring 20.3 points more than they allow per 100 possessions.
What's their biggest weakness?
Surprisingly, free throws. They always knew how to get to the free-throw line, holding the BCL record for free-throws made and attempted in a single game, but this season their free-throw rate is 19.8, the lowest mark in the entire BCL. In other words, they aren't getting to the free-throw line at all.

Promitheas Patras (Greece)

How did they get here?
Three wins, three defeats in Regular Season Group B was good enough for third spot in that pool, behind JDA Bourgogne Dijon and Rytas Vilnius. However, they swept Le Mans Sarthe Basket in the Play-Ins, despite not having homecourt advantage.
Have they been here before?
They only made the Round of 16 in 2019, losing to Lenovo Tenerife on points difference in a home-and-away series.
What's their biggest strength?
Their offense is nicely coordinated to get them a 60.2 true shooting percentage, a trademark in coach Ilias Papatheodorou's career. That's a top-five offense in that regard and the highest percentage among the four teams in this group, too.
What's their biggest weakness?
So, if their true shooting is top-five in the League, how come their offensive efficiency is barely good enough to make the top-15? It's because of the turnovers. Their turnover ratio of 14.9 percent is the highest among all the remaining teams in the competition.

Hapoel Holon (Israel)

How did they get here?
Three wins, three defeats saw them finish second in a four-way tie in Group F. They then went through three tough games against Filou Oostende in the Play-Ins to advance to the Round of 16.
Have they been here before?
For a long time, they struggled to make it out of the Regular Season in the BCL, but then made a habit out of it. They played the Final 8 in Nizhny Novgorod in 2021, played the Final Four in Bilbao in 2022 and they were in the Round of 16 a season ago, too.
What's their biggest strength?
Justin Smith has been a revelation so far this season. A fast, athletic big guy capable of dunking everything they throw around the rim, Smith reached double figures in seven of his nine BCL games this campaign, while shooting 72 percent from the field on eight attempts per game. One of the most efficient players in Season 8 and surely an MVP candidate if Holon make it out of their Round of 16 group.
What's their biggest weakness?
Life without Joe Ragland is hard. Holon were historically a great passing team in this competition, but this season they are struggling to get assists on a consistent basis, assisting on 57.6 of their 100 possessions. Bursaspor Info Yatirim and Darussafaka Lassa are the only two teams with lower marks in that category.