MIES (Switzerland) - The Basketball Champions League's Season 9 gets underway in the first week of October. The format remains the same, with the winners of the eight Regular Season groups moving to the Round of 16 directly, while the fourth-placed teams in each group will be eliminated from the competition.
The second and third-placed teams from adjacent groups (G2 vs. H3, H2 vs. G3) will face each other in the Play-Ins, in best-of-three series, with the winner of each of these eight series snapping up the last eight tickets to the sweet 16 phase.
With that kind of a competition system, it's important to know what's going on in the other group, which is why we are previewing the Regular Season two groups at a time.
The favorites
Group G: BAXI Manresa were one of the feel good stories of the Basketball Champions League in 2022 as they reached the Final in Bilbao, and they came close to making it back-to-back Final Fours in 2023, losing the crucial Game 3 in the Quarter-Finals to Tenerife.
Now, after a year-long sabbatical, they are back in the BCL with more nostalgic vibes than usual. Back in 1998, they created one of the biggest upsets in modern Spanish sports by winning the Spanish league, and Derrick Alston was a big reason why, before switching teams and repeating with Barcelona a year later.
His son, Derrick Alston Jr, has now signed with Manresa after two solid seasons at the Rostock Seawolves in Germany. The core of the Catalan team is still there with Dani Perez, Guillem Jou and Marcis Steinbergs, giving new head coach Diego Ocampo plenty to work with this season.
Group H: UCAM Murcia finished third last season, and coach Sito Alonso has almost a carbon copy of that team for 2024-25. They played the Final of the Spanish Liga Endesa last season, nearly replicating an upset of the same magnitude as the one Manresa pulled off in 1998.
They would've been favorites in most groups this season, but with their Final Four rivals Peristeri Domino's going through plenty of changes and two newcomers, in FMP SoccerBet and Manisa Basket, rounding up the group, Murcia just seem a level or two above the rest.
Play-Ins as the minimum target
Group G: Bertram Derthona Basket had their moments last season, but couldn't make them last long enough to be a factor in the 2024 part of the 2023-24 season.
They've got plenty of experience now, with Kyle Weems still running the show, and Walter De Raffaele calling the plays from the sidelines. In fact, Ismael Kamagate is their only player born after the year 2000.
One name to keep on your watchlist: Tommy Kuhse. The 26-year-old point guard had a sensational season with RASTA Vechta in Germany, averaging nearly 18 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds per game.
Maybe Kuhse's German experience will help in another way too, because Derthona need to keep a German team behind them in the group standings. NINERS Chemnitz are the reigning FIBA Europe Cup champions, and even though they are off to a rocky start in the Bundesliga, they know how to go on long winning runs.
Group H: Peristeri Domino's aren't the same team as last season, and losing coach Vassilis Spanoulis was arguably the toughest blow for them. The new man in charge is Georgios Limniatis, a long time assistant with BCL experience from PAOK and AEK, who started his solo journey in 2023 and found a home in Peristeri after his stints at Lavrio and Maroussi.
The biggest playing change is the departure of Joe Ragland, with CJ Harris now taking on the role of the veteran leader in the locker room.
While Peristeri know everything about the ins and outs of the BCL, FMP SoccerBet are out to learn a lesson or two, preferably by winning and reaching at least the Play-Ins.
The Belgrade-based club is the first team from Serbia to take part in a BCL Regular Season since Partizan and Mega competed back in 2016-17, and in Danilo Tasic they could have the best player nobody is talking about in this group.
Here to complicate things
Group G: SL Benfica are slowly but surely building an aura similar to the one surrounding prime ERA Nymburk, Filou Oostende, Falco-Vulcano Szombathely or VEF Riga.
They are dominant domestically, and their international wins aren't surprising anybody anymore. For the third straight time, they made it through to the Regular Season, surviving the Qualifiers in Turkiye in September and warming up perfectly for another run towards the Play-Ins or even the Round of 16.
Group H: Manisa Basket are a new name when it comes to Turkish representation in this competition. Just two years ago, they won the second division of Turkish basketball, and their recent rise hasn't gone unnoticed.
Saben Lee will get his first taste of European basketball after a couple of seasons with the Phoenix Suns, while Hugo Besson from France and Martynas Echodas from Lithuania make this a truly international roster.
Even though it's only their first season, they have to defend the honor of Turkiye in this league. They will grow throughout the season, so stay tuned and who knows, maybe they end up becoming the third Turkish team to reach a BCL Final, after Banvit and Pinar Karsiyaka.