16–22 Sept
    2024

    Tournament 3 preview: Been there, done that

    3 min to read
    Preview
    Cholet Basket guard Gerald Ayayi in last season's BCL

    Cholet Basket know what it takes to win a qualification tournament in Antalya, because they pulled it off just last year - and then went as far as the Quarter-Finals. But a BCL old hand in PAOK Thessaloniki, as well as Dutch, Romanian, Scottish and Turkish opponents don't want to see Cholet repeat the trick.

    ANTALYA (Turkiye) - The Basketball Champions League field will be set at the end of this week, as 24 teams fight for the last four tickets to the Regular Season.

    The Qualification Round includes four tournaments, held at the Gloria Sports Arena in Turkiye.

    Who is playing in Tournament 3?

    There are six clubs in this tournament, with the same format as in the previous editions of the Basketball Champions League Qualifiers. Four teams will play the Quarter-Finals round, while two await in the Semis.

    In Tournament 3, Caledonia Gladiators from East Kilbride, Scotland and up against CSM CSU Oradea from Romania in the Quarter-Finals, with the winner getting a date with PAOK mateco in the Semis.

    In the other part of this bracket, Aliaga Petkimspor take on Heroes Den Bosch, to decide who takes on Cholet Basket in the Semi-Finals.

    Has anybody played the BCL Regular Season before?

    CSM CSU Oradea played the very first BCL season ever, back in 2016-17, finishing the Regular Season with a 6-8 record and transferring to the FIBA Europe Cup as the sixth placed team in their group.

    PAOK mateco have been a regular in the Regular Season, amassing seven BCL appearances. Their best results were in the first three seasons, reaching the Round of 16 three times.

    Cholet Basket played the Regular Season in 2020-21 and 2023-24. Both of those seasons, their members were named the Best Young Player of the year, Tidjane Salaun picking up the honors last season, while Yoan Makoundou won it in 2020-21.

    Who are the players to watch in this Tournament?

    Caledonia Gladiators had a good campaign in the British Basketball League a season ago, and Patrick Whelan was their most consistent player, averaging 14.9 points, 4.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds across 33 games, while knocking down 45.5 percent from beyond the arc.

    CSM CSU Oradea brought Brandon Brown back to Romania, where he had played for U-BT Cluj Napoca previously. Brown is an experienced point guard, and he averaged 14.7 points with 5.3 assists for Cluj in their 2021-22 BCL run, before reaching the Final Four with Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem a year later.

    Aliaga Petkimspor have plenty of familiar BCL names, but Breein Tyree is brought in to lead the team in scoring. He has two seasons of BCL experience, averaging 17.4 points for Oostende in 2022-23, and 16.1 points for Sassari last season.

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    Heroes Den Bosch changed a lot of their squad from a season ago, and it will be interesting to see what Justin Kier can do in his first season abroad. He is 26, plays as a guard and once averaged 14.5 points with 6.5 rebounds with the George Mason Patriots in the NCAA.

    PAOK mateco picked up one of the top scorers of the Romanian League last season, bringing Cedric Henderson to Thessaloniki after his 15.6 points on 45.8 percent three-point shooting in CSM Constanta in 2023-24.

    Cholet Basket brought back a lot of their players from last season, so don't be surprised to see the backcourt tandem of TJ Campbell and Gerald Ayayi leading them to another successful run.

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