EuroCup Basketball action! Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 31, 2018, the AS Monaco Roca Team will take on MoraBanc Andorra at the Stade Louis-II.
EuroCup Basketball, more commonly known as the EuroCup and legally represented as the 7DAYS EuroCup for sponsorship purposes, is a yearly European professional basketball competition. The competition is organized by Euroleague Basketball, and is ranked as the second tier European basketball tournament beneath the EuroLeague.
AS Monaco Basket in 2018
Following two seasons where the AS Monaco Roca Team reached the final four of the Basketball Champions League, the organization decided to take part in this new European level competition. Having earned third place in 2017 and second place in 2018, the Roca Team appears to have felt the need to find a new battleground on which to prove itself. The EuroCup offers what many might consider a more prestigious stage for ambitious European teams looking to rise to new heights.
This change comes after a dynamic summer for the Monegasque club, which replaced head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic with Sašo Filipovski, and recruited the likes of Ian Hummer, Derek Needham, Jarrod Jones, Rémi Barry and Lazeric Jones.
EuroCup in Context
In European basketball, there are several levels of hierarchy. Between the EuroLeague, the EuroCup, the Basketball Champions League, and the Fiba World Cup there is ample opportunity for glory. The EuroCup came into existence in 2002 under the name ULEB Cup, which was swapped out for the current moniker in 2008. Monaco’s leadership perceived the EuroCup field as strong and deemed their participation as “a step ahead for the progress and promotion of the club.”
With as many options, however, choosing one’s competitions is a sport in its own right. With tensions between the two major organizing bodies Euroleague Basketball and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the choice is nearly as bureaucratic as it is a question of sporting excellence.
The Competition
The Roca Team’s participation will bring high-quality European level basketball to the Stade Louis-II hardwood at least five times this year. Should the team make it past the group stage, each playoff round has one home and one away fixture. The competition promises to be fierce with a handful of teams that have Euroleague experience. Among the participants are Valencia, Malaga, and Kazan, a team that lost in the last year’s quarterfinals toBayern Munich.
AS Monaco Basket’s group includes experienced European clubs like Galatasaray and Belgrade, as well as Ulm, Brescia and MoraBanc Andorra. On paper, MoraBanc Andorra is the least threatening of the group, meaning that Wednesday’s matchup should be an occasion for the Roca Team to impose themselves, especially at home.
AS Monaco Roca Team vs. MoraBanc Andorra
Wednesday October 31, 2018 at 7:45 PM