Basketball
The Murcians want to be second to be able to play at the Palace two of the three possible matches of the qualifying round prior to the ‘top 16’ of the Champions League
The group stage pass for UCAM in this Champions League has already been achieved. Whatever happens today in Bursa, the Turkish city where Sito Alonso’s team will meet today at Tofas at 6:00 p.m., it will not be the end of the European competition this season. But that does not mean, far from it, that there is nothing at stake. And it is that the two teams are playing today to be second classified in group A, a merit granted by playing the ‘play-in’ with the home field factor in their favor.
And what is the ‘play-in’? It is the best-of-three-match tie that pits second and third-placed teams from their respective groups against each other to stay alive in the competition and advance towards the ‘top 16’, which will also be played in a league format and for which they are already classified. without the need to play this tie that adds three high-voltage matches to the body in an already charged January, all the first classified. Among them, Strasbourg, who, by defeating UCAM in the last European game (82-70), took the first place that the Murcians were longing for. That triumph should not have escaped.
This tie of two or three games will take place in the first three weeks of January, and will face UCAM, depending on whether it is second or third, with the third or second of group B. First home game of the second, second in the third and, third and last if necessary, again with the second as host.
With a victory advantage over Tofas, UCAM will be second if they win or if they lose by one or two points. If they lose by three, which is the difference by which they won the direct match against Murcia on the first day (75-72), second place will go to the Turks, who have a positive ‘basket-average’ of 28 points, while that the one of the UCAM is of 10 so many negative.
A better Tofas
The team that will be in front of those from Sito today is an improved one compared to that first matchup in which James Anderson was injured. Having to deal with injuries, those from Bursa have been able to sign well. One of those who was not in Murcia on October 4 is a well-known player from recent seasons in the Endesa League (Burgos, Unicaja and Zaragoza) and with a Euroleague past, Deon Thompson. And another of those who raise the level is Arturas Milaknis, a former Lithuanian international with twelve Euroleague seasons behind him.
Greece, Turkey or Italy
Almost at the same time, since they will be matches that start half an hour before Tofas-UCAM, the final classification in group B will be decided. With the German Bonn already first, AEK Athens, Pinar Karsiyaka or Reggio Emilia can be UCAM’s rival.
In other words, there is a 66.7% chance of having the morbidity of the 2017-18 Champions League, in which UCAM beat Turkish Karsiyaka in the quarterfinals and lost to AEK in the semifinal of the ‘Fina Four’, or take a new path. The second place will be for the Greeks or the Turks, who will meet in Athens, and the third could be for the Italians if they manage to surprise again and beat the German Bonn, since they are the only ones who have beaten them. But, since they have lost equality with AEK and Pinar, in no case will they be second.
#UCAM #win #Turkey #home #court #factor #playin