The much-desired home court advantage at the start of the Eurocup playoffs was secured with a great triumph over Burgas, so after five years, the Buducnost Voli basketball players will finally have the opportunity to reach the quarterfinals of another European competition.
The ticket to the top eight is waiting for "Morača", and it could be said that the rival is at will - Cluj, a club that has been a member of the Admiralbet ABA League since this season.
Two defeats to the Romanian team from 2023 in the Eurocup, however, warn that relaxation is forbidden.
After the last round of the group stage, the skeleton for the final is known, and if Andrej Žakelj's team skips Cluj on March 10th or 11th, they will travel to Istanbul and face Bahçeşehir seven days later. Only one match will be played in that round, and the "real play-off" will begin with the semi-finals, with home and away matches.
A quarterfinal berth would be the fifth in the club's history, after 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2021.
14 years ago, the "blue and white" were stopped on their way to the semifinals by Valencia, and 12 months later by Lokomotiva Kuban. Buducnost reached the quarterfinals again in the 2018 ABA championship season, when they had to congratulate Darusafaka.
The Podgorica club last reached the top eight five years ago, when they were eliminated by Monaco, who were led to the throne in 2021 by Zvezdan Mitrović, the former and future coach of Montenegro.
Buducnost then made a breakthrough in the principality, but could not achieve great success in Ljubljana, where they had to host due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Four quarterfinals and no semifinals in the Eurocup, so the only place among the top four in European competitions remains in the former FIBA Saporta Cup in 1999, when the bombing stopped the "blue and white" on their way to making history.
In the event of a victory over Cluj and a feat in Istanbul, Buducnost's basketball players would probably face another club from the largest Turkish city in the semifinals - Besiktas, who will play against the winner of the Italian duel Venice - Trento in the quarterfinals. The difference is that in the semifinals (and finals) the playoffs are played on a best-of-two basis.
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Montenegrin basketball will be represented in the Eurocup finals by our national team coach - Mitrović will first host Chemnitz with Cedevita-Olimpije, and if successful in the quarterfinals, he will face Burg.
There are also national team players Marko Simonović and Kyle Olmen, who will face Manresa with Turk Telekom, and the winner of that duel will face Hapoel Jerusalem.
Eurocup, first round of playoffs
Cedevita-Olimpija - Chemnitz
Turk Telekom - Manresa
The Future Loves - Cluj
Venice - Trento
Quarterfinals
Burg - Cedevita-Olimpija/Kemnic
Hapoel Jerusalem - Turk Telekom/Manresa
Bahçeşehir - Buducnost Voli/Cluj
Besiktas - Venice/Trento
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