ULEB Cup draw profile: DKV Joventut
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DKV Joventut Badalona was among the preseason title contenders for this season’s ULEB Cup and the club didn’t disappoint, sweeping through the regular season with a 9-1 record to win first place in Group A. There were plenty of highlights along the way as would be expected for such an exciting team, which features two of the brightest young stars on the continent, Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez. Joventut started the season with seven consecutive wins, scored at least 90 points five times – including two games of more than 100 – and set a slew of records in a 113-53 victory over British Champion Guildford Heat in Week 7. Joventut set the ULEB Cup all-time record for score difference in a game at 63 points, exceeding by 16 the previous mark. Joventut's collective index rating of 173 was another record and the 116 points scored tied the third best scoring mark ever by a team in a game with no overtime. Nine players scored in double figures for the winners that night, with Rubio coming within 3 assists of a triple-double. The season started bright with a 79-67 win over Alba Berlin, which prove to be the only time all season Joventut won a game by fewer than 15 points.  The streak continued by downing Guidford 61-95 on the road, Turk Telekom 102-83 at home, KK Bosna 68-85 in Sarajevo and Siauliai 90-65. After topping Berlin 65-80 in Week 6 came the blowout over the Heat, which made Joventut the first team to advance to the Last 32 this season. The club’s only blemish came in Week 8, when without Rudy, Joventut came up short 96-94 at Turk Telekom, despite a monster 29-point, 10-assists effort from Rubio. Easy wins over Bosna and Siauliai followed as head coach Aito Reneses Garcia’s side clinched the top spot. With so many big wins, it’s no surprise that this club led the ULEB Cup in assists and finished second in scoring and rebounds, despite not having a single player ranked among the top 10 in either of the latter two categories. With all these tools, anything short of a trip to the Final Eight in Torino would be a big disappointment.
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POST-DRAW REACTIONS | DKV Joventut president, Jordi Villacampa:"I think the Final Eight will arrive one game early for us if we manage to get rid of Swans Gmunden in the first round. I think Khimki is the worst team we could have gotten, but it is also true that if we wanted to win the Final Eight, we would have faced them sooner or later. At least we have the homecourt advantage against them, but it is also true that a bad day can smash all your plans. This is an important step of the competition and we cannot make mistakes. We have to go step by step because we also have the Spanish League and Cup but we also have to keep an eye on the ULEB Cup, which will be very difficult." |
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
ULEBCup.com
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