Buducnost is back to the BKT EuroCup for its 18th campaign in the competition.
Games to watch: Buducnost VOLI Podgorica
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This is the fifth consecutive season for Buducnost VOLI Podgorica in the EuroCup, and its 14th over the last 15 years.
A four-time quarterfinalist has not won a postseason game in three years, and has not gotten past the regular season last season. The team lead by coach Andrej Zakelj intends to change that, but it has a tough task in a group with several main contenders, but also some familiar faces.
Here's a look at three Buducnost games you don't want to miss.
Round 2: Home opener against a contender
It is always important to start a campaign on the right foot, especially on home floor. For some team that's almost an imperative, but things get even more difficult when you are welcoming Dreamland Gran Canaria for your home opener.
The two teams have plenty of history and have played each other 10 times in the EuroCup over the years, including in each of the last three seasons. Of those 10 games, Buducnost has won only once, but it was in their last meeting back in February, a regular-season finale in which Coach Andrej Zakelj's team led by as many as 23 points behind a career game of Kenan Kamenjas. Buducnost fans would love to see a re-run of sorts to open the new campaign on home floor.
Round 5: Welcoming Dejan Radonjic
It will be a familiar faces visiting Moraca in Round 5 when Bahcesehir comes to town led by head coach Dejan Radonjic. The Turkish side has put together a strong roster and does not hide an ambition to make noise in its return to the EuroCup, and one of the best ways to make noise is to win on the road in games like this one.
For Buducnost, it will already be its third home game, and second against an ambitious opponent. In addition, it will be against a coach who knows the team really well. Radonjic might have not coached Buducnost for more than a decade, but make sure he knows how the team plays and all its strengths and weaknesses. This should be a delight to watch.
Round 15: A tough home test down the final stretch
Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv enters the season as the on-paper favorite, having put together a star-studded roster that will be attacking the EuroCup crown. It is very likely also that Buducnost will be once again fighting for one of six playoff places, so welcoming a title favorite in its penultimate home regular-season game must already be circled on the calendars in Podgorica.
Buducnost plays at home only twice in the last six rounds, and this game is first of the two. Teams want to win down the final stretch of the regular season, and this game against Hapoel will be the one that tells us how ready is Buducnost, and what it will be capable of.