Valencia Basket finished second in Group B and will hosts Hamburg Towers, seventh-place team from Group A, in the single-elimination eighthfinals.
Breakdown: Valencia Basket vs. Hamburg Towers
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Large difference in previous experience
This is not only a clash between a four-time EuroCup champion and a EuroCup debutant. Not only that Hamburg has never played in a Eurocup before this season, but neither has the vast majority of its players. The only player currently on Hamburg roster with previous EuroCup experience is Seth Hinrichs, who made 10 regular-season appearances with ratiopharm Ulm in the 2019-20 season.
Meanwhile, Valencia has won the competition the last time it played (2018-19 season), and four players are still with the team from that season: Bojan Dubljevic, Sam Van Rossom, Mike Tobey and Louis Labeyrie. For Dubljevic and Van Rossom that was their second EuroCup title, after they led Valencia to winning the trophy in 2014, too. Power forward Victor Claver has won with Valencia in 2010, while Martin Hermannsson has been on the losing end in the 2019 finals with ALBA Berlin.
Can Hamburg become new debutant success story?
Hamburg has been the only debutant this EuroCup campaign, but success of the newcomers is not all that unusual in the competition. Just from the teams that participated this season, nearly half-dozen of them have reached their biggest success in their first try in the competition. For instance, fellow German side ratiopharm Ulm reached the quarterfinals in the 2012-13 season. Dolomiti Energia Trento was a semifinalist in its debut in the 2015-16 campaign. Promitheas Patras reached the quarterfinals in the 2019-20, while Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana finished third at the 2011 EuroCup Final Four as Cedevita Zagreb. Joventut Badalona was also a semifinalist in 2003, however, Joventut did it better a few years later, winning the 2008 title. However, no EuroCup debutant has reached the quarterfinals since Trento in 2016, and Hamburg would love to end that drought with an upset in Valencia.
Depth and balance vs. productive trio
It is a clash between two of the three best three-point shooting teams this season. Hamburg makes EuroCup best 11.4 triples per game, while Valencia ranks third in that category with 10.9 on average. Valencia is also second-best among playoff teams in scoring with 86.8 points per game, and Hamburg is not far behind with 83.2. But there is a big difference with these two teams in the way where contributions come from.
Valencia has nine players averaging at least 8.0 points per game, and not one player has averaged even 24 minutes per game during the regular season. Three different Valencia players average more than 4 assists: Nenad Dimitrijevic (4.9 apg.), Hermannsson (4.8 apg.) and Van Rossom (4.2 apg.), and six different players average more than 4 rebounds per game (Tobey (6.4 rpg.), Labeyrie (5.6 rpg.), Dubljevic (5.5 rpg.), Jasiel Rivero (4.8 rpg.), Jaime Pradilla (4.4 rpg.) and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui (4.1 rpg.). Meanwhile, Caleb Homesley (17.6 ppg, 4.5 apg., 3.6 rpg.), Jaylon Brown (16.9 ppg., 2.6 apg.), and Maik Kotsar (12.7 ppg., 6.7 rpg., 1.5 apg.), combine for more than half of all Hamburg's points, and almost half of team's assists.
Hamburg will need Homesley's production
Guard Caleb Homesley has been the story of the first part of the regular season. He scored in double figures in each of his first 10 appearances, and averaged 20.7 points. Homesley knocked down a total of 40 triples over that span on 44.0% accuracy. But that's when Homesley got sidelined for a few weeks, and he has played in only three EuroCup games over the last two and a half months, and has posted 7.3 points, shooting just 4-for-22 from long range.
Homesley continued contributing in other segments, but Hamburg will need his scoring in this eighthfinals clash. Jaylon Brown has had stellar production, scoring at least 17 points in six of his last eight games, but if Homesley can re-join Brown and re-create a one-two scoring punch in Hamburg's backcourt, it would give Hamburg a massive boost.