ratiophatm Ulm will host Umana Reyer Venice on opening night in Germany. This will be the fifth time that these two sides meet in the competition and they have split the previous four with each team holding home court.

After a solid season in which Ulm managed to knock out Joventut Badalona in the first round of the elimination rounds, the German squad starts anew with a new coach, Anton Gavel. Only four players stayed from last season also, so new faces like Josh Hawley, Juan Nunez and Sagaba Konate will have to find their chemistry right away in a demanding season that will start against one of the strongest teams in the EuroCup.

Reyer also just kept a few pieces from last year's puzzle, but it managed to gather a solid group that, with the right chemistry, could go all the way. Jayson Granger, Allerik Freeman and Riccardo Moraschini are expected to bring the talent and experience from the EuroLeague level, while others like Marco Spissu, Derek Willis, Mitchell Watt and Jeff Brooks will round out a strong squad that may turn many heads this season.

Ulm welcomes Reyer in opener

ratiopharm Ulm v Umana Reyer Venice (2022-10-11T17:15:00.000Z)

Two of the best Polish big men, Olek Balcerowski and Aleksander Dziewa, face each other when Gran Canaria hosts Slask Wroclaw in Round 1. 

Balcerowski and Dziewa have guarded each other all summer long as members of the Polish national team that finished fourth at EuroBasket 2022. Balcerowski is three years younger, taller and has more experience at this level. He is a modern center who can pull the trigger from beyond the arc, make mid-range shots and use his big body to score in the low post. Gran Canaria has a lot of frontcourt options, but Balcerowski is often used to open the floor on offense and make the most of his wingspan and timing on defense. 

Dziewa is a little bit faster than Balcerowski and a much better rebounder, too, and that should be his main strength in this matchup. With the help of Art Parakhouski, Dziewa should be ready to power the offensive glass against Balcerowski, Khalifa Diop and Damien Inglis, looking for second-chance opportunities. Dziewa is also a very fast player in a one-on-one situation for a player his size and can use that against a player who knows him well.

Marquee matchup: Gran Canaria's Balcerowski vs. Slask's Dziewa

Gran Canaria v Slask Wroclaw (2022-10-12T19:00:00.000Z)

Gran Canaria and Slask Wroclaw will open the 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup by facing each other in a Group B showdown. These teams reached the eighthfinals last season and faced each other. Gran Canaria thrashed Slask 87-60 before being eliminated in the quarterfinals. The hosts have kept a core of players led by Andrew Albicy, A.J. Slaughter, Nico Brussino, John Shurna, Olek Balcerowski and Khalipa Diop. Gran Canaria signed Ferran Bassas, Vitor Benite and Damien Inglis to round out a deep, competitive roster hoping to challenge for the title. 

Slask has also improved since last season and signed two players with plenty of EuroCup experience in center Art Parakhouski and forward Conor Morgan. It also brought in playmaker Jeremiah Martin, who has been a great scorer everywhere he has been. They join Lukasz Kolenda and Aleksander Dziewa, who now return with a valuable season of EuroCup experience. Head coach Andrej Urlep is also back to lead the club's project. The goal remains the same: battling for a playoff spot.

Gran Canaria and Slask meet again 

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse hosts U-BT Cluj-Napoca in Round 1 of the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season. Here are some keys to victory for both sides in this Group A showdown. 

### Bourg relies on aggressivity, creativity 

Bourg head coach Frederic Fauthoux is well-known for the intensity that his teams display at both ends of the floor. Bourg is expected to put pressure on the ball with players like Hugo Benitez, Jordan Floyd and Frantz Massenat looking for steals and trying to force Cluj's playmakers, Patrick Richard and Jordan Taylor, to make as many mistakes as possible. As in recent years, Bourg will likely try to run its offense through versatile big man Pierre Pelos due to his great effectiveness from all angles (60.0% 2FG, 46.3% 3FG, 91.3% FT last season). 

### Cluj: defense comes first 

Cluj is a EuroCup newcomer but knows what is required to succeed at this level and it all starts with defense. In its first three domestic games, Cluj did not allow more than 73 points, which speaks wonders about the team's blue-collar mentality. On offense, Leonardo Meindl arrived to play a leading role and has delivered thus far, averaging 17.0 points in Romanian League action. If Taylor and Richard are able to control the game tempo and get Meindl involved, Cluj has a good chance to get its first-ever EuroCup win.

Keys to victory: Bourg vs. Cluj 

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse v U-BT Cluj-Napoca (2022-10-12T17:30:00.000Z)

U-BT Cluj-Napoca is set to make history by playing its first-ever 7DAYS EuroCup game on the road against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse. Cluj is just the third Romanian team to play in the competition after CSU Asesoft Ploiesti and Steaua Bucharest. The reigning Romanian League champion kept stars Patrick Richard, Karel Guzman, Andrija Stipanovic and Stefan Bircevic and brought in Leonardo Meindl, Jordan Taylor and Victor Sanders to ensure that it is competitive right way in arguably the club's biggest challenge until now. 

Bourg is back in the EuroCup for the third consecutive campaign. The club had not taken part in European competitions before joining the EuroCup in 2020. It missed the knock-out rounds last season, which should a motivating factor for those stars returning, such as Pierre Pelos, Hugo Benitez and Alex Julien. Bourg brought in some interesting newcomers, led by Jordan Floyd, Frantz Massenat, James Dickey and James Palmer. Head coach Frederic Fauthoux is on a mission to make the team more competitive and challenging to play past the regular season. 

Cluj to make its EuroCup debut against Bourg 

The opening round of the 2022-23 season will bring us another battle in the backcourt between two very productive floor generals, Yogi Ferrell of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and Derek Needham of Frutti Extra Bursaspor.

These two players had great EuroCup campaigns last season, with Needham earning All-EuroCup First Team honors for helping Bursaspor reach the EuroCup Finals. He posted EuroCup career-highs across the board, scoring 13.2 points while ranking 10th with 5.0 assists, sixth in the EuroCup with 1.4 steals and eighth with 49.1% three-point shooting.

Ferrell joined Cedevita in the early part of last season and went on to average 15.3 points, 4.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds in EuroCup action, pacing a high-scoring Cedevita offense to the quarterfinals where they lost against Bursaspor. Ferrell had 20 points on 3-for-7 three-point shooting, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in that quarterfinal game, while Needham had 20 points on 4-for-7 three-point shooting, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. They are now poised to lead their respective teams against one another one more time.

Major matchup: Yogi Ferrell, Cedevita vs. Derek Needham, Bursaspor

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana v Frutti Extra Bursaspor (2022-10-12T18:00:00.000Z)

There is plenty of history between Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and the last year's finalist Frutti Extra Bursaspor, which clash in the opening round of the 2022-23 season. Even though they never played each other before November 2020, the two teams have faced off five times in a span of 19 months, which has created a bit of a rivalry between them. Cedevita won three of those games. The most important one, however, went Brusaspor's way, an 83-85 thrilling quarterfinals win last April.

Their last encounter was also the lowest-scoring game between the two teams. Cedevita has averaged 94.2 points per game against coach Dusan Alimpijevic's Bursaspor, which in turn has scored 86.4 points on average against Cedevita. Each team has scored at least 80 points in each of the five games and Cedevita enters this season having scored 82 or more points in 10 consecutive games. Offenses with the likes of Yogi Ferrell and Alen Omic on one side and Derek Needham and Onuralp Bitim on the other, there should be plenty of fireworks at Stozice Arena on Wednesday.

Cedevita vs. Bursaspor: A high-scoring history

One notable addition in the 7DAYS EuroCup during the offseason saw Dolomiti Energia Trento secure 19-year-old guard Matteo Spagnolo on loan from Real Madrid. The Italian is widely regarded as one of the most promising talents in Europe, and he should get a chance to play plenty of minutes with Trento this season. After spending last season with Cremona of the Italian League, Spagnolo now gets the chance to get his first taste of action in the EuroCup, having not appeared in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for Real. Spagnolo has shown what he can do with Real in the Adidas Next Generation Tournaments, and he will be looking to get his Trento career off to a good start when it hosts Promitheas Patras in Round 1.

On the other side of things, Patras fans will have been delighted to see that the team has kept hold of Trevis Simpson for this season. The 31-year-old swingman averaged 9.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist during eight games in the EuroCup in 2021-22, his debut campaign in the competition, and he will be keen to start the new season with a bang when Patras travels on the road to take on Trento. Simpson recorded a season-high 17 points in an 84-77 win over Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse on February 2, 2022, so a similar scoring night in Round 1 would be the perfect way to begin the new campaign. Much of the spotlight will be on Spagnolo, but Simpson could steal the show.

Marquee matchup: Trento's Spagnolo vs. Patras's Simpson

Dolomiti Energia Trento v Promitheas Patras (2022-10-12T18:00:00.000Z)

Dolomiti Energia Trento and Promitheas Patras both had seasons to forget in the 2021-22 7DAYS EuroCup, as they finished bottom of their respective groups and missed out on the playoffs. Yet, the arrival of the new EuroCup season brings fresh hope and optimism among the clubs' fanbases, so this Round 1 meeting at BLM Group Arena is a good opportunity for these two teams to show that they are ready to have a better campaign this time around.

Curiously, rather than reshape their entire rosters, Trento and Patras have entered this season with eight and seven players, respectively, that were part of their EuroCup rosters last year. On the benches, meanwhile, Trento has kept faith with head coach Emanuele Molin, while Makis Giatras has come in to replace Ilias Zouros at Patras. Both clubs are used to demands that the EuroCup brings, with Patras entering its fourth season in the competition and Trento heading into its seventh, and this will be the third meeting between the two teams, as they last played one another in the 2020-21 season. During that campaign, Trento did the double over Patras – winning 78-51 in Trento before securing an 80-89 victory in Patras – en route to reaching the Top 16. Patras will no doubt be out for revenge, as it looks to start the season with a win.