The best part of the event has arrived!
The teams are all ready to face the challenge of the quarter-finals, with a prize a place at FINAL-4 in Istanbul.
The next 10 day will show off the worthy, stand out from the good and the most important will give us big games and even more emotions.
The quarterfinals win the winner with "best of 5" (the first in 3 wins) with 2-2-1 conducting system, starting and ending at the headquarters of the team, which has the advantage of the second phase of the event.
CSKA Moscow (15-1) - Gescrap Bilbao (9-7)
The big favorite of this year's event was CSKA, and this proved to be true in the field, as the Russians managed to convince everyone that they had the first word to cut the chips from the baskets of Sinan Erdem. On the way to Constantinople they have to overcome the problems that Fotis Katsikaris will face, who in his second term in Spain has managed to win the Basque confidence. And probably fair since after last year's successful season (finalists of the championship), this year is very competitive after the startling start. Any victory against the "Red Army" team will be a major achievement, but it will be hard to make it a serious problem.
Montepaschi Siena (12-4) - Olympiacos (9-7)
The beautiful Tuscany is preparing to rejoin the Piraeus, but this time the roles have been reversed. Siena is the one who has the advantage and certainly will not want to experience last year's upset that he had won against team Dusan Ivkovic.
The Italians are clearly more full of Olympiacos and the truth is that in the last two months they have shown significant signs of improvement, as they lead the race, but also Euroleague managed to win the victory against Real and Bilbao. Olympiacos is the favorite to qualify, but for its part the Greek team will fight energy and enthusiasm, elements that can be managed by a more experienced team such as Montepaski.
Barcelona (15-1) - Unics (10-6)
Barcelona is unstable this year and is not the last year's machine, which was an unwavering favorite for the conquest, until it was defeated by Panathinaikos. This time her work is easier. He faces Unics, which he won 2 times in the first phase of the event with an average difference of 20pts. These were the biggest defeats of the Russians, since after that the biggest defeat was 8 point difference. These are two defensive teams, with the Catalans fondling to run on the open field. The depth of the roster and the great experience of blaugrana make them an unwavering favorite over the newly emerging Russians.
Panathinaikos (11-5) - Maccabi Tel Aviv (10-6)
The trophy owner and 6 times champion of Panathinaikos Europe against the most loser team of European basketball on the final 4. Two conquests in 8 finals for Israelis, who want nothing to avenge for last year's lost Barcelona final. Things will not be so easy, since in addition to the downside of the home they will have a drawback racing. His career so far shows the difficulties he faced. Actually No2 against NO1 coaches (since the actual NOXUMX is absent in Los Delicios → Hector). Along with Siena-Olympiacos, the most interesting matchup of the quarter-finals, since the greens are not "good" and the troubled Israelis will try to take advantage of the situation.
Statistics on 21 from 27 cases the team that won the first game won and the series. Last year, however, 3 from the 4 teams that won the first game were excluded!
The program is as follows:
20-22-27-29 March and April 4-5
Barcelona Regal - Unics Kazan
Panathinaikos - Maccabi Electra
21-23-28-30 March and April 4-5
CSKA Moscow - Gescrap BB
Montepaschi Siena - Olympiacos
