By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Exceptional times call for exceptional measures, the saying goes, and this is certainly true for the innovative solution the Basketball Champions League devised for its 2020-21 Qualification Rounds in the face of the challenges the global pandemic poses to European sport.
The 16 teams that are seeking one of the four remaining spots in the 2020-21 Regular Season have been split into four groups and each group will be decided in direct knockout games in a Final 4 format.
In an effort to further enhance health and safety measures, there are only two venues in this atypical Qualification Round, each of which is hosting two Final 4 tournaments.
Nicosia, in Cyprus, plays host to groups A and B, while Botevgrad, in Bulgaria, provides the stage for groups C and D.
These are the contestants in the semi-final battles in each of the four groups:
GROUP A
(The Semi-Finals take place Wednesday, September 23 and the two winners will face off in the Final on Friday, September 25. All games in Nicosia, Cyprus)
SF1: Bakken Bears (DEN) vs. Hapoel Tel Aviv (ISR)
Both clubs have prior experience of qualifiers in the BCL, but only Bakken Bears have actually tasted the success of advancing to the Regular Season.
The perennial Danish champions eliminated Estonia’s Tartu in the 2016-27 second Qualification Round and earned a spot in Group A of that inaugural BCL season, albeit they finished bottom of the standings on a 1-13 record.
Hapoel tried their luck in 2018-19 but lost to Spirou Charleroi in the first Qualification Round.
Last season, Bakken eliminated Tsmoki Minsk in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Europe Cup and were due to face Bahcesehir in the Semi-Finals, but of course the competition was suspended due to the pandemic. Hapoel didn’t take part in any European competition in 2019-20.
Keep an eye out for one of Bakken’s new additions, veteran guard Justin Dentmon, who led the BCL in scoring during the 2019-20 Regular Season, averaging 20.9 points per game as an EB Pau-Lacq-Orthez player.