It’s been a month and a half till the start of the season. There is a long interesting year ahead with a lot of unpredictable and exciting results. But what dates and events should be pointed out in the League schedule?
The first game of the season
October 2, 2022, Zenit vs. UNICS
How will the season start and how it will be? If so, then the season will be bright because in its first game we will see the rivalry of St. Petersburg and Kazan!
There are a lot of reasons to discuss this game. Here is the desire of UNICS to recover after failed semifinals where Zenit won the series 3-1. Here is Dmitry and Mikhail Kulagin duel, who have not played in the same team for 5 years. There is also a tactical battle between two strong coaches with different game philosophies.
UNICS and Zenit managed to surprise with strong signings this offseason and are considered as one of the main contenders for the championship. Daryl Macon from Pao and Jalen Reynolds from Maccabi are going to Kazan, Trey Tompkins from Real Madrid are going to St. Petersburg. At the same time, both teams have changed their rosters quite seriously and the first game will show which coach is better to prepare their players for the new season.
The Volga Derby
October 9, Avtodor vs. Pari Nizhny Novgorod
The VTB League games featuring Volga teams are always interesting. Over the past 5 years in Avtodor and Pari NN rivalry, only twice the difference in the score were more than 10 points, in all other cases the battle for the win lasted until the last minutes.
However, it is difficult to predict the scenario of the Volga Derby so far – Avtodor practically does not have a lot of transfer news. It is known that there will be a new coach – Nebojsa Vidic. Avtodor also returned Evgeniy Kolesnikov from CSKA and Anton Kvitkovskikh moved to Loko.
In this regard, Pari NN is the complete opposite of Avtodor. The club announced that there was only one place left in the squad in its social media, having already presented 6 newcomers. There are also familiar faces among them: Anton Ponkrashov is the record holder for the number of the VTB League teams; Nikola Jovanovic started the previous season in NN but was injured; Dragan Apic previously played for Loko and Zielona Gora, and Maksim Salash – for MINSK and Kalev.
New Head Coaches test
October 13, Lokomotiv Kuban vs. CSKA
In both Krasnodar and Moscow there were changes of the coaching staff in the summer: Alexander Sekulic headed Loko, and Emil Rajkovic replaced Dimitris Itoudis in CSKA.
And the first serious test for both specialists will be in mid-October. The last time these teams met in the semifinals, where Loko led by McCallum and young talents managed to battle to the Army team.
By the way, the situation in Loko will be the same now: the club focuses on young players and the ex-Avtodor forward Anton Kvitkovskikh has signed in the team with Martyuk, Shcherbenev, Emchenko and Vedishchev. The team will be led by Alexander Sekulic, the Slovenian national team coach.
For CSKA, trips to Krasnodar are not easy and even more so after this offseason. In addition to the head coach the Army team has 7 new basketball players!
Bronze
October 23, UNICS vs. Lokomotiv Kuban
Last season, both teams managed to annoy each other. First, Loko having beaten UNICS in overtime at the end of the regular season and the Kazan team have lost the chances for the 1st place in the standings. Velimir Perasovic’s team won the bronze series leaving Loko without medals.
However, in Kazan, only Velimir Perasovic will remember last year’s failures – after all, UNICS roster has changed dramatically this summer. 11 players left the Kazan team, and only 3 – Vorontsevich, Zaitsev and Zhbanov – were extended by the team.
Newcomers
November 6, Samara vs. MBA
For both clubs, the 2022/23 season will be their debut in the VTB League. And each of the teams wants to prove that they are worthy of playing in the tournament. A face–to-face game with another newcomer is a great chance to show the strength.
The clubs formed their rosters in different directions. Samara managed to make a noise in the transfer market by inviting 3 fairly strong players to the team: Marcos Knight had previously played in the Euroleague for ASVEL, KC Rivers was Loko, Zenit and Khimki player in the past, and Isaiah Reese became the top scorer of the British league.
MBA does not have a single legionnaire in the roster. But it is difficult to say that the team is poor on high-quality players: there are both experienced basketball players (Voronov, Pushkov) and talents (Khomenko, Tikhonenko, Konovalov, Yakushin).
Contenders
November 10, CSKA vs. UNICS
The last time UNICS was in Moscow, the game ended in the third overtime with O.J. Mayo winning shot. Mayo is no longer in the Kazan team player but UNICS has other heroes in the roster who are able to make a noize against the Army team – these are Daryl Macon, Jalen Reynolds, Vince Hunter, and Louis Labery.
Both teams will already have enough time to rebuild and get in the shape. No one knows if there will be overtime on November 10 in Megasport and if so, how many. But it is known for sure that CSKA and UNICS games should not be missed in any case.
Toropov in Nizhny Novgorod
November 27, Pari Nizhny Novgorod vs. Zenit
Sergey Toropov is not a real superstar of the VTB League. But for sure, during the game in Nizhny the forward went on a new level and got invitation to the Russian national team and went to the All-Star Game. Having finished the season with the best stats in his career, 32-year-old Toropov got an offer from Zenit and took his chance.
After joining the new team Sergey wrote a heartbreaking post in social media where he thanked Pari NN and the fans for their support. Emotions are emotions but Zenit will need to prove its worth in every game, even against a former team. This November game will be another test for Toropov.
Focus on homegrowns
December 7, MBA vs. Astana
The offseason is coming to an end and it is already becoming clear how the teams will look like in the 2022/23 season. MBA and Astana are two teams that did not look for legionnaires so far.
MBA has no legionnaires at all and all 17 players in the squad are Russians. Astana has a similar situation: the club retained some of the Kazakhstani basketball players, returned Roman Marchuk and also invited two Russians – Valery Likhodei and Daniil Aksenov.
At the end of last season, the League clubs – PARMA-PARI, Nizhny Novgorod, Avtodor – proved that they could demonstrate high-quality basketball with homegrown players. Will it be possible to do this in Astana and MBA? And if so, who will be better?
Pashutin in Krasnodar
December 22, LokomotivKuban vs. PARMA-PARI
On December 16, 2021, Loko announced the parting with head coach Evgeny Pashutin. A year and 6 days later, the Russian specialist will return to Basket Hall – but only to try to get a win with his new team from Perm.
And there is no reason not to believe in PARMA-PARI win. The Perm team were the most active in the transfer market in June quickly assembled the roster and have already started preparing. There will be 4 legionnaires in PARMA-PARI and Pashutin pointed out that that repeating last year’s result – 5th place – is a task minimum for a season.
Astapkovich in Nizhny Novgorod
January 10, Pari Nizhny Novgorod vs. CSKA
In fact, Anton Astapkovich started his career in CSKA. His transfer from Pari NN to the Army team can be considered as a homecoming. On the other hand, the forward revealed as a leader and the All-star Game calibre player in Nizhny Novgorod.
Astapkovich played 4 seasons in Pari NN and left a farewell message for the fans on social media like Toropov, where he called the team and the city his home. Will the forward be able to forget these 4 years in Nizhny and lead CSKA to a road win over a tough opponent?
