The VTB United League SuperCup Quarterfinals will be played on Friday.
UNICS (Kazan, Russia) vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)
Time: 17:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: TVStart, Match! Igra, League website
UNICS: The reigning champion lost Daryl Macon and Vince Hunter in the offseason, replaced by Eric Green and Ismael Bako. Dmitriy Kulagin to Kazan from St. Petersburg, played in firendly games. In general, the kazan team has not become weaker, which means they are considered one of the SuperCup favourites. Preparations for the new season went according to plan: UNICS won the Khairetdinov Cup, and got silver medals from the Kondrashin and Belov Cup. The Kazan team managed Pari NN three times, including wins in the final (69:59) and semifinal (84:75) of the pre-season tournaments. UNICS approaches the Quarterfinals as the favourite.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny has undergone significant changes this summer. Still, Sergey Panov and Zoran Lukic continue to work, which means that Pari NN remain a motivated and capable team, which traditionally poses a great danger to opponents. The Nizhny Novgorod team has not once given unpleasant surprises to a principled rival from Kazan, and will try to repeat this on Friday. Ex-UNCIS player Andrey Vorontsevich moved to Nizhny Novgorod in the offseason, which only adds intrigue to the next round of the rivalry between the two Volga teams.
Zenit (St. Petersburg, Russia) vs Besiktas (Istanbul, Turkey)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start, Match! Igra, League website
Zenit: Zenit has had a strong campaign to strengthen their roster, signing VTB League champions Georgy Zhbanov and Vince Hunter, Russian national team captain Timofey Gerasimov, and Euroleague stars Bojan Dubljevic (11 years in Valencia) and Kyle Kuric (5 years at Barcelona). The team is still led by the venerable Xavier Pascual, who once again proved his worth at the Kondrashin and Belov Cup, in the final of which UNICS was defeated. The participation of Thomas Heurtel, who is important to the St. Petersburg team, is in doubt, but that did not stop Zenit from winning the trophy a year ago, the team is clearly ready to keep the SuperCup for at least another year.
Besiktas: While ex-CSKA coach Dimitris Itoudis, well known to Russian basketball fans, has returned to Russia with Fenerbahce, another Turkish SuperCup participant will give the opportunity to see Dusan Alimpijevic, who previously led Avtodor. Dusan was the EuroCup Coach of the Year the season before last, and this summer he moved to Besiktas, who came to Moscow as a dark horse.
In early September in Turkey, the Istanbul team lost to Zenit in a friendly game – 66:70. The St. Petersburg team is the favourite in this Quarterfinal.
