NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - It only takes one glance at last month's draw for EuroCup Women 2017 to see that this competition is increasingly popular.

The quality and experience of those clubs in the Qualifying Round alone is significant, with the likes of high performing regulars in recent years such as Nantes Reze, Chevakata and Istanbul Universitesi all having to fight for a coveted regular season place.

Group A welcomes newcomers Hoptrans Sirenos of Lithuania and it will be interesting to see how they fare against an established quality team such as Sparta&K M.R. Vidnoje, who continue to perform near miracles with their young guns under their excellent play-caller Alexander Vasin. With Raisa Musina and Daria Kolosovskaia still in situ, they will remain competitive. Maccabi Bnot Ashdod will have quality and it must be remembered that not too long ago, an Israeli team won this competition in Elitzur Ramla!

Group B will see Agu Spor who have that EuroLeague Women pedigree to call upon, but have to raise their game in the fiercely competitive Turkish League. Ann Wauters, Jelena Dubljevic and Tanisha Wright will help them to do that and I expect them to top the group easily, since PBA Moscow are another newcomer, while PINKK Pesci 424 are always solid but no more.

Group C has all eyes on Galatasaray who won't line up in EuroLeague Women for the first time in several years. They have brought EuroBasket Women 2015 winning [and now Rio bound] Marina Maljkovic to oversee this season, which will see something of a transformation of the roster. TTT Riga can't be overlooked as they were really solid last year, while Dynamo Novosibirsk have been in this competition plenty of times and have signed Canada center, Tamara Tatham.

Good Angels Kosice are set to continue benefitting from the vast experience of Zuzana Zirkova

Group D sees the return of Greek representation via Olympiacos and they are making a big play by signing Greek veteran duo Styliani Kaltsidou and Evanthia Maltsi, as well as WNBA star Lynetta Kizer. Former EuroLeague Women regulars Good Angels Kosice will make it a highly competitive group as they will also have experience with Zuzana Zirkova and possibly Lucia Kupcikova too. Aluinvent Miskolc will be tough as they were the form team last season, until the wheels came off in the Quarter-Finals.

Group E finally sees a European entry by ASD Pol Virtus Eirene Ragusa, which is long overdue. They have a good test against Belfius Namur Capitale and DSK Basketball Nymburk and maybe this pool of teams could be relatively well balanced, with the Italians favourites but without experience. It might be more interesting to see what impact playing in EuroCup Women has on the domestic form of Ragusa by the way.

Group F is the most interesting for me, since there are two of last year's EuroLeague Women performers in Spar CityLift Girona and Mithra Castors Braine. The Spanish runners-up have Artemis Spanou still on board and both they and the Belgian champions will face the Portugal powerhouse Clube Uniao Sportiva. That means a long trip west into the Atlantic to the island of Ponta Delgada which was a fortress for the home side last year.

Group G contains Umana Reyer Venezia who completed a successful re-integration to the competition last season, while it's nice to see a new French team in Cavigal Nice Basket 06 - alongside Basket Landes, who will of course have Celine Dumerc to lead their challenge.

Group H is arguably the weakest on paper, although also wide open with two Swedish rivals in Lulea Basket and Udominate - along with TSV 1880 Wasserburg who are never the bride, but always the bridesmaid when it comes to reaching the latter stages. That might just change this time around.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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