[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Servus! Yes, the Oktoberfest is finally over and the winter arrived already here in Germany, so rather then Skiing and doing the "Après-Ski" already in October,
I rather am focusing on the first games of the Euroleague. As I quickly went through the match-ups of Wednesday's games last week, I want to take also a look on Thursday's tête-à-têtes today.

What do we have on the menu? Let's see:

Lietuvos Rytas - Efes Pilsen

Lietuvos Rytas returns to the Euroleague to face Efes Pilsen on the first day of action. Fierce shooter Igor Rakocevic will be a tough nut to crack for the Lithuanians (especially for Babrauskas) and the additions of Nachbar and seasoned Daniel Santiago are giving the Istanbul-based team the edge over the hosts, especially if you count in also Thornton, Smith, Kasun, Peker and Kuqo into it. Milko Bjelica and Donatas Zavackas are expected to contribute, but I see clearly Efes in front in this one, even if Lietuvos Rytas plays at home.

Partizan - Unicaja

To me, Partizan's roster looks reasonably weaker than last year's one. I can't see Kecman, Calebb and Maric replacing the likes of Lasme, Velickovic, Tepic and Tripkovic adequately. Jan Vesely is the x-factor here as he is expected to step up this year to provide shooting power. Newly acquired Lawrence Roberts is going to bulk his way to the basket but should need some time to adjust to the team.
Unicaja lost to Partizan twice in the last Top 16 and all of its three games in the ACB.
Reneses can count on guys like Cook, Berni, Archibald, Printezis and Freeland as well as new point guard Pooh Jeter, but will it be enough to edge Partizan at Pionir? I think it could work if the Malaguenos finally find their rhythm this season.

Lottomatica - Caja Laboral

It's Gentile's first full season as a head coach for Rome and it will be a tough one. Winston and Minard are new while Brezec, Jennings and Becirovic left. The roster may takes him to the last sixteen of the Euroleague but that's pretty it. Caja Laboral (formerly Tau Ceramica) is going once more for the Euroleague-crown after suffering so many devastating defeats in the most important games of the Euroleague in the last years. Most of last year's team left and the Basques replaced them with the likes of Oleson, Ribas, Huertas, English, Micov, Herrmann, Eliyahu and Lofton. It has to be seen how far they can go with this totally new roster (Add Splitter as the key-player in the middle), but it will be certainly too much for Lottomatica to compete with.

AJ Milano - Panathinaikos

Alex Acker returns to Europe after his NBA-experiment seems to be a failure. Milano might be the right place for him, as he will get plenty of time on the court, while pairing up with Hollis Price, Mike Hall, Marijonas Petravicius, Jonas Maciulis and Stefano Mancinelli. I like this year's roster and the Italians should be counted in for several surprising wins this year, but I doubt this will happen against Panathinaikos. I don't have to write down all the names of Pana, but the defending champ has once more "Saras", Spanoulis, Diamantidis and Pekovic on the roster. My favorite Greek player is hard-working Perperoglou, while Tepic and Calathes are new with the "Green". Last minute add Jurica Golemac will be replacing injured Batiste, but won't be a factor in his first game.

BC Khimki - Real Madrid

Messina and Garbajosa return to Moscow. With them, an all-star team made of quality-players like Kaukenas, Prigioni, Velickovic, Vidal, Lull, Reyes...and so on and so on. They are set to go against the big ones in Europe. Raul Lopez went the other way and left Real to join Khimki and joining him are fellow Spaniard and point-guard Carlos Cabezas and the Lithuanian duo of Jankunas and Javtokas. Kelly McCarty provides leadership while Mozgov may have his break-out season after displaying his talent at the European Champs in Poland this year. Khimki might be holding itself against the bigger teams in this year's competition but Real might be a number too big for them. The Madrilenos should be taking the "W" back home.


And finally for today, the highlight-play from Wednesday-night:

Check back soon on Fiba.com for more Euroleague-coverage, as well as other interesting topics that are circulating around the world of basketball!

I'm out like a cold winter without snow...