VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - That air of unpredictability that helped make the opening season of the Basketball Champions League a must-see competition hasn't gone away. The surprises, the upsets, the shockers are back! We're already on a fun, wild ride and the Regular Season hasn't even begun.

There are teams this year that must survive one, two or three qualifying rounds to reach the Regular Season.

Tonight's Qualification Round 2 opening legs were downright entertaining to follow.

In Catalonia, Spanish Liga Endesa side Joventut Seguros Badalona opened up a 15-point lead on Finnish outfit Kataja Basket but ended up falling, 79-75.

Telenet Giants Antwerp trailed by nine points in the fourth quarter against visiting Nizhny Novgorod but struck back with a vengeance and prevailed, 90-87.

Kalev Cramo trailed Alba Fehervar by 15 points in the third quarter in Tallinn but stormed back and won the opening leg, 78-71.

For me, the biggest surprise was Kataja Basket's comeback.

Many believe Joventut, which has a rich tradition that includes domestic and European titles, will be among the title contenders this season in the Basketball Champions League. It's a famous club from Spain that competes in the same Liga Endesa that has Iberostar Tenerife, the country's lone representative last season in the Basketball Champions League that captured the crown.

Among the awards in the Joventut trophy cabinet is the EuroLeague title from the 1993-94 season when Zeljko Obradovic was coach.

The club has produced many Spanish national team players over the years like Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio and Pau Ribas.

Rudy Fernandez (middle) and Pau Ribas (right) celebrate Joventut's EuroCup  triumph in 2006

The outfit is not the power that it once was, yet the spirit that allows the development of young players, with a lot of hard work from everyone at the club and a devotion to excellence is still in Badalona.

Joventut won their Qualification Round 1 tie against Dinamo Tbilisi easily enough. They prevailed in the first leg, 72-60, in Georgia on September 19 and then rolled to an 86-66 triumph two days later.

But now their hopes are hanging in the balance after falling at home to Kataja Basket.

The Finnish club, it has to be said, have already proved they are dangerous customers. Last year, the team was the Jekyll and Hyde of the Basketball Champions League. They had highs and lows. Kataja Basket won games they were not supposed to win, and lost games they were not supposed to lose. They were, with high-flying Canadian Daniel Mullings, a fun team to watch.

Now it's players like Damier Pitts, who had 18 points at Joventut, and Tommi Huolila (he played for Kataja last year), who scored 16 and grabbed 6 rebounds, who are making the headlines. Joventut v Kataja Basket is a tie that's capturing the imagination for the Finns.

"We lacked consistency and we need it in attack and on defense," Joventut coach Diego Ocampo Vazquez said.

So down four with 40 minutes to play, what are Joventut going to do? What they're not going to do, the coach hopes, is panic.

"We also have to be patient and not think we are going to get all our offenses right at once," Ocampo said. "In any case, this will help us to improve. We will have to recover from the game (Sunday), and the trip, and compete in the best possible way."

Will Joventut progress, or will they bid the competition adios? What other surprises are we in store for? We'll find out soon enough.  

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

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