VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - How boring sports can be for the neutral observer when the same old teams, year after year, are the ones that contend for titles.

League campaigns can be so predictable.

In this season's Turkish Airlines Euroleague, there are the usual, big spenders at the top of their groups in the regular season.

CSKA Moscow and Barcelona have yet to lose a game after eight weeks, while Olympiacos have but one loss.

Real Madrid are at the top of their pool.

It's not that these teams are not great, or do not play attractive basketball, or are not deserving.

These are talent-laden, hard-working squads but you know that even before the opening tip of the first game, each will move on to the Top 16 and to the play-off stage as well.

The more compelling stories are the ones about the clubs that have to scratch and claw and try to survive. 

These outfits have little or no margin for error. 

Only the ones with unselfish and intelligent players and coaches will make it.

They must be committed to playing defense.

They need coaches that know when it's time to crack the whip, and when it’s time to go easy on the horses.

Crvena Zvezda, aka Red Star, have that sort of team this season.

They have been digging deep and spicing things up in the Euroleague.

Zvezda clinched a place in the Top 16 on Friday night with a 77-68 triumph at Valencia in Spain.

We saw all that is good of Zvezda in that game, an offensive attack that is getting a best-ever season out of giant center Boban Marjanovic, who would be in the MVP discussions if the Euroleague were nearing the end of the campaign.

We saw Luka Mitrovic and Nikola Kalinic doing a little bit of everything, from scoring to rebounding to handing out assists to coming up with steals.

We saw Marcus Williams catch fire, hitting four second-quarter three-pointers that bolstered the confidence of Zvezda and helped them open up an early lead.

Zvezda's fifth win in eight games was enough to seal a spot in the next phase of the competition, a monumental achievement when you consider that the club had never made it that far before.

"We could never dream of being in this situation, qualifying with two games left in the regular season," Zvezda coach Dejan Radonjic said.

"We are really happy because of that."

For Marjanovic, who went into Friday's contest having twice been named as the player of the week, the picture continues to look rosy.

It's one thing to be a tower, but to be able to take advantage of that size hasn't always been that easy for him.

He's been a journeyman, moving from club to club.

Since ending a four-year run with Hemofarm Vrsac in Serbia, the 2.21m Marjanovic has played for CSKA Moscow, Zalgiris Kaunas, Niznhy Nogorod, Radnicki, Mega Vizura and since the 2013-14 season, Zvezda.

This year, Marjanovic's coaches are getting him in the right places on the floor and he is finishing at the rack.

He's also making his free-throws.

"I am working on my game," he said after Friday's win.

"I have good people who work with me, but this is a team, not a single guy. We play together."

There is a touch of irony to this season because Radonjic is having a much better time of things than Dusko Vujosevic, the Partizan boss who is normally the coach in Belgrade stealing the plaudits for leading young, unheralded teams to Euroleague victories.

Radonjic also served as an assistant to Vujosevic when the latter was the head coach of Montenegro and led them to promotion to Division A and then to qualification for EuroBasket 2011.

When Radonjic succeeded Vujosevic at the helm of Montenegro, however, they fell flat and he left the hot seat.

He has bounced back.

Radonjic is right now in the running for the Coach of the Year honor.

Something else to consider is the evaluation process of Serbia coach Sasha Djordjevic.

He has already led the national team, one that included Kalinic, to the Final of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

On this season's evidence, it's hard to imagine Mitrovic and Marjanovic not gaining spots in next year’s EuroBasket squad.

Things can turn sour for a national team program very quickly, but really, it would be a surprise to see Serbia struggle next year. 

Djordjevic is certainly not going to be short of options as he tries to get to the top of the podium and to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Williams, who had a Euroleague single-game record of 17 assists in a double-overtime thriller recently at Galatasaray in Istanbul which Zvezda lost, is making a huge difference.

He's enjoying every minute of his time in Belgrade, one of the traditional hotbeds of basketball.

"Our fans have been great for us all year," he said. 

"We have a pretty young team … It's has been a good season for us so far, but we are not finished. We want to keep going."

Good luck to Zvezda and thanks for helping make this a must-see European basketball season so far.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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