Something like a phenomenon

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Zdravo!

"Grobari" are happy these days as Partizan Belgrade is on a path that might take them to the Final Four in Paris in May despite a protest and despite all doubts that a team compromised of youngsters can make it such far.

After winning the first two games in the Last 16, the Serbian team is looking ahead to stay on top of their group to gain home-advantage (which is essential - Pionir Hall is like hell for all opponents) in the play-off series that ultimately decides who is traveling to France and who will be watching the best European club teams competing on TV.

The "Black-Whites" are waiting for another shot at the trophy since 1998 (They even won the Euroleague in 1992, but that's 18 years ago...I feel old now) and may get Aleks Maric back at the right time to push them further into that direction.

Czech-sensation Jan Vesely is making a lot of noise lately to make up the temporary loss of Maric and is quickly rising up even in the 2010 NBA Draft ranks of several websites like Draftexpress or NBADraft.net.

Expect Vesely to move over the ocean in a year or two, as this versatile forward showed the talent and the will to succeed on a higher level.

This year's pair of U.S. Americans (Bo McCalebb and Lawrence Roberts) blend perfectly into the team as both do provide fire-power as well rebounding (Roberts), while using their stint in Serbia to promote themselves on a Euroleague-level to get a more lucrative job in one of the financially bigger markets in Europe.

Furthermore, with Aleks Rasic and Petar Bozic coming off the bench altogether with Montenegrin-giant Slavko Vranes, coach Dusko Vujosevic has enough options this year to climb up the Euroleague-ladder, although age is still a concern (seven players under 22), which could hamper decision making in critical moments.

But even the Serbian national-team proved doubters wrong last summer, so why should it be different with Partizan this time?

The team's success is based on one of Europe's leading youth systems that is regularly putting out one or two top players (Fore example Uros Tripkovic and Novica Velickovic) for the European market each year and seems to have unlimited sources of talent (talented players from other teams continually moved or still move to Partizan like Nikola Pekovic, Milenko Tepic and Vule Avdalovic among others), although the country is rather small and less populated compared to other basketball nations like Spain, Italy or the U.S. (Serbia's population stands around seven million).
Additionally, a lot of import players using Partizan as a stepping stone for their careers (Stephane Lasme, Fred House or Milt Palacio), so there is no shortage on talent on the roster.

To me, Partizan's youthful basketball remains a phenomenon...hopefully a long lasting one!

Note: Article was written prior to the Maroussi - Partizan game which Partizan lost by eight points . I still believe that they will be reaching the play-offs though.