EuroCup 2023/24 - LONDON LIONS

[LTfan]

The EuroCup 2023/24 season starts next week, so I thought I'd start a new thread for all discussion about it - specifically that around the London Lions.


This season the EuroCup will have a new format that rewards regular-season dominance and makes it tougher to reach the EuroCup Playoffs.

Starting this season, only six teams (of the ten in each group) will advance to the playoffs, instead of eight, with the top two teams in each regular season group receiving first-round playoff byes, skipping the eighthfinals to be slotted directly into the quarterfinals.

The eighthfinals pairings will feature third- vs. sixth-place teams and fourth- vs. fifth-place teams from different regular season groups in single games hosted by the higher-placed teams. The winners of each game advance to visit the first- and second-place teams in do-or-die quarterfinals games.

The EuroCup Semifinals and Finals, which were also single games under the previous format, will now become best-of-three series starting on the court of the higher-placed team at the end of the regular season.


Here are the London Lions fixtures for the regulars season:

4 October 2023, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 1
London Lions
VS
Umana Reyer Venice

10 October 2023, 18:30
Regular Season - Round 2
Veolia Towers Hamburg
VS
London Lions

18 October 2023, 17:00
Regular Season - Round 3
Prometey Slobozhanske
VS
London Lions

24 October 2023, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 4
London Lions
VS
Paris Basketball

1 November 2023, 18:00
Regular Season - Round 5
Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv
VS
London Lions

8 November 2023, 18:30
Regular Season - Round 6
Joventut Badalona
VS
London Lions

15 November 2023, 17:00
Regular Season - Round 7
Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul
VS
London Lions

22 November 2023, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 8
London Lions
VS
Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana

28 November 2023, 17:00
Regular Season - Round 9
Wolves Vilnius
VS
London Lions

5 December 2023, 19:00
Regular Season - Round 10
Umana Reyer Venice
VS
London Lions

13 December 2023, 20:00
Regular Season - Round 11
London Lions
VS
Veolia Towers Hamburg

20 December 2023, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 12
London Lions
VS
Prometey Slobozhanske

26 December 2023, 19:45
Regular Season - Round 13
Paris Basketball
VS
London Lions

10 January 2024, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 14
London Lions
VS
Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv

17 January 2024, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 15
London Lions
VS
Joventut Badalona

24 January 2024, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 16
London Lions
VS
Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul

31 January 2024, 17:30
Regular Season - Round 17
Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana
VS
London Lions

7 February 2024, 19:30
Regular Season - Round 18
London Lions
VS
Wolves Vilnius

[jt]

Per Niall Gray on twitter it looks as if the Lions EuroCup games will be on BT/TNT this year, just not the first of the season.

[LTfan]

Oct 2, 2023 14:03:20 GMT jt said:

Per Niall Gray on twitter it looks as if the Lions EuroCup games will be on BT/TNT this year, just not the first of the season.

Actually this week's opening game has just been added to the schedule on TNT Sports 9 - which I believe is accessed via the Red Button and/or Discovery+ app.

Wednesday 4th October
19:15
Live: EuroCup Basketball (Sport)
London Lions v Umana Reyer Venice. Series 2023, episode 1.
London Lions v Umana Reyer Venice (Tip-off 7.30pm). Coverage of the group A match at Copper Box Arena.
(Subtitles, Widescreen, Live, Series 2023, Episode 1) 

[LTfan]

First game tonight against Umana Reyer Venice at the Copper Box.

It's a difficult one to predict given London and Venice were in different groups last season so haven't actually played each other before. Venice were 9-9 last season, whilst London were 8-10. So Venice are probably slight favourites but they're fairly evenly matched. Hopefully being the first game of the season and being at home London can do what it takes to get a win. 

[D44]

Ex Grizzlies and Raptor Bruno Caboclo playing for Venezia. Tough assignment for Morgan/Grantham

[LTfan]

Oct 4, 2023 11:53:42 GMT D44 said:

Ex Grizzlies and Raptor Bruno Caboclo playing for Venezia. Tough assignment for Morgan/Grantham

I wonder if tonight's the night London put Dekker back in the rotation. Sounds like he thinks he's ready to return, but the GM/coach are waiting for the right time.

[LTfan]

Also live on London Lions YouTube channel tonight from 19:30.

www.youtube.com/live/6Ps_nIHQ_Mk?si=tutlDR0sgTvJEy0O

[keithkr]

Watched on you tube, good close game, I thought London were going to lose this one but showed some good resilience. First time I've watched a game that is not BBL, very good standard.....well to my untrained mind anyway.

[LTfan]

Final score London 76 - 69 Venice.

Got to be honest, I thought London were below par tonight, most players could have and should have done better, including the usually very reliable Matt Morgan. Hopefully just first night nerves. Great game from Donte Grantham though.

But, despite that, we still got the win so I suppose that’s quite promising.

And on a side note, I like London’s EuroCup jersey much more than I like their BBL one.

[jt]

Oct 4, 2023 20:46:00 GMT LTfan said:

Final score London 76 - 69 Venice.

Got to be honest, I thought London were below par tonight, most players could have and should have done better, including the usually very reliable Matt Morgan. Hopefully just first night nerves. Great game from Donte Grantham though.

But, despite that, we still got the win so I suppose that’s quite promising.

And on a side note, I like London’s EuroCup jersey much more than I like their BBL one.

Agree with all of that.

Thankfully we're playing Hamburg next who look like one of the weakest in the group. Hopefully Dekker will be back soon.

[LTfan]

Another possible winnable game tonight, against Hamburg Towers who actually finished below London in the regular season last year. Hamburg were 6-12 whilst London were 8-10.
It's London's first away game though, so that'll be a challenge having just played in the BBL 48 hours earlier.

Live on TNT Sports from 18:30. 

[wentey]

Coach Youngblood head coach again, where is the Lions head coach, Ive just heard the commentator wish the head coach a speedy recovery has he been poorly since the Manchester game?

[keithkr]

Didn't watch the game as i don't have that channel, but by the score, which i kept an eye on throughout, it seems it was a good game with London again pulling it out the bag late on. Love them or loathe them, I know many don't like them, you have to admire them.

[sporty7]

Oct 11, 2023 4:37:11 GMT keithkr said:

Didn't watch the game as i don't have that channel, but by the score, which i kept an eye on throughout, it seems it was a good game with London again pulling it out the bag late on. Love them or loathe them, I know many don't like them, you have to admire them.

[sporty7]

Keith kr did you know you can watch on a smartphone using bet365. You have to deposit a small amount of money, which you can get back

[keithkr]

Oct 11, 2023 6:12:02 GMT sporty7 said:

Keith kr did you know you can watch on a smartphone using bet365. You have to deposit a small amount of money, which you can get back

No I didn't, thankyou for that.

[LTfan]

Oct 10, 2023 17:30:31 GMT wentey said:

Coach Youngblood head coach again, where is the Lions head coach, Ive just heard the commentator wish the head coach a speedy recovery has he been poorly since the Manchester game?

Coach Bozic is ill at the moment, and as you say, missed the Manchester game too. Possible a case of Covid? But I don't think there's anything going on beyond that. And it's been great to see Assistant Coach Youngblood get some of the much deserved spotlight. Really happy for him, and really glad he's kept the unbeaten streak going in both the BBL and EuroCup in Bozic's absence. 
I'm not saying Youngblood should have got the Head Coach job, but he certainly should have got the temporary position when Vince was abruptly let go mid-season.

As for the game, great to get another win in Europe and go 2-0. Hamburg were good, and if I'm honest they were the better team in everything but Q4. But it was Q4 that mattered to get the win and London did what was needed when it was needed. What I'm really liking about this London team so far is how evenly the success is shared. There's a coupe of players that stand out each game, e.g. Matt Morgan, but there's no single 'superstar' doing all the work. It's very much a team effort.

But I'm not disillusioned, these two games were two win-able ones. There will be a lot tougher competition to come. However, it's a great start none the less.  

[LTfan]

London’s Matt Morgan has won the MVP of Round 2 of the EuroCup.

[sporty7]

Game on now. Bet365 have changed the set up so you can have a full screen now. Makes a big difference

[sporty7]

London win 99 to 87.
It looks a good margin but the other side were within 3 points with few minutes to go, so it was a lot closer than the score suggests