The two teams’ head coaches share a special bond
Best friends come head to head when Bahcesehir, Cedevita face off
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They say that the European basketball community is close-knit, but for coaches Dejan Radonjic and Zvezdan Mitrovic, their bond goes beyond basketball.
For Mitrovic, it provided added motivation as his Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana team took on Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul in the last 16 of the BKT EuroCup Playoffs, too.
“My goal right now is to move to the next stage and play against my best man Dejan Radonjic in the quarterfinals,” Mitrovic told Eurohoops last week.
Yes, you read that correctly – Radonjic was the best man at Mitrovic’s wedding. So, with Bahcesehir College Istanbul set to take on Cedevita in the first game of the quarterfinals on Tuesday (18:00 CET), it adds even more intrigue to an already fascinating fixture.
Both Radonjic and Mitrovic hail from Podgorica, Montenegro, and were born 17 days apart in 1970. That their journeys would cross felt like destiny. They got into basketball as teenagers and were twice at the same club, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, with Mitrovic as an assistant coach and Radonjic as a player.
Since then, they have gone on to become two of the most prominent coaches in European basketball over the last decade. Radonjic is a five-time ABA League champion, all of which came with Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, and he has also won domestic championships in Montenegro (seven times), Serbia (five) and Germany (two). Mitrovic’s crowning hour, meanwhile, came in 2021 when he led AS Monaco to the EuroCup title – something he is hoping to replicate this year with Cedevita.
Twice before, Radonjic and Mitrovic faced off as coaches in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The first saw Radonjic earn bragging rights in some style as his FC Bayern Munich squad defeated Mitrovic’s LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 104-63 in October 2019. But upon Monaco’s promotion to the EuroLeague, Mitrovic avenged that loss to his best friend with the principality side triumphing 70-62 over Crvena Zvezda in October 2021.
Now, for the first time, they will be on opposite benches in the EuroCup – and a spot in the semifinals is up for grabs. Bahcesehir made light work of the regular season, despite being in tough-looking Group A, by going 14-4 and securing the one seed, which gave the Turkish side a bye in the round of 16. Cedevita, however, had to do it the hard way.
Mitrovic has transformed a club that went 4-32 over the last two seasons – finishing bottom of their group each time – by leading the Slovenian team to a 10-8 record in Group B, good for fourth place. Cedevita then made its home-court advantage account by defeating Besiktas 96-86, with star forward Devin Robinson leading the way by posting a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double.
Bahcesehir – competing in its first-ever playoff game in the EuroCup – comes into Tuesday’s quarterfinal matchup as the favorite, in large part due to the depth and experience of its roster. Jaleen Smith, Tyler Cavanaugh and Sehmus Hazer all have at least three years of EuroLeague experience under their belts, while Tai Odiase, Axel Bouteille and CJ Massinburg know what it takes to perform at the EuroCup level.
Bouteille, in particular, showed in his time with Turk Telekom Ankara that he can step up when the lights are the brightest, averaging 18.0 points in four playoff games as his team reached the 2023 EuroCup Final. And then there is Furkan Korkmaz, Bahcesehir’s trump card. Despite having a slow start to life with Bahcesehir in the EuroCup, having joined mid-season after an injury-hit spell with EuroLeague force Monaco, Korkmaz has started to find his feet in the Turkish League and could be a decisive factor in the postseason.
Cedevita, on the other hand, leans heavily on the play of Robinson, but also Brynton Lemar (15.1 PPG). Playing in his first EuroCup season, Lemar provides added offensive punch and is coming off a 20-point night in the eighthfinals. That Cedevita has four other players averaging between 10.2 PPG and 9.5 PPG shows the variety of its offense as DeVante Jones (10.2 PPG), Aleksej Nikolic (9.9 PPG) and DJ Stewart (9.5 PPG) are all capable of coming up with big plays. Jaka Blazic (9.5 PPG), however, will miss out due to a wrist injury.
If Korkmaz is Bahcesehir’s trump card, Cedevita’s surprise player could be Joan Beringer. The 18-year-old Frenchman’s season averages of 4.9 points and 5.5 rebounds are impressive given his age, but he showed against Besiktas that his offensive game is evolving at rapid speed by pouring in 12 points. Don’t be surprised if Beringer ends up causing some headaches for Odiase and Marko Simonovic in the Bahcesehir paint.
Everything is set for a mouth-watering game between these two sides. Will Bahcesehir take another step towards achieving its dream of reaching the EuroLeague for the first time or will Cedevita secure its first appearance in the EuroCup Semifinals since the Cedevita-Olimpija merger? Tune in on Tuesday evening to find out.