MIES (Switzerland) - Nanterre 92 approached the first season following the coaching departure of Pascal Donnadieu - on the French team's bench for 37 years (!) - hoping to be competitive.
Even though "first appearance in the BCL Quarter-Finals since 2018-19" kind of competitive might have been a little bit exaggerated looking at how they began their European tour this season, here they are.
Their hopes of making it to their first-ever BCL Final Four, however, may remain such. On the other side, they will find one of the best teams in the whole competition: the former champs nicknamed The Queen, AEK Betsson BC.
How did they get here?
The way AEK started the 2024-25 season was worse than how they began the 2023-24 campaign, when they won their first five games in the Regular Season. Things, however, changed in the Round of 16.
Their last season's 0-6 winless run in Group L was something to forget as soon as possible, considering the Greek team's history in the competition, having won the 2017-18 edition and having reached the Final against San Pablo Burgos two years later, in the 2020 Final Eight organized in Athens.
Said and done: AEK's trajectory in this season's Regular Season might have been less enthusiastic than in the previous route, ending with a 4-2 record in 1st position in Group E. But the Round of 16 was a success.
Clinching a spot in the Quarter-Finals after their fourth game in Group I, beating FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets 84-77 in front of their beloved fans, they slightly lost only to Bertram Derthona Basket before coming back fearlessly over Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola.
Overall, they have a 9-3 record in this season's BCL - trailing only La Laguna Tenerife (12-0), Unicaja (11-1), and ERA Nymburk (9-2), the other three teams with the home-court advantage in the Quarter-Finals.
Beating them will be a difficult and challenging mission, and at this point, Nanterre perfectly know they have already exceeded everyone's expectations by officially getting into the top eight teams in the whole Basketball Champions League. Especially looking back at how their season started.
Despite entering Group A of the Regular Season with two defeats out of their first three games, they were able to get the tiebreaker over Hapoel Holon, earning a crucial home-court advantage in the Play-Ins.
Advancing to the best-of-three series against Filou Oostende, having the French crowd's support at their disposal was necessary as they forced Game 3 after losing Game 1 at home and winning on the road in Belgium. What emerged in the Round of 16, for Nanterre, was honestly unpredictable.
Having to go up against ERA Nymburk, one of the hottest teams of the whole season, last year's bronze medalists UCAM Murcia, and Falco-Vulcano Szombathely, things looked complicated for the French team.
Instead, the group coached by Philippe Da Silva, who's only at the beginning of his coaching career, not only surprised the Czech champs in Prague, but also took down the Spaniards at home two weeks later.
A final win over the Hungarians meant BCL Quarter-Finals, their first since the 2018-19 season.
Were they here before?
After six years, Nanterre is back in contention to fight for the Basketball Champions League Final Four. A four-team party they have never been able to experience, considering how it went in the past.
Losing in the 2017-18 Round of 16 to Bandirma Banvit, they got back on track the following campaign, this time advancing to the top eight teams in the competition.
They did so by sweeping Besiktas Sompo Japan mainly thanks to Jeremy Senglin, but eventually lost to Segafredo Virtus Bologna immediately afterwards.
That win was the start of something bigger for the Italian powerhouse, capable of extending their run all the way to lifting the trophy. Could this be a good sign for AEK, in case of a success in the Quarter-Finals?
On the other side, the representative from the Greek capital have participated four times in the Basketball Champions League Quarter-Finals out of their eight appearances, missing such an occasion in the 2016-17, 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2023-24 seasons.
Out of their knockouts with a ticket on the line for the BCL Final Four, they were successful twice: against SIG Strasbourg in 2017-18, and against ERA Nymburk in 2019-20 - with that being a single do-or-die game.
When it comes to the experience and legacy shaped within Basketball Champions League action, there are no real doubts that Dragan Sakota's team will start this best-of-three-game series with an advantage.
Key matchup
This series will likely be conditioned by how much AEK's backcourt, composed of Prentiss Hubb and Hunter Hale, will be able to manipulate Nanterre's defensive adjustments.
At the end of the day, they are respectively 4th (14.0) and 6th (13.2) in average efficiency rating among guards in the whole competition.
While the French team's coaching staff will spend busy nights preparing the scouting report with Paul Lacombe and backcourt partners ready to take on the American guns, forwards will decide this series.
Without Desi Rodriguez, Nanterre would have never reached their second-ever BCL Quarter-Finals in the club's history. Named member of the Team of the Round of 16, he scored 20+ points in three of the last four games, featuring a majestic 25-point, 8-assist, 7-rebound, 5-steal performance against ERA Nymburk.
Nanterre's leading scorer will naturally be the focal point of attention on the defensive end for AEK, but the versatility of the Greek team's forwards already sounds like an advantage.
The experience provided by Mindaugas Kuzminskas and the athleticism brought by RaiQuan Gray will be crucial in trying to contain Desi Rodriguez on multiple occasions, while keeping an eye open on post-up situations with Justin Tillman's danger close to the rim, but also popping out on the perimeter.
In a series characterized more by several "key matchups" rather than one single "key matchup", it will go down to Nanterre's huge collective effort in trying to contain Grant Golden.
The American center stepped up in the Round of 16, averaging 13.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game during this stage of the competition after starting the season quietly.
Stats Don't Lie
Looking at certain statistics, this may appear like the most balanced of all upcoming best-of-three-game series, especially scoring-wise. Both teams arrive at this stage averaging 82.3 points collected per game.
There are, however, differences in how they find ways to the basket. Nanterre's offense is more ball-moving oriented, as they average 2.4 collective assists more than AEK (20.8 vs. 18.4). They are 4th in the whole competition in such an aspect, while AEK is 14th, second-worst among Quarter-Finalists.
Something that stands out looking away from the statsheet is the Greek team's relentlessness in fighting until the end of games. You can never take anything for granted against The ComebAEK Kings.
Their crucial road win over Wurzburg in the Round of 16 was indeed the fourth time AEK have won a game from 16 points or more behind, more than any other club in BCL history.
That speaks volumes of how dangerous the black-and-gold team can be on any given night, on any given quarter.
Previous meetings
We keep it simple: that's the first-ever matchup between AEK and Nanterre away from their countries. Both teams have a long and decorated history in European basketball, but they have never faced each other.
There have been, however, clashes between the Greek powerhouse and French teams in the elimination stages of the Basketball Champions League in the past.
For example, they were eliminated by AS Monaco in the 2016-17 Quarter-Finals, getting their revenge the following campaign by beating SIG Strasbourg.
Nanterre, instead, never clashed with Greek teams when it came to decisive matchups in the BCL, having lost to Bandirma Banvit in the 2017-18 Eight-Finals, and to Virtus Bologna in the 2018-19 Quarter-Finals.
There will be somebody clashing with his past, though. It's Justin Tillman, who spent the 2023-24 bittersweet campaign in the Basketball Champions League with none other than AEK.
Not able to reach the final chapters of the season in Greece, could he create better memories for himself and his team now?