Israeli League champion Maccabi Bazan Haifa comes off a historic season, though the feats of the 2012-13 season were long in the making. Last season head coach Brad Greenberg guided the club to its first title in addition to an appearance in the Israeli Cup final. Now the club moves on to a new challenge in the Eurocup. The club was founded in 1954 and gained popularity in the northern Israel city in the 1960s and ‘70s with scoring great Chaim Buchbinder leading the way. Haifa reached the Israeli State Cup final in 1971, though it lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv. A wave of stars including Adi Gordon, Doron Shefa, Ari Rosenberg and Koren Amisha wore Haifa’s green in the 1980s and helped the team to the 1985 Cup final; Again Tel Aviv beat Haifa. By the 1990s, Haifa had slipped and spent most of the decade in the second division. The turn of the millennium brought new life to Haifa. It reached the second round of the Korac Cup in 200 and coach Effi Birenboim guided the club to back-to-back fourth place finishes in 2001 and 2002; Tel Aviv knocked Haifa out each time in the semifinals. In 2005, financial trouble caused Haifa to drop down to the lower leagues. A savior appeared in 2007 when Jeff Rosen took over the club. He invested heavily in the club, which was dubbed Haifa Heat for his first season, and under coach Avi Ashkenazi the team roared back into the top division. The first season, 2008-09, was a remarkable one as Doron Perkins claimed Israeli League MVP honors, Ashkenazi was Coach of the Year and Haifa reached the league playoff and Israeli Cup finals. Ever since, Haifa has been a force to be reckoned with. The 2010-11 proved to be a tough one as Haifa moved out of its home floor in Romema for renovations and missed the playoffs altogether. After another subpar year in 2012, the club hired Greenberg and behind Gal Mekel, Donta Smith and Pat Calathes made noise en route to the cup final and then finished the season on a high note at its refurbished arena as it knocked off Maccabi Tel Aviv for a historic championship. Now with Danny Franco on the sidelines, Haifa looks to take another step forwards in the Eurocup.