U18 Real aims for seventh straight ANGT qualifying win

Jan 14, 2020 by David Hein, Euroleague.net Print
U18 Real aims for seventh straight ANGT qualifying win

The biggest storyline going into the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Munich is whether reigning continental champion U18 Real Madrid can extend its streak of qualifying tournament first place finishes to seven. U18 CSKA Moscow, winner of a record three ANGT crowns, and host side U18 FC Bayern Munich are among the seven teams looking to stop Real's run, along with German teams U18 ALBA Berlin, U18 Porsche Ludwigsburg and U18 ratiopharm Ulm, U18 Promitheas Patras from Greece and Italian outfit U18 Stellazzurra Rome, which reached the 2018 ANGT Championship Game. The winner of Sunday's first-place game at the Audi Dome will reach the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Cologne, Germany, where it will join U18 Herbalife Gran Canaria, winner of the ANGT Valencia in December.

Bayern and CSKA are both in Group A along with Ulm and Stellazzurra. Bayern, which hosts the tournament for a third consecutive season, finished fifth last season before picking up a wild card for the ANGT Finals in Vitoria-Gasteiz. In 2018-19, Bayern became the first German team to reach the first-place game of a qualifier, but ended up losing to Real. CSKA's three continental titles date back to 2004, 2005 and 2006. CSKA took fifth place last season at the ANGT Kaunas and will be playing in Munich for the first time after competing in Kaunas in five of the last six seasons, also appearing at the ANGT Rome in 2016. Ulm is competing for a third time in the ANGT – and both previous appearances also in Munich – and it is the only team to beat Real in a qualifying tournament since 2013, collecting its first-ever win in 2018. Ulm took fourth place last season at the ANGT Munich. The other team in Group A is Stellazzurra, which lost to U18 Rytas Vilnius in the 2018 ANGT Championship Game. Stellazzurra finished fourth at the ANGT Kaunas last season, its second campaign playing in the Lithuania tournament after competing in Belgrade in 2017.

Group B's favorite undoubtedly is Real, which won the first-place games in the other two ANGT Munich tournaments. The Spanish powerhouse went on to win the ANGT title last season for its second crown following 2015. But Real did lose one game in Munich, getting beaten by Ulm in 2018 in the final group game after having already locked up a spot in the first-place game. That loss snapped Real's 21-game winning streak in ANGT qualifying games, dating back to the first-place game of the 2013 ANGT L'Hospitalet against U18 Joventut Badalona. That run saw Real finish first in the ANGT L'Hospitalet tournaments in 2014, 2015 and 2016, in the ANGT Coin in 2017, and in the last two ANGT Munich events. ALBA, for its part, is playing at the ANGT Munich for a third straight season, having finished third in 2018 and sixth in 2019. Ludwigsburg is competing in the competition for a sixth time, finishing fourth last season at ANGT Valencia. Ludwigsburg also played in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017, the latter with a club-best third place finish at ANGT Belgrade. Promitheas is back for its second appearance in the competition after winning one game but finishing eighth at ANGT L'Hospitalet in 2017-18.