Serbian Basketball Cup 2023: Schedule, teams, and format / News - Basketnews.com

Crvena Zvezda are threatening to boycott the cup due to the Serbian Basketball Federation's actions. If they participate, fans will be able to witness the fourth eternal derby but only in the semifinal round. It would be Facundo Campazzo's first game against Partizan.

Credit: KSS, ABA League j.t.d./Dragana Stjepanovic | BasketNews illustration/M.Bertys Credit KSS, ABA League j.t.d./Dragana Stjepanovic | BasketNews illustration/M.Bertys

With the EuroLeague putting on a temporary break, local European basketball cups come to the spotlight.

With both Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in the EuroLeague for the first time in 9 years, the Serbian Cup - Radivoj Korac Cup - is set to be very intriguing.

For the second year in a row and the eighth time in the last nine years, the best local teams come to the city of Nis. The third biggest city in Serbia will welcome eight teams to the Cair Hall, which can host up to 4,800 spectators in basketball matches.

Since the cup was reintroduced in 2003 and renamed in honor of the legendary player, only four teams have won the trophy. Partizan and Crvena Zvezda hold the lead with 8 titles each.

The mini-tournament starts on Feb. 15 and ends on Feb. 18. We are here to present everything you need to know about the Radivoc Korac Cup.

Teams and Format

8 teams participate in a mini-tournament, starting from the quarterfinals on Wednesday and each day progressing toward the final match on Saturday.

The following teams compete in the Radivoj Korac Cup 2023:

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade FMP Soccerbet Beograd Mega MIS Beograd KK Vojvodina Borac Mozzart Cacak KK Metalac Valjevo Spartak Office Shoes Subotica

Radivoj Korac Cup is the only local competition in Serbia where both Crvena Zvezda and Partizan fans are allowed to enter the same arena and cheer for their respective teams.

This year, the clash between the two giants will come sooner than the last time.

Schedule

Quarterfinals

Feb. 15, 18:00 CET: Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 91:69 Spartak Office Shoes Subotica Feb. 15, 21:00 CET: Mega MIS Beograd 75:62 KK Vojvodina Feb. 16, 18:00 CET: Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade 89:64 Borac Mozzart Cacak Feb. 16, 21:00 CET: FMP Soccerbet Beograd 91:76 KK Metalac Valjevo

Semifinals

Feb. 17, 17:00 CET: FMP Soccerbet Beograd 67:86 Mega MIS Beograd Feb. 17, 21:00 CET: Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 75:83 Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade

Final

Feb. 18th, 21:00 CET: Mega MIS Beograd vs. Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade

Credit KSS

Talking Points

Even though the eternal derby between Crvena Zvezda and Partizan might happen during the semifinal round instead of the final, the public interest in the tournament was overwhelming.

When the ticket sale was launched, the entire tickets.rs system went to a halt. Potential customers had to wait for 20 minutes to access the site. Even when the 20 minutes passed, oftentimes, people were left waiting even more with thousands of other basketball fans in front of them in the queue.

In the end, all tournament passes were sold out in a couple of hours.

Even before the mini-tournament has begun, there is one story that roams over the competition. It is currently unknown whether one of the two biggest Serbian clubs - Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade - will even participate in the Radivoj Korac Cup.

The club from Mali Kalemegdan is threatening to leave the competition because of the events that happened during last year's Serbian Basketball League (KLS) playoffs. Motivating their decision by what happened during the ABA League finals, Partizan withdrew from the competition.

Crvena Zvezda think that the Serbian Basketball Federation (KSS) was wrong for not punishing Partizan for their decision.

"The club has no right to remain silent about this attempt to humiliate the national championship," the team has said in an official statement.

Partizan's eternal rival still hasn't decided whether they want to compete in the Radivoj Korac Cup. The decision is expected to come either on Monday (Feb. 13) or Tuesday (Feb. 14).

Even if the club decides to come to Nis, head coach Dusko Ivanovic will have a quest to choose the players for his roster. Partizan's legend Zeljko Obradovic will also have to deal with the same problem. The issue is very straightforward - only four foreign players can be registered for the cup competition.

There are currently seven foreign players registered on the Crvena Zvezda roster in the ABA League - John Holland, Luca Vildoza, Facundo Campazzo, Hassan Martin, Nikola Ivanovic, Dalibor Ilic, and Ben Bentil.

Knowing that Kevin Punter has a Serbian passport, Partizan have the same amount of foreign players from whom Obradovic will have to choose - Zach LeDay, Ioannis Papapetrou, Dante Exum, Djordjije Jovanovic, James Nunnally, Mathias Lessort, and Yam Madar.

The two clubs have already met three times this season - once in the ABA League and twice in the EuroLeague, with Crvena Zvezda coming up on the top two times. One thing was different those three times from what might happen now - Facundo Campazzo.

Crvena Zvezda signed the Argentinian point guard back in December, but he hasn't been able to play in the EuroLeague yet. The competition's Financial Panel imposed a sanction on the club that forbade it from registering new players until March.

Campazzo has played in 8 ABA League games this season, averaging 13.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 2.3 steals for 20.3 PIR.

With Campazzo sidelined, Luca Vildoza has been the most important player for Zvezda in the eternal derby battles. In the three games against Partizan this year, the Argentinian guard has been averaging 19.7 points, 4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2 steals for 23.3 PIR.

Partizan haven't had a consistently good player in the matchup against Crvena Zvezda. Even though Mathias Lessort was great in the last two games in the EuroLeague, he was almost non-existent in the ABA League matchup.

Ioannis Papapetrou was a surprising leader in the first two matchups but disappeared in the third.

A similar story happened with Kevin Punter and Dante Exum. An encouraging sign might be Zach LeDay's most recent performance, where he played his best game against Crvena Zvezda in his two years in Belgrade.

Besides the two Belgrade rivals, FMP Soccerbet Beograd are the highest-ranked team in the ABA League, currently fifth in the league's standings. Their possible semifinal matchup Mega MIS Beograd are ranked 8th in the competition, possibly opening up a relatively easy path to the final.

The club has lost its leader Trent Frazier but replaced him with Charles Moore, who was impactful from the get-go, scoring 19 points and dishing out 5 assists for 21 PIR against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana.

On the other hand, Mega MIS has a clear leader in the 22-year-old center Danko Brankovic. Part of the FC Bayern Munich system, the Croatian big man is leading the team with averages of 13.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks for 18.4 PIR.

Throwback to last year

Crvena Zvezda comfortably defeated Partizan in the final last year 85-68.

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