Hello again! This is Andrey Vorontsevich of CSKA Moscow. I am getting back to you the day before we get to Paris for the Euroleague Final Four! It has not been an easy time for us because we lost three consecutive games in the Russian League, as you probably know. We have managed to do better in friendly games, prepare well and get ready for the Final Four. These three losses belong to the past now, but even so, they make you wonder and think about it, especially about our defense and which changes we should make. We have practiced harder than ever and I am sure everything will be fine when we get on court in the semifinal against Barcelona. We played - and won - two friendly games against Unics. I think it was a great idea to play against them because Unics has a similar team structure as Barcelona. They have some players that are close to what we can expect in the semifinal in Paris. Marko Popovic is a scoring guard similar to Juan Carlos Navarro. At the same time, Kresimir Loncar and Maciej Lampe are physical players with good range like Terence Morris or Erazem Lorbek. These two games have been very important for us. One of the keys to the game against Barcelona is that our frontcourts are quite different. I think we are shorter but faster than them. We can find some advantages if we play the right way.

We have a very experienced team and that always counts against such a strong opponent as Barcelona. You don't how how you will play or shoot in a situation like this - but experience definitely helps. If you miss shots, you start to think about t and there is no time for anything but playing hard! I have to say I like Barcelona, they...

Hello, Euroleague.net readers! This is Andrey Vorontsevich of CSKA Moscow and this is my first blog on the site! I assume that not everyone knows me in Europe, so I better introduce myself a little bit. I started playing basketball at age 7. My father decided to take me to a professional sports school. I joined CSKA in 2006, right after the team won the Euroleague title in Prague. Before that, I played for Lokomotiv in Novosibirsk. I was already a full-time Euroleague player when we won the title again in 2008. That summer, I played for Russia at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. We didn't compete well and missed the quarterfinals, finishing ninth. Still, being at the Olympics was very special for me! It was a very important year in my career: you don't win the Euroleague title and make your debut with the national team every year!

This has been my best season so far. I am seeing more playing time and have to give credit to my coach, Evgeny Pashutin, for that. He believes in me and sees that I work hard, so he gives me more minutes. This is a very important season for me and for CSKA. Some people thought we would not make it to the Final Four, but here we are again! I had an up-and-down season, playing really well sometimes, and not so well some others. Sometimes I don't score like I would like to, but this is a high-level team and all I need to do is work hard every day. I hope I can help my team as much as possible at the Final Four! To be honest, we have talked about the Final Four, but not a lot. We have some important Russian League games before going to Paris, especially the upcoming one against Unics. We need to focus on the Russian League and not think too much about the Final...