Just as last season, Partizan mt:s overcame a slow start to storm into the Top 16, surviving a very tough Turkish Airlines Euroleague regular season Group A with convincing wins, especially at home. Just as in recent off-seasons Partizan needed to rebuild, but this time did so with a new coach, Vlade Jovanovic, who has kept the team as versatile, unpredictable and tactically interesting as it was last season, when the Serbian champion made it to the Final Four. Partizan waited until the very last minute to bring in new players and that caused the team to amass early losses, but the team won four of its last seven games to stay alive in the competition. James Gist (12.9 ppg., 7.3 rpg.) and Jan Vesely (7.3 ppg.) are natural-born mismatchs that have provided some of the best highlights with their dunks and physical play thus far. Nathan Jawai (10.2 ppg., 5.7 rpg.) has been rock-solid in the paint and Dusan Kecman (8.5 ppg.) keeps his reputation as a can't-miss clutch player. With its Top 16 games moving to the 20,000-seat Belgrade Arena, expect Partizan to keep making noise in the Top 16.

Dusan Kecman

REGULAR SEASON KEY FACTS