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The Club Scene: Pamesa Valencia
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 Looking back 20 years, few people would have expected Pamesa Valencia would become one of the biggest clubs in European basketball. Pamesa was virtually unknown in Europe until the mid-1990s, but since then has competed for continental trophies consistently. Despite briefly becoming a second division team in the mid-nineties, Pamesa found a nice combination of homegrown talent, experienced coaching and blue-collar players to win the 1998 Spanish King's Cup title in epic fashion. Its celebrated win against all odds was just the beginning of a new era that also brought two Saporta Cup final appearances in 1999 and 2002, as well as the ULEB Cup title in 2003. It has been almost six years since Pamesa won Europe's second competition, but now the club can add to its trophy case at the Eurocup Final Eight in Turin, Italy starting on April 2.
Valencia Basket Club was founded before the start of the 1986-87 season. Football giant Valencia FC decided to close all its other sports sections once the soccer team went down to the Spanish second division. A group of people decided to form a basketball team also to compete in the Spanish second division. Vicente Sola played a key role in starting the club while businessmen brothers Fernando and Juan Roig backed the project to put Valencia in the very elite of Spanish and European basketball. Bruno Squarzia, the late Leo Belloch, Howard Wood and Ron Crevier were the main players on a team coached by Toni Ferrer. The club, competing under the name ‘Valencia Hoja del Lunes’ due to an agreement with a newspaper, was seventh in its debut season. The next season saw Valencia promoted to the Spanish first division by winning a playoff series thanks to a roster that included Sergio Coteron, Orlando Phillips, Clyde Mayes and Roberto Iñiguez under legendary coach Antoni Serra.
 Pamesa Valencia - now with its current name - got stronger for its Spanish debut, adding players like Brad Brandon, Jose Luis 'Indio' Diaz and Salva Diez while keeping Mayes as starting center. Far from being intimidated in its Spanish League opening season, Pamesa found little trouble to stay in the Spanish elite, thereby attracting a fan base for many years to come. Pamesa created its own basketball school, organized summer camps to bring in new talents every season, and reached an agreement with Valencia's city hall to improve its home court, the Fuente de San Luis arena. Pamesa kept Branson, Diaz, Coteron and Diez and added Johnny Rogers to become a more powerful team. Pamesa finished the regular season with a 24-12 record and swept Cajabilbao in the playoffs to play in the upper part of the Spanish League in the 1990-91 season. Pamesa inked Larry Micheaux and outstanding results started to arrive, like a 80-62 home win against Barcelona or a 66-71 road triumph against Madrid with 22 points from Branson and 17 rebounds from Micheaux. Pamesa advanced to the title playoffs for the first time, but Taugres stood on its way to success.
 For the next three years, Pamesa kept its status as a middle-of-the-table, hard-to-beat squad with thousands of diehard fans. Branson and Micheaux stayed as the club's signture players for several seasons along with Diaz, Diez and Juan Carlos Barros. The team registered its first playoffs win in 1993, downing Banco Natwest Zaragoza 73-80 behind 28 points from Eric Johnson. A heartbreaking 70-74 loss in Game 3 prevented Pamesa from reaching the Spanish League quarterfinals, however. Michael Smith was its marquee signing in the 1993-94 season, and he had 50 and 41 points, respectively, in consecutive games against Zaragoza and Fetsina Andorra. Even with that, Pamesa could not reach the quarterfinals due to a 1-2 playoff loss against Caceres. It all went wrong in the 1994-95 season despite the signing of Nacho Rodilla, who would become the club's signature player for the next decade. Despite having players like Josh Grant, Warren Kidd, Xavi Crespo and Carlos Dicenta, Pamesa hit rock bottom and was relegated to the Spanish second division.
The Roig brothers backed a new project based on local Valencian players like Rodilla, Cesar Alonso, Victor Luengo and Jesus Fernandez, along with three-point specialist Berni Alvarez. Its head coach was Miki Vukovic, who was well-known in women's basketball. When the club in Zaragoza disappeared from the Spanish League, Valencia took its spot, and once back in the first division for the 1996-97 season, started proving itself worthy. The turning point came in the next season, 1997-98, as Pamesa counted on Rodilla, Luengo, Alvarez, Tim Perry, Sasa Radunovic and Reggie Fox to help main star Aaron Swinson. Pamesa made it to the Spanish King's Cup final eight as the total underdog, but upset Tau 64-72 in the quarterfinals and then topped host Valladolid 73-78 in the semis behind 20 points from Swinson, although Fox was lost to a severe injury. Even Pamesa fans could not believe it, and some who made the road trip had to buy extra clothes because they never expected the team to reach the final. There, Pamesa faced heavy favorite DKV Joventut in a clash of basketball philosophies. In one of the most remembered Spanish Cup title games ever, Pamesa knocked off Joventut 89-75 on February 2, 1988 with Swinson leading 6 players in double digits with 19 points. In just three years, Pamesa fans mourning a drop to the second division were now crying of happiness over the team's first-ever trophy!
The arrival of Rod Sellers and Bernard Hopkins came right before Pamesa made its European club competition debut in the 1999 Saporta Cup. Pamesa took the competition by storm, winning 17 of 18 games against classic European teams like Buducnost, Split, Joventut and Aris to advance to the final against Benetton Treviso. Despite the game being played in nearby Zaragoza, Benetton lifted the title with a 64-60 victory behind 17 points from Henry Williams. Back home, Pamesa made it to the Spanish League playoffs but registered a 3-2 loss in the best-of-five against Caja San Fernando. Rodilla, Hopkins and Luengo stayed as the club's reference points early in the new millennium, while players like Tanoka Beard, Jose Antonio Paraiso, Derrick Alston and Francisco Elson made Pamesa cement its status as a regular Spanish League playoff team. Nonetheless, Pamesa suffered five consecutive quarterfinal playoffs losses from 1998 to 2002. Pamesa kept competing in the Saporta Cup, becoming a reference in this competition with a 59-14 record in four consecutive seasons. The club lost in the 2000 Saporta quarterfinals against Kinder Bologna, was swept in the 2001 semifinals against Elan Chalon and advanced to the 2002 title game against Montepaschi Siena. Montepaschi upset Pamesa 71-81 in the 2002 final behind 23 points from Petar Naumoski, but Pamesa did not have to wait long to see their team succeed in the continental scene.
 Pamesa made a huge investment before the start of the 2002-03 season, getting ready to compete in the newborn ULEB Cup. While keeping its core players from the previous season, the club inked Dejan Tomasevic, Fabricio Oberto, Alejandro Montecchia and Federico Kammerichs. Results came immediately, as Pamesa had a 8-2 record in its ULEB Cup regular season group, knocking off Cologne and Zadar in two-way series to reach the semifinals against Estudiantes. Pamesa beat Estudiantes 68-55 in the first leg with 16 points off the bench from Paraiso. Pamesa survived a tough test in Madrid, as Tomasevic left the hospital a day earlier in order to play in the game, playing a key role when the team trailed by 16 with 5 minutes remaining. Once in the title series against Krka, Pamesa had a 78-90 road win in the first leg in Novo Mesto and finished the job at home with a two-game sweep good for the club's first continental title and a place in the 2003-04 Euroleague. Tomasevic became the finals MVP and European basketball history books now had a page in the color of Valencia oranges. Back home, Pamesa finally broke the Spanish League quarterfinals barrier and even reached the title series against Barcelona, losing in three games. Pamesa was now a reference in Spanish and European basketball.
 Pamesa got stronger the next season with Demos Dikoudis and Antoine Rigaudeau while keeping all its main players. Its only Euroleague season to date was brilliant but ended in controversy. Pamesa had a 9-5 regular season record but opted not to travel to Tel Aviv for a Top 16 game. Had Pamesa won that game, the club would have reached the Final Four. Even with that, Pamesa rounded out an excellent Euroleague season with wins against Zalgiris, Benetton, Olympiacos, Efes Pilsen and Tau Ceramica. In Spain, Pamesa had a solid regular season but could not beat Unicaja in the best-of-five quarterfinals despite having the home court advantage. Pamesa added Igor Rakocevic and Ademola Okulaja before the start of the 2004-05 season, which marked its ULEB Cup return. Pamesa won its regular season group and went on to knock off Joventut and Charleroi to reach the semifinals against Lietuvos Rytas. Despite a slim win in the first leg, Pamesa failed to reach the title game due to a 10-point loss in Vilnius. Back home, Pamesa missed the Spanish League Playoffs for the first time in almost a decade.
 For 2005-06, the club completely renovated its roster, with players like Vule Avdalovic, Albert Miralles, Mindaugas Timinskas and Dikoudis, back in the team after a season in CSKA. Pamesa missed the playoffs again by a narrow margin but reached the Spanish Cup final against Tau. Another change came in the 2006-07 season when head coach Fotis Katsikaris arrived in the team. Pamesa had invested in well-known stars like reigning ULEB Cup champion Ruben Douglas and Adriatic League MVP Dejan Milojevic and the club returned to the Spanish League playoffs behind an outstanding Victor Claver, its newest homegrown talent. Last season, Pamesa made it all the way to ULEB Cup Final Eight, the Spanish Cup quarterfinal - losing both times against DKV Joventut, which won both trophies - and the Spanish League playoffs, losing 3-2 defeat against eventual champion Tau. Pamesa remains as one of the top candidates to win the Eurocup this season with stars like Claver, Shammond Williams, Matt Nielsen, Ermal Kuqo and Kosta Perovic. Already knowing what it takes to win Europe's second club competition, Pamesa is eager to do so again.
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Javier Gancedo, Eurocupbasketball.com
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