ULEB Cup draw profile: BC Kyiv
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The ascendance of BC Kyiv of Ukraine to the elimination rounds in its first-ever ULEB Cup season should surprise no one. With a former ULEB Cup champion on the bench and the lineup full of experienced players from Europe's top competitions, Kyiv was ready to make a splash in its debut. It did just that by tying for first place in Group H, falling short of winning the group outright by just 3 points on the road in the regular season finale. Otherwise, pair of three-game win streaks at the start and in the middle of the regular season showed Kyiv to be equally strong at home or away. Head coach Tomo Mahoric put his experience to work in the season opener, upsetting on of Europe's storied clubs, Benetton Tamoil, on the road. And at midseason, Kyiv bounced back from its only home loss with second and third road wins, rising again in what was an unpredictable group. Mahoric relied on a core of scorers led by Artur Drozdov, whose 15.5 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals per game ranked him 15th  among the regular season's top performers. Point guard Pooh Jeter was close behind as the team's second weapon, scoring 14.5 points per game, while swingman Manuchar Markoishvili averaged 12.9. Kyiv was perhaps more impressive on defense, as only eight advanced teams let opponents score fewer points (73.5 per game). Most impressive of all was Kyiv's rebounding, as it ranked fourth in total boards due to a true team effort, with seven different players pulling at least 3 per game. Youth is served on this team by 20-year-old homegrown center Viacheslav Kravtsov, who tied for third in the competition with 1.6 blocks per game despite playing just 16 minutes on average. In some ways, making it this far in its first ULEB Cup season means Kyiv has nothing to lose, but count on this team to be as ambitious as any the rest of the way.
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