Glouchkov

Beroe last match: 115-85 win at home against last placed Spartak Pleven. Yambol last match: 116-106 win at home against last placed Spartak Pleven. Yambol have good attack but poor defence, even after that win their coach said he wasn't happy as they were poor in defence and let Spartak play its game. Beroe have better defence than Yambol and also longer bench. They played 2 times so far this season and Beroe won both games with 102-85 at home and with 103-84 away. Key for Beroe here will be their 2 new signings who made their debuts in their last game - Filip Videnov he scored 17 pts in 20 minutes and american Garrett who scored 14 pts and 13 rebounds in 20 minutes. Videnov is ex Real Madrid and Crvena Zvezda player, he is big addition to Beroe's team.

Rilski Sportist at home against Academic Bultex this season: 97-89, 92-85 and 86-98 loss for the cup. Teams are quite even, Rilski are with 13-5 record while Academic are with 12-6. In first game Academic were without Dimitrov 16.7 PPG and Maravic 13.7 PPG, in second game they were without Maravic 13.7 PPG and in third game for the cup which they won they were with both. Even then first 2 wins for Rilski were not with big difference. Also Academic played great away against Levski (13-5) in their last match, they lost after OT. Rilski are favourites and should win but if Academic plays like against Levski it is unlikely to be with more than 10 points.

Cherno More lost their last game at home to Rilski with 67-91. They were leading with 42-40 at half time but even though they played one good half, in the second the difference in quality showed with Rilski having good foreign players while Cherno More are suffering with only local ones since their 2 serbians left them. In 4th quarter the result was 22-7 for Rilski and Cherno More had scored only 2 points in it with around 1 minute and 30 seconds until the end. Now they face Balkan which is with better record than Rilski. Also Balkan has 4 americans and 1 serbian in their team. A blow for Balkan will be the missing Hristo Zahariev but they still have enough quality in their team to beat Cherno More with 11 to 15 points at least. In the last away game for Balkan against Cherno More they were again without Hristo Zahariev and won with 82-75 but they were also without Ivanov 9.6 PPG who will play now. Also Balkan had really bad shooting from 3P, they were 7/38 and 18.42%. They still won with 7 points and now with better % from 3P they can win with more.

Spartak with very small bench and problems with fouls and rotation. In their last game 3 of their starting players were with 5 fouls, but they played Yambol a team in the bottom of the league and lost with just 10 points. Against a solid team like Levski they will suffer more. For example their best scorer Marinov (he had 21 points) got 5 fouls with 8 minutes to go against Yambol, the game before against Beroe their center Krisevic got 5 fouls with 8 minutes to go.

Rilski recorded a great win away from home (85-84) during the week against 1st placed Blokotehna in Balkan league and won the 1st place in regular season so their morale is high. In the last game between these two teams Rilski defeated Cherno More away with 90-83. This was back in December but then for Cherno More played 2 very good foreign players - serbians Tubak and Bocka. Tubak scored 10 points and Bocka scored 17 points against Rilski. Without them Cherno More struggle, they have young and inexperienced bench. In other game against Rilski without Tubak and Bocka, Rilski won with 120-73. In the last home game of Cherno More against Levski from bench played Kocev (20years), Krustev (21years), Nikolov (21years), Moldov (17years), Iliev (20years) and Kurtev (21years). Today Rilski are without key player and captain Bozov, but they were without him too against Blokotehna in Balkan league during the week and won. In last game against Cherno More in that 90-83 win Bozov scored 20 points but Rilski then were without other of its experienced and good players Georgiev 10.5 PPG. Also Rilski center american Ravenel 12.2 PPG played just 9 minutes, today he should feature more and with other 3 americans - Taylor 14.5 PPG, Wright 13.6 PPG, Jeter 8.4 PPG, Rilski are too strong for Cherno More.

Levski defeated Academic 4 days ago in Balkan league with 89-81 but at moments Levski played really bad. Levski wasn't on 100% as the game wasn't important but today's game in bulgarian league is important because in the standings - Rilski are 2nd with 12-5, Levski are 3rd with 12-5 and Academic Bultex are 4th with 12-5. Levski is better team and it will be a surprise if they don't defeat Academic today with result similar to few days ago. This are some of the things that Levski coach Papazov said after the game few days ago: "Important game against them is at Saturday - it is decisive. Our wish not to play at 100% energy and our big difference took away our concentration. Even though Darryl Bryant is ill he played very strong in this game - for 29 minutes he is 6/7 for 3P, 24 points, 5 assists. We were not sure if he should have played but he wanted to play so he can adapt faster to the team. Three teams having same points in league means that one win here will be a double win. We are at home, we have longer bench. We saw weaknesses which i believe we will take care of." http://bgbasket.com/bg/new.php?id=71430

Last game between those two teams Yambol won away with 91-77 and Yambol were without one of their main players - center Vurbanov 7.4 PPG and 6.4 RPG. He has played only 5 games for Yambol this season due to bad knee injury but he returned in their last game against Academic Plovdiv and is now fully fit. Other game Yambol won at home with 87-73 but this game was really early in the season and their first home game so the team was not used to playing together with two new american guards - Arnett and Perine. Both of them are in top 5 PPG in league - Arnett is 1st and Perine is 4th. In that game Spartak Pleven had two foreign players which are not with the team any longer - serbian Kuntic and american Bowen. Kuntic scored 24 points against Yambol in that game and Bowen 10 points. Now Yambol should win at least with same amount of points against weaker team of Spartak. The away team has really small bench and in their home loss (77-91) to Yambol had 3 players who played full 40 minutes. Yambol likes to play against Spartak - in first home game Yambol had 36/58 (62.07%) shooting from 2P, in away game Yambol had 38/60 (63.33%) shooting from 2P.

Young team of Academic Sofia (average age - 19 years and 8 months) played a good game in their last match away against one of top teams and currently 1st in league Rilski Sportist. They lost with only 81-68, but Rilski had played tough game against Academic Plovdiv two days before that and only had one day rest. Also Rilski were thinking about their clash at the top of the league standings in Balkan League against macedonian side of Blokotehna which was for 1st place in regular season and was 4 days after their game with Academic Sofia. It could be that Rilski also underestimated their guests but it was seen in 4th quarter when Rilski needed to finish their opponent they won with 20-9 and shows Academic's young team doesn't have strength against older and stronger players. Now Balkan which are 2nd with one game less than Rilski should make a better win against Academic than Rilski because they are fresh and haven't played a competitive game since 17th February and also their next game after tomorrow's game will be 8 days later. Since Academic Sofia are with this young team they faced Balkan two times in the cup - Balkan won away with 83-54 and at home with 94-61. In away game Balkan were without american guard Callahan 12.4 PPG and one of its leaders Zahariev 14.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 3.8 APG. In the home game Balkan were without other of its leaders american DeVaughn 14.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG. Also american Fortenberry 5.9 PPG missed both games with Academic Sofia. Now with its full force searching to get 1st in league Balkan should take Academic seriously and should win decisively.

Blokotehna in Balkan league: PPG 89.3 Rank 1 
Rilski Sportist in Balkan league: PPG 88.2 Rank 2 

First game was won away by Blokotehna with 87-64 but then Blokotehna were without americans Shakir Smith 9 PPG and Cedrick Taylor 12 PPG who joined later and with them they are stronger. Also Gjuroski 9.2 PPG didn't play in this game but he is in team now. Rilski were without Ravenel 16.2 PPG in first game who adds quality to their attack.

Blokotehna players in Balkan League: Benjamin 16.3 PPG, Mijatovic 15.9 PPG, Kazarnovski 12 PPG, Taylor 10.4 PPG
Rilski players in Balkan league: Ravenel 16.2 PPG, Taylor 13.7 PPG, Jeter 12.8 PPG, Wright 10.8 PPG, Marinov 10.8 PPG, Georgiev 10.1 PPG

Levski against Academic in last regular round of Balkan league in a game which is not so important. More important will be their game in the bulgarian league on Saturday when they face each other again. Still class is on Levski's side and they should take a comfortable win. Academic without 2 players tonight - Vaklinov 6.0 PPG and 4.5 RPG in Balkan League and Sekulov 4.9 PPG, so their bench will be shorter for this game but still Academic coach Asen Nikolov has said that game is not important and he will use more players and give minutes to his bench players. This means that key players for Academic such as Durchev and Umipig who played 30 minutes and over against Rilski in Academic's last Balkan league game will play less against Levski today. Also against Yambol 3 days ago in last bulgarian league game two of best Academic players Durchev played 37 minutes and Umipig played 35 minutes so is normal that they play much less today to be fresh for clash with Levski during the weekend. Levski will most likely rotate too but they have much more quality in their team and bench. Levski coach Titi Papazov used 11 players in last game against Cherno More and gave minutes to all of them, so most minutes for Levski played american Bryant which were just 23. For example Levski player Karamfilov who is now a bench player after foreign players arrived and played just 11 minutes in last Levski game scored 21 points in last game between Levski and Academic, which was most points for Levski player and which ended in 96-77 away win for Levski back in December. This shows Levski has more quality and at home can get a good win against Academic.

Cherno More's 220cm C - Dragan Tubak left the team after their last match with Yambol, he had 9.4 PPG and 6.8 RPG. Last game between these two teams Levski won 70-63 away, Dragan Tubak scored 14 points and had 6 rebounds, now they are without him and it will be harder for home team this time. Two new players for Levski will make their debut in bulgarian league - american guard Darryl Bryant  and congolese forward Omari Gudul.

Filip Videnov was cleared to play for Beroe by FIBA, it is expected he will make his debut in this game. It was surprise that he signed for Beroe and he will be big boost for the team. He is ex Real Madrid , Crvena Zvezda player, one of the great bulgarian players of his era. Also Beroe made new signing in face of american C - Darius Garrett , he is coming from Malvin and in Uruguay has 7.9 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game. Spartak are last in the league, they have very small bench and rotation. 

Academic Bultex played 2 Balkan league games during week while Yambol will be fresh. Away team is not bad, they have two good american players and experienced coach. They already played two matches against each other this season - first Academic Bultex won 78-72 at home, second Academic Bultex won with 78-70 away. Both Americans for Yambol are in top 5 in league for PPG , Arnett is 1st in league with 21.6 PPG, Perine is 5th with 17.4 PPG. If Academic wins it will be with not so big difference.

Rilski played tough game yesterday in Balkan league. Now they play tomorrow and have only one day rest but their opponent is easy one so they will not need to be on their maximum to win here. Next week Rilski have direct game for first place in Balkan league against Blokotehna and this is where they need to keep their strength for. Away team Academic scored 71 points away against worst team in championship 9th placed Spartak Pleven so unlikely to score more against 2nd placed Rilski. Imo Rilski will not score over 100 points here.