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News article on: Basketball

New faces in 2007-08 season

Pepe Sánchez
Juan Ignacio ‘Pepe’ Sánchez switched Malaga for Barcelona. He was the man who had proved Barcelona’s undoing in the quarter final play-off of the previous edition of the Euroleague and now this experienced centre, a great reader of the game and class passer, was to be the brains at Barça. Pepe broke the ACB League record for assists in one game and also broke the single season record in assists for Barça (205

Alex Acker
The signing of Alex Acker in the summer was conditioned by his knee injury. The North American guard signed for FC Barcelona to lead the team’s offence, something he had been proven capable of doing the season before at Olympiacos. Physically tough and skilful, he was unable to contribute 100% and considering his previous injury, perhaps too much was asked of him. However, he was a key contributor to Barça’s’ excellent displays in the ACB quarter finals and semi finals.

Michel Morandais
The French international guard was signed as cover for the absence of the injured Alex Acker until December. The Gallic players contribution was 11 appearances in which he averaged 18 minutes and 6.3 points a game. Morandais ended his time at Barça when Acker regained full fitness and started working as per normal with the rest of the first team.

Gary Neal
The signing in the winter transfer market, Gary Neal, did not respond to expectations. Although he was unquestionably a class athlete, Neal failed to stand out among the high quality set of professionals around him. But he did prove to be an adept maker of quick decisions on court, with a deft shot and excellent sense of team spirit.

Ersan Ilyasova
Having played in the USA, Ersan Ilyasova was heading in the opposite direction to most Europeans. Aged 21, the Turk chose FC Barcelona and Europe, but found it hard to adapt at first.

An up and down season

The irregularity of the first part of the season and the change of coach had a lot to do with the way the season panned out. However, AXA Barça raised their game and made it to the ACB Final and secured one of the main objectives, a Euroleague berth.

Fitness problems, like the recovery of Alex Acker and Mario Kasun’s heart troubles, and the rescission of Dusko Ivanovic’s contract were turning points this season.

Without star man Juan Carlos Navarro, the new side for the 2007/08 season needed time, especially for new players Alex Acker, Ersan Ilyasova and Pepe Sánchez to fit in and start responding to expectations.

Bad times in the cup

The team simply wasn’t ready for the Copa del Rey, one of the main events of the year. Although qualification had not been a s problematic as the previous season, AXA Barça were among the leaders all the way, another meeting with Iurbentia Bilbao proved fatal. The Basques were the surprise package of the season, and having already won the Supercopa they beat Barça again in the quarter final.

One step away from Final Four

After putting the Copa del Rey behind them, next came the sacking of Dusko Ivanovic. But this did not prove negative at all, but brought the team more together than ever. Now under the orders of Xavier Pascual, formerly the assistant coach, Barça made the best of what they had and started finding moments of explosive form.

One of these came in the playoffs to reach the Final Four. Barça came frustratingly close to beating Maccabi in game one in Israel, but despite forcing a third match at the Blaugrana, home court advantage tipped the balance in favour of Tel Aviv, who went on to play in the Euroleague Final Four.

The best Barça of the season

The final stages of the ACB League showed that Barça had finally found their feet. The players were ambitious and the coaching staff guided the squad through the playoff rounds, first against Iurbentia Bilbao and then DKV Joventut. Barça were playing aggressive and dynamic basketball, and got their just rewards with a place in the ACB Final, which was enough to secure passage into the next season’s Euroleague.

Final slip

But they didn’t quite stay the distance. In the final, TAU were the better side from game one, and Barça simply could not muster the kind of form they had produced in earlier matches. Eventually the side from Vitoria swept the series 3-0.