Photo: BC Wolves
Monday, January 9, will mark a historic event as the Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits home game against BC Wolves will be broadcasted in the Philippines – with live commentary by one of the top broadcasters and sports journalists in the Philippines, William "Bill" Velasco.
The Republic of the Philippines – an island country with 110 million people – is the premier basketball country of Asia, in terms of fan passion and interest.
Philippines will host the 2023 FIBA World Cup on August 25-September 10, co-hosting event together with the Indonesian capital Jakarta and the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Bill Velasco is set to debut as the Voice of the Wolves on January 9 (January 10, 12AM PH time) when the BC Wolves goes up against Tartu Ulikool Maks and Moorits of Estonia.
All regular season Wolves games in the ENBL will be livestreamed for FREE, exclusively for the Philippines, on the official BC Wolves Facebook page.
BC Wolves schedule with Vilnius and Manila time
Monday, January 9, Tartu
Tartu Ülikool Maks&Moorits – BC Wolves 18:00 | 00:00
Tuesday, Janyary 10, Valmiera
BC Wolves – Valmiera Glass VIA 19:00 | 01:00
Tuesday, January 17, Sopot
Trefl Sopot – BC Wolves 20:00 | 02:00
Wednesday, January 25, Ness Ziona
Ironi Ness Ziona – BC Wolves 18:00 | 00:00
Tuesday, January 31, Ostrow
BC Wolves – BM Stal Ostrow 20:00 | 02:00
Wednesday, February 1, Ostrow
Basket Brno – BC Wolves 17:00 | 23:00
TBD
King Szczecin – BC Wolves
Road to the playoffs
The 2023 ENBL season feature 15 teams from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Kosovo and Israel.
Group A has seven teams as BC Dunav withdrew on November 4, 2022 – eighteen days before the start of the regular season. Group B has eight teams.
The four best teams from each group will qualify for the playoffs. The ENBL playoffs will feature home and away games, best-of-two series, with the winners advancing to the Final 4.
STANDINGS, as of January 6, 2023
Group B
King Szczecin 4-0 (+32)
Ironi Ness Ziona 2-2 (+3)
Trefl Sopot 2-2 (+22)
Tartu University 2-1 (+29)
Stal Ostrow 2-1 (+21)
Basket Brno 0-4 (-46)
Valmiera Glass VIA 0-2 (-61)
BC Wolves 0-0
Tie-breaker: Ironi Ness Ziona 1-0, +8; Trefl Sopot 0-1, -8.
Key facts
Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits was one of the First Eight teams of the ENBL.
Coached by Nikolajs Mazurs, Tartu advanced to the 2022 Final Four in Wloclawek, Poland.
Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits is a seven time Estonian champion, most recently in 2015.
Tartu played at the FIBA Europe Cup Final 4 on April 18-20, 2008, at Limassol, Cyprus.
Tartu is the 2024 European Capital of Culture.
Tartu University was founded in 1632 and is the leading regional university.
BC Wolves was founded in 2022.
Juan Gomez de Liano is the first homegrown made player from the Philippines to join a European basketball club according to Randolph B. Leongson from spin.ph.
Lithuanian club is coached by an Olympic champion Rimas Kurtinaitis (Seoul 1988).
Mazurs was Kurtinaitis assistant at the VEF Rīga in 2010.
Club president Rimantas Kaukėnas won the NEBL – North Europe Basketball league – title with Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius in 2002.
Kaukėnas, a former Seton Hall shooting guard, represented Lithuania at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Jeffery Taylor, a former Vanderbilt guard/forward and a 2018 Euroleague champion with Real Madrid, joined the Wolves in December 2022.
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