Buducnost VOLI Podgorica returned to the 7DAYS EuroCup after a one-year stint in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague as the Montenegro club will be playing in the competition for the 14th time in the last 18 years. Buducnost dropped its first two EuroCup games in 2019-20 by somewhat larger margins - at Unicaja Malaga by 13 points and home versus Dolomiti Energia Trento by nine points. But then came a series of heartbreakers. Buducnost wasted a 13-point lead and lost 59-62 against Asseco Arka Gdynia in Round 3 and then lost 84-83 in overtime at Galatasaray Doga Sigorta Istanbul before coming back from a 14-point late third quarter deficit but falling 83-85 against EWE Baskets Oldenburg. In Round 6, Buducnost led by four points with 32 seconds left but lost 81-82 at home against Unicaja on a tip-in with 2.2 seconds to play. Buducnost finally grabbed its first victory in Group D by winning at Trento 69-76. That started a three-game winning streak with victories at Gdynia and at home versus Galatasaray. Despite being already eliminated in the final regular season game, Buducnost led by 18 points at Oldenburg only to suffer another heartbreaking loss, 102-99 at Oldenburg for a 3-7 mark. Domestically, Buducnost continued its dominance in Montenegro with a 92-83 win over Mornar to collect the Montenegrin Cup for the seventh straight time and 13th in the last 14 seasons. And Buducnost opened the Adriatic League with a 9-1 record and was 15-6 in second place when the Covid-19 pandemic ended the season. Buducnost now goes into the EuroCup hoping to get out of the regular season again.

EuroLeague

EuroCup

Founded in 1949, it took four decades for Buducnost to cement its place in the first division of the Yugoslav League. By the end of the century, however, it was the team to beat. After Yugoslav Cup titles in 1996 and 1998, Dejan Tomasevic, Milenko Topic and Vlado Scepanovic helped Buducnost to a record-setting domestic winning streak of 51 games and three straight Yugoslav League titles from 1999 through 2001. Another Cup triumph made for a trophy double in 2001 and Buducnost proved to be a force in the 2000-01 EuroLeague by reaching the playoffs. The club returned to the EuroLeague for the next two years, but failed to reach the Top 16. A quieter period followed before Buducnost became the face of the newborn Montenegrin League. The club won 11 consecutive titles starting from the inaugural 2006-07 campaign, while also leaving its mark in the EuroCup. Buducnost reached the EuroCup Quarterfinals in 2012 and 2013, but was ousted by Valencia Basket and eventual champ Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, respectively. At home, Buducnost won the Montenegrin double for six straight years, from 2007 to 2012. A year later it started another string of Montenegrin doubles to go with a string of three consecutive Adriatic League semifinal appearances. In 2014-15, the team advanced through the EuroCup regular season and into the Last 32 and also lost a decisive fifth game of the Adriatic League semifinal series against Cedevita Zagreb. Buducnost bounced back from those disappointments, however, by winning the Montenegrin League and Cup again. In 2015-16, Buducnost won the Adriatic League regular season, but failed to reach the finals after getting swept in the best-of-three playoff semifinals against Mega Leks. A year later, it was eventual champ Crvena Zvezda that got the best of Buducnost in the semifinals. Meanwhile, in Montenegro, the club continued to dominate. Buducnost captured its third and fourth consecutive trophy doubles by beating Mornar Bar in both the cup and league finals in back-to-back seasons. Buducnost had a bittersweet 2017-18 season; it won its first Adriatic League title, but also saw its run of 11 consecutive Montenegrin League titles snapped. Buducnost had a 6-24 record in the EuroLeague and one of its main players, Goga Bitadze, was chosen as the competition's Rising Star. Buducnost returned to the Adriatic League finals, where it lost against Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade in five games, and conquered another Montenegrin double. The 2019-20 campaign saw Buducnost return to the EuroCup but fail to get out of the regular season while the team knocked off Mornar to claim its seventh straight Montenegrin Cup crown. Buducnost has plenty of winning experience domestically and hopes to translate that to the EuroCup.

Trophy Case