The Dragons are heading to Germany

First two preseason games are ahead of Cedevita Olimpija this summer. On Thursday, the squad led by head coach Jurica Golemac will face Turkish Airlines EuroLeague squad Bayern, while on Saturday they will take on ratiopharm Ulm.

The first clash of the preseason for the Dragons will be a tough test against Turkish Airlines EuroLeague team Bayern, that is coming to the Stožice Arena on Wednesday, 9 September as well. Last season the Bavarians have written down eight victories in 28 games in the elite European basketball competition. On the other side, there will be ratiopharm Ulm, which has been competing in the 7Days EuroCup and concluded the competition by winning one of their ten games.

Ljubljana team has started its preseason on 4 August and two weeks of preparations are behind them now.

“The guys are working hard and being professional. We have all necessary conditions to be able to think only about practicing. For sure the beginning of the preseason is the toughest part of the season for all players. It is important that nobody is injured and nobody has any serious problems and that is what gives us satisfaction. We have devoted the majority of our time in practices to the physical preparation, but we have also been working on developing tactics and system of our game,” Jurica Golemac told upon departure to Germany and added: “We are satisfied, we are marching on the path that we have set upon ourselves and we are slowly getting to where we wish to be. But we will get there only by working hard.”

The game against Bayern will be for sure a difficult encounter for the Cedevita Olimpija squad.

“In these times we are happy that we have managed to arrange ourselves a game with such a quality team as Bayern is. In the Germany, both ourselves and them, will play our first preparation game. I repeat, preparation game, since none of us have yet been on court and there will therefore be no scouting in place. We will pay attention to the game’s intensity, so that the guys would be able to catch up with the competition rhythm. We wish to play several games with stronger opponents, so that we would get the proper picture and that we would not get any illusions by playing against weaker opponents. The result will not be in our main focus, but we wish to win in every single game we play. We will give our best in order to be a proper competitor for the EuroLeague squad.”

Žan Mark Šiško, who used to cooperate with Golemac successfully at Koper Primorska, will be wearing Bayern jersey in the new season again.

“I am looking forward to seeing Žan Mark Šiško. We will talk a bit for sure, to find out how he is spending his time at Bayern, what is his situation in these uncertain situation, caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We will see how his progress goes and I am happy that I will see him again, even though as competitor.”

2020 PRESEASON GAMES (Mission: Germany)

FC Bayern Arena (Munich, Germany), Thursday, 27 August, 18:00:
BAYERN MUNICH – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA

Am OrangeCampus (Ulm, Germany), Saturday, 29 August, 13:00:
RATIOPHARM ULM – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA