Khimki Moscow Region - overloaded with talent

Tuesday night in Sofia [b]Lukoil Academic[/b] will face maybe the best team in [b]Group C[/b] in Round 5 of [b]2006/2007[/b] edition of [b]ULEB Cup[/b]. Debutants in [b]ULEB Cup[/b], [b]Khimki[/b] is having deep roster to even win the tournament. They are overloaded with talent and that might be the bigesst problem for coach [b]Sergey Elevich[/b] as he doesn’t have opportunity to give all of his players enough minutes on the court. [b]Gianmarco Pozzecco[/b] is very quick playmaker with very good ballhandling and also good shooting touch. Second year with [b]Khimki[/b]. Selected in best five of [b]Russian Superleague[/b] last season. Champion of Italy with [b]Varese[/b] back in 1999 and member of Italian National team. [b]Melvin Booker[/b] is a big time scorer. At the age of 34 not good enough to stay in the [b]NBA[/b], but certainly good enough to be an excellent point guard in Europe. Good passer and three point shooter. He has no problems in offense. Slovenian [b]Boris Gorenc[/b] is coming back for another season in Moscow. After spending most of his career in [b]Olimpija Ljubljana[/b] and different teams in Italy, 33 years [b]Gorenc[/b] is giving another option for coach [b]Elevich[/b] at the guard position. [b]Oscar Torres[/b] is the best player of Venezuela. Played for [b]Golden State Warriors[/b] before moving to [b]Pompea Napoli[/b]. However from three seasons he found himself in Russian capital. Great one-on-one player, [b]Torres[/b] can also play well in defense. Averaged 10.6 points per contest for Venezuela at the [b]World Championship[/b] in Japan this summer. [b]ULEB Cup[/b] winner with [b]Hapoel Jerusalem[/b] and [b]MVP[/b] of the final game back in 2004 [b]Kelly McCarty[/b] is one of the best forwards in Europe right now. He is small forward who can score under the basket thanks to the very good low post moves. Very good defender with ability to be team leader as well. 31 years old [b]Ademola Okulaja[/b] is playing the last 12 years for National Team of Germany. Graduated from famous [b]North Carolina[/b] University [b]Okulaja[/b] continued his career in [b]Barcelona[/b], [b]Unicaja[/b], [b]Joventut[/b] and [b]Pamesa Valencia[/b]. Physical forward with soft shooting touch and good penetration skills. [b]Ruben Wolkowyski[/b] is solid player, member of [b]Argentinian National team[/b]. Great combination of athleticism and physical strength. 207 cm tall center can even score behind the three point line. Versatile player who played 9 games in [b]World Cup[/b] in Japan for Argentina and managed 5.9 points per match. Polish center [b]Maciej Lampe[/b] gives their team extra strength under the basket. Spending last few years with [b]Phoenix Suns[/b] and [b]New Orleans Hornets[/b] in NBA, [b]Lampe[/b] decided to go back in Europe and signed with [b]Dynamo St. Petersburg[/b]. However after their team bankrupted [b]Khimki[/b] was the first side to add him to their roster. [b]Vitaly Fridzon[/b] is one of the top Russian basketball prospects. At age of 20, [b]Fridzon[/b] is showing great driving skills and mentality. Other Russians [b]Aleksei Savkov[/b], [b]Vladimir Dyatchok[/b], [b]Vladimir Veremeenko[/b] and [b]Sergei Krasnikov[/b] are great players to complete already impressive roster. [b]Khimki[/b] finished third in the Russian championship last season, under the guidance of head coach [b]Sergei Elevitch[/b]. [b]Khimki[/b]’s best achievement in the Russian league is the second place back in [b]1999[/b], and in Europe they played in the Final four of the [b]FIBA EuroCup[/b] this year, and one year earlier in 2005 lost the Cup Final against [b]Joventut Badalona[/b] 63-88. Тhe team’s best performing players in the [b]ULEB Cup[/b] at this stage are the 201-cm tall American forward [b]Kelly McCarty[/b], who is leading the team in scoring - 61 points after 4 games - 15.3 points per game. [b]Melvin Booker[/b] is averaging 4 assists per game. In [b]Group C[/b] of the [b]ULEB Cup[/b], [b]Khimki[/b] are currently third with 2 wins and 2 losses - equal to [b]Lukoil Academic[/b], and the clash between those two teams in Universiada Hall will decide more or less who is the team to have a edge and go through to the 1/8 finals phase. In the [b]Superleague[/b] in [b]Russia[/b], after seven rounds, the team is currently 5th - with 4 wins and 3 losses and in the last round they lost to Euroleague participants [b]Dynamo Moscow[/b] 89 - 94. Head coach [b]Sergei Elevitch[/b] has 16 players on the roster, but will have to decide which 4 will not play against [b]Lukoil Academic[/b] on Tuesday. Probably one of them is the 225-cm tall giant [b]Pavel Podkolzin[/b]. Game starts at [b]18.00[/b] o’clock and will be broadcasted live on [b]Kanal 1[/b] and [b]TV Bulgaria[/b].