CSKA Defend VTB Super Cup Title Amid Pre-Season Slump
CSKA enter the VTB Super Cup as holders but arrive off four straight pre-season losses, with MVP Mele Tremble sidelined by a muscle injury.
The Unified League VTB Super Cup runs from 17 to 20 September, with two guests from abroad, Anadolu Efes of Turkey and Bosnia's Igokea, invited alongside the leading Russian sides.
The trophy has stayed in Russia through five previous editions. CSKA have won it three times, Zenit twice, and grander imports such as Fenerbahçe, Crvena Zvezda and Partizan have all gone home empty-handed.
CSKA arrive as holders. Last year's final was played outside Russia for the first time, at the 18,000-capacity Belgrade Arena, where CSKA thrashed Euroleague side Crvena Zvezda by 22 points. Zenit reached the final too, clawing back from -19 against BC Dubai, but could not live with CSKA in the decider, beaten 96:79 after a heavy second-quarter run put them away for good. CSKA went on to win every competition they entered that season.
The champions have kept faith with that roster, making one change: Kirill Elatontsev, twice named the Unified League's best young player, replaces Luka Mitrović. The sharp edge of last season has not carried into pre-season, though. Andreas Pistiolis's side lost all four warm-up matches, beaten at home by Perm's Parma and away to Beşiktaş, Galatasaray and Tofaş.
On that form, reaching the Super Cup final looks a stretch, leaving CSKA's title defence to hinge less on the visitors than on Tremble's fitness and on whether the champions can shake off a pre-season run of four straight defeats.
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