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Goppingen is one step away from burning. They've been losing in the last few weeks wherever they could, they lost the last home one to Erlangen, then against Melsungen. Although they were playing great against Melsungen, the 31-27 doesn't reveal the true picture. It was also 27-27. Today they'll see the return of the first midfielder Sesum, everyone's pumped up, motivated, and surely they will be fully focused. When they're like that, they're better than complete Bergischer for six to seven points of difference. Last year it was 31-19, at Bergisher 29-22. There are no quality differences between the two compared to last year.
At the start of the season Bergischer's plan for the first line-up in the back line was Gutbord - Oelze - Nippes. Today all are out. Second left back is A. Hermann. He's out too. They reactivated Szilagy, next to Babak, and two lefties M. Hermann and the newbie Cricitou. Some of the wings could help them, but it's all under the regular level.
Begischer won't pass tonight under five points of difference... Details

Last season Salzburg were the worst team in the league with a 1-17 record in the regular part, and they lost matches with the average 24 points of difference, even when they would take a set. In the playout they have two wins (Klagenfurt, Weiz) when the opponents secured their stay, and that says enough about their quality. This season the story won't be any different. The team are the same, a mix of casual players and students, and they mostly lost through the pre-season period. They were hosts of the Toros Cup and they were sixth in a competition of eight clubs out of which one were from the Czech second league, one a mediocre Swiss first league, one Austrian second league club, and two first league clubs. Hypo's story is different. They gathered their strongest team in Innsbruck. The Turkish national team player, technician Yenipazar, Masilev with Champions League and Superleague experience are huge new additions for them, and out of important players they basically didn't lose anyone. Today they'll be without opposite Teppan who is with Estonia's national team, but that's not going to be important against Salzburg. They had great results in the pre-season (ZAKSA 2-3, Jastrzebski 2-3, Herrsching 3-2, Effector Kielce 3-1), and without Teppan. The expert, coach Gavan, said he expect the players to be fully involved today, and that they want to open up the championship with a good edition. Their head-to-heads last season remained at 120 (in Salzburg) and 118 points. Salzburg's matches against Posojilnica, Austria's second strongest club, was at 112 (Salzburg, first round) and 126 points, against Waldviertel (third last year) at 120 and 129 (Salzburg), and Hypo crushed those teams (Posojilnice in the finals, Waldviertel in the semi-finals). Hypo also opened the last season by an away match against the stronger Weiz, and the match ended at 126 points. Today it should go under considering the difference in quality. Details

Meshkov have a tough start. They showed they can match the best teams out there in duels against Vardar, and home duels against Kielce and Veszprem, but only if they play 60 minutes of their top game. Also, those games, except Vardar who are an offensive machine, are all relevant and were tough, 16-19 against Veszprem, 24-29 Kielce, also 30-25 in Preshov (20-20 in the 48th minute), 25-24 against Metalurg, but that was different. Brest played 56 against Wisla, 49 Cessena, 55 Vardar, 48 Metalurg and 42 Szeged. That proves Meshkov can play great defense. This match is important because after it, they have to go to Zagreb and Szeged, and it wouldn't be nice to start those duels after three defeats.
Lowen went over this margin in two games of the Champions League so far, even though that's partly due to their rivals' game, too. They had 56 in Hungary, 61 at home against Celje, but Celje went to about 60 against both Veszprem and Zagreb, and they had 69 against Vardar. The German champion's defensive qualities are well-known. They're coming here with a charter, and considering their schedule which means a home game against Kristianstad in a few days, and then the championship match next Sunday (home against Goppingen), they have a chance to make a huge step towards the first place in the group if they beat Meshkov and Kristianstad, because that would allow them to focus on Bundesliga later on. Details

Parma are the new team in the league, but they are very different from others in the VTB. The only foreigner is from Serbia, they have no Americans, their team have long been together, and they have their coach since 2012. Last season they won in the Russian Cup by beating Zenit at home at Final Four. Zenit had good Russian players last season (no foreigners are allowed in the Cup), and Parma left them at 65 points. They are a true team, a collective. Their strength is in the defense, and the lack of Americans logically leads to a slower game. In the pre-season Parma played against two VTB clubs, Astana and Novgorod, and they allowed 65 and 71 points. But against Novgorod they were playing the tournament finals away, and lost after overtime. A day earlier they left Samara at 64 points.
Kalev, on the other hand, are arriving after -16 in Estonia against the modest Ralpla. They left them at 66 points. Their coach said that they've been together for only two weeks. They didn't practice enough, the team are new, they have no preparations behind them. Only one tournament where they lost with 66-65 on the first day, and then they beat the LIthuanian Siauliai 81-67 on the second day.
I see Parma as the winners here, but since they're a team who will win thanks to their defense, then this Kalev are a good option for a team under. Especially because Parma have great fans. Details