Photo Caption: Basket Brno finished fourth in the NBL season. They play Pardubice in the quarterfinals of the Czech Cup on Thursday. Photo Credit: ŽBL.
Brno, Feb. 10 (BD) — Zbrojovka hopes to use pride to win against Moravian rivals; HC Kometa rest up for final 10-games of regular season; and women’s basketball season takes break prior to postseason.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Czech Cup Set for this Weekend
Basket Brno finished the regular season of the NBL in fourth place with a 13-9 record. Play in Group A1 begins at BK Opava on Feb. 27 at 6 p.m.
Before the domestic-league postseason begins, the top teams of the country will meet in Nymburk for the Hyundai Český pohár. Basket Brno drew BK JIP Pardubice in the quarterfinals; the game is tomorrow, at 3 p.m. The winner advances to the semifinals against the winner of Geosan Kolín and DekstoneTuři Svitavy on Saturday. The finals will be Sunday at 7 p.m.
Group A includes the top eight teams from the regular season. They each play home-and-away games with each other team. The top six teams move on to the postseason. The seventh- and eighth-place teams will need to earn their way with an extra step. The ninth- to 12th-place teams from the regular season are in Group B and play each team twice at home and twice away. The top two teams from Group B will play the bottom two teams from Group A in order to earn a place in the postseason bracket. The bottom team of Group B will play in a relegation series with the top team from the lower league. The postseason is scheduled for April 9 to May 22.
For updated information and the schedule for Basket Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.nbl.cz/. The team website is: https://basketbrno.cz/ Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
MEN’S FOOTBALL
Zbrojovka Plays Back-to-Back Moravian Teams
Though still just above the Relegation Zone after a 2-1 loss at Bohemians 1905 last week, FC Zbrojovka may be able to use emotion and regional pride to make a move up the standings when the team faces Moravian rivals in the next weeks.
Zlín (5-3-8, 18 points) will come to Brno on Saturday at 2 p.m. The following Saturday, Zbrojovka will go to Olomouc (6-8-4, 26) at 4 p.m.
Pride may be a key ingredient. It helped Zbrojovka (3-4-11, 13) to one of its victories when the team rallied late to beat Slovácko, 2-1, in mid-December.
Zbrojovka is fourth from the bottom of the standings. The bottom three teams will be relegated at the end of the season to the league where Brno played the past two seasons.
For updated information and the schedule for FC Zbrojovka Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.fortunaliga.cz/. The team website is at https://fczbrno.cz/ . Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Kometa Rests for Final 10-game Push
HC Kometa has been able to rest for the past week in preparation for the final three weeks of the regular season.
The break could energize the team, which has lost nine of its last 11 games. HC Kometa is currently ninth, with the same 53 points in the standings as 10th-place Litvinov and 11th-place Vitkovice. Eight-place Karolovy Vary is six points ahead with 59 points.
The season resumes at Madeta Motor České Budějovice on Monday at 5:30 p.m. Then, the final 10 games are packed into three weeks before the regular season ends on March 7.
For the league website, go to https://www.hokej.cz/tipsport-extraliga. For updated information and the schedule, go to the team website at https://hc-kometa.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Both Brno Teams Prep for Postseason
The Renomia ŽBL has reached a two-week break in the season. KP Brno (11-5), currently third in the league, finishes the regular season with games at home against BLK Slavia Praha (8-7) on Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. and at ZVVZ USK Praha (14-0) on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m.
Fourth-place BK Žabiny Brno (11-6) have just one game left in the regular season, at Levharti Chomutov (6-9) on Feb. 19 at 6 p.m.
When the 18-round regular season ends on Feb. 20, the top four teams move into Group A, which will play home-and-away games among each other. The fifth- to eighth-place teams will move to Group B, which will play to determine the four teams that will move into the postseason bracket and the best-of-five quarterfinal series (and one team that will play in a relegation series with the top team from the lower league).
Next week, the two Brno teams will play quarterfinal games in the Czech Cup. Both got tough draws: Žabiny Brno plays ZVVZ USK Praha on Feb. 17; and KP Brno plays Sokol Hradec Králové on Feb. 17.
For updated information and schedules for both local teams, go to the league website at https://www.zbl.basketball/. The KP Brno team website is: http://www.kpbrnobasket.cz/ The Žabiny Brno team website is: https://www.bkzabiny.cz/ Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
