Newly-minted Korean Basketball League (KBL) champion Busan KCC has confirmed their participation in the highly-anticipated Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) inaugurals in June.
It will be the second time that the Egis play in FIBA Asia’s flagship club competition, the last time being in 1998.
Then known as the Daejeon Hyundai Dynat, the team finished fourth in the tilt ruled by Regal of Hong Kong.
Busan KCC clinched the KBL 2023-24 following a gentleman’s sweep of Suwon KT Sonicboom in the best-of-7 affair, with Game 5 an 88-70 blowout.
This was Egis’ sixth KBL championship in total and their first since 2011, making history on the way to the crown.
They are the first-ever team in league history to win it all after finishing fifth in the regular season.
Egis wrapped up the regular season – their first after relocating from Jeonju to the city of Busan – with a 30-24 record.
They then went on a tear in the playoffs, first by taking down the Seoul SK Knights in the quarterfinals before eliminating the top-seeded Wonju DB Promy of 2024 MVP Ethan Alvano in the semis to reach the Big Dance.
The MVP of the Playoffs was awarded to Egis superstar, Heo Ung, after averaging 18.8 points and 5.4 assists per game in the Finals.
Heo winning the Playoffs MVP happened 26 years after his father, the legendary Hur Jae, won the said award in the 1997-98 season.
Egis also won the title that season and earned their spot in BCL Asia (then branded as the ABC Champions Cup) – though Hur Jae won his MVP trophy as a player on the side that lost in the Finals series, Busan Kia Enterprise.
Despite having to overcome an underdog storyline through the regular season, the Egis boasts a formidable squad.
Aside from the MVP Heo Ung, they also have the services of known and proven stars such as Ra Guna, Choi Junyong, Lee Seounghyun, and Song Kyochang.
Busan KCC also has Filipino-Canadian Calvin Epistola as its Asian import.
Ra has experienced playing in BCL Asia, suiting up for Hyundai Mobis back in the 2019 competitions in Nonthaburi, Thailand. The named quintet have been considered key pieces of the Korea national team in recent years.
The inaugural BCL Asia 2024 is set for June 9-15, in Dubai, UAE.
