2011-12 Team Preview: BC Levski Sofia

BC Levski Sofia is one of the most succesful basketball teams in Bulgaria. With 17 national titles and also 14 cups in their trophy case, the "blues" are a well-known and established brand in Bulgarian basketball. Also in 2010 they added their first trophy from an European club competition - the championship cup of the EUROHOLD Balkan League, which was won in front of their hometown fans in Sofia.  
Levski has been a regular participan in the Balkan League since the League was founded back in 2008. In the first season - 2008/2009 they reached the semifinals, but were knocked out by KK Feni Industries. In 2009/2010 the championship dream came true, after the "blues" defeated Montenegrin side KK Lovcen in the final game, in order to win their first cup from an European club competition. Last season, 2010/2011 was going good for Levski, as the won their group and qualified directly for the Final Four, but in Kavadarci, Macedonia, they lost their semifinal game against Rilski Sportist and the BIBL season was over for them.
 
For the upcoming season, head coach Konstantin Papazov, better known as Titi is trying to build a team, that should be a mix between young talent and experience. The scoring machine Aaron Harper (19.1 PPG over 22 BIBL games in the previous two seasons) extended his contract for another year, and the management brought back Marcus Hall (20.4 PPG in 10 BIBL games in 2008/2009). Also the club wants to rely on talented young players like Aleks Simeonov (18 years), Ventzislav Petkov (20 years) and Denis Agre (23 years), who is coming straight out of college. Two of the best perimeter players in Bulgaria for the last years - Hrisimir Dimitrov (37 years) and Dimitar Angelov (32 years) add the needed experience, along with Stefan Georgiev, the team captain, who′s recovering after surgery.
 
Levski for sure will be an interesting team to watch in the new season of the EUROHOLD Balkan League. Titi Papazov′s squad is in Group B, along with HKK Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia), BC Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Israel), the defending champion - KK Feni Industries (Macedonia), KK Ulcinj (Montenegro) and KK Napredak Rubin (Serbia).