A complete reversal from two years ago, why is Woori Bank a challenger?
Mar 12, 2025
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The two teams met once in the 2022-2023 season at the Champions League, and Woori Bank won the championship with all three games. However, there is a high possibility that it will develop in a completely reversed form in the second confrontation of all time. This is because the team color has completely changed from two years ago.
Woori Bank is the defending champion as the No. 1 regular league team and a traditional powerhouse who tries to win the championship for the 13th time in his career, but at least in this championship, it can be called 'underdog'. Even Woori Bank ace Kim Dan-bi said after the fifth round of PO, "Our team can be called a challenger."
Just comparing the lineup of the two teams two years ago can quickly tell. Woori Bank cooked BNK at will, where five main players, including Kim Dan-bi, Park Hye-jin, Kim Jong-un, Park Ji-hyun, and Choi Yi-sam, all represented the national team. There is no need to distinguish between options 1 and 2, but the recent trend 'Fiveout' was possible, and not only offense but also rebounding in all three games was taken advantage of BNK at the time when Jinan and Kim Han-byeol's double posts were centered.
However, only Kim Dan-bi remains at Woori Bank among the winning members at the time. BNK has also transformed into a small lineup including Park Hye-jin and Kim Sonia, who were recruited as FA, and Iijima Saki in the Asian quarter, with only Ahn Hye-ji and Lee So-hee still in good shape. In particular, Park Hye-jin can be said to be an ironic situation where she meets as an enemy from a colleague for the first time in two years.
The two teams, which share the commonality of fast offense and defense transitions without an orthodox center, had a tight 3-3 battle in the regular league this season. Interestingly, Woori Bank recorded 2-1 in Busan, BNK's home, and BNK also won 2-1 in Asan, Woori Bank's home, enjoying an away advantage.
BNK is 15 points ahead in goal difference, with 369 points and 354 runs in six games. Even if you look at each game, BNK is relatively superior. In the first three games of the first half, when all of BNK's best five were in operation, BNK won two games and lost one. In the first and third rounds, they won by 16 points and 19 points, respectively, and the only loss in the second round was 66-68 after an extended battle.
However, in the fourth and fifth rounds, where Park Hye-jin and Lee So-hee were absent due to injuries, Woori Bank won by 17 points and 6 points. In the sixth round, in which Park Hye-jin joined, BNK again won by 5 points with 54-49. As such, BNK's lineup was naturally ahead in terms of the best 5 confrontations and experience.
However, as shown in the PO, short-term matches are sometimes developed in a way that has nothing to do with the regular league. Woori Bank was thoroughly ahead of KB Stars with 5 wins and 1 loss in the regular league, but in the PO, it played a treat to the fifth game. BNK also beat Samsung Life Insurance, which was overwhelmed with 2 wins and 4 losses in the regular league.
In the end, it is clear that the team will laugh at the end of the game when both teams play Game 5, how quickly they will recover their exhausted physical strength, whether veterans will exert their power again in big games, and how much bench members will support their main players. The first round of the championship will begin at Asan Yi Sun-shin Gymnasium on the 16th.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
