Duane Woodward of Proteas EKA AEL understands better than most how far the Limassol club has come in the past five years.

A native of New York and former standout at Boston College, Woodward played for Proteas earlier in his career when the club was first getting a taste of European basketball.

In 2003, with Woodward a star player, the team won the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup for Men, but

Woodward had success with Proteas his first time around as well, winning a regional cup.

the EuroCup is much bigger and tougher competition.

"It's been special," he admitted to Basketball World News.

"I remember where we started from. The first year, we won the Regional Cup, and every year the club has grown.

"It's special to see how much it has grown, both the team and the league here in Cyprus. I think the league has a lot better competition and as a whole, it's a lot better organized, now."

Woodward was a big hit when he arrived in Cyprus. In the Regional Challenge Cup, he averaged almost 27 points per game.

The following year, in 2004, Woodward was still drilling three-pointers - 22 in 14 games that season - and was named to the competition's Rest of the World All Star Team.

Woodward decided to leave Cyprus for Italy and spent three years in Lega A with Teramo, Montepaschi Siena and Roseto before deciding to return to Proteas.

"It's easy to tell between the two countries domestically," said Woodward, who is now 31.

"Italy is much stronger as a league than the Cypriot league. But what really impressed me was being able to play in the FIBA EuroCup.

"I knew a lot of teams left to compete in the ULEB Cup, but I looked at it and knew how strong it (the EuroCup) was, with the teams coming back.

"That was the main reason why I came back, to get this far. That was our goal."

Looking back at the European campaign, Woodward says there was a turning point.

"The game that helped us the most I'll say was the game at Spartak St Petersburg," he said.

"That gave us a lot of confidence as a team and pushed us. It let us know that we can do a lot of things this year. We played a solid game from beginning to end."

Proteas won that game, 81-77, and Woodward had 18 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Woodward & Co advanced to the quarter-finals and, with home-court advantage, swept Khimik in two games.

Now comes the EuroCup Final Four, and there are no teams that appear to stand head and shoulders above the others with Dexia Mons-Hainaut, Tartu Rock and Barons Riga the other sides taking part.

"It's wide open," Woodward said. "I can't say there is any team in particular that stands out. But you better look at us, we finished first in our group and I think we have a lot of time to prepare."