eliminating Blumenau in the semi-final, Botafogo became champion by beating Joinville/AABJ in the final. American point guard Jamaal Smith, signed less than three weeks before the tournament debut, was named MVP of both the regular season and the playoffs. With the title, Botafogo secured its participation in the tenth edition of the NBB. The debut in Novo Basquete Brasil took place on 16 November, at the Oscar Zelaya Gymnasium, against Pinheiros. The first victory in the history of the competition came in the next game: In a balanced game, the black-and-whites defeated Liga Sorocabana 70–64. At the end of the first phase, Botafogo advanced to the playoffs as the last-ranked team, in 12th place. After a thrilling first game, when it was defeated only in the overtime, the team was no match for its Rio Grande do Sul rival in the following confrontations and ended up eliminated from the competition, losing the series 3–0. For the 2018–19 season, Botafogo hired coach Léo Figueiró, a former player of the club, and reinforced itself with names such as guard Coelho, small forward Arthur, and centers Ansaloni and Murilo Becker, in addition to Cauê Borges, elected the best small forward/marker in the previous edition of the NBB, when he played for Caxias do Sul. In the Carioca Championship, the black-and-whites reached the final for the first time in 18 years, after eliminating Vasco in the semi-final. However, the team lost to Flamengo in the final and finished runner-up. In NBB 11, at the end of the first round, the team qualified for the newly created Super 8 Cup and, after defeating Pinheiros, was eliminated in the semi-finals by Flamengo in a single game. Botafogo finished the qualifying round in 6th place and faced São José in the first round of the playoffs, winning the best-out-of-three series 2–0. In the quarterfinals they faced Pinheiros in a tough duel that was decided in the fifth and final game: At the Henrique Villaboim Gymnasium, in São Paulo, Botafogo beat the rival 82–78, ending the series 3–2 and qualifying once again for a Brazilian Championship semifinal, something that had not happened since 2001. Against Flamengo, the Glorioso had good performances but left the competition defeated 3–1 in the series. Thanks to the 4th place in the NBB, Botafogo won the unprecedented spot in the Sudamericana League. In their first international competition since returning to basketball, Glorioso began