2008-09 Club Profile: KK Zadar
KK Zadar is coming off a magical season in which the club won the Croatian championship, reached the Adriatic League Final Four and came within one win of a spot in the ULEB Cup Final Eight. That success notwithstanding, Zadar is back for even bigger and better things this season. Zadar is the place where Croatian basketball was born in 1930, and where the club was constituted in 1945.
KK Zadar Roster 2008-09
Name
Pos.
Height
Damir Rancic
G
1.97
Rok Stipcevic
G
1.83
Malik Dixon
G
1.87
Juby Johnson
F
1.98
Sime Olivari
F
1.97
Toni Prostran
G
1.81
Todor Gecevski
C
2.09
Tomsilav Ruzic
C
2.07
Jere Macura
C
2.03
Hrvoje Peric
F
2.03
Daniel Popovic
F
2.03
Dejan Ivanov
C
2.04
Aleksandar Petrovic
Head Coach
Zadar's reputation has been of a basketball hotbed with a team that can capture trophies at any moment. The most successful era was the decade between 1965 and 1975, when Zadar won five Yugoslavian League titles behind the legendary Kresimir Cosic. Zadar would add a fifth domestic crown in 1986 with Ivan Sunara and Stojan Vrankovic. It had already made some noise on the European stage itself, taking third place in Europe in 1968 and reaching the Korac Cup semifinals in 1982 and 1986. Zadar became a fixture in the relaunched Croatian League in the 1990s, but could only outlast Cibona to two trophies, the 1998 and 2000 national cups. The 2002-03 was an amazing season for Zadar thanks to two trophies: the Adriatic League and the Croatian Cup, named after Cosic. In 2003-04, Zadar pushed into two finals in Croatia, losing a thrilling cup final against Split and falling to Cibona 3-1 in the Croatian League finals. Its second ULEB Cup season was also unlucky for Zadar, which could not repeat its advance to the elimination rounds as in the previous season. This time, it missed by a single basket's difference in the last regular season game. Going into the ULEB Cup for a third season in 2004-05, Zadar once again missed the playoffs by a single win. It finally took its revenge at home, however, winning both the Cosic Cup and Croatian League titles in a historical season. Zadar returned to the Croatian League final in each of the last three seasons. Cibona may have stood in its way to another league crown the first two times, but last season Split instead challenged Zadar in the finals and the club won in five games, to cap a splendid season, which could be the start of a new golden era for Zadar basketball. The team landed big man Dejan Ivanov, forwards Tomislav Ruzic, Hrvoje Peric and Romel Beck, as well as guards Damir Rancic and Malix Dixon to be even more competitive this season. Zadar kept rebounding ace Todor Gecevski, combo guard Rok Stipcevic and scoring machine Juby Johnson.Expect Zadar to be a Final Eight contender in the Eurocup this season.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Eurocupbasketball.com
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