Hello, Velimir. Congratulations on making the Final Four. For a new coach like you, just in your second season, having come to Tau after this one started, is this all a bit of a pleasant surprise for you?

"No one can be surprised that Tau is in the Final Four. The club has shown in the last years its capacity to fight for every title. Whether its the Final Four, the Spanish League or the King's Cup, for the last four or five years, Tau has always been a contender. As for me, from the time I arrived at Tau, I have never thought ahead, only to the next game. But after seeing how we went along in the Euroleague, I saw that we were capable of anything. Now, we have the opportunity before us if we play well."

This is also your first Final Four since winning three in Split as a player. From all your memories of those three seasons, what stands out most?

"Sure, I have a lot of memories. We went three years in a row, and won all three titles. It is always nice to think about those championships, but a lot of time has passed since then. Now, after all these years, I am going back as a coach."

In the semifinals, you face Maccabi, which is trying to tie Split's record of four consecutive Final Four victories. Is that a double motivation for you, to win for Tau and also to stop Maccabi from matching Split?

"Yes, but I think that above all, Tau has the desire and hunger to get a victory in this game, and not just because they beat our team last year in the title game. As a competitor, you want to achieve the most that you can every season, with every opportunity. Winning the Euroleague title is the great dream of all players from Europe and those who come to Europe to play. It is the top. For me, yes, there is a double motivation in Prague to not let Maccabi match Split with three consecutive titles. But that is more anecdotal. The most important challenge is that you want to beat a great team when it counts most."

Between you, Winterthur FCB coach Dusko Ivanovic and general manager Zoran Savic, all-Euroleague center Nikola Vujcic of Maccabi and your backup point guard Roko-Leni Ukic, a lot of people associated with Split will be in Prague. 15 years after the last title, is it a good moment to recognize what that city has given to European basketball?

"I believe that our generation in Split was unforgettable. Everyone remembers those teams for their charm, being so young and playing so well. We were young and hungry to win titles and we played high-level basketball in those years. Now, it's always great to see the great players who left there still staying involved in basketball. It's very important. We have coaches like Dusko Ivanovic and me and others, team directors like Dino Radja in Split and Zoran Savic. Zan Tabak is an NBA scout. It's beautiful to see what that team from that city has given, and keeps giving, to basketball."

Everyone is still talking about how Tau made the Final Four, beating Panathinaikos in Athens in one of the toughest arenas in the world to visit. In all your experience, where does that game fit?

"I think that was a game for people with character and decisiveness. To go to Athens and win there was not so easy. We had everything going against us. But it has been a question of pride and courage to fight until our last chance was exhausted. Not only did we play well, but our concentration was at a very high level throughout the game. We knew we were playing for everything. It's another story now, however. We have to think in the present and the future, not the past."

Some people look upon that game as a sort of final by itself. How much can winning that game help your team as it goes to Prague?

"It can help us with giving the team the confidence to know it is capable of winning against the best teams in the most difficult moments. Whether we can repeat that at the Final Four is another thing altogether, because the four best teams are there and it's a different atmosphere. You have to be at your very highest level. All teams go there with the same possibilities. We have a rival with a ton of experience, a two-time champion. We're not going to be scared or pressured, but it's not easy to play against such an expert team. Still, the victory over Panathinaikos told us that we have the capacity to play against all the great teams."

Pablo Prigioni, whom you played with previously, is breaking all Euroleague assist records this year. Tiago Splitter has also had a bigger role under you. What can you say about their extra contributions?

"I don't like to talk about individuals, because we have players who are giving more and more of themselves, and of course, everyone gives something to the team. What is most important at this level is the team, not individuals. That's why I don't like to highlight one or two. Only when we play like a team can we do great things."

Looking again at the semifinal against Maccabi, it's a re-match of last year's final. Is meeting Maccabi again something positive for your players who were there last year? revenge motive?

"I am not sure. We can talk of that and other theories, but we will see when we get there. You never know. You only know that we have the four best teams there, all are good, and playing against any one of them we would do the same things. The one thing that might differentiate Maccabi is experience at this level. They have a whole lot of Final Four experience, while there is not so much of that in the other teams. But with so many players who have played other finals and won so many of them, even that edge is not so great for Maccabi against us."

European basketball has changed a lot since your last Final Four. What have been your impressions of the Euroleague from the bench and what expectations do you have for event in Prague?

"I believe that back in those years, there were many players of the very highest level: superstars. You could look around and see eight or nine or more. I am thinking of Radja, Kukoc, Marciulionis, Petrovic and others. Now, you don't have those superstars maybe we don't see that so much because there is so much evenness throughout the league and on the teams. Only four teams are going to Prague, but eight teams could have made it. Now there is a larger base of talented players than ever. Before, one big star could carry a team this far. But that's not the case anymore."