Crvena Zvezda - history and profile

Milan Gurovic

20-01-2006 21:52

Where the subject is great teams in the cradle of European basketball, the name of [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] is always part of the discussion. As one of the most-crowned teams in the former [b]Yugoslavia[/b], [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] has always commanded attention wherever it plays. The club was founded in 1945 and immediately dominated a country that would soon claim basketball as its main sport. For an entire decade, from 1946 to 1955, [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] won 10 straight titles and assured its place in the history books. With basketball's rise in popularity came plenty challengers, and [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] waited until 1972 for the next domestic title, then 21 years again for another. But of all the great clubs who won in the interim, to this day none can claim so many titles as [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b]. There were also a European title, the 1974 Saporta Cup, and three Yugoslav national cups to boast. And [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] keeps going strong, last season making the semifinals in the both the Adriatic League and the YUBA League. In the summer of 2002, the club had hired as technical director [b]Zmago Sagadin[/b], one of Europe's most innovative coaches. Together with coach [b]Alexandar Trifunovic[/b], he put together a young talent and veterans who proved the right mix to return the name of [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] to the lips of basketball followers everywhere. With a build-up of young talent and a re-launched purpose, the glory days are never too far away for [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b]. Before the start of this season [b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] put together a deep, talented roster, as well as a top coach like [b]Dragan Sakota[/b].The team was also joined by [b]Milan Gurovic[/b], who is ready to bounce back after a couple of underacheiving seasons, as well as a well-rounded big man like Macedonian [b]Pero Antic[/b].One very good new addition is American guard [b]Larry O'Bannon[/b] who comes from [b]University of Louisville[/b].[b]Crvena Zvezda[/b] kept several key players such as off-guard [b]Goran Jeretin[/b], center [b]Milko Bjelica[/b], swingman [b]Vuk Radivojevic[/b] or mobile big man [b]Vladislav Dragojlovic[/b].This gives the team a lot of depth and versatility. [b]Zvezda[/b] was in Group D in this year [b]ULEB Cup[/b] alongside the teams of [b]Dinamo Moscow[/b], [b]Hapoel Migdal[/b], [b]Lottomatica Roma[/b], [b]Le Mans[/b] and [b]Deutsche Bank Skyliners[/b]. The team finished third in the group with 5-5 overall record.[b]Milan Gurovic[/b] was the top scorer in the team with 15.2 points.[b]Larry O'Bannon[/b] also distributed with average of 14.1 points.