A small town team from a small country isn't supposed to have the international impact that Krka Novo Mesto has managed in recent years. It demanded attention in 2002-03 as it reached the ULEB Cup finals and made off with its second Slovenian League title in four seasons. Success had been a long time in coming. The first basketball club in Novo Mesto was founded in 1948, but not until 1983, the year of its 35th anniversary, was the city able to celebrate the conquer of the Slovenian national championship. After that triumph, however, basketball saw a decline in Novo Mesto that lasted until after the separation of the Slovenian Republic from the former Yugoslavia. Soon the team was climbing through the second division to rejoin the Slovenian League in 1997, when it also took the name of its sponsor, Krka. A fourth-place finish in the national league and third in the Slovenian Cup allowed the club to qualify for the Korac Cup for 1998-99. The big breakthrough came a year later, however, as Krka defeated historical rival Olimpija Ljubljana in the Slovenian playoff finals to win the national title. That year, the team also played the Saporta Cup and reached third place in the Slovenian Cup. In 2000-01, Krka consolidated its strength, but nonetheless fell to Olimpija in the finals. In 2001-02, Krka qualified for the Euroleague in a pre-season tournament and made its mark in a group of superpowers. Though Krka missed the Top 16, it was able to defeat all its opponents once, including names like Real Madrid, Panathinaikos, CSKA Moscow and Skipper Bologna. At home, Krka finished second in the Goodyear league, in the Slovenian Championship and in the national cup, losing all three times to Olimpija Ljubljana. Last season changed that trend, however. Krka zoomed to the ULEB Cup finals, narrowly losing to Pamesa Valencia despite being the only ULEB Cup team to win in Valencia. Krka then flexed its muscles, upsetting Olimpija for its second Slovenian crown. Novo Mesto will continue to battle without fear, making the continent's major powers take notice of its remarkable accomplishments.

TROPHY CASE:

(*) Slovenian League
2000, 2003

 

2001/02		overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
1	@Zadar	81	47.1	23	46	50.0	10	24	41.7	5	13	38.5	13	7	12	18	12	5	0	22	0	57
2	Olimpija	80	47.4	26	44	59.1	1	13	7.7	25	36	69.4	10	7	6	13	13	3	0	29	0	36
3	@Bosna	73	53.8	22	36	61.1	6	16	37.5	11	18	61.1	17	9	9	14	17	1	0	22	0	53
4	Dita	81	55.1	18	35	51.4	9	14	64.3	18	22	81.8	19	8	10	7	21	4	0	22	0	60
5	@Široki	80	54.9	24	37	64.9	4	14	28.6	20	29	69.0	12	3	5	12	15	5	0	25	0	45
6	@Cibona	80	45.6	20	38	52.6	6	19	31.6	22	30	73.3	21	6	8	9	14	1	0	31	0	41
7	Slovan	110	50.6	29	44	65.9	10	33	30.3	22	27	81.5	19	17	17	9	14	2	0	28	0	89
8	@Triglav	95	57.8	31	47	66.0	6	17	35.3	15	21	71.4	19	7	5	4	10	2	0	18	0	71
9	Budućnost	86	50.0	19	35	54.3	7	17	41.2	27	31	87.1	18	7	14	6	20	3	0	22	0	62
10	@Split	87	48.3	22	41	53.7	7	19	36.8	22	28	78.6	20	5	11	7	12	2	0	22	0	61
11	Laško	74	41.4	23	42	54.8	1	16	6.3	25	31	80.6	14	11	9	7	15	6	0	21	0	45
12	Zadar	98	56.1	30	49	61.2	7	17	41.2	17	21	81.0	27	15	22	7	15	2	0	23	0	100
13	@Olimpija	80	41.5	16	39	41.0	6	14	42.9	30	36	83.3	19	17	2	14	22	2	0	26	0	49
14	Bosna	97	47.8	25	44	56.8	8	25	32.0	23	33	69.7	13	26	19	13	11	5	0	21	0	95
15	@Dita	72	43.6	19	39	48.7	5	16	31.3	19	22	86.4	17	11	11	10	13	0	0	20	0	54
16	Široki	75	46.4	29	49	59.2	3	20	15.0	8	10	80.0	21	11	14	13	14	3	0	22	0	62
17	Cibona	92	44.4	24	44	54.5	4	19	21.1	32	39	82.1	26	11	15	10	12	0	0	27	0	73
18	@Slovan	110	43.7	21	45	46.7	10	26	38.5	38	47	80.9	12	7	6	15	8	2	0	31	0	64
19	Triglav	93	50.7	25	49	51.0	12	24	50.0	7	9	77.8	28	8	17	16	21	3	0	14	0	92
20	@Budućnost	93	54.5	24	43	55.8	6	12	50.0	27	38	71.1	18	8	6	10	7	1	0	21	0	72
21	Split	91	55.0	23	43	53.5	10	17	58.8	15	25	60.0	24	8	18	7	12	3	0	24	0	78
22	@Laško	74	42.9	18	30	60.0	6	26	23.1	20	23	87.0	20	6	6	11	22	2	0	25	0	37
23	Cibona	98	53.8	20	33	60.6	8	19	42.1	34	42	81.0	16	8	11	9	9	2	0	24	0	79
24	@Olimpija	59	40.9	14	31	45.2	4	13	30.8	19	26	73.1	11	8	3	10	15	1	0	19	0	25
24	17:7 Total	2059	48.9	545	983		156	450		501	657		434	231	256	251	344	60	0	559	0	1500
	Average	85.8	48.9	55.4			34.7			76.3			18.1	9.6	10.7	10.5	14.3	2.5	0.0	23.3	0.0	62.5
	Season max	110	57.8	66.0%			64.3%			87.1%			28	26	22	18	22	6	0	31	0	100

2001/02				overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		GP	Min	Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
4	Anzulović, V.	11	199:09	90	43.1	15	30	50.0	16	42	38.1	12	17	70.6	3	0	28	12	20	0	0	23	0	44
4	Ivaškovič, I.	2	08:25	2	33.3	1	1	100.0	0	2	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	-2
5	Gnjidić, B.	24	559:46	224	46.3	49	93	52.7	25	67	37.3	51	63	81.0	46	27	14	28	29	2	0	78	0	136
6	Skelin, M.	24	716:00	332	56.5	108	189	57.1	0	2	0.0	116	158	73.4	131	63	49	21	80	33	0	65	0	359
7	Lakovič, J.	24	603:08	305	45.1	40	69	58.0	43	115	37.4	96	125	76.8	23	7	49	41	67	0	0	61	0	167
8	Jelesijević, N.	13	95:08	42	44.7	16	34	47.1	1	4	25.0	7	13	53.8	16	8	3	6	7	1	0	14	0	28
9	Davison, B.	24	644:28	324	58.6	132	221	59.7	1	6	16.7	57	75	76.0	88	57	33	42	38	16	0	76	0	334
10	Grum, S.	23	384:11	166	48.9	52	94	55.3	12	37	32.4	26	33	78.8	19	8	13	17	23	0	0	56	0	70
11	Drobnjak, D.	24	457:11	129	45.7	36	64	56.3	12	41	29.3	21	32	65.6	43	24	21	22	25	4	0	50	0	100
12	Mirković, M.	8	50:17	22	53.3	6	12	50.0	2	3	66.7	4	7	57.1	6	5	2	1	3	2	0	8	0	17
13	Ćapin, A.	21	350:18	108	34.4	17	34	50.0	15	59	25.4	29	32	90.6	13	10	18	23	13	0	0	44	0	51
14	Šamanić, M.	22	287:55	154	52.0	46	78	59.0	6	22	27.3	44	53	83.0	33	17	11	16	24	1	0	49	0	102
15	Brewer, J.	11	227:58	154	44.4	25	60	41.7	23	48	47.9	35	45	77.8	10	5	15	22	14	1	0	30	0	93
15	Mihajlović, M.	1	03:10	3	100.0	1	1	100.0	0	0	0	1	2	50.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
15	Lashaun, A.	1	05:02	2	0.0	0	0	0	0	2	0.0	2	2	100.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	-3
15	Smith, A.	1	06:05	2	33.3	1	3	33.3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1

FG2, FG3 - Field Goals; FT - Free Throws; Min - Minutes; Pts - Points; M - Made; A - Attempted; Blck - Blocks; Fv - in Favoure of; Ag - Against; Foul - Foul; Cm - Committed; Rv - Received; Rebs - Rebounds; D - Defensive; O - Offensive; Ass - Assists; St - Steals; To - Turnover; Val - rank Value;