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

 

2002/03		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	@Borac	83	52.5	26	41	63.4	5	18	27.8	16	24	66.7	17	10	7	8	12	1	0	20	0	58
2	Široki	83	50.0	21	30	70.0	3	18	16.7	32	41	78.0	18	5	7	5	9	2	0	19	0	59
3	@Zagreb	87	55.8	21	38	55.3	8	14	57.1	21	26	80.8	17	6	15	12	15	1	0	23	0	72
4	Laško	83	50.0	20	38	52.6	12	26	46.2	7	14	50.0	20	11	16	11	17	2	0	25	0	62
5	@Bosna	96	58.3	20	27	74.1	8	21	38.1	32	40	80.0	22	1	8	6	13	2	0	22	0	72
6	@Cibona	76	42.9	19	43	44.2	5	13	38.5	23	29	79.3	18	10	5	5	8	0	0	28	0	40
7	Split	88	53.8	28	51	54.9	7	14	50.0	11	16	68.8	20	15	14	5	11	0	0	20	0	76
8	@Zvezda	84	49.2	22	41	53.7	8	20	40.0	16	21	76.2	18	8	14	11	6	3	4	23	20	89
9	Maccabi	83	42.6	20	40	50.0	9	28	32.1	16	22	72.7	21	15	11	12	11	4	0	27	0	63
10	@Olimpija	67	41.5	19	39	48.7	3	14	21.4	20	25	80.0	18	6	10	2	13	2	3	23	25	55
11	Zadar	78	33.3	15	37	40.5	8	32	25.0	24	24	100.0	26	13	14	3	10	2	0	26	0	54
12	@Široki	74	52.8	21	36	58.3	7	17	41.2	11	15	73.3	23	5	6	8	13	3	0	19	0	58
13	Borac	101	60.7	27	37	73.0	7	19	36.8	26	32	81.3	20	10	15	14	16	2	0	18	0	100
14	Zagreb	72	46.4	22	42	52.4	4	14	28.6	16	17	94.1	15	10	13	10	18	5	0	20	0	56
15	@Laško	85	54.7	20	33	60.6	9	20	45.0	18	21	85.7	10	6	7	11	14	5	0	21	24	86
16	Bosna	114	66.1	26	41	63.4	15	21	71.4	17	23	73.9	27	5	27	9	17	3	0	18	0	123
17	Cibona	80	50.0	22	41	53.7	6	15	40.0	18	22	81.8	20	6	13	4	15	4	0	27	0	53
18	@Split	84	57.1	23	38	60.5	9	18	50.0	11	12	91.7	15	4	13	10	13	2	0	22	0	68
19	Zvezda	88	53.1	28	45	62.2	6	19	31.6	14	20	70.0	18	8	10	9	9	0	0	27	0	61
20	@Maccabi	52	35.8	19	38	50.0	0	15	0.0	14	22	63.6	18	6	6	7	14	3	0	18	21	39
21	Olimpija	73	49.1	20	36	55.6	7	19	36.8	12	15	80.0	18	7	14	5	19	5	0	25	0	47
22	@Zadar	75	44.3	18	39	46.2	9	22	40.9	12	20	60.0	15	9	11	9	8	2	1	23	24	71
22	11:11 Total	1806	49.8	477	851		155	417		387	501		414	176	256	176	281	53	8	494	114	1462
	Average	82.1	49.8	56.1			37.2			77.2			18.8	8.0	11.6	8.0	12.8	2.4	0.4	22.5	5.2	66.5
	Season max	114	66.1	74.1%			71.4%			100.0%			27	15	27	14	19	5	4	28	25	123

2002/03				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	Ivaškovič, I.	4	41:53	16	42.9	2	7	28.6	4	7	57.1	0	0	0	3	0	3	2	5	0	0	3	0	8
5	Gnjidić, B.	22	495:31	182	45.9	37	67	55.2	24	66	36.4	36	41	87.8	33	22	16	30	22	2	0	60	13	139
6	Ćapin, A.	22	644:13	206	47.4	43	81	53.1	29	71	40.8	33	41	80.5	33	6	72	35	37	2	0	44	13	198
7	Anzulović, V.	12	180:36	50	25.0	6	19	31.6	6	29	20.7	20	28	71.4	9	0	29	5	14	0	1	20	6	20
7	Mathis, D.	6	86:55	19	34.8	7	17	41.2	1	6	16.7	2	2	100.0	2	2	8	4	5	2	0	11	0	6
7	Venta, M.	1	11:28	2	25.0	1	3	33.3	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	1	0	-6
8	Paravinja, M.	17	224:57	89	47.9	34	66	51.5	0	5	0.0	21	30	70.0	36	11	9	2	21	1	1	45	3	38
8	Grum, S.	11	132:41	65	54.3	21	33	63.6	4	13	30.8	11	14	78.6	5	3	0	3	7	0	2	16	8	35
9	Arnold, J.	18	546:25	332	55.4	106	186	57.0	17	36	47.2	69	82	84.1	94	31	31	28	58	27	0	56	14	331
10	Duščak, A.	22	677:47	344	54.5	73	119	61.3	43	94	45.7	69	84	82.1	28	4	48	22	34	2	0	71	12	243
11	Drobnjak, D.	18	351:43	123	50.5	45	79	57.0	3	16	18.8	24	41	58.5	33	22	15	15	22	2	1	37	6	92
12	Mučič, S.	1	03:59	0	0.0	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	-1
12	Mirković, M.	7	73:56	23	45.0	8	17	47.1	1	3	33.3	4	5	80.0	10	4	3	1	3	1	0	25	2	4
13	Maravič, M.	22	496:10	203	55.4	51	84	60.7	11	28	39.3	68	89	76.4	60	39	14	13	29	5	1	54	25	204
14	Bader, M.	19	310:42	102	46.8	32	51	62.7	4	26	15.4	26	36	72.2	49	23	5	12	15	8	1	34	8	106
15	Balažič, J.	11	129:05	50	51.4	11	21	52.4	8	16	50.0	4	8	50.0	14	8	3	4	5	1	1	16	4	40
17	Sebič, S.	1	01:58	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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;