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

 

2003/04		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	Široki	91	51.0	16	30	53.3	10	21	47.6	29	37	78.4	19	12	15	9	20	1	0	28	31	97
2	@Cibona	86	54.2	24	38	63.2	8	21	38.1	14	18	77.8	23	9	13	7	20	1	0	33	22	77
3	Olimpija	94	61.8	23	36	63.9	11	19	57.9	15	23	65.2	17	7	24	7	14	0	0	30	25	101
4	Zvezda	92	43.8	26	45	57.8	2	19	10.5	34	43	79.1	24	12	16	4	11	1	2	31	34	94
5	@Budućnost	84	50.8	25	40	62.5	7	23	30.4	13	16	81.3	13	10	6	13	14	4	1	26	19	74
6	Split	79	45.9	21	42	50.0	7	19	36.8	16	20	80.0	20	12	14	5	14	3	4	27	21	72
7	@Slovan	79	50.0	17	31	54.8	10	23	43.5	15	18	83.3	17	8	9	7	17	3	1	30	22	67
8	Banjalučka	86	44.8	21	42	50.0	9	25	36.0	17	23	73.9	19	19	17	5	8	2	4	28	25	90
9	@Zagreb	70	35.8	19	42	45.2	5	25	20.0	17	21	81.0	16	17	12	10	15	0	2	35	19	45
10	Zadar	75	50.0	18	34	52.9	7	16	43.8	18	30	60.0	20	9	17	8	10	1	1	25	28	85
11	@Reflex	76	54.9	20	34	58.8	8	17	47.1	12	15	80.0	19	5	8	5	20	1	4	27	18	55
12	Laško	75	50.0	17	32	53.1	7	16	43.8	20	27	74.1	24	7	11	5	19	0	3	30	28	67
13	@Lovćen	72	47.3	17	31	54.8	9	24	37.5	11	12	91.7	22	9	9	2	14	5	1	18	17	73
14	@Široki	78	50.9	21	32	65.6	7	23	30.4	15	17	88.2	18	7	8	6	7	2	0	23	22	82
15	Cibona	73	36.7	14	29	48.3	8	31	25.8	21	26	80.8	19	13	12	11	15	1	3	21	23	70
16	@Olimpija	70	39.2	17	35	48.6	3	16	18.8	27	29	93.1	11	8	12	7	16	0	2	31	25	51
17	@Zvezda	92	57.9	24	36	66.7	9	21	42.9	17	30	56.7	14	5	13	13	9	0	1	27	26	89
18	Budućnost	97	54.0	24	38	63.2	10	25	40.0	19	28	67.9	20	9	19	12	9	0	2	26	27	109
19	@Split	68	50.0	20	35	57.1	5	15	33.3	13	16	81.3	14	5	12	9	18	2	1	21	20	62
20	Slovan	77	45.3	19	45	42.2	10	19	52.6	9	11	81.8	18	11	15	6	8	3	2	23	17	77
21	@Banjalučka	83	52.0	19	34	55.9	7	16	43.8	24	35	68.6	28	8	4	8	11	2	0	16	34	105
22	Zagreb	73	39.3	17	36	47.2	5	20	25.0	24	32	75.0	23	11	9	4	9	2	2	23	29	75
23	@Zadar	88	49.2	20	36	55.6	11	27	40.7	15	20	75.0	15	12	8	11	9	3	0	26	18	83
24	Reflex	72	41.8	14	31	45.2	9	24	37.5	17	27	63.0	19	9	10	6	6	1	4	25	27	67
25	@Laško	85	58.2	25	37	67.6	7	18	38.9	14	17	82.4	17	7	5	8	13	3	3	27	19	75
26	Lovćen	101	51.5	19	31	61.3	16	37	43.2	15	18	83.3	21	9	18	9	5	1	3	23	20	112
26	14:12 Total	2116	48.5	517	932		207	560		461	609		490	250	316	197	331	42	46	680	616	2054
	Average	81.4	48.5	55.5			37.0			75.7			18.8	9.6	12.2	7.6	12.7	1.6	1.8	26.2	23.7	79.0
	Season max	101	61.8	67.6%			57.9%			93.1%			28	19	24	13	20	5	4	35	34	112

2003/04				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	Venta, M.	3	19:45	0	0.0	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	1	4	0	0	2	0	-1
5	Gnjidić, B.	21	531:00	271	53.3	50	83	60.2	47	99	47.5	30	38	78.9	40	25	23	31	38	1	4	59	45	242
6	Gilbert, C.	16	471:45	186	37.1	32	64	50.0	31	106	29.2	29	35	82.9	38	10	35	16	10	0	1	36	34	159
7	Antonijevič, M.	24	487:30	159	40.7	23	49	46.9	23	64	35.9	44	60	73.3	29	7	65	32	39	1	6	68	78	175
8	Ivaškovič, I.	8	76:00	30	28.6	5	13	38.5	1	8	12.5	17	20	85.0	10	2	4	3	10	0	0	14	12	19
9	Dundović, M.	25	381:30	153	58.2	45	68	66.2	12	30	40.0	27	36	75.0	50	38	16	15	17	1	3	75	33	161
10	Duščak, A.	24	611:30	246	45.3	48	98	49.0	34	83	41.0	48	59	81.4	26	10	36	17	51	0	5	75	73	167
12	Bošnjak, M.	3	55:00	23	44.4	7	15	46.7	1	3	33.3	6	6	100.0	6	2	3	0	7	0	0	9	6	14
13	Grgurević, A.	1	28:30	10	42.9	2	5	40.0	1	2	50.0	3	6	50.0	6	5	2	0	0	0	0	3	4	17
13	Budzinauskas, M.	13	201:30	60	41.0	8	20	40.0	8	19	42.1	20	23	87.0	16	11	11	8	8	1	1	23	17	66
14	Bader, M.	26	668:00	305	63.6	88	132	66.7	8	19	42.1	105	137	76.6	103	55	13	16	31	22	4	90	108	410
15	Balažič, J.	21	269:15	104	50.6	31	52	59.6	10	29	34.5	12	19	63.2	19	14	10	9	11	3	4	46	19	70
20	Mihajlović, M.	8	70:45	20	45.5	4	10	40.0	1	1	100.0	9	10	90.0	11	7	1	3	3	0	2	9	8	29
22	Gardner, J.	9	249:15	103	45.7	21	40	52.5	11	30	36.7	28	34	82.4	20	1	28	16	29	0	6	27	34	96
32	Bečirovič, S.	9	193:45	97	42.4	19	35	54.3	9	31	29.0	32	41	78.0	11	3	34	9	23	0	2	15	42	109
33	Mučič, S.	1	03:00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	-1
41	Subotić, S.	15	233:00	41	31.6	6	18	33.3	6	20	30.0	11	16	68.8	11	7	19	9	20	0	1	39	21	17
44	Rickert, R.	26	647:15	308	53.9	128	229	55.9	4	16	25.0	40	69	58.0	92	53	13	12	30	13	7	89	82	305

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;