Those looking for a renaissance in Croatian basketball may soon pinpoint 2002-03 as the season when and Zadar as one of the places where things started looking up again. That is quite appropriate for the place where Croatian basketball was born in 1930, and where the club was constituted in 1945. From its ascension to the Yugoslav first division in 1957 to today, Zadar's reputation has been of a basketball hotbed with a team that can rise up and capture trophies at any given moment. The most successful era was no doubt the decade between 1965 and 1975, when Zadar won no fewer than five Yugoslav League titles under the leadership of legends names Kresimir Kosic and Pino Giergia. Despite some of the most arduous competitions in the world during the 1980's, Zadar would add a fifth domestic crown in 1986, in the same year that its rival Cibona was strong enough to conquer Europe for a second straight season. Zadar had already made noise on the European stage itself, having taken third place in Europe in 1968 and having made the semifinals of the Korac Cup in 1982 and 1986. Zadar became a fixture in the relaunched Croatian League in the 1990s, but could only outlast Cibona to two trophies, the 1998 and 2000 national cups. In 2002-03, however, Zadar became the first Croatian team to win a multinational competition in more than a decade when it upset some big names to take the Adriatic League title. Riding a wave, Zadar also took another Croatian Cup, its third in six years. In the first edition of the ULEB Cup, Zadar was nearly as dangerous, tying on victories but losing on points in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Pamesa Valencia. Its season ended with a semifinal loss in the Croatian League playoffs, but Zadar had already sounded its name loud and clear once more across the continental basketball landscape.

TROPHY CASE:

Goodyear League
2003
Croatian Cup
1998, 2000, 2003
Yugoslavian League
1965, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1986
Yugoslavian Cup
1970

 

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	@Slovan	84	52.7	17	35	48.6	12	20	60.0	14	17	82.4	24	8	7	7	18	2	0	18	0	67
2	Banjalučka	87	52.4	24	38	63.2	9	25	36.0	12	16	75.0	26	11	15	9	18	2	0	27	19	90
3	@Zagreb	75	42.4	20	41	48.8	8	25	32.0	11	17	64.7	20	15	11	7	11	1	2	26	22	68
4	@Olimpija	86	47.5	21	35	60.0	7	24	29.2	23	30	76.7	18	7	12	4	10	0	0	30	31	80
5	Reflex	77	48.0	14	26	53.8	10	24	41.7	19	31	61.3	20	7	6	4	14	2	4	25	26	61
6	@Laško	81	59.1	19	32	59.4	7	12	58.3	22	24	91.7	15	4	4	4	14	3	1	19	23	80
7	Lovćen	97	53.6	28	44	63.6	9	25	36.0	14	20	70.0	13	11	13	16	12	2	1	24	20	97
8	@Široki	75	56.0	16	21	76.2	12	29	41.4	7	8	87.5	24	4	18	2	9	0	1	21	16	85
9	Cibona	88	53.4	21	31	67.7	10	27	37.0	16	22	72.7	16	5	9	10	12	4	2	24	22	83
10	@Krka	74	47.8	14	24	58.3	8	22	36.4	22	27	81.5	18	5	16	6	14	1	1	28	25	73
11	Zvezda	97	54.8	25	41	61.0	9	21	42.9	20	26	76.9	23	8	12	9	9	2	1	29	25	103
12	@Budućnost	100	64.9	28	36	77.8	9	21	42.9	17	24	70.8	21	9	13	7	9	1	2	20	21	114
13	Split	102	51.6	20	28	71.4	12	34	35.3	26	28	92.9	23	8	16	7	12	1	1	24	24	112
14	Slovan	86	55.6	22	37	59.5	8	17	47.1	18	24	75.0	20	12	15	5	13	1	0	22	26	100
15	@Banjalučka	89	56.6	19	32	59.4	11	21	52.4	18	20	90.0	22	11	4	5	22	4	1	22	27	92
16	Zagreb	91	48.4	21	39	53.8	10	25	40.0	19	23	82.6	16	9	7	12	11	4	0	19	22	94
17	Olimpija	93	51.7	20	35	57.1	11	25	44.0	20	26	76.9	20	6	17	8	11	4	1	30	26	97
18	@Reflex	84	48.2	16	31	51.6	11	25	44.0	19	25	76.0	20	8	7	5	16	1	3	17	20	74
19	Laško	71	50.0	23	38	60.5	4	16	25.0	13	16	81.3	22	3	9	4	9	0	3	22	22	67
20	@Lovćen	97	55.7	20	34	58.8	14	27	51.9	15	17	88.2	21	6	17	7	11	0	1	22	18	103
21	Široki	93	56.9	28	48	58.3	9	17	52.9	10	10	100.0	24	8	18	8	13	0	2	24	14	98
22	@Cibona	103	60.3	27	45	60.0	11	18	61.1	16	20	80.0	21	10	22	5	18	2	0	24	27	119
23	Krka	74	56.0	21	31	67.7	7	19	36.8	11	21	52.4	18	8	6	8	14	0	3	18	26	73
24	@Zvezda	91	47.5	18	29	62.1	10	30	33.3	25	34	73.5	17	11	12	8	11	0	1	26	30	91
25	Budućnost	101	58.2	21	29	72.4	11	26	42.3	26	31	83.9	14	4	11	6	8	2	1	26	30	105
26	@Split	81	49.1	22	38	57.9	6	19	31.6	19	25	76.0	16	6	10	12	13	2	3	17	21	80
26	13:13 Total	2277	52.9	545	898		245	594		452	582		512	204	307	185	332	41	35	604	583	2306
	Average	87.6	52.9	60.7			41.2			77.7			19.7	7.8	11.8	7.1	12.8	1.6	1.3	23.2	22.4	88.7
	Season max	103	64.9	77.8%			61.1%			100.0%			26	15	22	16	22	4	4	30	31	119

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	Krstić, V.	14	444:33	156	53.9	35	56	62.5	20	46	43.5	26	37	70.3	43	9	60	27	36	0	3	51	51	198
4	Stipčević, R.	4	10:15	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	2	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	-4
5	Vladović, J.	25	639:00	231	52.5	56	90	62.2	29	72	40.3	32	43	74.4	48	9	69	27	48	0	2	85	57	218
6	Ivanov, I.	4	10:15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0
7	Longin, B.	26	681:47	387	54.7	91	145	62.8	43	100	43.0	76	91	83.5	81	26	39	21	49	3	3	71	74	382
8	Pestić, M.	23	372:47	110	46.5	6	15	40.0	27	56	48.2	17	26	65.4	26	0	20	13	22	0	3	39	22	80
9	Kovačić, E.	17	436:19	211	50.6	76	136	55.9	4	22	18.2	47	68	69.1	61	34	8	20	39	12	0	56	73	225
9	Bulić, M.	2	40:30	15	36.4	2	5	40.0	2	6	33.3	5	5	100.0	2	0	3	1	1	0	0	5	4	12
10	Špralja, Š.	24	258:48	112	64.2	43	67	64.2	0	0	0	26	33	78.8	23	15	2	5	9	5	2	52	31	99
11	Marcelić, D.	26	970:57	440	49.1	69	123	56.1	75	170	44.1	77	89	86.5	82	28	60	32	43	3	5	57	96	475
12	Dijan, T.	13	145:24	59	59.4	18	30	60.0	1	2	50.0	20	28	71.4	17	9	4	1	15	2	1	23	23	55
13	Banić, M.	22	413:00	219	72.4	83	115	72.2	1	1	100.0	50	62	80.6	48	37	13	10	27	1	5	64	46	234
14	Lalić, J.	4	16:00	12	83.3	5	6	83.3	0	0	0	2	2	100.0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	5	2	8
15	Meeks, M.	25	755:34	325	45.8	61	110	55.5	43	117	36.8	74	98	75.5	81	35	29	27	42	15	11	92	104	324

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;