In the history of European basketball, only two clubs can say they have stood tall over the whole continent as champion for three straight seasons. One was the first-ever champion, ASK Riga of present-day Latvia. The other is Split of Croatia. As the only modern club to win a three-peat - as it did at the 1989, 1990 and 1991 Final Fours - the team then known as Jugoplastika and Pop 84 remains a mythical European king. And in 2002-03, one of the legendary players who made that miracle happen returned to lead Split into a new and triumphant era. Since the start of the Croatian League in 1992, no team had been able to dethrone mighty Cibona through 11 successive seasons. No team, that is, until Split swept to the title last spring. It was the reaffirmation of a mighty tradition that stretched well before the European three-peat so well-known outside Croatia, or the four Yugoslav leagues and two Yugoslav cups won almost simultaneously in the late 1980s. Way back in 1972, in fact, Jugoplastika had been on the cusp of a European crown but lost in the final by a single point to the mightiest power of the era, Ignis Varese of Italy. During that decade, Jugoplastika made its name, winning two Yugoslav league titles, three national cup crowns and a pair of Korac Cups, in 1976 and 1977. The taste for consecutive titles was being cultivated even then. After the great successes of 1989-1991, Split did not sleep. It put together a string of three Croatian Cup victories from 1992 to 1994 and tacked on a fourth in 1997. But a league crown was elusive until last season, when legend Dino Radja returned to help complete the effort. Radja then retired to become president of the club, assuring that the name Split will never be far from a discussion of the greatest European teams ever.

TROPHY CASE:

European Championship League
1989, 1990, 1991
Korac cup
1976, 1977
Croatian League
2003
Croatian cup
1992, 1993, 1994, 1997
Yugoslavian league
1971, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
Yugoslavian cup
1972, 1974, 1977, 1990, 1991

 

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	Reflex	79	38.4	21	53	39.6	7	20	35.0	16	22	72.7	29	18	2	17	17	1	3	26	25	74
2	@Laško	87	46.2	20	40	50.0	10	25	40.0	17	24	70.8	26	9	6	5	12	3	1	25	26	82
3	Lovćen	97	57.9	25	38	65.8	8	19	42.1	23	30	76.7	17	5	10	11	11	1	0	27	26	98
4	@Široki	70	42.4	21	37	56.8	7	29	24.1	7	13	53.8	14	9	7	12	11	2	0	26	0	33
5	Cibona	68	36.8	19	47	40.4	6	21	28.6	12	18	66.7	18	8	7	19	17	4	1	23	19	53
6	@Krka	88	42.9	24	50	48.0	3	13	23.1	31	40	77.5	16	14	10	11	9	4	3	21	27	92
7	Zvezda	83	50.8	26	53	49.1	7	12	58.3	10	12	83.3	23	10	9	8	9	3	0	28	19	84
8	@Budućnost	116	54.0	41	67	61.2	6	20	30.0	16	30	53.3	24	10	13	6	11	4	2	33	27	100
9	Olimpija	92	47.6	23	44	52.3	7	19	36.8	25	32	78.1	20	8	13	12	14	2	0	30	29	92
10	Slovan	62	36.5	19	44	43.2	4	19	21.1	12	18	66.7	16	8	6	14	13	1	1	17	21	51
11	@Banjalučka	89	48.4	24	40	60.0	7	24	29.2	20	24	83.3	25	12	5	10	17	2	1	27	28	89
12	Zagreb	117	51.9	29	47	61.7	12	32	37.5	23	33	69.7	19	8	27	26	19	0	0	31	25	124
13	@Zadar	86	51.6	26	40	65.0	6	22	27.3	16	23	69.6	16	11	16	8	11	1	1	24	24	89
14	@Reflex	67	47.4	20	38	52.6	7	19	36.8	6	9	66.7	18	1	9	3	17	2	0	28	17	39
15	Laško	72	46.6	18	41	43.9	9	17	52.9	9	12	75.0	9	5	7	10	17	1	1	26	20	46
16	@Lovćen	84	44.1	20	38	52.6	10	30	33.3	14	19	73.7	13	11	12	5	7	5	1	34	21	66
17	Široki	88	59.6	29	46	63.0	5	11	45.5	15	17	88.2	15	6	21	8	11	3	1	23	19	100
18	@Cibona	68	40.4	18	36	50.0	5	21	23.8	17	28	60.7	26	4	8	11	13	3	3	21	25	63
19	Krka	75	50.0	24	45	53.3	5	13	38.5	12	19	63.2	14	7	12	16	14	1	2	20	21	74
20	@Zvezda	79	42.9	21	44	47.7	3	12	25.0	28	35	80.0	22	8	7	9	18	1	2	24	29	72
21	Budućnost	72	52.9	23	36	63.9	4	15	26.7	14	17	82.4	16	4	11	14	15	5	3	25	20	72
22	@Olimpija	72	43.6	20	34	58.8	4	21	19.0	20	25	80.0	11	10	6	5	14	0	3	27	22	46
23	@Slovan	71	47.3	18	32	56.3	8	23	34.8	11	16	68.8	16	6	3	7	11	1	1	18	17	57
24	Banjalučka	78	43.1	10	26	38.5	12	25	48.0	22	28	78.6	12	6	12	12	8	1	1	29	24	72
25	@Zagreb	67	47.3	20	40	50.0	6	15	40.0	9	14	64.3	18	6	15	8	12	1	2	26	17	58
26	Zadar	91	53.8	25	44	56.8	10	21	47.6	11	18	61.1	16	6	21	12	4	3	2	21	17	102
26	10:16 Total	2118	47.1	584	1100		178	518		416	576		469	210	275	279	332	55	35	660	565	1928
	Average	81.5	47.1	53.1			34.4			72.2			18.0	8.1	10.6	10.7	12.8	2.1	1.3	25.4	21.7	74.2
	Season max	117	59.6	65.8%			58.3%			88.2%			29	18	27	26	19	5	3	34	29	124

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	McCants, C.	16	567:45	286	44.5	69	138	50.0	24	71	33.8	76	98	77.6	37	12	73	40	54	0	1	46	99	308
5	Oršulić, H.	25	576:00	129	39.7	30	66	45.5	16	50	32.0	21	29	72.4	73	16	11	16	18	5	2	69	32	115
6	Mršić, V.	6	183:45	53	33.3	14	35	40.0	1	10	10.0	22	37	59.5	19	4	11	8	14	0	1	11	37	61
6	Videnov, F.	7	150:45	52	42.1	7	19	36.8	9	19	47.4	11	12	91.7	8	4	4	8	13	0	2	13	9	34
7	Kedžo, M.	26	584:45	269	50.0	96	191	50.3	0	1	0.0	77	87	88.5	51	28	12	20	41	0	7	81	78	223
8	Smith, T.	24	647:00	237	57.8	87	145	60.0	2	9	22.2	57	93	61.3	90	57	27	36	38	31	8	91	72	312
9	Rančić, D.	26	643:30	262	44.9	37	70	52.9	52	128	40.6	32	40	80.0	45	6	37	50	38	2	2	71	49	223
10	Ukić, R.	24	814:00	370	44.2	108	198	54.5	30	114	26.3	64	91	70.3	37	21	66	48	52	5	5	69	100	320
11	Pašalić, D.	26	618:00	296	51.5	92	157	58.6	25	70	35.7	37	52	71.2	63	46	6	26	35	7	6	97	50	231
12	Vučica, J.	9	85:45	32	44.0	3	6	50.0	8	19	42.1	2	4	50.0	3	2	5	5	2	0	0	13	5	21
13	Delić, N.	3	22:30	12	80.0	4	5	80.0	0	0	0	4	7	57.1	4	0	1	1	1	0	0	4	4	13
14	Kaštropil, F.	11	91:30	28	54.2	13	23	56.5	0	1	0.0	2	10	20.0	12	7	2	2	6	2	1	23	9	13
15	Perić, H.	14	196:00	50	46.3	17	37	45.9	2	4	50.0	10	14	71.4	18	4	3	5	13	3	0	30	13	27
19	Šporar, M.	9	131:45	26	45.0	1	2	50.0	8	18	44.4	0	0	0	1	1	14	8	5	0	0	30	3	7
21	Morić, M.	6	55:30	14	54.5	5	7	71.4	1	4	25.0	1	2	50.0	8	2	3	6	2	0	0	11	5	19
45	Bilić, A.	1	04:00	2	100.0	1	1	100.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	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;