KK Krka

Košarkarski klub Krka (English: Basketball Club Krka), commonly referred to as KKK or simply Krka, is a professional basketball team based in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. The team competes in the Premier A Slovenian Basketball League and the ABA League. The team's home arena is Leon Štukelj Hall. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association.
History.
1948–2002.
The first basketball club in Novo Mesto was founded in 1948. In 1983, the club won its first Slovenian national championship. After that, however, basketball saw a decline in Novo Mesto that lasted until the Slovenian independence in 1991. Soon, the team was climbing through the lower divisions and earned a promotion to the Slovenian First League in 1997, when it also took the name of its sponsor, Krka. A fourth-place finish in the national league allowed the club to qualify for the Korać Cup for the 1998–99 season. The big breakthrough came a year later, however, as Krka defeated historical rival Olimpija in the Slovenian championship finals to win the national title. That year, the team also played the Saporta Cup. In 2000–01, Krka lost to Olimpija in the national league finals. In 2001–02, Krka qualified for the EuroLeague. Though Krka missed the Top 16, it was able to defeat all its opponents once, including Real Madrid, Panathinaikos, CSKA Moscow and Skipper Bologna. At home, Krka finished as the runners-up in the Adriatic League, in the Slovenian Championship and in the national cup, losing to Olimpija on all three occasions.
2002–2010.
Krka zoomed to the 2003 ULEB Cup double finals, narrowly losing to Pamesa Valencia despite being the only ULEB Cup team to win in Valencia. Krka won their second Slovenian championship, beating Olimpija in the finals.
Zoran Martić resigned during the 2003–04 season after poor results in the Euroleague, and was replaced by Petar Skansi. Krka finished Euroleague with only two wins. In the Adriatic League and in the Slovenian League, Krka finished in 7th place. Loss against Helios Domžale in quarterfinals implied drop from Adriatic League. The 2005–06 season was one of the worst in the club's history, after Krka finished in the last place after the regular season. In the relegation part, Krka finished 9th and avoided relegation. In the 2007–08 season, Krka finished third in the domestic league and replaced Geoplin Slovan in Adriatic League. Krka was one of three Slovenian clubs that represented Slovenia in the regional Adriatic League in the 2008–09 season, finishing in 11th place. In 1. SKL Krka finished third.
Aleksandar Džikić became head coach of the club in the 2009–10 season. Finished first after the regular part of the season and second in the champions league part, the team qualified to the semifinals, where they defeated Helios 2–1 in series, reaching the finals for the first time since 2003. Krka defeated Olimpija 3–2 in the final and won the national title.
2010–11 season: National and Eurochallenge champions.
Aleksandar Džikić was confirmed as head coach for the 2010–11 season. He got a new assistant coach for help, Aleksander Sekulić (confirmed on 21 June). Krka qualified for Adriatic League and decided to compete in the third rank European league called FIBA EuroChallenge. The season started with a win in the Slovenian Supercup, beating Olimpija in Maribor. Krka qualified for Adriatic League Final 4, where they lost against Olimpija in the semifinals. They also made it to the EuroChallenge Final 4 where they won club's first European trophy, beating Oostende in semifinal and Lokomotiv-Kuban in the final. They finished Slovenian league in the 1st place with one loss. In the semifinals Krka defeated Zlatorog 2–0. Successful season ended on 11 June after winning Slovenian League, beating Olimpija 3–2 in series. This was the fourth national trophy and second in the row.
2011–12 season: back to EuroCup, national champions.
Krka competed in the ABA league, Eurocup, Slovenian Cup and Slovenian Telemach League. Coach Aleksandar Džikić was replaced with Nenad Trajković. Dušan Đorđević, Goran Ikonić, Dragiša Drobnjak and Chris Booker has left the club. Their replacement were Jaka Klobučar, Curtis Stinson, Marko Đurković, Jimmy Baxter and Jerome Jordan. The club had two players in the Slovenian national team, Edo Murić and Zoran Dragić. Krka had successfully started a season in October, winning Slovenian Supercup over Olimpija. In November, Jaka Klobučar and Curtis Stinson left the club. Jaka's wish was playing in a foreign country, while Stinson went to surgery (broken ankle). Krka bought Allan Ray who played only three games. After excellent performance against Le Mans he moved to France. His replacement was Mustafa Abdul-Hamid.
On 1 December, coach Nenad Trajković moved to the Phoenix Suns and it was replaced with his assistant Aleksander Sekulič. Also, Jerome Jordan left the club (NBA-out clause), along with Jimmy Baxter (denied documents) and Marko Đurković (poor performances). On 29 December Krka announced three new players, Ben Hansbrough from Bayern München, Uroš Lučić from Radnički Kragujevac, who already played for Krka in the 2009–10 season and Jure Lalić, who came from Cibona. In January 2012, club released Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, but after one month he came back to club in February 2012. The club also announced a new player on PG position. That became Afik Nissim. Season ended with winning fifth national championship, third in a row.
2012–13 season: return to Eurochallenge.
Club competed in the ABA league, Slovenian Telemach League, EuroChallenge and Slovenian Cup. After winning national trophy in the previous season, Aleksander Sekulič continued as main coach. New assistant coach became Gašper Potočnik and former Krka player Simon Petrov. Club signed Jaka Klobučar, Jakov Vladović and Jurica Golemac and two youngsters, Erjon Kastrati and Tomaž Bolčina. Jure Balažić changed club and went to Turkey while Simon Petrov retired and became an assistant coach. Krka started season with Slovenian Supercup win over Olimpija (84–81) on 25 September in Grosuplje. On 30 December, Matjaž Smodiš and president Brane Kastelec announced his comeback to home club. Due to bad results, especially defeat in the semifinals of national cup against Helios on 11 February, main coach Aleksander Sekulić was released. Gašper Potočnik became a new head coach, who was previously an assistant. In March club signed combo guard Jerime Anderson, that played his first game in national championship against Helios. In the national league, Krka finished regular part in the first place with only one defeat (9–1). In the semifinals, the team won 2–0 against Zlatorog and advanced to the finals against Olimpija, where Krka won the series 3–1, clinching its fourth consecutive title and sixth overall. Last game had huge contribution of Matjaž Smodiš who scored 21 points and successfully ended his career.
2013–14 season: Džikić comeback.
On June 18, 2013, Krka signed a two-year contract with Aleksandar Džikić. First team addition was Jasmin Hukić, signed on June 25. Club added Croatian power forward Zvonko Buljan and Slovenian guard Luka Lapornik on July 12.
On July 24, the club announced the signing of Derrick Nix on a three-year contract, but because of his improper behavior they terminated the contract and signed Chris Booker. American PG Malcolm Armstead joined club on July 30. In the middle of the season, Sani Bečirović, a well-known Slovenian international, joined the team. 2013–14 was the first season in which Krka won the national cup and after winning the national championship in May 2014, Krka won their first "double crown" in the history of the club. Jaka Klobučar was awarded with the Slovenian League MVP title. Krka finished in the seventh place in the Adriatic League, just a spot away from directly qualifying to EuroCup.
2014–15 season: cup winners, semifinals of national championship.
On June 14, two new players were confirmed, Cameroonian Alexis Wangmene and Mirko Mulalić, while Smiljan Pavič, Jaka Klobučar, Sani Bečirović, Zvonko Buljan, Marko Pajić, and Edo Murić have left the club. Aleksandar Džikić kept his place as head coach. On June 26, 2014, ULEB decided that Krka can not play in its hall, resulting in absence in the European competitions for the first time in four years. Krka eventually played in the Slovenian and ABA league. On July 9, Krka signed one-year contract with former Slovenian national team player Nebojša Joksimović. In July, Krka announced that Christopher Booker decided to come back to Novo Mesto and extended contract. Before the start of the season, Krka won Slovenian Supercup against Olimpija. Season in ABA started great with 5–1 record, but it was followed by 1-9 defeat series. In January, new five win streak started and in February, the team won its second national cup against Zlatorog Laško. After eight defeats in first round of the Slovenian league, Krka finished first in the league for champion (8–2). After quarterfinal win against Portorož in the playoffs (2–0), the team was eliminated in the semifinals against Šentjur.
2015–present.
On June 21, 2015, Ivan Velić was hired as a new head coach. Vladimir Anzulović became a new assistant coach, previously head coach of KK Kolpa Črnomelj.
In the next few seasons, Krka struggled in the Slovenian League, getting eliminated in the semifinals in 2016 and 2017. Krka made the finals in 2018, but lost to Olimpija. In 2016, Krka also won the Slovenian Cup and Slovenian Supercup. Krka also struggled in the Adriatic League, and were relegated to the newly established ABA League Second Division for the 2017–18 season. In their first ABA Second Division season, Krka qualified for the 2018 ABA League Second Division Final Four, which they won by beating Borac Čačak in the semifinals and Primorska in the final. Marko Jošilo was named the MVP of the finals, and Krka was promoted back to the first Adriatic League division.
Current roster.
Squad information.
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Depth chart.
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Arena.
Club's first court was Loka outdoor asphalt court, near the river Krka. In the 1970s, Krka moved to first indoor arena in town, named Marof. It has 1,500 seating capacity. Marof was home court for Krka for over 30 years. Marof arena is still being used as a training court and 2009–10 season playoff finals were played in Marof.
Club is currently playing in Leon Štukelj Hall with a capacity of 2,500 seats. Hall is located in the school center in the southwestern part of Novo Mesto. It is town's primarily sports gym and is venue to many events, since it is the largest hall in Novo Mesto and Lower Carniola.
New arena with 5,000+ seats was planned to be built for EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia but was canceled as well as Novo Mesto's candidature for EuroBasket.
As Euroleague Basketball set a minimum capacity for EuroCup at 3,000 seats and for non-contract Euroleague teams for 5,000 seats, Krka is unable to play those competitions at Leon Štukelj Hall.
Season-by-season records.
Key