CroHoops

SLAVONSKI BROD, CROATIA

Next weekend Croatian Junior Championship Final Four will take place in the town of Slavonski Brod.  Games will be played in the sports center “Vijus”. Here is the complete schedule:

Saturday, May 7th 2011
18.00 CET   Zadar vs Dubrava Zagreb
20.00 CET   Svjetlost Sl.Brod vs Cedevita Zagreb

Sunday, May 8th 2011
16.00 CET   3rd place game
18.00 CET   Final

DAMJAN RUDEZ, CEDEVITA ZAGREB

Saturday, April 30th 2011

Borik Puntamika vs Split  75:56

Zabok vs Zadar   72:90

Alkar Sinj vs Zagreb CO   61:100

Cedevita Zagreb vs Cibona Zagreb   97:93

CURRENT STANDINGS

Cedevita Zagreb   10-0

Zagreb CO   8-2

Zadar  7-3

Cibona Zagreb   4-6

Borik Puntamika   4-6

Split   4-6

Alkar Sinj   3-7

Zabok   0-10

JELENA IVEZIC, GOSPIC CO

Away from their loud home crowd Gospic CO managed to neutralize Jolly JBS Sibenik home court advantage and to take 1-0 lead in Croatian Championship Finals.

Thanks to their head coach Stipe Bralic excellent scouting tips Gospic CO players were able to defensively dominate from the opening tip-off and to roll on to an relatively easy 66:74 (18:28, 17:15, 9:16, 22:15) road win in the Game 1 of the series.

Wednesday, April 27th 2011

Zadar vs Cibona Zagreb   70:93

Zagreb CO vs Zabok   100:60

Split vs Alkar Sinj   55:72

Cedevita Zagreb vs Borik Puntamika   84:58

CURRENT STANDINGS

Cedevita Zagreb   9-0

Zagreb CO   7-2

Zadar  6-3

Cibona Zagreb   4-5

Split   4-5

Alkar Sinj   3-6

Borik Puntamika   3-6

Zabok   0-9

MLADEN ERJAVEC (photo by ezadar.hr)

After the convincing 80-62 loss to Zadar in the 8th round of Croatian Championship Zagreb CO management board made a relative unexpected decision to fire head coach Mladen “Eri” Erjavec.

During his five-month tenure Erjavec was able to energize the team to a respectable 5th place in Adriatic League, Croatian Cup title and made it a legitimate Croatian Championship title contender.

Zagreb CO is currently 3rd placed team of Croatian Championship, trailing only to local rival Cedevita Zagreb, but still has seven-point advantage in the Croatian race for one-year Euroleague contract.

Erjavec’s successor Ivica Buric, long-time scouting assistant for the club, will have a heavy result burdain in front of him with no place for eventual mistakes.



After being the youngest member of International squad in 2011 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, European phenom Dario Saric made a memorable comeback to his domestic obligations.

Playing for Dubrava Zagreb in Croatian A1 League qualifying part Saric has been absolutely astonishing during the month of April helping his team to win it’s last 3 games with an average difference of 18.3 points.

During the above mentioned game span 17-year old Saric averaged blistering 21.0 points per game while shooting 50% from the field, to go along with 13.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.0 steals while receiving as much as 8.7 fouls from the opposition.

According to Greek sports site sportnet.gr during the last couple of weeks Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos Athens has shown a tremendous ammount of interest in possibly acquiring Saric.

MVP RACE (per game/after 8th round)

Bracey Wright     23.5    Cedevita

Marko Car     23.4    Zadar

Luka Zoric     22.5    Zagreb CO

B.Bogdanovic     18.4    Cibona

Krunoslav Simon 17.0    Zagreb CO

Alex Renfroe     17.0    Zagreb CO

Brandon Brown     16.9    Zadar

Jure Skific     16.4    Borik

Robert Lez     16.3    Zabok

Marino Bazdaric 16.2    Cedevita

POINTS (per game/after 8th round)

Marko Car     21.6    Zadar

B.Bogdanovic     18.8    Cibona

Bracey Wright     17.8    Cedevita

Robert Lez     17.6    Zabok

Luka Zoric     17.0    Zagreb CO

Krunoslav Simon 16.5    Zagreb CO

Jure Skific     16.4    Borik

Damjan Rudez     15.6    Cedevita

Brandon Brown     14.8    Zadar

Ivan Mimica     13.7    Split

REBOUNDS (per game/after 8th round)

Ante Grgurevic     9.9    Split

Marino Bazdaric 8.3    Cedevita

Luka Zoric     7.4    Zagreb CO

Brandon Brown     7.0    Zadar

Ive Ivanov     6.8    Zadar

Marijan Cakarun 6.8    Borik

Josip Sobin     6.4    Split

Zeljko Zupic     6.3    Alkar

Ivica Radic     6.0    Alkar

Alex Renfroe     5.7    Zagreb CO

ASSISTS (per game/after 8th round)

Marko Car     4.6    Zadar

Alex Renfroe     3.5    Zagreb CO

Ante Delas     3.4    Alkar

Josip Blajic     3.3    Alkar

Krunoslav Simon 3.3    Zagreb CO

Marino Bazdaric 3.0    Cedevita

Srđan Subotic     2.8    Split

B.Bogdanovic     2.5    Cibona

Toni Katic     2.5    Split

Bracey Wright     2.2    Cedevita

BLOCKS (per game/after 8th round)

Filip Kraljevic 2.0    Zabok

Luka Zoric     1.6    Zagreb CO

Josh Heytvelt     0.8    Zagreb CO

Marijan Cakarun 0.6    Borik

Ivica Radic     0.6    Alkar

Damjan Rudez     0.5    Cedevita

Josip Sobin     0.5    Split

Krunoslav Simon 0.5    Zagreb CO

Marino Sarlija     0.5    Borik

Zeljko Zupic     0.5    Alkar

STEALS (per game/after 8th round)

Marko Car     2.6    Zadar

Alex Renfroe     2.3    Zagreb CO

P.Marcinkovic     2.0    Zadar

Jakov Vladovic     2.0    Zadar

Ive Ivanov     1.8    Zadar

Brandon Brown     1.8    Zadar

Toni Katic     1.8    Split

B.Bogdanovic     1.6    Cibona

Ante Delas     1.6    Alkar

Andro Anzulovic 1.6    Alkar

Here is Josip Mikulic’s exclusive statement regarding his recent decommitment from NC State:

“Right now I am performing the best I can for my AAU team. Depending on my performance and recruiting activities taken out by various NCAA colleges I will decide whether to return to the States in July or to stay in Croatia, probably at disposal to Croatian NT.”