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C Stanko Barac, Croatia (photo by ezadar.hr)

CROATIAN NT ROSTER

PG Dontaye Draper
PG Marko Popovic
PG Rok Stipcevic
SG Kruno Simon
G/F Marko Tomas
G/F Bojan Bogdanovic
SF Damjan Rudez
F Damir Markota
PF Luka Zoric
PF Luksa Andric
PF/C Ante Tomic
C Stanko Barac

EUROBASKET  SCHEDULE

Wednesday, August 31st 
vs Finland   84:79

Thursday, September 1st 
vs Macedonia    76:78

Saturday, September 3rd  
vs Montenegro   87:81

Sunday, September 4th
vs Bosnia & Herzegovina    80:92

Monday, September 5th
vs Greece   69:74

FRIENDLY GAMES RESULTS – SUMMER 2011

26.7. Croatia vs Bulgaria 72:59
27.7. Croatia vs Bulgaria 77:54

Addeco Cup (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
6.8. Croatia vs Montenegro   85:71
8.8. Slovenia vs Croatia   60:65
9.8. Croatia vs Serbia 71:80

London Invitational Tournament
16.8. Serbia vs Croatia   83:71
17.8. Great Britain vs Croatia  70:75
18.8. Australia vs Croatia   78:66
20.8. Croatia vs France   60:83
21.8. China – Croatia   53:83

Last updated on 29-08-2011. Anything missing? E-mail us at   crohoops@gmail.com.

 Bogdanovic makes another step forward in his career

Croatian NT completed relatively successful performance on Adecco Cup with 80:71 loss to Serbia in the final game of the competition in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In the battle of 2011 EuroBasket contenders both coaches instructed their players to “search and execute easy basket opportunities early on.”

Croatia led by as much as 67:57 just 7 minutes before the final whistle before allowing an almost unbelivable 23:4 run by Serbia after the time-out called by Serbian NT head coach Dusan Ivkovic.

Croatian C Ante Tomic pounded the glass at both end of the court and ended up the contest with 13 points and 14 boards, but made his fifth foul on Tournament MVP Nenad Krstic with five minutes left.

PG Dontaye Draper again had a very good game and did a much better job of controlling Croatian NT play and creating opportunities under pressure than his counterparts Popovic (went into the foul-trouble early on) and Stipcevic.

Nets’ 2011 draftee and Fenerbahce star G/F Bojan Bogdanovic again led Croatia in scoring with 17 points. Bogdanovic completed the Tournament as the best scorer having scored 53 points in 3 games which is an 17.7 ppg average.

Croatian swingman has been named to the All Tournament Team along with G Goran Dragic (Slovenia), G Milos Teodosic (Serbia), F Mirza Teletovic (Bosnia) and C Nenad Krstic (Serbia).

Adriatic League and Croatian League MVP PF Luka Zoric was (again) relatively unimpressive – on numerous occasions he was to hesitant to take the shot.

General impression is that Croatian NT played much better offense when the ball was in the “flow” rather than in “post up” positions.  Defense seems to be in place with the room for improvement in the “help defense” area.

Coach Vrankovic has quality alternations for each of the positions. His main focus in the upcoming weeks should be to boost the quality of the frontcourt play which should really be one of the key factors for Croatia in the upcoming EuroBasket.

Holding his own in the paint vs Slovenia – C Ante Tomic

After the hard fought defensive battle Croatia was able to win Slovenian NT in front of it’s home crowd in Ljubljana Stozice Arena by 60:65 (15:16, 15:16, 21:16, 14:12).

Despite being only 4-17 from three-point land and having as much as 19 turnovers, Croatia controlled defensive boards throughout the complete course of the game and was able to win the second half battle for the boards by 15:7. C Ante Tomic led the team with 9 boards overall and came up with couple of huge points to seal the victory in the clutch time.

PG Dontaye Draper was again impressive especially during the opening sequence – not only he controlled the ball, creating chances for his teammates but he also created havoc on the defensive end, stealing the ball in the early phase of Slovenian offense. He is an DEFINITE UPGRADE on the point guard position for Croatia and he is taking the play of the team on the completely new level.

Screenshot: Croatian National Television/HRT

Olimpija Ljubljana PF Damir Markota again played with poise, but he obviously lacks determination and was overmatched by Slovenian NT PFs on numerous occasions.

Nets’ 2011 draftee Bojan Bogdanovic again had a solid game. While holding his own on defense he was able to be the second leading scorer of the team with 11 points. Zagreb CO SG Kruno Simon had 15 points. Coach Joke Vrankovic decided not to use SF Damjan Rudez and SG Marko Car in this one.

Overall Croatia managed to stay within the game and showed ability to control the game in the most critical moments while rotating as much as 11 players, 10 of which scored. This victory over highly respected Bozidar Maljkovic is a confidence booster for still relatively unexperienced Croatian NT coach Joke Vrankovic. It seems like Croatian NT is finally heading into the right direction…

On Tuesday, Croatia will face Serbia (21.00 CET) in the final game of the Tournament with LIVE broadcast on Croatian National Television.

Damir Markota dished out 5 assists vs Montenegro

In it’s opening game of Adecco Ex-Yu Tournament (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Croatia was able to breeze by Montengro with 85:71W (18:20, 21:11, 25:29, 21:11).

Croatian offensive game was paced by as much as 19 assists. Point guards Dontaye Draper and Marko Popovic each had 5 assist, while Olimpija Ljubljana F Damir Markota matched the number in an effort to become even more valuable piece of coach Vrankovic’s rotation.

Nets’ 2011 draftee G/F Bojan Bogdanovic executed many of the above mentioned assists while scoring as much as 25 points in 27 minutes of action.

Bogdanovic hit 5 out of 7 three-pointers while the whole Montenegrian team managed to hit only 1 three-pointer in during the complete game course.

On Monday, Croatia will face host Slovenia in the semifinal game.

Back to Croatia: G/F Chris Warren

Cedevita has done masterful job by bringing in experienced swingman Chris Warren to add even more “fire power” to it’s potent backcourt Dontaye Draper and Marko Car.

Warren who starred for Cibona from 2006 until 2008 while playing for the new Cedevita’s head coach Drazen Anzulovic spent the last couple of seasons in Air Avellino (Italy) and Bilbao Basket (Spain).

Known for his excellent defense and explosive first step Warren has strenghten up his connection with Croatia and Zagreb when he married Tia Jurcic in 2010.

PG Dontaye Draper, Croatia

Cedevita Zagreb PG Dontaye Draper made his debut for Croatia and has become the first American basketball player EVER to play for Croatian senior NT.

Draper immediately helped Croatia breeze to a couple of easy victories over Bulgaria (72:59, 77:54) in friendly encounters held in Osijek couple of days ago.

Considering the fact that G Roko Ukic has suffered an injury Draper could see extended minutes for Croatia in the upcoming European Championship.

Marko Car, Cedevita Zagreb (photo by kkcedevita.hr)

Even without the head coach for the next season at the moment Cedevita has done masterful move in the form of signing shooting guard Marko Car (6’3”/189cm/1985).

Car finished last Croatian A1 League season as the 2nd best statisticly ranked player overall, trailing only to F/C Luka Zoric.  Car led the league with 21.7 points per game and 5.0 assists per game, to go along with 1.9 steals per game.

Proven clutch shooter who spend last three seasons with Zadar is a definite improvement for Cedevita’s backcourt and the perfect complement to Croatian NT PG Dontaye Draper.

Here is his brief statement: “I feel really great with a new carrer turning point and new challenge right in front of me. The negotiations went quickly and I am very pleased to enter such a straight and ambitious environment such as Cedevita.”

With Car in town Cedevita will probably consider it’s options in regards to contracts with veteran guards Robert Troha and Vedran Princ who both had below average season.

This move also has strategic importance in the sense of taking over one of the key competitor’s players. Cedevita will now look forward to add more size in the frontcourt department.