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Last weekend Cibona’s forward duet Damjan Rudez and Tomislav Zubcic joined foces with other Zagreb’s famous faces to help paint the walls in one of the city’s most ruined underpasses.

From Thursday on Rudez & Zubcic will join forces in Cibona’s attempt to reach Euroleague through qualification cycle which will take place in Lithuania from September 29th until October 2nd.

EIGHT TEAMS will compete for only ONE SPOT. On Thursday, Cibona will face Cholet (France).

With 3 games left in the Group C action of 2011 EuroBasket reality has changed overnight for 1-1 Croatian NT. It’s leading 1-on-1 defensive patch and a glue guy Marko Tomas suffered hamstring injury and is now on his way back home to Croatia. Team now faces many burning questions before it’s vital Group C encounter with very good Montenegrian team led by PG Omar Cook.

Tomas has been vital part of Croatian NT rotation on 3 spot, which is the most thin part of the team’s depth chart. Except Tomas, this position is covered by high-scoring but relatively inexperienced G/F Bojan Bogdanovic and F Damir Markota who has piled up most of the minutes on PF spot because of his ability (and other’s inability) to launch outside shot whenever needed.

Bogdanovic has been on a hot streak lately hitting 9-12 threes (75%) in the first two games. In contrast to BB the rest of the team hit only 10-32 threes (31%).

That makes 6’8” Rudez logical solution for Croatia in this given situation. Rudez had a very good season for Cedevita Zagreb both in Adriatic League and Euro Cup. He is a sharpshooting specialist who can bury any opponent when he is on a hot streak and is the best supplement to the Croatian NT starting PG Dontaye Draper considering the fact they had played together whole season long.

The fact that makes Vrankovic not accounting for Rudez is that he hasn’t played much in the preparation cycle, that his shot selection is sometimes questionable and he is potential defensive liability. But on the bright size Rudez has size & speed to battle with any given player out there and  should take off some of the burden from Bojan Bogdanovic’s shoulders.

Even before Vrankovic faces the questions about not bringing such versatile forwards like Hrvoje Peric & Tomislav Zubcic, he should ask his staff which is the ONLY logical solution to sort out this arising problem in his rotation. The worst possible solution for Vrankovic would be to consider giving up even more size and to go with a small line-up featuring backcourt duet of Draper and Popovic.

Contributed 12 pts in 18 minutes vs China - Damir Markota (photo by CroHoops.com)

On the last day of 2011 London Invitational Tournament Croatia had a relatively easy task of handling down 83:53 loss to not quite well organized China.

Nets 2011 draftee Bojan Bogdanovic again led Croatia in scoring with 16 points, mainly coming on easy transition dunks and mid-range jumpers. C Ante Tomic was very close to the triple double category with 9 points, 8 boards and 6 assists.

Croatian NT will return to Zagreb before it’s path to 2011 EuroBaske. With F Damjan Rudez returning from the flu and ready to go head coach Josip Vrankovic is about to determine the final lists of passengers for Lithuania.

SF Damjan Rudez (while playing for Cedevita)

According to team’s web site Cibona Zagreb has signed sharpshooting SF Damjan Rudez (6’8”, 1986).

Native of Zagreb spent the last couple of seasons with Cedevita Zagreb and was rumored to sign with Zagreb CO just a week ago.

Along with signees Kovacevic & Suton, Rudez will certainly provide additional (scoring) spark in the team’s upcoming Euroleague qualifications.

After the heartbreak defeat in the Croatian Cup’s semifinal from BC Zadar coach Petrovic squad demonstrated unprecedented willingness and determination to bounce back. While proving they can still play the game at the high level they have achieved the club’s biggest European success ever by advancing into the Eurocup’s Final Eight teams.

Last week it was ACB powerhouse Gran Canaria. Today it was Serbian powerhouse Hemofarm Vrsac. In a tight game with many lead changes Cedevita managed to grab the lead midway through the third quarter and to control the result until the closing seconds, although the important victory almost slipped away due to numerous missed free-throws.

Although Cedevita’s leading scorer F Damjan Rudez only managed to tie his season average against Hemofarm at 7.0 points per game, F/C Corsley Edwards was up to the task with 17 huge points and 7 rebounds.  PG Dontaye Draper had relatively quiet night with 15 points and 7 assists, but again impressed with his cross-over dribble moves.

Cedevita won the rebounding battle by 43:39, had 8 assists more (18:10) and effectively shot down Hemofarm long distance options which shot only 7-24 for three.  Here is Cedevita’s head coach Aco Petrovic postgame statement:

“We could not win this game by playing like we played during this whole season, as was demonstrated during the first half, when we had big problems. Edwards turned the thumb of his right hand on the second offensive possession and he got two finger jams. We were too nervous during first half and wanted to solve everything on offense. I have to comment the night of Marino Bazdaric, who gave us a great contribution both on defense and rebounds(8).”

Cedevita Zagreb managed to achieve important road victory by defeating Gran Canaria, 86-89 on Tuesday night in a game that pulled the winners to second place in Group I with a 2-2 record.

Cedevita is now in position to qualify for the quarterfinals with a win over Hemofarm Stada next week, while Gran Canaria still has chances at 1-3.

Interestingly enough Cedevita’s win brought back memories of a recent  overtime thriller in which they also defeated Gran Canaria, when the two teams combined for a Eurocup record with 34 threes.

This time two teams combined for the 28 three pointers. Cedevita was paced by sharp shooting of SF Damjan Rudez (23 points, 5-of-7 threes) and SG Bracey Wright (23 points, 5-of-6 threes).