Split and basketball globalization

Hello all,

I was writing the Croatian League report for Euroleague.net at halftime of Joventut - Partizan, possibly one of the most intense game in the Euroleague so far this season, and I saw that Split beat Zagreb with 8 three-pointers from veteran bomber Larry Ayuso. They recently signed Erick Barkley, who also did well in that game.

Split is a legendary team in Europe, as you all may know. The club won three consecutive Euroleague titles with players like Toni Kukoc, Zoran Sretenovic, Luka Pavicevic, Velimir Perasovic, Zan Tabak and in the first two titles, Goran Sobin, Dino Radja or Dusko Ivanovic. Most of them are well-known coaches now and that team stays as possibly the best-ever in European basketball, up there with Ignis Varese in the mid-seventies, the 2001 Kinder Bologna, the 2004-2005 Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv or the 1987-1988 Tracer Milano, with Mike D'Antoni, Bob McAdoo and Dino Meneghin running the show. Split - or Jugoplastika, or Pop84 - dominated the European basketball scene with a homegrown team. Only Avy Lester joined the team for the 1991 title and played a crucial role against all odds.

Split carried on producing top quality players, the first to come to mind are Roko-Leni Ukic or two-time All-Euroleague center Nikola Vujcic.  They have nice players like Mateo Kedzo or Hrvoje Peric, but the whole situation now is way different. Split won 2 of its 4 opening Adriatic League games and lost 20 in a row, and now they rejoined the Croatian League with Ayuso and Barkley, who have become the leaders of the team.

It's tough to see something like that now, like the Split dynasty. European and NBA scouts take away the players out of the best farmyards before they get to develop and become better players. The exception could be Partizan and of course FMP Zeleznik. Partizan won in Badalona last night with a generation of players that have been playing together for 5 years. Uros Tripkovic, Kosta Perovic, Luka Bogdanovic or most recently signed Milenko Tepic and Nikola Pekovic got their perfect complement in veterans Predrag Drobnjak and Dusan Kecman. Things have began to roll for Partizan in the Euroleague scene.

And then FMP is amazing.

They have the best school of young players in Europe, as simple as that. Every year, their best players leave the team but their replacement in ready. Right now they have no foreign players, just a nice group of talented, ambitious youngsters ready to beat anyone, anywhere. Players like Zoran Erceg, Dragan Labovic or even Aleksandar Rasic could play anywhere in Europe. Suddenly, the closest thing to the glorious Split is FMP. If only they could keep their players for 3-4 extra years, FMP would be a top contender to reach the Euroleague playoffs and even fight for a Final Four spot.

We have a big game coming up tonight, none other than Unicaja - Dynamo Moscow. Should be a big showdown. Also, the Arctic Monkeys are coming to town and they have their new video available. Here it is, for you all to enjoy it:

 

 

Have fun everyone!