In the history of European basketball, only two clubs can say they have stood tall over the whole continent as champion for three straight seasons. One was the first-ever champion, ASK Riga of present-day Latvia. The other is Split of Croatia. As the only modern club to win a three-peat - as it did at the 1989, 1990 and 1991 Final Fours - the team then known as Jugoplastika and Pop 84 remains a mythical European king. And in 2002-03, one of the legendary players who made that miracle happen returned to lead Split into a new and triumphant era. Since the start of the Croatian League in 1992, no team had been able to dethrone mighty Cibona through 11 successive seasons. No team, that is, until Split swept to the title last spring. It was the reaffirmation of a mighty tradition that stretched well before the European three-peat so well-known outside Croatia, or the four Yugoslav leagues and two Yugoslav cups won almost simultaneously in the late 1980s. Way back in 1972, in fact, Jugoplastika had been on the cusp of a European crown but lost in the final by a single point to the mightiest power of the era, Ignis Varese of Italy. During that decade, Jugoplastika made its name, winning two Yugoslav league titles, three national cup crowns and a pair of Korac Cups, in 1976 and 1977. The taste for consecutive titles was being cultivated even then. After the great successes of 1989-1991, Split did not sleep. It put together a string of three Croatian Cup victories from 1992 to 1994 and tacked on a fourth in 1997. But a league crown was elusive until last season, when legend Dino Radja returned to help complete the effort. Radja then retired to become president of the club, assuring that the name Split will never be far from a discussion of the greatest European teams ever.

TROPHY CASE:

(*) European Championship League
1989, 1990, 1991
(*) Korac cup
1976, 1977
(*) Croatian League
2003
(*) Croatian cup
1992, 1993, 1994, 1997
(*) Yugoslavian league
1971, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
(*) Yugoslavian cup
1972, 1974, 1977, 1990, 1991

 

2002/03		overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
1	@Zadar	102	57.9	23	31	74.2	10	26	38.5	26	36	72.2	20	4	13	5	12	3	0	19	0	82
2	Borac	89	46.9	23	39	59.0	7	25	28.0	22	27	81.5	18	10	17	10	14	6	0	25	0	72
3	@Široki	64	40.7	20	40	50.0	4	19	21.1	12	14	85.7	23	7	5	3	20	2	0	22	0	25
4	Zagreb	63	32.8	14	41	34.1	6	20	30.0	17	19	89.5	13	12	8	11	22	5	0	25	0	22
5	@Laško	84	46.7	21	44	47.7	7	16	43.8	21	27	77.8	16	11	3	9	11	0	5	19	27	77
6	Bosna	80	40.6	20	42	47.6	6	22	27.3	22	29	75.9	18	13	16	15	12	1	0	26	0	60
7	@Krka	68	48.2	26	44	59.1	1	12	8.3	13	16	81.3	12	9	7	3	14	0	0	26	0	27
8	@Cibona	88	50.0	23	39	59.0	6	19	31.6	24	35	68.6	16	9	11	14	9	3	0	22	0	70
9	Zvezda	95	45.7	30	56	53.6	7	25	28.0	14	28	50.0	27	11	12	15	16	2	0	30	0	58
10	Maccabi	64	31.3	15	43	34.9	6	24	25.0	16	20	80.0	16	7	6	9	9	0	0	21	0	22
11	Olimpija	68	37.5	18	49	36.7	6	15	40.0	14	19	73.7	17	10	6	12	14	0	0	23	0	31
12	@Borac	77	42.6	17	40	42.5	6	14	42.9	25	40	62.5	21	14	3	4	14	4	0	16	26	73
13	Zadar	82	40.0	21	50	42.0	9	25	36.0	13	18	72.2	14	13	10	9	8	1	0	24	0	47
14	Široki	80	45.0	21	42	50.0	6	18	33.3	20	27	74.1	21	6	7	7	6	3	0	25	0	53
15	@Zagreb	86	58.2	25	39	64.1	7	16	43.8	15	21	71.4	22	9	9	8	18	1	0	24	0	64
16	Laško	88	50.0	24	41	58.5	7	21	33.3	19	21	90.5	23	12	9	11	19	2	0	18	0	75
17	@Bosna	97	55.9	26	38	68.4	7	21	33.3	24	30	80.0	17	6	18	10	15	2	0	28	0	75
18	Krka	78	50.0	21	39	53.8	7	17	41.2	15	21	71.4	17	7	10	11	9	4	0	20	0	64
19	Cibona	77	52.6	23	34	67.6	7	23	30.4	10	20	50.0	16	8	8	10	13	0	0	27	0	42
20	@Zvezda	66	42.6	19	43	44.2	7	18	38.9	7	13	53.8	13	8	6	4	15	0	2	17	20	42
21	@Maccabi	80	40.6	26	57	45.6	2	12	16.7	22	33	66.7	20	9	14	6	8	1	7	13	24	74
22	@Olimpija	71	48.1	22	44	50.0	3	8	37.5	18	23	78.3	21	8	11	8	17	4	3	24	20	67
22	7:15 Total	1747	45.3	478	935		134	416		389	537		401	203	209	194	295	44	17	494	117	1222
	Average	79.4	45.3	51.1			32.2			72.4			18.2	9.2	9.5	8.8	13.4	2.0	0.8	22.5	5.3	55.5
	Season max	102	58.2	74.2%			43.8%			90.5%			27	14	18	15	22	6	7	30	27	82

2002/03				overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		GP	Min	Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
4	Subotić, S.	20	553:01	174	37.2	28	68	41.2	20	61	32.8	58	76	76.3	31	8	43	21	33	2	5	65	15	92
5	Mimica, I.	20	439:38	161	32.3	30	71	42.3	23	93	24.7	32	38	84.2	27	10	16	18	29	3	1	54	4	38
5	Perić, H.	3	33:00	10	50.0	5	10	50.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	1	1	1	0	1	3	1	7
6	Modrič, S.	3	13:58	0	0.0	0	1	0.0	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	-1
6	Zdovc, J.	3	93:47	25	53.8	1	3	33.3	6	10	60.0	5	6	83.3	4	0	6	9	7	0	0	11	3	22
7	Jelaska, L.	11	82:58	14	40.0	5	10	50.0	1	5	20.0	1	6	16.7	5	2	4	5	9	0	0	15	0	-8
8	Žižić, A.	18	543:35	313	56.0	117	204	57.4	0	5	0.0	79	103	76.7	92	56	17	23	33	5	2	67	27	315
9	Rančić, D.	19	475:47	146	38.9	28	69	40.6	21	57	36.8	27	37	73.0	34	14	29	19	31	4	1	47	5	85
9	Sesar, J.	3	92:25	54	47.5	9	14	64.3	10	26	38.5	6	9	66.7	5	0	7	5	11	0	0	11	0	25
10	Ukić, R.	22	687:47	287	37.1	64	150	42.7	31	106	29.2	66	87	75.9	31	13	47	40	41	6	1	51	15	164
11	Pašalić, D.	18	448:12	197	58.1	70	116	60.3	9	20	45.0	30	44	68.2	65	38	7	19	29	10	1	49	11	197
12	Kedžo, M.	21	435:07	152	49.6	53	106	50.0	5	11	45.5	31	40	77.5	27	17	15	19	37	1	1	54	13	84
13	Delić, N.	15	152:22	58	56.4	22	39	56.4	0	0	0	14	27	51.9	13	14	4	4	8	1	2	14	5	45
14	Rađa, D.	3	101:15	68	65.0	26	40	65.0	0	0	0	16	23	69.6	24	4	3	1	11	8	0	8	5	73
14	Kaštropil, F.	16	127:55	41	54.5	12	22	54.5	0	0	0	17	31	54.8	20	18	2	2	9	2	0	29	11	34
15	Oršulić, H.	12	195:28	47	48.5	8	12	66.7	8	21	38.1	7	10	70.0	19	9	6	7	6	2	2	14	2	50

FG2, FG3 - Field Goals; FT - Free Throws; Min - Minutes; Pts - Points; M - Made; A - Attempted; Blck - Blocks; Fv - in Favoure of; Ag - Against; Foul - Foul; Cm - Committed; Rv - Received; Rebs - Rebounds; D - Defensive; O - Offensive; Ass - Assists; St - Steals; To - Turnover; Val - rank Value;