Košarkarski klub Krka, commonly referred to as KK Krka or simply Krka, is a professional basketball team based in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. The team competes in the Premier A Slovenian Basketball League and the ABA League. The team's home arena is Leon Štukelj Hall.
History[]
1948–2002[]
The first basketball club in Novo Mesto was founded in 1948, but not until 1983, the year of its 35th anniversary, was the city able to celebrate the conquer of the Slovenian national championship. After that triumph, however, basketball saw a decline in Novo Mesto that lasted until after the separation of the Slovenian Republic from the former Yugoslavia. Soon the team was climbing through the second division to rejoin the Slovenian First League in 1997, when it also took the name of its sponsor, Krka. A fourth-place finish in the national league and third in the Slovenian Cup allowed the club to qualify for the Korać Cup for 1998–99. The big breakthrough came a year later, however, as Krka defeated historical rival Olimpija Ljubljana in the Slovenian playoff finals to win the national title. That year, the team also played the Saporta Cup and reached third place in the Slovenian Cup. In 2000–01, Krka consolidated its strength, but nonetheless fell to Olimpija in the finals. In 2001–02, Krka qualified for the Euroleague in a pre-season tournament and made its mark in a group of superpowers. Though Krka missed the Top 16, it was able to defeat all its opponents once, including names like Real Madrid, Panathinaikos, CSKA Moscow and Skipper Bologna. At home, Krka finished as the runners-up in the Adriatic League, in the Slovenian Championship and in the national cup, losing all three times to Olimpija.
2002–03 season: National champions, Eurocup runner-up[]
Krka zoomed to the 2003 ULEB Cup double finals, narrowly losing to Pamesa Valencia despite being the only ULEB Cup team to win in Valencia. Krka won their second Slovenian championship, beating Olimpija in the finals.
2003–04 season[]
Zoran Martić resigned during the season after poor results in the Euroleague, and was replaced by Petar Skansi. Krka finished Euroleague with only two wins. In the Adriatic League and in the Slovenian League, Krka finished in 7th place. Loss against Helios Domžale in quarterfinals implied drop from Adriatic League.
2005–06 season[]
The 2005–06 season was one of the worst in the club's history, after Krka finished in the last place after the regular season. In the releagtion part, Krka finished 9th and avoided relegation.
2007–08 season: qualified for ABA[]
In the 2007–08 season, Krka finished third in domestic league and replaced Geoplin Slovan in Adriatic League.
2008–09 season[]
Krka was one of three Slovenian clubs that represented Slovenia in the regional Adriatic League, finishing in 11th place. In 1. SKL Krka finished third.
2009–10 season: national champions, qualified for ABA[]
Aleksandar Džikić became head coach of the club in the 2009–10 season. Finished first after the regular part of the season and second in the champions league part, the team qualified to the semi-finals, where they defeated Helios 2–1 in series, reaching the finals for the first time since 2003. Krka defeated Olimpija 3–2 in the final and won the national title.
2010–11 season: national and Eurochallenge champions[]
Aleksandar Džikić was confirmed as head coach for the 2010–11 season. He got a new assistant coach for help, Aleksander Sekulić (confirmed on 21 June). Krka qualified for Adriatic League and decided to compete in the third rank European league called FIBA EuroChallenge. The season started with a win in the Slovenian Supercup, beating Olimpija in Maribor. Krka qualified for Adriatic League Final 4, where they lost against Olimpija in the semifinals. They also made it to the EuroChallenge Final 4 where they won club's first European trophy, beating Oostende in semifinal and Lokomotiv-Kuban in the final. They finished Slovenian league in the 1st place with one loss. In the semifinals Krka defeated Zlatorog 2–0. Successful season ended on 11 June after winning Slovenian League, beating Olimpija 3–2 in series. This was the fourth national trophy and second in the row.
2011–12 season: back to EuroCup, national champions[]
Krka competed in the ABA league, Eurocup, Slovenian Cup and Slovenian Telemach League. Coach Aleksandar Džikić was replaced with Nenad Trajković. Dušan Đorđević, Goran Ikonić, Dragiša Drobnjak and Chris Booker has left the club. Their replacement were Jaka Klobučar, Curtis Stinson, Marko Đurković, Jimmy Baxter and Jerome Jordan. The club had two players in the Slovenian national team, Edo Murić and Zoran Dragić. Krka had successfully started a season in October, winning Slovenian Supercup over Olimpija. In November, Jaka Klobučar and Curtis Stinson left the club. Jaka's wish was playing in a foreign country, while Stinson went to surgery (broken ankle). Krka bought Allan Ray who played only three games. After excellent performance against Le Mans he moved to France. His replacement was Mustafa Abdul-Hamid.
On 1 December, coach Nenad Trajković moved to the Phoenix Suns and it was replaced with his assistant Aleksander Sekulič. Also, Jerome Jordan left the club (NBA-out clause), along with Jimmy Baxter (denied documents) and Marko Đurković (poor performances). On 29 December Krka announced three new players, Ben Hansbrough from Bayern München, Uroš Lučić from Radnički Kragujevac, who already played for Krka in the 2009–10 season and Jure Lalić, who came from Cibona. In January 2012, club released Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, but after one month he came back to club in February 2012. The club also announced a new player on PG position. That became Afik Nissim. Season ended with winning fifth national championship, third in a row.
2012–13 season: return to Eurochallenge[]
Club competed in the ABA league, Slovenian Telemach League, EuroChallenge and Slovenian Cup. After winning national trophy in the previous season, Aleksander Sekulič continued as main coach. New assistant coach became Gašper Potočnik and former Krka player Simon Petrov. Club signed Jaka Klobučar, Jakov Vladović and Jurica Golemac and two youngsters, Erjon Kastrati and Tomaž Bolčina. Jure Balažić changed club and went to Turkey while Simon Petrov retired and became an assistant coach. Krka started season with Slovenian Supercup win over Olimpija (84–81) on 25 September in Grosuplje. On 30 December, Matjaž Smodiš and president Brane Kastelec announced his comeback to home club. Due to bad results, especially defeat in the semifinals of national cup against Helios on 11 February, main coach Aleksander Sekulić was released. Gašper Potočnik became a new head coach, who was previously an assistant. In March club signed combo guard Jerime Anderson, that played his first game in national championship against Helios. In the national league, Krka finished regular part in the first place with only one defeat (9–1). In the semifinals, the team won 2–0 against Zlatorog and advanced to the finals against Olimpija, where Krka won the series 3–1, clinching its fourth consecutive title and sixth overall. Last game had huge contribution of Matjaž Smodiš who scored 21 points and successfully ended his career.
2013–14 season: Džikić comeback[]
On June 18, 2013, Krka signed a two-year contract with Aleksandar Džikić. First team addition was Jasmin Hukić, signed on June 25. Club added Croatian power forward Zvonko Buljan and Slovenian guard Luka Lapornik on July 12.
National title in 2014 finals
On July 24, the club announced the signing of Derrick Nix on a three-year contract, but because of his improper behavior they terminated the contract and signed Chris Booker. American PG Malcolm Armstead joined club on July 30. In the middle of the season, Sani Bečirović, a well-known Slovenian international, joined the team. 2013–14 was the first season in which Krka won the national cup and after winning the national championship in May 2014, Krka won their first "double crown" in the history of the club. Jaka Klobučar was awarded with the Slovenian League MVP title. Krka finished in the seventh place in the Adriatic League, just a spot away from directly qualifying to EuroCup.
2014–15 season: cup winners, semifinals of national championship[]
On June 14, two new players were confirmed, Cameroonian Alexis Wangmene and Mirko Mulalić, while Smiljan Pavič, Jaka Klobučar, Sani Bečirović, Zvonko Buljan, Marko Pajić, and Edo Murić have left the club. Aleksandar Džikić kept his place as head coach. On June 26, 2014, ULEB decided that Krka can not play in its hall, resulting in absence in the European competitions for the first time in four years. Krka eventually played in the Slovenian and ABA league. On July 9, Krka signed one-year contract with former Slovenian national team player Nebojša Joksimović. In July, Krka announced that Christopher Booker decided to come back to Novo Mesto and extended contract. Before the start of the season, Krka won Slovenian Supercup against Olimpija. Season in ABA started great with 5–1 record, but it was followed by 1-9 defeat series. In January, new five win streak started and in February, the team won its second national cup against Zlatorog Laško. After eight defeats in first round of the Slovenian league, Krka finished first in the league for champion (8–2). After quarterfinal win against Portorož in the playoffs (2–0), the team was eliminated in the semifinals against Šentjur.
2015–16 season[]
On June 21, 2015, Ivan Velić was hired as a new head coach. Vladimir Anzulović became a new assistant coach, previously head coach of KK Kolpa Črnomelj.