BC UNICS

BC UNICS
BC UNICS
	BC UNICS logo
Leagues	PBL; VTB United League; Eurocup
Founded	1991
History	1991-present
Arena	Basket Hall Arena ; (capacity: 7,500)
Location	Kazan, Russia
Team colors	Green and White;
President	Yevgeny Bogachev
Head coach	Andrea Trinchieri
Championships	2 Russian Cups; (2003; 2009); 1 North European Basketball League; (2003); 1FIBA Europe League; (2004); 1 Eurocup
Website	unics.ru
Home	Away

BC UNICS (Russian: БК "УНИКС") is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia playing in the PBL. Their home arena is Basket Hall Arena.

Though officially the professional club was founded in 1991 (when began its appearance at the lowest of pro leagues), UNICS traces its origin back to KSU's college team Burevestnik which participated in USSR student championships since 1957 winning all-Soviet college title twice - in 1965 and 1970. Because of this the name 'UNICS' is quite an abbreviation - UNI(versity), C(ulture), S(port).

In 1997 it was promoted to the Russian Basketball Super League 'A', the top Russian league. A year later Yevgeny Bogachev, the chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Tatarstan, became the President of the club.

History

The club has gone a long way towards helping Russian basketball since the club was established in 1991. Between 1994 and 1997, UNICS secured a berth in Russia's first division, and then made a smashing debut, establishing itself among the top five teams in the country. UNICS already played European competitions in 1997, but the new millennium happened to be a turning point for the club. The team placed second to CSKA in the Russian Basketball Super League in 2001 and 2002, the year in which it also reached the Saporta Cup semifinals, losing against Maroussi in the semifinals. UNICS first title was the Russian Cup in March 2003, with an electrifying 81-82 overtime victory over CSKA. UNICS fans did not have to wait long to see their team win a European title, too. Kazan hosted the FIBA Europe League final four, named now FIBA EuroCup, in April 2004 and UNICS made sure of its opportunity. UNICS signed Saulius Štombergas, Eurelijus Žukauskas or Chris Anstey, won its regular season group and advanced to the final four on its own floor, where it was crowned the FIBA Europe League champion as MVP Martin Müürsepp scored 22 points in an 87-63 win over Maroussi in the title game. By 2005-06, UNICS went one level up and made its ULEB Cup debut, tying the best regular season record in the competition's history. Things turned south quickly, as it lost at home against Roma for the only time all season in the eighth finals’ second leg and crashed out earlier than expected. UNICS got stronger for last season, keeping the core group of the previous seasons side while adding Darjuš Lavrinovič to reunite with twin brother Kšyštof Lavrinovič in a twin towers set full of talent. The team made it to the ULEB Cup semifinals before losing to eventual champs Real Madrid. It also returned to the Russian League finals, losing against perennial champion CSKA. UNICS is back in the ULEB Cup with the only goal to reach even higher and make the city of Kazan proud of its mighty basketball team.

In 2007-08, UNICS made it to the ULEB Cup Final Eight, but fell to Akasvayu Girona in the quarterfinals. Last season UNICS broke through in the Eurocup, winning its regular season and Last 16 groups before sweeping its quarterfinal series against Pepsi Caserta. Once in Finals, Unics thrashed KK Cedevita 87–66 in the semifinals behind 27 points from Lyday and registered a no-doubt-about-it 92–77 win against Cajasol Sevilla in the title game. Popovic had 18 points and a Eurocup final record 11 assists to lead UNICS to the title. In the Russian League, UNICS marched to a 21–6 record to finish the regular season atop the standings with room to spare, but then went out in the playoff semifinals after a grueling five-game duel against BC Khimki. Now this blossoming club enters new waters eager to prove it belongs among the continent’s best in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.

On the heels of one of the greatest seasons in club history, UNICS looks to continue Its rise to greatness as it makes its Euroleague debut. The reigning Eurocup champion was a force to be reckoned with last year, not only marching through the Eurocup, but also making noise in the Russian League, where it finished first at the end of the regular season and reached the playoff semifinals. One of the secrets to the club’s success is that it has managed to keep a core of star players for several years. Players like Marko Popović, Maciej Lampe, Terrell Lyday, Vladimir Veremeenko and Kelly McCarty have helped write a golden chapter in UNICS history. Before that, UNICS put Kazan, Russia, on the European basketball map and became the perfect ambassador for the sports-crazy Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian federation.

Recent seasons

Season	Division	Regular	Play-off	Cup	Europe	Regional
1997-98	Superleague A	5th (West)	7th	n/a	Korać Cup Group stage	n/a
1998-99	Superleague A	5th	5th	n/a	Saporta Cup 1/16 Finals	n/a
1999-00	Superleague A	3rd	Bronze	n/p	Korać Cup 1/16 Finals	n/p
2000-01	Superleague A	2nd	Silver	n/a	Saporta Cup 1/2 Finals	n/p
2001-02	Superleague A	2nd	Silver	n/a	Saporta Cup 1/4 Finals	n/p
2002-03	Superleague A	3rd	Bronze	Winner	FIBA Champions Cup 1/4 Finals	NEBL Winner
2003-04	Superleague A	2nd	Silver	3rd	FIBA Europe League Winner	n/a
2004-05	Superleague A	3rd	Bronze	Finalist	FIBA Europe League 1/4 Finals	n/a
2005-06	Superleague A	4th	4th	3rd	ULEB Cup 1/8 Finals	n/a
2006-07	Superleague A	2nd	Silver	Finalist	ULEB Cup 1/2 Finals	n/a
2007-08	Superleague A	3rd	6th	1/2 Finals	ULEB Cup 1/4 Finals (Final Eight)	n/a
2008-09	Superleague A	4th	Bronze	Winner	Eurocup Top-16 stage	n/p
2009-10	Superleague A	3rd	Bronze	Finalist	Eurocup Top-16 stage	VTB League Finalist
2010-11	PBL	1st	Bronze	n/p	Eurocup Winner	VTB League 3rd
2011-12	PBL	6th	5th	n/p	Euroleague Basketball 1/4 Finals	VTB League Finalist

Roster

Template:BC UNICS Kazan

Depth Chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench	Reserve
C	Ian Vougioukas	Aleksandr Dedushkin
PF	Marko Banić	Vladimir Veremeenko	Mike Wilkinson	Pavel Antipov
SF	Kostas Kaimakoglou	Chuck Eidson	Kelly McCarty	Igor Zamanski
SG	Terrell Lyday	Viktor Zvarykin
PG	Petr Samoylenko	Mire Chatman	Pavel Sergeyev

Notable Russian players

bold - FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Ruslan Avleev (1997-01, 04-06) - 301 games, 19.2 ppg;
Victor Kurilchuk (1997-00) - 201 games, 8.9 ppg;
Eduard Soobtsokov (1997-00) - 204 games, 7 ppg;
Petr Samoylenko (1998-07, 08-13) - 774 games, 5.8 ppg;
Andrey Sepelev (1998–99) - 53 games, 11 ppg;
Anton Yudin (1999-03, 04-06) - 243 games, 10.7 ppg;
Alexander Petrenko (1999-00) - 58 games, 13.2 ppg;
Andrey Kornev (1999-01) - 76 games, 6.1 ppg;
Aleksandr Gutorov (1999-00) - 35 games, 8.4 ppg;
Evgeniy Pashutin (2000–02) - 86 games, 8.5 ppg;
Igor Grachev (2000–02) - 74 games, 8.6 ppg;
Valentin Kubrakov (2000–02, 03-04) - 121 games, 8.5 ppg;
Igor Zamansky (2001–03, 08-13) - 246 games, 5.3 ppg;

Igor Kudelin (2002–03, 06-07) - 35 games, 8.1 ppg;
Sergei Chikalkin (2002–03, 05-09) - 187 games, 10.6 ppg;
Andrei Fetisov (2002–03) - 20 games, 6.2 ppg;
Alexandr Miloserdov (2003–05, 06-07) - 125 games, 9.3 ppg;
Viktor Keirou (2003–05, 07-08) - 83 games, 5.4 ppg;
Sergei Toporov (2004–06) - 93 games, 7.3 ppg;
Vadim Panin (2006–07) - 35 games, 6.1 ppg;
Dmitri Sokolov (2006–09) - 128 games, 6.8 ppg;
Nikolay Padius (2007–08, 10-11) - 59 games, 5.3 ppg;
Fedor Likholitov (2009–10) - 10 games, 2.5 ppg;
Zakhar Pashutin (2010–12) - 102 games, 4.3 ppg;
Aleksey Savrasenko (2011–12) - 56 games, 4.6 ppg;
Artyom Yakovenko (2011–12) - 22 games, 6.2 ppg;
Nikita Shabalkin (2012–13) - 28 games, 6.3 ppg;

Notable foreign players

bold - former NBA players; Olympics, FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

USA

Glen Whisby (2000–01) - 51 games, 10.4 ppg;
Anthony Bonner (2001–02) - 8 games, 14.9 ppg;
Michael McDonald (2001–02) - 45 games; 12.2 ppg;
Acie Earl (2001–02) - 30 games, 11.8 ppg;
Dickey Simpkins* (2002–03) - 38 games, 12.3 ppg;
Kebu Stewart (2002–03) - 18 games, 8.3 ppg;
Lamar Greer (2003–04) - 41 games; 12 ppg;
Joe Ira Clark (2004–05) - 41 games, 7.8 ppg;
Paul Shirley (2004–05) - 9 games, 4.9 ppg;
Shammond Williams (2004–05) - 57 games, 17.1 ppg;
Travis Best (2005–06) - 40 games, 11.5 ppg;
Samaki Walker* (2005–06) - 4 games, 7 ppg;
Sam Clancy, Jr. (2005–06) - 30 games, 4 ppg;
Jarod Stevenson (2006–07) - 32 games; 10.4 ppg;
Mateen Cleaves (2006–07) - 11 games, 5 ppg;
Jamal McCullough (2006–08) - 80 games, 6.8 ppg;
Tariq Kirksay (2007–09) - 95 games, 9.3 ppg;
Joseph Forte (2007–08) - 11 games, 8.4 ppg;
Marc Jackson (2008–09) - 19 games, 6.5 ppg;
Terrell Lyday (2008–12) - 203 games, 12.6 ppg;
Kelly McCarty (2010–12) - 109 games, 9.8 ppg;
Ricky Minard (2010–11) - 48 games, 7.4 pts;
Henry Domercant (2011–12) - 58 games, 13.4 ppg;
Mike Wilkinson (2011–12) - 42 games, 8.2 ppg;
Lynn Greer (2011–12) - 55 games, 8 ppg;

Australia

Chris Anstey (2003–05) - 93 games, 13.1 ppg;
Nathan Jawai (2011–12) - 46 games, 8.7 ppg;

Europe

Slobodan Šljivančanin (1998-00) - 117 games, 10 ppg;
Leonid Yailo (2000–01) - 50 games, 13.5 ppg;
Branislav Vićentić (2001–02) - 29 games, 10.4 ppg;
Oliver Popović (2001–03) - 80 games, 14.6 ppg;
Damir Mršić (2002–03) - 31 games, 7.7 ppg;
Valery Dayneko (2002–03) - 35 games, 10 ppg;
Eurelijus Žukauskas (2002–04) - 78 games, 10 ppg;
Mykola Khryapa (2003–05) - 86 games, 6.1 ppg;
Martin Müürsepp (2003–04, 05-06) - 86 games, 11.3 ppg;
Saulius Štombergas (2003–04, 05-07, 09-10) - 144 games, 11 ppg;
Stevan Nađfeji (2004–05) - 40 games, 7.4 ppg;
Kaspars Kambala (2004–05) - 54 games, 14.5 ppg;
Egor Mesheryakov (2005–07) - 93 games, 10.2 ppg;
Kšyštof Lavrinovič (2005–07) - 78 games, 12.7 ppg;
Darjuš Lavrinovič (2006–08) - 68 games, 12.9 ppg;
Duško Savanović (2006–08) - 71 games, 10.3 ppg;
Marko Tušek (2007–08) - 36 games, 10.1 ppg;
Krešimir Lončar (2008–10) - 114 games, 11.8 ppg;
Marko Popović (2008–11) - 142 games, 13.9 ppg;
Vladimir Veremeenko (2008–12) - 205 games, 8.7 ppg;
Maciej Lampe (2009–11) - 96 games, 15.9 ppg;
Hasan Rizvić (2010–11) - 64 games, 5.4 ppg;
Slavko Vraneš (2010–11) - 39 games, 2.6 ppg;
Boštjan Nachbar (2011–12) - 22 games, 3.6 ppg;

Milan Gurović (2004) and Hüseyin Beşok (2005) shortly were under contract with UNICS Kazan, but never played a single game for the team.

(*) former NBA champions

Coaches

bold - Olympics, FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Aleksandr Zryadchikov - 1994-96;
Georgy Korolev - 1996-98;
Dragan Višnjevac - 1998;
Yevgeny Kovalenko - 1998-00;
Stanislav Eremin - 2000-06;
Antanas Sireika - 2006-08;
Aco Petrović - 2008-09;
Valdemaras Chomičius - 2009-10;
Evgeniy Pashutin - 2010–12;
Aco Petrović - 2012–2013
Stanislav Eremin - 2013;
Andrea Trinchieri - 2013–present

External links

v t e Russian Professional Basketball League
Seasons	Derived from Basketball Super League 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 Merged into VTB United League
Clubs	CSKA Moscow Dynamo Moscow Khimki Moscow Region Krasnye Krylia Samara Lokomotiv-Kuban Krasnodar Nizhny Novgorod Spartak Primorye Spartak Saint Petersburg Triumph Lyubertsy UNICS Kazan Enisey Krasnoyarsk
Awards	PBL Awards
Other	Russian clubs in international competitions

v t e 2011–12 Eurocup
Champions	BC Khimki
Runners-up	Power Electronics Valencia
Third place	Lietuvos Rytas
Fourth place	Spartak St. Petersburg
Eliminated in the quarter-finals	Budućnost ČEZ Nymburk BC Donetsk Lokomotiv-Kuban
Eliminated in the last 16	Group I Group J Group K Group L BCM Gravelines VEF Rīga ASVEL Basket Aris Banvit BC Krka Alba Berlin Benetton Treviso
Eliminated in the regular season	Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H KK Cibona Hapoel Jerusalem P.A.O.K. Cholet Basket BC Rūdupis GasTerra Flames BC Oostende Lukoil Academic Gran Canaria Skyliners Frankfurt Le Mans BC Azovmash KK Cedevita Bayern Munich Dexia Mons-Hainaut Turów Zgorzelec
Eliminated in the qualifying round	Artland Dragons Beşiktaş Milangaz Élan Chalon ETHA Engomis Norrköping Dolphins Pınar Karşıyaka Prostějov Ventspils