In the decade-and-a-half since its inceptions, Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius has blossomed from an entertaining local side that produces great Lithuanian talent into a legitimate European powerhouse that is a threat in every competition it plays. With two Eurocup titles plus a trip to the competition’s title game in addition to three times reaching the Euroleague Top 16, Rytas has put itself in truly elite company. The club was founded in 1997 and from the very beginning has thrived under the sponsor whose name it takes, Lietuvos Rytas, the biggest daily newspaper in Lithuania. Lietuvos Rytas came to fill a hole left by what had been Vilnius's main basketball club, Statyba, which was founded in 1964 and had finished third in the Soviet Union championship back in 1979. But Rytas has already far surpassed those results.