May 17, 2012
The Club Scene: Lokomotiv Kuban
Dmitri Sokolov - Lokomotiv Kuban (photo Fibaeurope.com)Eurocup newcomer PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban has shown it belongs at the top levels of European basketball in recent seasons. After reaching the FIBA EuroChallenge title game last season, Lokomotiv marched to the Last 16 in its Eurocup debut and enters the new stage with confidence to keep going. With coaching legend Bozidar Maljkovic on the sidelines, an experienced roster and passionate fans, Lokomotiv is a team to watch this season as it looks to add to a lengthy basketball tradition representing the North Caucasus region.

The club’s story begins in 1946 when it was founded with little fanfare in Mineralnye Vody, which was along the Ordzhonikidzevskaya Railway. Less than 150 people–mostly students – made up the club in its early years. Many of the people in the region were associated with the railway work, which is how the club came to be known as Lokomotiv. An engineer from Moscow who moved to the area, Gregory Abugova, also had experience coaching basketball. With his passion for basketball fueling the club, it began to grow and over the years he helped develop many outstanding players, several of whom went on to become coaches.

Over the years, Lokomotiv remained a club of regional interest. Its climb to the forefront began in 1994 when it advanced to the top league in Russia. After years of nurturing youth programs, the club had the structure and stability needed to succeed. Lokomotiv made its European debut in the 1998-99 Korac Cup and that exposure helped the club grow. Playing its home games at a new complex in Rostov-on-Don, the team scored 100 points in besting Ukrainian side Shakhtyor as Denys Zhuravlov paced six Lokomotiv scorers in double figures with 16 points. Despite winning all its home games, Lokomotiv was unable to advance past the group stage. Nevertheless, the path to greatness had been started. The following season, Lokomotiv remained strong at home and advanced one stage in the Korac Cup before bowing out.

The ushering in of the new millennium also brought with it Lokomotiv’s first trophy. The 2000 Russian Cup took place in Sochi and Lokomotiv galloped past worthy rivals before taking down Spartak St. Petersburg in the title game 79-70. The team started to take on more of an international flavor with players from near and far playing big roles. The foursome of Oleg Melechtchenko, Oliver Popovic, Harold Deane and Uladzimir Karankevich were the heroes, while center Michael McDonald was the one of the best scorers in the Korac Cup. A third place finish in the Russian League proved that Lokomotiv was anything but a fluke.

Aleksandar Capin - Lokomotiv Kuban (photo Fibaeurope.com)Each successive season proved to be even better than the previous. In 2002, Lokomotiv nearly shocked Europe when Eurelijus Zukauskas and Goran Jagodnik helped guide the team within a few baskets of winning the Korac Cup. After hurdling well-established teams like PAOK and Maroussi of Greece and Prokom of Poland, Lokomotiv reached the Korac Cup finals against SLUC Nancy. In the end a 26-point loss at Nancy in the first leg was too much to overcome, even though Lokomotiv rallied to win the second game by 21. By reaching the Russian League semifinals for the second year in a row and then beating Saratov for third place, teams across Europe were forced to notice Lokomotiv’s continuing growth.

But the 2002-03 season did not match the feats of previous years. After falling to CSKA in the Russian League quarterfinals, Lokomotiv packed up and left Mineralnye Vody. That summer the club officially moved to the city of Rostov and continued to challenge. Signs a big 2004-05 season was on the horizon came from victories over Euroleague regular Union Olimpija and Serbian power Red Star in a preseason tourney. Lokomotiv won its first nine games in the FIBA Europe Cup and eventually reached the title game. However, despite the best efforts of Jarod Stevenson and Igor Kudelin, Lokomotiv lost in the closing seconds 75-74 to CSU Asesoft in the final in Romania.

Lokomotiv became a familiar face in the FIBA EuroCup. In 2006 it bowed out only in the quarterfinals to eventual champions DKV Joventut and Rudy Fernandez. The next year the club put an emphasis on an important off court goal. Lokomotiv organized a school basketball league, which then spurred a second streetball competition. Both proved to be important and popular social activities for youth across the region and helped foster the club’s popularity even more.

Another turning point in Lokomotiv’s history came in 2009 when the club moved its home to Krasnodar and chose the name Lokomotiv-Kuban. Krasnodar had a local team that competed successfully in the Soviet League in the 1970s and ‘80s, but was not in the top Russian League in the new millennium. To begin the Lokomotiv-Kuban era, management reached out to Saso Filipovski to coach and led by Pero Antic and Aleksandar Capin, Lokomotiv was second in Russia midway through the regular season. But a losing streak in the FIBA EuroChallenge sent the team into a tailspin. Kestutis Kemzura took over as head coach and James Gist and Gerald Green were signed in place of Antic and Capin. After finishing in fifth place on a tiebreaker to Dynamo Moscow, the teams met in an exciting quarterfinal that went the distance before the team from the capital city eliminated Lokomotiv.

Primoz Brezec - Lokomotiv KubanLast season was another great one for Lokomotiv as Jeremiah Massey, Mike Wilkinson and Lionel Chalmers took it to finish third in the Russian League regular season and reach the playoff semifinals for the first time in nearly a decade before falling to mighty CSKA. And on the continental front, the team plowed through to the FIBA EuroChallenge – including a two-game sweep of Dynamo – and beat Spartak to reach the title game against Krka Novo Mesto in Oostende, Belgium. Lokomotiv was once again close to a continental title after leading by 8 with four minutes to go, however it failed to score again until there were 5 seconds left as Krka rallied to win the game and title. Despite the disappointment, Lokomotiv finished the Russian League regular season third and was only knocked out of the playoffs by mighty CSKA. Those results all helped Lokomotiv arrive this season to the Eurocup for the first time.

With the Eurocup as a new target, Lokomotiv pulled out all the stops this season. The keys were handed to three-time Euroleague champion head coach Maljkovic and Ali Traore and Primoz Brezec joined Massey inside, while Sergey Bykov and Rod Blakney joined Chalmers in the backcourt. Thus far the results a promising: A perfect record at home and a four-game winning streak helped Lokomotiv place second in regular season Group E. The task that now awaits in the Last 16 won’t be easy, but 66 years of great basketball played under the Lokomotiv banner have proven that when the going gets tough, this team has the ability to steamroll opponents.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Eurocupbasketball.com
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