BC Donetsk

BC Donetsk
Nickname	Tigers
Leagues	Ukrainian SuperLeague VTB United League Eurocup
Founded	2006
Folded	2014
History	BC Donetsk (2006-present)
Arena	SH "Druzhba" (capacity: 4,700 seats)
Location	Donetsk, Ukraine
Team colors	Orange and black
President	Sergei Dyadechko
Championships	1 Ukrainian SuperLeague 2012 1 Ukrainian Second League 2008 1 Ukrainian Third League 2007
Website	bc.donetsk.ua
Uniforms
Home Away

BC Donetsk was a Ukrainian professional basketball club, based in Donetsk. The team played in the Ukrainian SuperLeague. The mascot of the team was a tiger, and this also appeared on their team logo; and "The Tigers" was also the team nickname.

History

In Soviet times, there was one professional basketball team in Donetsk, called Shakhtyor. It had the reputation of a strong-willed cup fighter. After Ukraine gained its independence, "miners" once took second and once third place in the National Championship, and played 24 games in Euro cups.

In 2006, a new club was found to continue basketball traditions of the Donbass capital, it was named BC Donetsk. Initiator and the founder of a new club was Valery Plekhanov, who also became its coach, and started playing in the Ukrainian first league, which is the third highest league in Ukraine. At their first season (2006–07) there the team finished first with an amazing record of 34 wins in 34 games, and was promoted to the Ukrainian higher league, which is the second highest league in Ukraine. At that season (2007–08) the team won 53 out of 56 games, one of the leaders of the team Konstantin Galenkin was announced The Best Center Forward of the tournament. So BC "Donetsk" first in its history was promoted to the Ukrainian Basketball Super League. At the same season the team finally found a sponsor: Sergei Dyadechko, who also became the president of the club.^[1] Even though just promoted, the team received a wild card to play in the EuroChallenge 2008–09.^[2] The person who helped BC Donetsk to get its wild card was Sergei Bubka.^[3]

Just before the start of new 2008–09 season a new coach was invited to lead a team, Olympic champion Igors Miglinieks. Also to reinforce the team before new season some famous legionaries and candidates for the national teams of Ukraine, Belarus and Puerto Rico appeared in BC Donetsk.

The team has set very ambitious goals to achieve: to become a prize winner of the Ukrainian Basketball Super League already in the first year of taking part in this competition and to show a good game in its debut in EuroChallenge.

Talisman of team is "Tiger". Color scale of a game form is white, black and orange colors. The tiger — one of the largest predators of family cats, symbolizes grace, dexterity and huge power. Donetsk "Tiger" is a symbol of activity, fight, commitment and success. White color symbolizes purity, virtue and pleasure, black color in many martial arts means the highest rank, and orange — color of a holiday and nobility.

The Donetsk basketball club is played in sport center by Druzhba — one of the best arenas in Ukraine.

Since the 2008–09 season, the team plays in the Superleague of Ukraine. BC Donetsk took the second place in the season 2008–09, having changed in a semi-final of BC Kyiv, and having lost BC Azovmash in the final.

The 2009–10 season, BC Donetsk didn't finish up to the end. The president of Donetsk Tigers — Dyadechko S. V. left a post of the president of club for the personal reasons. The team refused competitions and declared the closing, in communication of absence of financing. Players of the main structure were dismissed and passed to a rank «free agents». At the beginning of 2010, later few months, the management of team found financial support at party leadership of Regions and a number of deputies which found possibility for financing of BC "Donetsk" and child-youthful sports school of club.

Since a season of 2010–11, BC Donetsk plays again in the SuperLeague. The Serbian expert — Saša Obradović became the head coach. Again having reached the final, BC Donetsk in the seventh game, on a house ground, loses to the Kiev club BC Budivelnik, having become once again the silver champion of the SuperLeague. As this season brought "bronze" in the SuperLeague Cup.

In the season of 2011–12, BC Donetsk participates in Eurocup. It is unprecedented for Donetsk basketball, having reached to Top 8, Donetsk conceded to the Lithuanian BC Lietuvos rytas. This season Donetsk team for the first time in its history gained title of the Champions of Superleague.

Results

Season by season results of the club in national, cup and European competitions.

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Postseason	Ukrainian Cup	VTB United League	European competitions
2010–11	1	SuperLeague	1	Finalist	–	–	3 EuroChallenge – Regular season
2011–12	1	SuperLeague	1	Champion	–	–	2 Eurocup – Quarterfinalist
2012–13	1	SuperLeague	6	Quarterfinalist	–	Last 16	2 Eurocup – Regular season
2013–14	1	SuperLeague	4	Fourth–place	Finalist	Group stage	–

Roster

BC Donetsk roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age 6 Killingsworth, Marco 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 7 Burenko, Pavel 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 8 Tsintsadze, Giorgi 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 9 Konate, Maks Adam 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 12 Kornienko, Maksym 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 14 Antypov, Oleksandr 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 22 Mitchell, Darrel 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 23 Boiarkin, Igor 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 24 Gliebov, Dmitro 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 32 King, Bernard 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 33 Ikovlev, Denys 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 34 McCauley, Ben 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 107 kg (236 lb)	Head coach Valeriy Plekhanov Assistant coach(es) Valeriy Drozdov Oleksiy Tsymbal Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: September 20, 2013

References

1. BC.Donetsk.ua - history. (Russian)
2. FIBAEurope.com
3. BC.Donetsk.ua (Russian)

External links

• Official Website (Russian)
• Ukrainian Basketball Federation Team Profile (Ukrainian)/(English)