Rahul Sharma (Editor)

1971–72 Yugoslav First Basketball League

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Sport
  
Basketball

Season champions
  
Crvena Zvezda

League
  
Yugoslav First Basketball League

Notable events

  • The season began in early November 1971 with Crvena zvezda, defending champion Jugoplastika, Lokomotiva, and Olimpija tipped as main title contenders by the observers.
  • Olimpija fell out of the title contention almost immediately, recording several losses in their first few games of the season while Crvena zvezda and Lokomotiva jumped to the top of the standings early on. Jugoplastika also kept pace with the standings leaders while Borac Čačak, finding success behind Radmilo Mišović's scoring exploits, and Radnički Belgrade became the early season's surprise packages.
  • In week 4 of the season, Crvena zvezda and Jugoplastika played a hard-fought game in Belgrade's Hala sportova with Zvezda coming out on top 98-86. In addition to highly competitive basketball and Zoran Slavnić's exceptional performance, the game is also remembered for the bench-clearing brawl that occurred with four minutes to go in the contest after Jugoplastika's point guard Rato Tvrdić punched Zvezda's shooting guard Duci Simonović.

    • One-game playoff for the championship

    Due to Crvena zvezda and Jugoplastika being tied for top spot with identical 17-5 records after the end of the regular season, the champion was decided in an one-game playoff between the two teams since, as stipulated by the Yugoslav Basketball Federation (KSJ) regulations, the league champion couldn't be decided on basket difference in case of a tie at the top. The regulations further stated that the venue for the deciding game had to be neutral and mutually agreed between the two teams. Crvena zvezda wanted Sarajevo as the venue while Jugoplastika wanted Ljubljana. Due to the teams' inability to agree, the venue was decided by coin toss that was won by Jugoplastika.

    Contents

    Accordingly, the game ended up being played in Ljubljana's Hala Tivoli on 27 April 1972.

    Crvena Zvezda vs Jugoplastika: 75-70 OT (35-39, 67-67)

    The winning roster of Crvena Zvezda:

  • Goran Rakočević
  • Zoran Lazarević
  • Ivan Sarjanović
  • Božidar Pešić
  • Vladimir Cvetković
  • Života Bogosavljević
  • Dragan Kapičić
  • Ljubodrag Simonović
  • Dragiša Vučinić
  • Zoran Latifić
  • Tihomir Pavlović
  • Zoran Slavnić
  • Risto Kubura
  • Ljupče Žugić
  • Bogosav Stefanović

    • Coach: Bratislav Đorđević

    Scoring leaders

    1. Radmilo Mišović (Borac Čačak) - 658 points (31.3 ppg)

    Qualification in 1972-73 season European competitions

    FIBA European Champions Cup

  • Crvena Zvezda (Champions)

    • FIBA Cup Winner's Cup

  • Jugoplastika (Cup winners)

    • FIBA Korać Cup

  • Lokomotiva (3rd)
  • Rabotnički (5th)

    • References

    1971–72 Yugoslav First Basketball League Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA