The fact that BC Reflex can boast the second trophy of its 28-year history after so fine a 2002-03 season shows there is some justice at work in basketball. Though founded in 1975, FMP Zeleznik is a young team, having landed in the first division only in 1997. Already, the club was rightly considered one the best in Serbia at developing new talent. The heart and soul of the team from suburban Belgrade is Ratko Radovanovic, one of the best European centers during the 1970's and 1980's. Zeleznik didn't wait long to seize its first trophy opportunity in the big time, winning the Yugoslav cup in its first season, 1997. It then became a regular qualifier for the Korac and Saporta Cup competitions. But there were no other big successes until last season, when Zeleznik was arguably one of the best teams in Europe during a few months. First, Zeleznik posted the top record in the ULEB Cup regular season, 9-1, even beating eventual champ Pamesa Valencia in their group. At the same time, Zeleznik shot to the head of the YUBA League standings at home, staying there for most of the season. And during that same great stretch, Zeleznik rose up and won its second national cup. Despite great efforts, however, that was to be its only trophy. One bad game in the ULEB Cup quarterfinals against DKV Joventut of Spain ended the dream of a European crown. Then, its run to the domestic playoff finals ended on the wrong end of a sweep against Partizan. Zeleznik's talents attracted attention from big clubs on two continents, but its fans can rest assured that more great young players, and more trophy possibilities, are always on the way.

TROPHY CASE:

SCG Cup
1997, 2003

 

2003/04		overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
1	@Split	78	45.5	26	47	55.3	4	19	21.1	14	22	63.6	18	9	8	15	14	3	1	23	26	75
2	Slovan	93	55.0	27	45	60.0	6	15	40.0	21	24	87.5	16	13	15	8	13	4	1	22	24	107
3	@Banjalučka	75	48.9	14	23	60.9	8	22	36.4	23	29	79.3	19	4	4	11	7	2	3	30	27	73
4	Zagreb	77	50.9	22	38	57.9	7	19	36.8	12	16	75.0	20	7	15	10	15	4	1	23	22	84
5	@Zadar	82	45.8	15	32	46.9	12	27	44.4	16	23	69.6	20	7	14	10	9	4	2	27	25	85
6	@Olimpija	57	31.5	14	40	35.0	3	14	21.4	20	28	71.4	21	11	3	7	13	1	0	24	24	42
7	Laško	91	55.7	28	42	66.7	6	19	31.6	17	21	81.0	18	7	13	7	14	5	1	28	23	90
8	@Lovćen	69	45.3	19	33	57.6	5	20	25.0	16	28	57.1	16	13	10	7	14	6	2	17	27	74
9	Široki	92	55.7	28	38	73.7	6	23	26.1	18	21	85.7	17	7	13	15	13	7	0	18	20	110
10	@Cibona	82	48.3	19	35	54.3	9	23	39.1	17	21	81.0	18	3	14	7	11	4	4	19	25	85
11	Krka	86	54.5	23	38	60.5	7	17	41.2	19	29	65.5	13	8	10	12	12	4	1	18	27	94
12	@Zvezda	76	40.4	15	28	53.6	8	29	27.6	22	28	78.6	13	5	9	15	13	2	1	30	26	62
13	Budućnost	96	58.5	31	49	63.3	7	16	43.8	13	16	81.3	15	10	16	13	18	6	2	20	16	102
14	Split	106	57.6	33	49	67.3	5	17	29.4	25	33	75.8	24	13	12	14	8	0	2	17	28	134
15	@Slovan	84	58.8	24	35	68.6	6	16	37.5	18	22	81.8	18	8	11	8	9	5	1	16	23	106
16	Banjalučka	84	57.1	21	30	70.0	7	19	36.8	21	29	72.4	22	6	9	5	16	1	2	23	31	88
17	@Zagreb	78	52.1	19	33	57.6	6	15	40.0	22	31	71.0	25	5	15	5	10	5	2	22	32	99
18	Zadar	98	56.5	29	48	60.4	10	21	47.6	10	14	71.4	16	6	14	11	5	3	1	20	17	105
19	Olimpija	91	65.2	22	32	68.8	8	14	57.1	23	29	79.3	24	4	10	6	14	3	2	26	23	97
20	@Laško	70	61.0	22	33	66.7	3	8	37.5	17	21	81.0	17	2	9	13	16	5	2	16	23	85
21	Lovćen	105	61.7	27	42	64.3	10	18	55.6	21	26	80.8	21	9	17	7	9	1	2	24	21	118
22	@Široki	87	64.0	26	32	81.3	6	18	33.3	17	23	73.9	18	3	14	7	8	7	1	26	24	101
23	Cibona	77	48.2	19	33	57.6	8	23	34.8	15	23	65.2	20	6	15	8	14	2	1	25	25	76
24	@Krka	71	56.5	18	30	60.0	8	16	50.0	11	18	61.1	23	4	8	3	15	4	1	27	25	68
25	Zvezda	99	59.2	24	38	63.2	5	11	45.5	36	51	70.6	16	7	11	9	10	3	3	24	36	109
26	@Budućnost	83	53.3	30	44	68.2	2	16	12.5	17	21	81.0	20	5	10	3	8	1	1	23	25	83
27	Zvezda	113	46.2	32	60	53.3	4	18	22.2	37	57	64.9	22	16	14	18	13	3	2	36	40	113
28	@Cibona	71	35.2	14	37	37.8	5	17	29.4	28	39	71.8	27	9	11	6	9	4	2	27	33	77
28	21:7 Total	2371	52.2	641	1064		181	510		546	743		537	207	324	260	330	99	44	651	718	2542
	Average	84.7	52.2	60.2			35.5			73.5			19.2	7.4	11.6	9.3	11.8	3.5	1.6	23.3	25.6	90.8
	Season max	113	65.2	81.3%			57.1%			87.5%			27	16	17	18	18	7	4	36	40	134

2003/04				overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		GP	Min	Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
5	Freeman, R.	14	372:00	161	47.6	38	70	54.3	12	35	34.3	49	64	76.6	26	15	25	18	28	1	6	27	44	159
7	Stefanović, S.	14	229:30	120	51.4	17	28	60.7	19	42	45.2	29	31	93.5	8	5	18	7	16	0	0	36	25	95
14	Aškrabić, O.	24	632:45	361	62.7	126	184	68.5	17	44	38.6	58	86	67.4	83	30	59	34	39	22	1	53	80	463
15	Smith, M.	13	270:00	118	39.8	24	40	60.0	17	63	27.0	19	21	90.5	23	14	10	12	17	5	2	26	15	88
17	Zoroski, I.	21	547:00	259	51.8	54	86	62.8	32	80	40.0	55	71	77.5	26	4	41	33	33	1	4	60	67	238
18	Jorović, B.	28	596:15	223	47.2	37	65	56.9	31	79	39.2	56	76	73.7	47	13	20	28	24	4	1	95	73	192
20	Mandić, V.	20	291:15	92	34.6	18	40	45.0	9	38	23.7	29	35	82.9	20	3	25	17	10	1	2	17	34	106
21	Krstović, B.	26	397:00	106	58.3	36	56	64.3	6	16	37.5	16	28	57.1	15	9	19	15	20	1	3	53	32	79
22	Popović, B.	27	629:15	175	46.6	39	75	52.0	9	28	32.1	70	78	89.7	50	11	57	40	25	1	6	81	119	278
23	Vasić, N.	7	48:00	20	44.4	6	8	75.0	2	10	20.0	2	2	100.0	3	0	3	1	4	0	1	7	1	6
32	Majstorović, M.	26	353:45	142	62.2	54	82	65.9	2	8	25.0	28	37	75.7	45	31	11	13	18	19	2	47	29	180
33	Ilić, M.	14	115:15	43	51.7	15	28	53.6	0	1	0.0	13	17	76.5	9	4	3	0	7	3	1	12	15	39
34	Pantić, M.	4	45:15	10	36.4	4	11	36.4	0	0	0	2	2	100.0	5	6	2	1	1	0	0	8	5	13
35	Plisnić, V.	28	558:15	262	51.3	72	128	56.3	25	61	41.0	43	67	64.2	85	24	20	23	36	16	10	55	57	270
42	Ffriend, K.	22	498:30	250	60.4	90	146	61.6	0	3	0.0	70	119	58.8	84	32	9	15	49	24	5	63	114	303
44	Labović, D.	2	08:00	10	80.0	4	5	80.0	0	0	0	2	2	100.0	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	13
45	Aleksandrov, N.	1	05:30	8	100.0	3	3	100.0	0	0	0	2	3	66.7	0	3	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	11
50	Erceg, Z.	2	09:15	4	50.0	1	2	50.0	0	0	0	2	2	100.0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	3
55	Kasib, P.	3	42:15	7	33.3	3	7	42.9	0	2	0.0	1	2	50.0	6	0	1	3	2	0	0	6	4	6

FG2, FG3 - Field Goals; FT - Free Throws; Min - Minutes; Pts - Points; M - Made; A - Attempted; Blck - Blocks; Fv - in Favoure of; Ag - Against; Foul - Foul; Cm - Committed; Rv - Received; Rebs - Rebounds; D - Defensive; O - Offensive; Ass - Assists; St - Steals; To - Turnover; Val - rank Value;