UNICS Kazan
| BC UNICS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Leagues |
VTB United League EuroLeague |
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| Founded | 1991 | ||
| History | 1991–present | ||
| Arena | Basket-Hall Kazan | ||
| Capacity | 7,482 | ||
| Location | Kazan, Russia | ||
| Team colors | Green, White |
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| President | Yevgeny Bogachev | ||
| Team manager | Valery Kolesnikov | ||
| Head coach | Evgeniy Pashutin | ||
| Championships |
1 EuroCup 3 Russian Cups 1 North European League 1 EuroChallenge |
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| Website | unics.ru | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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BC UNICS (Russian: БК УНИКС) is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia, that plays in the VTB United League and EuroLeague. Their home arena is Basket-Hall Kazan.
Though officially the club's men's professional club was founded in 1991, (when it first began to play in the lowest level of the national pro leagues), UNICS traces its origins back to KSU's college team Burevestnik, which participated in the USSR student championships from 1957, and won the all-Soviet college title twice – in 1965 and 1970. Because of this, the name 'UNICS' is quite an abbreviation – UNI(versity), C(ulture), S(port).
In 1997, UNICS was promoted to the Russian Basketball Super League A, which was, at the time, the top-tier level Russian league. A year later, Yevgeny Bogachev, the chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Tatarstan, became the president of the club.
UNICS has gone a long way towards helping Russian basketball since the club was established in 1991. Between 1994 and 1997, UNICS secured a berth in Russia's first division, and then made a smashing debut, establishing itself among the top five teams in the country. UNICS had already played in European competitions in 1997, but the new millennium happened to be a turning point for the club. The team placed second to CSKA in the Russian Basketball Super League in 2001 and 2002, the year in which it also reached the Saporta Cup semifinals, losing against the Greek club Maroussi in the semifinals. UNICS' first title was the Russian Cup in March 2003, with an electrifying 81–82 overtime victory over CSKA. UNICS' fans did not have to wait long to see their team win a European title, too. Kazan hosted the FIBA Europe League final four, which was eventually named the FIBA EuroChallenge, in April 2004, and UNICS made sure of its opportunity. UNICS signed Saulius Štombergas, Eurelijus Žukauskas, and Chris Anstey, and then won its regular season group, and advanced to the final four, which was held on its own floor, and where the club was crowned the FIBA Europe League champions. The MVP of the tournament's final four, Martin Müürsepp, scored 22 points, in an 87–63 win over Maroussi, in the title game. By the 2005–06 season, UNICS went one level up, and made its ULEB Cup (later named EuroCup) debut, where they tied the best regular season record in the competition's history. However, things turned south quickly, as UNICS lost at home against Roma, for the only time all season, in the tournament's eighth finals’ second leg, and crashed out earlier than expected. UNICS got stronger for the next season, keeping the core group of the previous season's side, while adding Darjuš Lavrinovič to reunite with his twin brother Kšyštof Lavrinovič, in a twin-towers set full of talent. The team made it to the ULEB Cup semifinals, before losing to the eventual league champs Real Madrid. It also returned to the Russian League finals, losing against perennial champion CSKA.
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