Head Coach Russell BERGMAN believes that:

— The economy of effort in the game versus Standart will also be used in the match against Lukoil. I am satisfied because the course of the last game of the National Championship allowed the coaches to see the dozen in action. I decided to leave Booker and Torres out of the Saturday game because of their injuries. On Sunday the prepped for the game against the Bulgarians.

— With but a few days until the game, it is of course impossible to modify something, even interject small corrective measures. After the match on Tuesday, they will have a two-week pause in the Cup games, so we will have some time to modify our defense and offense and add some things. Nonetheless, even if my point of view differs from that of Elevich, there won’t be any radical changes in our game.

Once again the club from Sofia on the way

Khimki played against Academic (at that time the team was not prefixed with the official sponsor’s name, which was only a collaborator) in the elimination round ER II of the Korac Cup 2001/02. This was during BC Khimki’s initial steps in the continental tournaments. The first game was in Sofia and the visiting team won: 76-74. A week later, the game in Moscow took place, with Khimki winning: 65-55, thus qualifying for the group tournament.

The game grew more intense within the framework of the trophy’s group stage 2000/01 season. Levski won in Russia: 84-80, while the rematch was played on the fifth and next to the last game in Bulgaria. The team rosters were level, albeit the Russian and Belgian: FMP Zeleznik (Belgrade), and the Turkish Darussafaka. In Sofia the home team did not manage to maintain the lead and lost: 104-106 (31-30, 28-27, 22-22, 23-27).

During the second half of the game a barrage of small objects were hurled at Khimki from the stands; coins, lighters, etc., and at games’ end, a mound of all sorts of garbage rained down on the bench. Some of the players, angry and in the midst of aggressive fans were marked by the press for wanting to start a fight with the violent fans.

The truth is that victory did not take the Moscow Region Club to the play-offs, and instead the Turks qualified. While Levski and Khimki scored on an equal level, the difference in their field goals during the matches of the tournament made the Bulgarian’s go on ahead by a mere two points, though the average lead for Levski was less than 13 against Khimki’s + 20.

Leading in Bulgaria

The 17th Day of the Bulgarian Championship was played during last weekend resulting in three teams from capital cities are leading on the table: Academic and CSKA with 16 victories each, but the students have a better ratio of successful scores to failed attempts. In third place, Levski with 10/6, after last week’s loss to Academic in a home game: 65-102. Meanwhile, Academic beat Cherno More in a home game: 84-74. The match was level and was defined at the last three minutes by the home team: 8-0.


The students’ best player was the guard Lamont Jones (in 40 minutes he scored 22 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds). Center Boyko Mladenov netted 15 points; Mate Skelin did not play entirely well; while the new acquisition, North American forward Donta Smith, unlike in the ULEB Cup, is not permitted to play in the National Championship just yet.

Not really students as much as veterans

“The students,” are actually veterans of the ULEB Cup, having played in three tournaments. After their victory in the 2002 FIBA Southern Conference and their quarter finals in that tournament one year later, the club from Sofia chose in favor of the ULEB. The team from the Bulgarian capital invariably went on to the play-offs, but lost in the first round, against strong clubs the likes of Lietuvos Rytas later champion (2003/04), and Crvena Zvezda. During the 1950s, The Academics played in the Championship Cup twice and lost against SKA (Riga, under Coach Alexander Gomelsky).

Academic is one of the oldest and most laureate clubs in Bulgaria, founded in 1947, they won the National Championship 12 times during 1957-59, 63, 68-73, 76-76. They are three-time winners of the National Cup in 1957, 1958, and 1959. In the year 1957 the Bulgarian National Team, made up of Academic players, won the Student’s World Cup, and in the subsequent two tournaments went on to the finals.

The company, Lukoil took the team into its own hands in an attempt to revive the once famous club for the 21st century, sending funds to the cause. The team banked on the nation’s players, and built up an excellent school (from which only one of the main team’s players got his training), and embellished the club’s facilities, to which only recently foreigners have been invited to.

Nonetheless, they divided so many times that now only four Bulgarians remain. The Macedonian Coach Marin DOKUZOVSKI, besides his two compatriots who have played there for some time, during the preseason invited six players from excellent clubs: from Pamesa Todor Stoykov, the best scorer in all the history of the ULEB Cup, and Asen Velikov.

The Croat center Mate Skelin (former CSKA) was invited to join from the Le Mans. During the preseason North Americans were also invited to join the ranks: center Lamont Barnes (one of the most effective of the club), and the forward Tomas Mobley, who later quit the team, prompting them to acquire the forward Donta Smith

Lukoil Academic

4	Lamont JONES	Guard	1972	189	USA
6	Lamont BARNES	Center	1978	208	USA
7	Risto STEFANOV	Guard	1983	198	Macedonia
8	Chavdar KOSTOV	Guard	1988	190	Bulgaria
9	Gjorgji CEKOVSKI	Forward	1981	202	Macedonia
10	Georgi DAVIDOV	Center	1976	204	Bulgaria
12	Thomas MOBLEY	Forward	1981	198	USA
13	Аsen VELIKOV	Guard	1986	188	Bulgaria
14	Boyko MLADENOV	Center	1981	212	Serbia/Bulgaria
15	Todor STOYKOV	Forward	1977	197	Bulgaria
16	Zhivko STOYANOV	Forward	1987	200	Bulgaria
20	Mate SKELIN	Center	1974	212	Croatia
22	Donta SMITH	Forward	1983	200	USA
23	Taliek BROWN	Guard	1982	186	USA

Head Coach: Marin DOKUZOVSKI
Assistant Coach: Yordan Kolev