Red Star in total disarray!

Red Star Belgrade is experiencing an unprecedented collapse! They lost today in the Serbian league against Metalac Valjevo with 77-82. It was the first victory of Metalac and third loss in a row for Red Star!

Red Star had a very good season so far. They won the Serbian Cup, finished second in the regular season of the Adriatic league, and qualified for the Final Four (April 25-27) where they have a chance to earn a ticket for the Euroleague next season.

So far the good news. The bad news is that since the domestic Serbian league started Red Star has become a punching bag and receiving one blow after the other.

It didn’t help that headcoach Vlada Vukoičić was fired and replaced by Dejan Radonjić.

KK Radnicki Kragujevac is another Serbian team that did very well in the Adriatic League and will face Red Star in the first game at the Final Four. They too, can earn a Euroleague spot, but just like their rivals from Belgrade they have had a disastrous campaign in the Serbian league. They too had lost three games in a row and after the last home defeat vs Vojvodina (64-79) head coach Muta Nikolić offered his resignation but it was not accepted by the board of the club.

One of the reasons why these top-clubs from the Adriatic league are playing so poorly in the Serbian league could be that they are not allowed to use all their import players in the domestic league and therefore have unfamiliar line-ups and are forced to play with a different style of play.

Nevertheless, the number 2 and 4 from the Adriatic League have only the 4th and 5th best record (out of EIGHT teams) in the Serbian Superleague!