101 Greats of European Basketball

The Cacak genius
Probably the last thing that Zeljko Obradovic
and Vladimir Androic thought about
in the mid-1970s, when over a four-year
period they shared rooms on road trips
as Borac Cacak players, was that one day
they would coach against each other in the
Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Androic and Obradovic
are much more than two former teammates from a
humble team. They are close friends and best men
at each other’s weddings, a relationship that is very
important to Serbian people. Behind many technical
decisions made by Obradovic, there has been a
lot of advice sought from Androic. They have spent
summers together and engaged in long talks about
basketball.
The matchups in the 2011-12 EuroLeague between
these two men from Cacak – Obradovic on the Panathinaikos
bench and Androic on that of KK Zagreb – brought
to mind a true genius of the game who was born in the
same city and was also very important in the life of Obradovic.
That is none other than Dragan “Kicha” Kicanovic.
To me, he is one of the best three players from the
former Yugoslavia that I have ever seen – the other two
being Kresimir Cosic and Drazen Petrovic.
Kicha and Mirza, Gorizia 1971
Kicanovic was born on August 17, 1953, but before
him, Cacak had another huge star, scoring ace Radmilo
Misovic. His fame never crossed many borders, however,
because Misovic, due to his character, always stayed
close to home, close to Cacak. He liked to go fishing in
the Morava River and keep his quiet life rather than sign
for a big team in Belgrade or elsewhere. Misovic was
the Yugoslav League’s top scorer five times: 1968 (29.2
ppg.), 1969 (28.4), 1971 (29.3), 1972 (30.0) and 1974
(31.7). He played in Borac while Kicanovic started with
the other team from the city, the smaller and humbler
Zeleznicar. Like a diamond in the rough, Kicanovic was
selected by cadet national team coach Mirko Novosel
for the first U16 European Championship, played in
1971 in Gorizia, Italy. Along with him, the team had
other future stars, like Mirza Delibasic, Rajko Zizic and
Dragan Todoric. Yugoslavia became champion by defeating
Italy in the final 74-60. It was the first trophy
for Kicha. He finished as the team’s second-best scorer
with 90 points, behind only his friend Delibasic, with 99.
That same year, not yet of legal age and still a member
of a second-division team, Kicanovic made his debut
on the senior national team at the Mediterranean
Games in Izmir, Turkey. He played alongside world
champions like Damir Solman and Vinko Jelovac, as
well as with other future staples of the national team
Zarko Knezevic, Milun Marovic, Miroljub Damjanovic
and Dragi Ivkovic. Kicanovic scored his first 40 points
for the national team and won his second gold medal.
All the big teams wanted to sign him, but in Cacak
they managed to put Misovic and Kicanovic together.
“Kicha” signed for Borac and the 1971-72 season stays
in my memory because of the brilliant displays by
those two geniuses: one was a veteran, the other was
just starting his brilliant career. In the summer of 1972,
Kicanovic’s age group played the fifth U18 European
Championship in Zadar, another symbolic city for basketball.
Novosel was the coach of that team and – together
with Kicha, Mirza, Zizic and Todoric – new names
came on board: Zeljko Jerkov, Branko Macura and
101 greats of european basketball
Dragan Kicanovic
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