2017–18 ABA League First Division

The 2017–18 ABA League First Division was the 17th season of the ABA League with 12 teams from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Macedonia participating in it. It was the inaugural season as the first tier as a part of two level competition.

ABA League First Division
Season	2017–18
Duration	September 29, 2017–March 12, 2018 (Regular season) March 18, 2018–April 14, 2018 (Playoffs)
Games played	142
Teams	12
TV partner(s)	Arena Sport
Regular season
Top seed	Crvena zvezda mts
Season MVP	Luka Žorić [1]
Promoted	Krka
Relegated	MZT Skopje Aerodrom
Finals
Champions	Budućnost VOLI (1st title)
Runners-up	Crvena zvezda mts
Semifinalists	Cedevita Mornar
Finals MVP	Nemanja Gordić [2]
Awards
Top Prospect	Džanan Musa [3]
Statistical leaders
Points Luka Žorić 19.71 Rebounds Luka Božić 7.77 Assists Filip Čović 7.43 Index Rating Luka Žorić 23.24
Records
Biggest home win	Budućnost 104–62 MZT (11 February 2018)
Biggest away win	MZT 55–96 Olimpija (3 February 2018)
Highest scoring	Partizan 117–104 Igokea (21 October 2017)
Highest attendance	7,237 Crvena zvezda 91–63 Mornar (18 March 2018)
Lowest attendance	250 Cibona 79–82 Mornar (4 March 2018)
← 2016–17 2018–19 → All statistics correct as of April 14, 2018.

Format changes

On May 23, 2017, ABA League Assembly has decided that there will be 12 clubs competing in the league in the 2017–18 season.^[1] Having analysed the current situation in European and the regional basketball, as well as the fact that the ABA League is still not officially recognized by the national basketball federations, and with a goal to protect the interests of the ABA League founding clubs, the clubs that have competed in the 2016–17 season will have a right to participate in the forthcoming season as well and the priority of participation will be given to the founders of the ABA League (from the 2015–16 season). The formula to determine the participants which will be respected is the following:^[1]

•  Serbia – three clubs
•  Croatia – three clubs
•  Slovenia – one club
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina – one club
•  Montenegro – one club
•  Macedonia – one club

Two additional spots will be allocated to the clubs from countries, whose clubs have achieved the best coefficients in the country rankings during the 2016–17 season. Those two countries are Serbia and Montenegro. The places from Serbia will be filled in accordance with the final standings of the Basketball League of Serbia, in accordance with the recognition and cooperation with the ABA League.^[1]

In accordance with the previously mentioned decisions, the participating clubs of the ABA League for the 2017–18 season are: Cedevita, Zadar, Cibona, Union Olimpija, Igokea, Budućnost VOLI, MZT Skopje Aerodrom and Mornar, while the remaining four places (from Serbia), were determined in accordance with the standings in the Basketball League of Serbia.^[1]

Teams

National standings

The numbers of teams by country is determined by a coefficient that is the sum of all victories clubs from a certain country achieve in a regular season divided by the number of clubs from that country. By using this coefficient majority of places for current season are allocated, while the remaining places are given via wild cards from league board.^[2]

Country	No.	2016–17 coeff.	2017–18 no. of clubs
Serbia	3	16.25	4
Montenegro	1	14.00	2
Croatia	3	13.33	3
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	13.00	1
Slovenia	1	9.00	1
Macedonia	1	9.00	1
Total	10	best coeff. (+2)	12

Team allocation

League positions of the previous domestic league season after playoffs shown in parentheses.

Regular season
Crvena zvezda mts (1st)	Mega Bemax (4th)	Cedevita (1st)	Igokea (1st)
FMP (2nd)	Budućnost VOLI (1st)	Cibona (2nd)	Petrol Olimpija (1st)
Partizan NIS (3rd)	Mornar (2nd)	Zadar (6th)	MZT Skopje Aerodrom (1st)

Venues and locations

Budućnost

Cedevita

Cibona

Crvena zvezda

FMP

Igokea

Mega

Mornar

MZT

Olimpija

Partizan

Zadar

Location of teams in the 2017–18 ABA League First Division

Team	Home city	Arena	Capacity
Budućnost VOLI	Podgorica	Morača Sports Center	4,000
Cedevita	Zagreb	Dražen Petrović	5,400
Cibona	Zagreb	Dražen Petrović	5,400
Crvena zvezda mts	Belgrade	Aleksandar Nikolić	5,878 [3]
FMP	Belgrade	Železnik Hall	3,000
Igokea	Aleksandrovac	Laktaši Sports Hall	3,050
Mega Bemax	Sremska Mitrovica	Sports Hall Pinki	2,500
Mornar	Bar	Topolica Sport Hall	2,625
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	Skopje	Jane Sandanski	7,500
Partizan NIS	Belgrade	Aleksandar Nikolić	5,878
Petrol Olimpija	Ljubljana	Arena Stožice	12,480
Zadar	Zadar	Krešimir Ćosić	7,847

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Budućnost VOLI	Aleksandar Džikić	Suad Šehović	Spalding	VOLI
Cedevita	Jure Zdovc	Roko Ukić	Nike	Cedevita
Cibona	Ante Nazor	Marin Rozić	Adidas	—
Crvena zvezda mts	Dušan Alimpijević	Branko Lazić	Nike	mts
FMP	Vladimir Jovanović	Filip Čović	Champion	FMP
Igokea	Dragan Bajić	Vuk Radivojević	GBT	m:tel
Mega Bemax	Dejan Milojević	Nikola Rebić	Adidas	Bemax
Mornar	Mihailo Pavićević	Marko Mijović	Adidas	Bar Municipality
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	Željko Lukajić	Damjan Stojanovski	Adidas	UNIBanka, triglav
Partizan NIS	Nenad Čanak	Novica Veličković	Under Armour	NIS
Petrol Olimpija	Zoran Martič	Gregor Hrovat	Macron	Petrol
Zadar	Aramis Naglić	Šime Špralja	Champion	OTP Bank

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment
Budućnost VOLI	Ilias Zouros	14 April 2017	Off-season	Aleksandar Džikić	22 June 2017
Cedevita	Veljko Mršić	9 June 2017		Jure Zdovc	14 June 2017
Cibona	Damir Mulaomerović	13 June 2017		Slobodan Subotić	17 June 2017
Partizan NIS	Aleksandar Džikić	13 June 2017		Miroslav Nikolić	18 July 2017
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	Ante Nazor	15 June 2017		Aleksandar Todorov	15 June 2017
Mornar	Đorđije Pavićević	1 July 2017		Mihailo Pavićević	1 July 2017
Crvena zvezda mts	Dejan Radonjić	15 July 2017		Dušan Alimpijević	21 July 2017
FMP	Dušan Alimpijević	21 July 2017		Vladimir Jovanović	27 July 2017
Cibona	Slobodan Subotić	11 November 2017[4]	9th (3–5)	Ante Nazor	13 November 2017[5]
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	Aleksandar Todorov	7 December 2017[6]	12th (2–8)	Željko Lukajić	8 December 2017[7]
Partizan NIS	Miroslav Nikolić	12 December 2017[8]	5th (5–6)	Nenad Čanak	14 December 2017[9]
Petrol Olimpija	Gašper Okorn	8 January 2018	11th (5–10)	Zoran Martič	8 January 2018[10]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Crvena zvezda mts	22	19	3	1955	1679	+276	41	Advance to the playoffs
2	Budućnost VOLI	22	17	5	1863	1661	+202	39[a]
3	Cedevita	22	17	5	1798	1645	+153	39[a]
4	Mornar	22	14	8	1825	1790	+35	36
5	Partizan NIS	22	11	11	1936	1893	+43	33
6	Zadar	22	10	12	1846	1885	−39	32[b]
7	Petrol Olimpija	22	10	12	1738	1793	−55	32[b]
8	FMP	22	9	13	1756	1763	−7	31
9	Mega Bemax	22	8	14	1849	1858	−9	30
10	Igokea	22	7	15	1782	1876	−94	29[c]
11	Cibona	22	7	15	1754	1890	−136	29[c]
12	MZT Skopje Aerodrom	22	3	19	1659	2028	−369	25	Relegation to the Second Division

Source: ABA League
Notes:

1. Budućnost VOLI 1–1, 1.01; Cedevita 1–1, 0.99
2. Zadar 1–1, 1.09; Petrol Olimpija 1–1, 0.92
3. Igokea 1–1, 1.03; Cibona 1–1, 0.97

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Crvena zvezda mts	1	2	1	1	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Budućnost VOLI	6	6	5	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2
Cedevita	3	1	3	4	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Mornar	12	9	12	12	11	8	9	6	8	10	8	10	8	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Partizan NIS	9	11	7	6	4	3	5	4	5	5	5	4	4	7	6	7	5	6	5	5	5	5
Zadar	8	12	9	11	12	12	10	11	11	9	6	5	6	5	7	5	7	7	7	7	6	6
Petrol Olimpija	5	8	10	9	8	10	11	10	7	6	7	9	10	10	11	11	11	11	8	8	8	7
FMP	11	3	6	3	2	5	4	5	4	4	4	6	5	4	5	6	6	5	6	6	7	8
Mega Bemax	2	7	2	5	7	9	6	7	9	11	9	11	11	11	10	10	10	9	10	9	9	9
Igokea	7	5	4	8	9	6	7	8	6	7	10	7	9	9	8	8	8	8	9	10	10	10
Cibona	10	4	8	7	6	7	8	9	10	8	11	8	7	8	9	9	9	10	11	11	11	11
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	4	10	11	10	10	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	BUD	CED	CIB	CZV	FMP	IGO	MEG	MOR	MZT	PAR	OLI	ZAD
Budućnost VOLI	—	66–60	71–62	92–86	87–64	81–59	84–64	79–70	104–62	86–79	88–66	87–85
Cedevita	76–71	—	91–68	79–74	74–67	79–84	75–73	99–74	77–65	85–75	84–60	102–101
Cibona	87–93	100–94	—	87–93	84–85	87–86	95–93	79–82	77–92	74–90	96–85	78–80
Crvena zvezda mts	75–79	82–66	107–69	—	84–77	85–80	90–80	88–77	112–73	86–74	80–76	97–67
FMP	76–93	71–80	99–79	77–100	—	95–73	96–88	79–84	100–72	83–71	81–86	91–76
Igokea	98–94	61–69	63–57	76–82	75–65	—	82–89	79–93	99–108	67–74	86–78	94–92
Mega Bemax	83–94	77–81	95–88	85–90	74–72	99–87	—	91–70	106–77	89–102	77–86	71–73
Mornar	87–81	89–94	78–82	74–82	73–81	87–83	87–83	—	106–75	83–81	101–81	80–70
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	71–93	64–85	76–83	58–92	67–72	68–77	76–92	69–72	—	92–89	55–96	80–85
Partizan NIS	94–83	82–92	80–69	84–100	87–84	117–104	89–73	93–98	112–94	—	77–78	95–87
Petrol Olimpija	79–88	65–64	78–80	73–82	73–64	95–93	69–76	64–67	94–85	89–87	—	90–85
Zadar	78–69	76–92	79–73	76–88	83–77	82–76	95–91	77–93	105–80	97–104	97–77	—

Source: ABA League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Playoffs

Main article: 2018 ABA League Playoffs

The semi-finals was played in a best-of-three format, while the Finals were played in a best-of-five format. Playoffs started on 17 March 2018, while the Finals ended on 14 April 2018.^[11]

	Semifinals				Final
	18 March–2 April
	Crvena zvezda mts	2
					9–14 April
	Mornar	1
					Crvena zvezda mts	1
	18 March–2 April
					Budućnost VOLI	3
	Budućnost VOLI	2
	Cedevita	1

2017–18 ABA League Champions
Budućnost VOLI 1st title

Semifinals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Crvena zvezda mts	2–1	Mornar	91–63	84–88	88–69
Budućnost VOLI	2–1	Cedevita	84–83	75–82	72–57

Finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
Crvena zvezda mts	1–3	Budućnost VOLI	76–80	69–59	77–78	73–77	0

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Budućnost VOLI	29	22	7	2388	2178	+210	51	Qualification to EuroLeague
2	Crvena zvezda mts	29	22	7	2513	2193	+320	51	Qualification to EuroCup
3	Cedevita	25	18	7	2020	1876	+144	43
4	Mornar	25	15	10	2045	2053	−8	40
5	Partizan NIS	22	11	11	1936	1893	+43	33
6	Zadar	22	10	12	1846	1885	−39	32
7	Petrol Olimpija	22	10	12	1738	1793	−55	32
8	FMP	22	9	13	1756	1763	−7	31
9	Mega Bemax	22	8	14	1849	1858	−9	30
10	Igokea	22	7	15	1782	1876	−94	29
11	Cibona	22	7	15	1754	1890	−136	29
12	MZT Skopje Aerodrom	22	3	19	1659	2028	−369	25	Relegation to Second Division

Source: ABA League

Statistical leaders

As of 12 March 2018 , after the end of the Regular Season.

PIR Pos Player Club PIR 1 Luka Žorić Cibona 23.24 2 Uroš Luković Mornar 20.90 3 Patrick Miller Partizan NIS 20.36 4 Nigel Williams-Goss Partizan NIS 20.30 5 Luka Božić Zadar 19.09

Points Pos Player Club PPG 1 Luka Žorić Cibona 19.71 2 Josh Bostic Zadar 19.23 3 Nigel Williams-Goss Partizan NIS 16.85 4 Derek Needham Mornar 16.82 5 Filip Čović FMP 15.76

Rebounds Pos Player Club RPG 1 Luka Božić Zadar 7.77 2 Uroš Luković Mornar 7.52 3 Devin Oliver Petrol Olimpija 7.27 4 Jordan Morgan Petrol Olimpija 7.18 5 Luka Žorić Cibona 6.95

Assists Pos Player Club APG 1 Filip Čović FMP 7.43 2 Nigel Williams-Goss Partizan NIS 6.95 3 Dominik Mavra MZT Skopje Aerodrom 6.25 4 Taylor Rochestie Crvena zvezda mts 5.95 5 Patrick Miller Partizan NIS 5.43

Source: ABA League Archived 2017-12-28 at the Wayback Machine

Awards

Pos.	Player	Team	Ref.
MVP
C	Luka Žorić	Cibona	[12]
Finals MVP
PG	Nemanja Gordić	Budućnost VOLI	[13]
Top Prospect
SF	Džanan Musa	Cedevita	[14]
Ideal Starting Five
PG	Taylor Rochestie	Crvena zvezda mts	[15]
SG	Nemanja Gordić	Budućnost
SF	Džanan Musa	Cedevita
PF	Novica Veličković	Partizan NIS
C	Uroš Luković	Mornar

MVP List

MVP of the Round

Round	Player	Team	PIR	Ref.
1	Mathias Lessort	Crvena zvezda mts	30	[16]
2	Will Cherry	Cedevita	27	[17]
3	Luka Božić	Zadar	32	[18]
4	Luka Žorić	Cibona	41	[19]
5	Patrick Miller	Partizan NIS	40	[20]
6	Uroš Luković	Mornar	31	[21]
7	Milko Bjelica	Crvena zvezda mts	35	[22]
8	Derek Needham	Mornar	30	[23]
9	Džanan Musa	Cedevita	46	[24]
10	Josh Bostic	Zadar	29	[25]
11	Roko Ukić	Cedevita	28	[26]
12	Nikola Jevtović	Igokea	29	[27]
13	Uroš Luković (2)	Mornar	40	[28]
14	Josh Bostic (2)	Zadar	40	[29]
15	Novica Veličković	Partizan NIS	31	[30]
16	Dominik Mavra	MZT Skopje Aerodrom	34	[31]
17	Novica Veličković (2)	Partizan NIS	36	[32]
18	Vlatko Čančar	Mega Bemax	29	[33]
19	Derek Needham (2)	Mornar	29	[34]
20	Danilo Nikolić	Budućnost VOLI	33	[35]
21	Novica Veličković (3)	Partizan NIS	36	[36]
22	Jordan Morgan	Petrol Olimpija	32	[37]
SF1	Nemanja Gordić	Budućnost VOLI	30	[38]
SF2	Demetris Nichols	Cedevita	30	[39]
SF3	Ognjen Dobrić	Crvena zvezda mts	23	[40]
F1	Nikola Ivanović	Budućnost VOLI	23
F2	Alen Omić	Crvena zvezda mts	27
F3	Nemanja Gordić (2)	Budućnost VOLI	21
F4	Filip Barović	Budućnost VOLI	23

MVP of the Month

Month	Player	Team	Ref.
2017
October	Patrick Miller	Partizan NIS	[41]
November	Milko Bjelica	Crvena zvezda mts	[42]
December	Josh Bostic	Zadar	[43]
2018
January	Novica Veličković	Partizan NIS	[44]
February	Uroš Luković	Mornar	[45]

Attendances

Attendances include playoff games:

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Partizan NIS	50,500	6,300	2,850	4,591	−2.5%†
2	Crvena zvezda mts	66,244	7,237	1,987	4,416	+1.8%†
3	Zadar	47,750	6,500	2,050	4,341	+30.6%†
4	Budućnost VOLI	51,028	6,000	1,150	3,402	+34.6%†
5	Igokea	24,080	3,000	1,550	2,189	+31.7%†
6	Mornar	25,524	3,500	1,200	2,127	−11.7%†
7	MZT Skopje Aerodrom	21,700	4,000	900	1,973	+53.7%†
8	Mega Bemax	15,840	2,550	700	1,440	+5.5%†
9	Petrol Olimpija	15,700	3,000	750	1,427	+5.1%†
10	Cibona	15,550	3,500	250	1,414	+15.2%†
11	Cedevita	16,560	2,200	800	1,380	−5.2%†
12	FMP	10,050	1,350	750	914	+76.0%†
	League total	360,576	7,237	250	2,539	+24.1%†

Updated to match(es) played on April 14, 2018. Source: ABA League

ABA League clubs in European competitions

Competition	Team	Progress		Result
EuroLeague	Crvena zvezda mts	Regular season		14th (11–19)
EuroCup	Budućnost VOLI	Quarterfinals	(2)	Eliminated by Darüşşafaka, 0–2
	Cedevita	Top 16 Group G	(1)	4th (0–6)
	Partizan NIS	Regular season Group C		6th (1–9)
Champions League	Petrol Olimpija	Regular season Group C		7th (4–10)
	Mornar	Second qualifying round		Eliminated by Avtodor Saratov, 132–158; transferred to FIBA Europe Cup
FIBA Europe Cup		Quarterfinals	(3)	Eliminated by Donar, 147–168

See also

• 2017–18 ABA League Second Division
• 2017 ABA League Supercup
• 2017–18 Junior ABA League
• 2017–18 WABA League

2017–18 domestic competitions

• 2017–18 Basketball League of Serbia
• 2017–18 A-1 League
• 2017–18 Slovenian Basketball League
• 2017–18 Prva A liga
• 2017–18 Basketball Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 2017–18 Macedonian First League

Teams

• 2017–18 KK Crvena zvezda season
• 2017–18 KK Partizan season