On April 16, "Tsmoki-Minsk" will host the final match of the VTB United League regular season with the main contenders for the title of champions – CSKA Moscow. The game will take place at the opponent's home ground in the Megasport Arena. The game starts at 2:00 PM.
It is noteworthy that with meetings with the most titled opponent, “Tsmoki” opened and completed the regular season 2021/2022 of the VTB United League. On September 23, 2021, at the Minsk Arena, Rostislav Vergun's team could not cope with the pressure of the "red-blue" and lost with a score of 44:92. At the moment, CSKA sets a season record for the longest winning streak — 8 victories in a row. CSKA is on the 1st place of the standings with 14 wins in 17 matches.
Founded in 1923, the army team is a 10-time Champion of the VTB United League, a 27-time Champion of Russia, a four-time champion of the Euroleague, and in addition boasts an impressive list of awards and achievements.
Since 2014, CSKA has been headed by Dimitris Itoudis. On January 27, 2019, after the game with the Dragons (101:61), Itoudis took 1st place in the history of the VTB United League in wins, beating Evgeny Pashutin. The coach will also make his debut as coach of the Greek national team at Eurobasket 2022.
In the current season, the composition of CSKA, like the rest of the League clubs, has undergone a number of changes. In February-March, Tornike Shengelia, Daniel Hackett, Ifeanyi Lundberg, Joel Bolomboy, Marius Grigonis and Johannes Voigtmann left the club.
On March 12, the “red-blue” signed a contract with the leader of the “Enisey” — American defender Casper Ware. As part of the Krasnoyarsk team, he was able to gain a foothold in the top ten most productive players in the League — 16.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals. Two weeks later, Swedish forward Jonas Jerebko joined the CSKA squad. In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, Jerebko played for "Khimki" near Moscow. He played 26 games in the United League, averaging 9.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Three days before the game, it became known that Evgeny Kolesnikov, a two—time participant in the "Matches of the Stars" of the VTB United League (2017, 2022), a two-time winner of the FIBA Challenge Cup, a multiple winner of the VTB League, would join the Muscovites. This season, as part of Avtodor, Kolesnikov took part in 12 VTB League matches – 6.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists.
The role of the leader in the previous games was assumed by Alexey Shved. The defender of CSKA Moscow was recognized as the MVP of the VTB United League Championship 2021/22 at the end of March, averaging 22.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.4 steals.
Now the composition of CSKA looks like this:
CSKA, (Moscow, Russia).
Guards:
2. Casper Ware 17.11.1990, 178, USA
4. Alexandr Khomenko 25.01.1999, 192, Russia
5. Allerik Freeman 30.10.1994, 191, USA
7. Ivan Ukhov 11.09.1995, 193, Russia
42. Evgeny Kolesnikov 26.12.1985, 195, Russia
91. Alexey Shved 16.12.1988, 198, Russia
Forwards:
11. Semen Antonov 18.07.1979, 202, Russia
17. Johannes Voigtmann 30.09.1992, 211, Germany
21. Will Clyburn 17.05.1990, 201, USA
28. Andrey Lopatin 27.08.1998, 208, Russia
32. Jonas Jerebko 02.03.1987, 208, Sweden
41. Nikita Kurbanov 05.10.1986, 202, Russia
Centers:
8. Vladimir Ivlev 28.02.1990, 207, Russia
33. Nikola Milutinov 30.12.1994, 213, Serbia
The head coach is Dimitris Itoudis (Greece).