The 1967–68 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 24th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League. The season ended with KK Zadar winning the league championship, ahead of KK Olimpija.
The season represents a milestone in the history of basketball in Yugoslavia as the beginning of a new era that saw the sport being played entirely indoors on hardwood floor surfaces as opposed to outdoors on a variety of surfaces as had been the practice previously. The change enabled the league to switch to a seasonal schedule that begins during autumn and ends in spring as opposed to the previous practice of playing within the same calendar year, usually between April and October.
Notable events Yugoslav basketball moves indoors Since most Yugoslav basketball clubs didn't yet possess basketball-specific indoor facilities of their own, they had to make do with hosting their home games in community-owned makeshift venues or in case of three clubs—playing outside of their home city.
The four Belgrade clubs—Red Star, Partizan, OKK, and Radnički—played their home games at the various Belgrade Fair halls (including the biggest one: Hall 1), Zagreb's Lokomotiva played at the Zagreb Police's Fire Hall, while certain clubs had to play in altogether different cities: defending champions KK Zadar played most of their home games of the season in Split, Čačak's Borac played their home games in Zrenjanin, and Sarajevo's newly-promoted Mlada Bosna played in Zenica.
Opening day The season began on Saturday, 11 November 1967–only six days after the previous season ended on 5 November 1967–with the opening game in Ljubljana's Topniška Street Hall pitting the home team KD Slovan versus the visiting Red Star Belgrade. Despite being the underdogs, the home team won 79–78.
Teams SR Serbia Borac Čačak Crvena Zvezda OKK Beograd Partizan Radnički Belgrade SR Croatia Jugoplastika Lokomotiva Zadar Željezničar Karlovac SR Bosnia and Herzegovina Mlada Bosna SR Slovenia Olimpija Slovan
Classification Regular season ranking 1967–68GVPPFPSPt 1. KK Zadar 221931861155538 2. AŠK Olimpija 221841975173436 3. Crvena Zvezda 221481904163428 4. Partizan 221481885177928 5. KK Lokomotiva 2212101878181524 6. Jugoplastika 2212101759172424 7. OKK Beograd 2210121776180720 8. Željezničar Karlovac 229131666173618 9. Radnički Belgrade 229131829187018 10. KD Slovan 228141641184016 11. Borac Čačak 227151719187414 12. Mlada Bosna 22022152420490
Results
The winning roster of Zadar: Miljenko Valčić Đuro Stipčević Milan Komazec
Mile Marcelić Josip Đerđa Krešimir Ćosić Ratko Laura Petar Anić Jure Košta Goran Brajković Petar Jelić Željko Troskot Nikola Olujić
Coach: Đorđo Zdrilić
Qualification in 1968–69 season European competitions
FIBA European Champions Cup Zadar (champions)
FIBA Cup Winner's Cup Olimpija (2nd)
References