2018 Final Four Official Programme

The Coach: Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA Moscow Since he arrived at CSKA Moscow in 2014, Dimitris Itoudis has not only succeeded in keeping the pride of Russian basketball at the very top of the European elite, but has also put his own stamp on the club’s great legacy by creating one of the most productive offensive forces in the EuroLeague history. Itoudis’s CSKA teams have accounted for four of the eight highest-scoring seasons achieved by EuroLeague teams this century. CSKA’s 88.7-point average since he landed in the Russian capital is the best ever in the competition over the span of any four seasons. All that scoring has meant non-stop winning, too. CSKA under Itoudis has reached four consecutive Final Fours, has won 12 of 14 playoff games, and has finished first in all but one of the regular season and Top 16 groups to which it has belonged. That achievement is even more impressive when you consider that when he was appointed by CSKA, Itoudis had never been a EuroLeague head coach before, although he had won five EuroLeague titles while an assistant at Panathinaikos Athens between 1999 and 2012. Itoudis needed only two seasons in Moscow to claim his first EuroLeague crown as a head coach, in 2016, the same year that he was voted the Alexander Gomelskiy EuroLeague Coach of the Year – an award named for CSKA’s late, great coaching legend. Recently, Itoudis added another milestone as he tied the record as the fastest coach to record 100 EuroLeague wins, needing only 124 games to do so. But the accolades that matter most to Itoudis are titles, and the 47-year old will have his players fully prepared to underline their dominance of the long regular season – which CSKA finished three victories clear of all other teams – as they seek another EuroLeague crown at the Final Four in Belgrade. There is no questioning the fact that Itoudis has built a squad with more than enough offensive firepower to overwhelm even the best opponents. The Legend: Sergey Tarakanov, CSKA Moscow Sergey Nikolaevich Tarakanov holds a special place as one of themost-decorated players to ever wear a CSKAMoscow jersey. Tarakanov spent themajority of his career with CSKA, which he joined in 1979 after an invitation from legendary coach Alexander Gomelskiy himself. In little time, Tarakanov became an integral part – and later the captain – of one of the greatest CSKA generations of all time. In a span of 11 seasons with the club, Tarakanov won a total of seven national championships with CSKA, including five in a row from1980 to 1984. He also helped bring three Soviet Cups to CSKA’s trophy room. Tarakanov became CSKA team captain in 1986 and as such lifted the national championship trophy himself in 1988 and 1990. Tarakanov spent more than a decade playing for the great Soviet Union national team and had an important role in some of the greatest achievements in Soviet basketball history. He took the basketball world by storm in 1979when he was named best newcomer at EuroBasket that year. Tarakanov netted 22 points in the title game, in which the Soviet Union defeated Israel 98-76, and remained a force thereafter as one of themost dangerous offensive weapons of the 1980s. In a true crowning moment, Tarakanov averaged 8.1 points per game in helping the Soviet Union win the goldmedal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. During his playing career, Tarakanov helped the Soviet Union win ninemedals at major competitions. He owns EuroBasket gold medals from1979, 1981 and 1985; aWorld Cup gold from1982; aWorld Cup silver from1986; and theOlympic bronzemedal from1980. He finished his career by playing a season each in Germany and Belgium. Even after his playing days came to an end, Tarakanov remained close to the game and served as the Russian national team general manager when it won the EuroBasket 2007 title. More than just a CSKA legend, Tarakanov is one of the greats in the history of Russian basketball. OFFICIAL PROGRAMME 32