CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca (men's basketball)

U-BT Cluj-Napoca
U-BT Cluj-Napoca
	U-BT Cluj-Napoca logo
Nickname	Șepcile roșii; (The Red Caps); Studenții; (The Students); Alb-Negrii; (The White and Blacks)
Leagues	Liga Națională; EuroCup
Founded	1947; 77 years ago
History	CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca ; (1947–present)
Arena	BT Arena; Horia Demian
Capacity	10,000; 2,525
Location	Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Team colors	White, Black ;
President	Marius Bojiță
Vice-president(s)	Nicolae Tarcea ; Mircea Cristescu
Head coach	Mihai Silvășan
Championships	7 Romanian Leagues; 5 Romanian Cup; 3 Romanian Supercup
Website	www.u-bt.ro
Home	Away

CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca is a Romanian professional basketball club based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The club, for sponsorship reason under the name U-Banca Transilvania Cluj-Napoca, competes in the Liga Națională. As other sports teams that were initially part of the parent sports club, U Cluj, for historical reasons, the club keeps the name U (short form of Universitatea) in its name.

Timeout at a 2021–22 Champions League game.

History

Whilst the parent sports club, U Cluj was founded in 1919, the basketball team was founded in 1947 and played for the first time in the Romanian Championship in 1966. Since then, U Cluj was a constant presence in the Romanian First Division, with their best performances being recorded in the 1990s, when they won three Romanian Championships.

During its history, the team had different names. Since 1990, the main sponsor is usually added to the name of the parent sports club, U Cluj. This resulted in a change of name every time the main sponsor was changed. Previous names of the team were U Ştiinţa, Ştiinţa IMF, U Metalul Rosu, U Fimaro, U SM Invest, U Sanex, and U Carbochim.

In the 2012–2013 season, U Mobitelco Cluj Napoca finished on 7th place (20 wins – 10 losses) and qualify for the play-off. Here the team played the first round against CSM Oradea but lost with 3–1. Also the team played the Romanian Cup final but lost against CS Gaz Metan Medias with the score 62–76. At the end of that season the coach and all the foreign players left the team.

The most famous player who played for U Cluj was Gheorghe Mureșan, who signed in 1993 with the Washington Bullets, becoming the tallest player ever in the NBA. He played 6 successful seasons with the Bullets and the New Jersey Nets, averaging a career 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 0.5 assists. Mureșan obtained the title of NBA Most Improved Player following the 1995–96 NBA season. He began his career playing two years for Universitatea Cluj-Napoca.

Arena

Sala Polivalentă

U-BT Cluj plays its home games in the main Sports hall from Cluj-Napoca, BT Arena, which accommodates 10,000 spectators^[2] or in Horia Demian Sports Hall, with a capacity of 2,525 spectators.

Fans and rivalries

U-BT Cluj has the largest fan base in Romania. It was the first team in Romania to have 10,000 people in the stands at a basketball match (Basketball Champions League quarter finals, April 2022).The main rivalries of "U" are the ones with CSU Sibiu("The derby of Transylvania") and CSM Oradea.

Sponsorship names

Due to sponsorship reasons, the team has been known as:

CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca (1947–1996)
U Invest Cluj-Napoca (1996–1997)
U Sanex Cluj-Napoca (1997–1998)
U Carbochim Cluj-Napoca (1998–2002)
Policarbochim Cluj-Napoca (2002–2005)
U Poli-Mobitelco-Carbochim (2005–2006)
U Mobitelco Cluj-Napoca (2006–2014)
U-BT Cluj-Napoca (2014–present)

Logos

U Mobitelco Cluj logo.jpg

The team's logo used until the 2015–16 season
Cluj-Napoca basketball.png

U-Banca Transilvania logo (2016–2017)

Honours

Liga Națională
- Winners (7): 1992, 1993, 1996, 2011,^[3] 2017, 2021, 2022
- Runners-up (7): 1959, 1962, 1991, 1994, 2006, 2008, 2010
- Third place (13): 1960, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2019

Romanian Cup
- Winners (5): 1995, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
- Runners-up (1): 2006

Romanian Supercup
- Winners (3): 2016, 2017, 2021

FIBA EuroCup Challenge
- Quarter Finals: 2007

Central European Basketball League (CEBL)
- Runners-up: 2010

FIBA Europe Cup
- Quarter Finals: 2019–2020

Basketball Champions League
- Quarter Finals: 2021-2022

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

U-Banca Transilvania Cluj-Napoca roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Age
G/F	0	Guzmán, Karel	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	29 – (1995-02-07)7 February 1995
PG	4	Szentkuti, Akos	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)	18 – (2006-01-04)4 January 2006
PG	5	Lăpuște, David	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	19 – (2004-11-08)8 November 2004
CG	6	Sanders, Victor	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	29 – (1995-02-16)16 February 1995
G/F	8	Kuti, Nandor	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	27 – (1997-01-10)10 January 1997
PF	9	Roschnafsky, Eduard	2.09 m (6 ft 10 in)	21 – (2003-06-20)20 June 2003
PG	11	Taylor, Jordan	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	34 – (1989-09-30)30 September 1989
C	13	Stipanović, Andrija	2.09 m (6 ft 10 in)	37 – (1986-12-18)18 December 1986
F	14	Birčević, Stefan	2.10 m (6 ft 11 in)	34 – (1989-12-13)13 December 1989
F/C	15	Cățe, Emanuel	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)	26 – (1997-07-30)30 July 1997
PF	18	Diaby, Modibo	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	20 – (2003-07-18)18 July 2003
SF	23	Meindl, Léonardo	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	31 – (1993-03-30)30 March 1993
SG	35	Richard, Patrick (C)	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	34 – (1990-01-25)25 January 1990

Head coach

Mihai Silvășan

Assistant coach(es)

Milorad Perović

Legend

(C) Team captain
Injured

Roster

Updated: October 21, 2022

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Emanuel Cățe	Andrija Stipanović
PF	Stefan Birčević	Eduard Roschnafsky	Modibo Diaby
SF	Leonardo Meindl	Nandor Kuti
SG	Karel Guzmán	Patrick Richard
PG	Jordan Taylor	Victor Sanders	David Lăpuște

Notable players

- Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.

Head coaches

Voicu Moldovan (1989–1995)
Dragan Petričević (1995–1997)
Voicu Moldovan (1997–2007)
Liviu Morariu (2007–2012)
Gheorghe Roman (2012–2016)
Mihai Silvășan (2016–2019)
Duško Vujošević (2019–2021)
Mihai Silvășan: (2021–present)

References

^ 10 000 de locuri la Sala Polivalentă în 2017 (in Romanian).
^ 10 000 de locuri la Sala Polivalentă în 2017 (in Romanian).
^ "Publicul a invadat Sala Sporturilor, strigând".
^ Karel Guzmán, ¡bienvenido a Rumania! Javier Rodríguez Perera (Juventud Rebelde), 5 September 2020. Accessed 9 February 2021.(in Spanish)

External links

Official website (in Romanian)
U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca Team Profile at Baschetromania.ro
Eurobasket.com Cluj Napoca Page

[1] 10 000 de locuri la Sala Polivalentă în 2017 (in Romanian).

[2] 10 000 de locuri la Sala Polivalentă în 2017 (in Romanian).

[3] "Publicul a invadat Sala Sporturilor, strigând".

[4] Karel Guzmán, ¡bienvenido a Rumania! Javier Rodríguez Perera (Juventud Rebelde), 5 September 2020. Accessed 9 February 2021.(in Spanish)

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v t e Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj
Teams	U Cluj U Cluj II U Olimpia Cluj
General information	Players Managers
Related articles	Cluj derby
Stadiums	Cluj Arena Ion Moina Dan Anca Clujana Gaz Metan
Cupa României finals	1934 1942 1949 1965 2015
Other sports	Basketball Rugby Men's Handball Women's Handball

v t e Liga Națională
Seasons	2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
2021–22 clubs	Athletic Craiova Dinamo Focșani Miercurea Ciuc Oradea Phoenix Rapid Sibiu Steaua Târgu Jiu Ploiești Timișoara U-BT U FC Argeș Voluntari
Former clubs	Agronomia Aurel Vlaicu Concordia Chiajna Cuza Sport Energia Farul Constanța Gladiator Mediaș Mureș Olimpic Baia Mare Otopeni Politehnica Iași Sighetu Marmației Târgu Mureș Timba Timișoara
Awards	Most Valuable Player Finals MVP
Associated competitions	Romanian Cup Romanian Supercup
Category

v t e 2022–23 Eurocup
Regular season Playoffs Final
Regular season	Group A Group B Budućnost VOLI Cedevita Olimpija Dolomiti Energia Trento Frutti Extra Bursaspor Germani Brescia Gran Canaria Hapoel Tel Aviv JL Bourg Joventut Lietkabelis London Lions Paris Basketball Prometey Promitheas ratiopharm Ulm Türk Telekom U-BT Cluj-Napoca Umana Reyer Venezia Veolia Towers Hamburg WKS Śląsk Wrocław