Lietuvos krepšinio lyga ( LKL ; English: Lithuanian Basketball League ), also known as Betsafe LKL for sponsorship reasons, is the premier professional men's club basketball league in Lithuania . It is composed of 10 teams, and it is a member of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation . The best LKL clubs are also annual participants of the top European-wide basketball competitions, including the top-tier level EuroLeague .
135-797: BC Juventus ( Lithuanian : Krepšinio klubas Juventus ), also known as Uniclub Bet Juventus for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in Utena , Lithuania . Founded in 1999, the club currently plays in the Lithuanian Basketball League . Juventus basketball club was founded in 1999 and debuted in Naujametinis Utenos rajono Mero taurės turnyras (Utena's new year's mayor's cup tournament) and took third place. First team roster consisted of other sports players: football players and one handball player . First team captain, which also founded Juventus basketball team
270-484: A Lithuanian peasant. — Antoine Meillet Among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is conservative in its grammar and phonology, retaining archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (particularly its early form, Vedic Sanskrit ) or Ancient Greek . Thus, it is an important source for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation (with
405-644: A Proto-Balto-Slavic stage, from which the Baltic languages retain exclusive and non-exclusive lexical, morphological, phonological and accentual isoglosses in common with the Slavic languages , which represent their closest living Indo-European relatives. Moreover, with Lithuanian being so archaic in phonology, Slavic words can often be deduced from Lithuanian by regular sound laws ; for example, Lith. vilkas and Polish wilk ← PBSl. *wilkás (cf. PSl. *vьlkъ ) ← PIE *wĺ̥kʷos , all meaning " wolf ". Initially, Lithuanian
540-399: A bid in the 2021–22 Basketball Champions League qualification. While Juventus lost Kariniauskas and Skučas during the off-season, much of the previous season team remained. Juventus signed Tomas Lekūnas to replace Skučas. At point guard, Juventus signed Patrick Miller to replace Kariniauskas at point guard. Juventus also signed Rokas Gustys and Norbertas Giga to strengthen the team. In
675-637: A big win over Juventus in Utena, 98:86, and finished off Juventus with a 104:67 win in Vilnius. In the European North Basketball League, Juventus had dominated the group stage, advancing to the playoffs with a 6–1 record, and heavy favorites against Belgium side Royal Liege Basket - who had been easily beaten in by other Lithianian side, BC Šiauliai , now coached by former Juventus president and coach Žydrūnas Urbonas . Juventus had been considered to win
810-504: A couple of upsets and close games from teams such as Pieno žvaigždės and Juventus Utena . Although a strong competitor Prienai had an underwhelming season. However, the final saw a two usual suspects once again - Žalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas. The Greens once again took the trophy back home by beating rivals 4–0. Team from Kaunas was led by all around sharpshooters in James Anderson and Artūras Milaknis who averaged 15.3 and 14.3 points
945-590: A million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian , though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It is written in a Latin script . In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most conservative of the existing Indo-European languages , retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages . Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to
1080-482: A new club logo for the upcoming 2019–20 season. The biggest losses during the summer where Martinas Geben returning to Žalgiris, Bičkauskis leaving to sign with Rytas, and Tomas Dimša leaving to sign with BC Lietkabelis . Juventus signed Julius Jucikas , Bryant Crawford , Shannon Scott , Žygimantas Skučas and the returning former LKL MVP Vytautas Šulskis to strengthen the team. During the season, Juventus continued their war with Rytas Vilnius, once again facing Rytas in
1215-642: A piece. The latter was named the MVP of the finals . Six 2015–16 LKL season teams participated in the European tournaments: Žalgiris ( EuroLeague ), Lietuvos rytas and Neptūnas ( EuroCup ), Juventus , Pieno žvaigždės , Šiauliai ( FIBA Europe Cup ). Lietkabelis , Vytautas and Nevėžis competed in the Baltic Basketball League . Dzūkija was the only LKL club not participating in any European or regional tournaments. The off-season moves by teams such as
1350-505: A result of a decrease in the usage of spoken Lithuanian in the eastern part of Lithuania proper, in the 19th century, it was suggested to create a standardized Lithuanian based on the Samogitian dialect. Nevertheless, it was not accomplished because everyone offered their Samogitian subdialects and the Eastern and Western Aukštaitians offered their Aukštaitian subdialects. In the second half of
1485-618: A single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century and perhaps as late as the 17th century. The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword occupied the western part of the Daugava basin, which resulted in colonization of the territory of modern Latvia (at the time it was called Terra Mariana ) by Germans and had a significant influence on the language's independent development due to Germanisation (see also: Baltic Germans and Baltic German nobility ). There
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#17328944215841620-639: A single sound, the velar fricative [ x ] , while dz and dž are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds): Dz dz [ dz ] (dzė), Dž dž [ dʒ ] (džė), Ch ch [ x ] (cha). The distinctive Lithuanian letter Ė was used for the first time in the Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then. However, linguist August Schleicher used Ë (with two points above it) instead of Ė for expressing
1755-482: A technical foul with minutes left, and Rytas, led by Seeley and Bendžius, took control and won the game, 76–65, winning the series on aggregate, 163:150, and eliminating Juventus from the competition. Juventus finished with a 15–21 record in the LKL, in 6th place. Geben was named the MVP of the LKL for the regular season. Juventus faced Rytas in the LKL quarterfinals, and nearly created one of the biggest upsets in LKL history – in
1890-429: A tip-in by Gabrielius Maldūnas gave Lietkabelis a 100:99 lead, followed by a costly turnover by Juventus - Lietkabelis won the series 2:1. Juventus fans gave the team a standing ovation after the game, for a great season. From 2012 BC Juventus has its own mascot, named Juvis. Juvis is a red color devil, wearing the blue color sneakers and mostly carries the golden fork. The golden fork form reminds horseshoe, symbolizing
2025-530: A young Žydrūnas Ilgauskas acquired from Žalgiris' youth team. Ilgauskas was selected 20th overall in the 1996 NBA draft , making him the first NBA player coming straight from the LKL. In 1999 Žalgiris, led by Tyus Edney , became the first Lithuanian team to win the top European basketball competition, the EuroLeague title. In the 1999–2000 season, Lietuvos rytas shocked defending EuroLeague champions Žalgiris by ending their dominant run. That sparked most likely
2160-799: Is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lord's Prayer , the Hail Mary , and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitian dialect. On 8 January 1547 the first Lithuanian book was printed – the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas . At the royal courts in Vilnius of Sigismund II Augustus , the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin , both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely. In 1552 Sigismund II Augustus ordered that orders of
2295-442: Is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody. The alleged (or certain, as certain as historical linguistics can be) similarities due to contact are seen in such phenomena as the existence of definite adjectives formed by the addition of an inflected pronoun (descended from the same Proto-Indo-European pronoun), which exist in both Baltic and Slavic yet nowhere else in
2430-545: Is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South ( Dzūkian ) and East. Lithuanian uses the Latin script supplemented with diacritics . It has 32 letters . In the collation order, y follows immediately after į (called i nosinė ), because both y and į represent the same long vowel [ iː ] : In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ch represents
2565-613: Is known that Jogaila , being ethnic Lithuanian by the male-line , himself knew and spoke Lithuanian with Vytautas the Great , his cousin from the Gediminids dynasty. During the Christianization of Samogitia none of the clergy, who arrived to Samogitia with Jogaila, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jogaila himself taught the Samogitians about Catholicism ; thus he
2700-493: Is largely phonemic, i.e., one letter usually corresponds to a single phoneme (sound). There are a few exceptions: for example, the letter i represents either the vowel [ ɪ ] , as in English sit , or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized . The latter is largely the case when i occurs after a consonant and is followed by a back or a central vowel , except in some borrowed words (e.g.,
2835-407: Is long, forty games, but everything is settled not only in the last game of the season, but in the last seconds of that game." Žalgiris continued to dominate in the playoffs sweeping rivals Lietuvos rytas once again in the final. Despite a familiar ending, the season was marked by the growing competitiveness of the league, Neptūnas joined Žalgiris and Lietuvos rytas as a powerhouse and this edition saw
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#17328944215842970-458: Is the current president of the league since 2013. The league's headquarters is located in Vilnius . A total of 28 teams have competed in the LKL since its inception. Only two teams have been crowned champions, with Žalgiris Kaunas winning the title a record 24 times and Rytas Vilnius seven times. The league is sponsored by Betsafe , the Lithuanian online casino, which also sponsors four teams in
3105-533: The 2023–24 European North Basketball League . For most of the season, Juventus remained strong - Juventus had dominated the King Mindaugas Cup group stage, with a 4–2 record, and also beating BC Nevėžis in the play-in, with a 107:90 win in Kėdainiai, losing at home 101:113 but winning on aggregate, to advance to the quarterfinals - in the quartefinals, Juventus faced off long time rivals, BC Rytas - Rytas took
3240-676: The Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae singled out that the Lithuanians of the Vilnius Region ( Latin : in tractu Vilnensi ) tend to speak harshly, almost like Austrians , Bavarians and others speak German in Germany . Due to the historical circumstances of Lithuania , Lithuanian-speaking territory was divided into Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor , therefore, in the 16th–17th centuries, three regional variants of
3375-826: The EuroCup . The second and third highest-placed teams, apart from licensed club, get an invite to play in the Basketball Champions League . In the 2023–24 season: The Lithuanian Basketball Association was founded on 22 April 1993, when eight of the strongest Lithuanian basketball clubs' officials met with representatives of the Šarūnas Marčiulionis basketball fund in Vilnius . The original eight teams were: Žalgiris Kaunas , Atletas Kaunas , Drobė Kaunas , Statyba Vilnius , Olimpas Plungė , BC Šilutė , Lietkabelis Panevėžys and Neptūnas Klaipėda . This association would soon be renamed to Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL) due to legal issues, also announcing there that would start in
3510-741: The Galindai ( Γαλίνδαι ) and Sudinoi ( Σουδινοί ), in the 2nd century AD. Lithuanian originated from the Eastern Baltic subgroup and remained nearly unchanged until c. 1 AD, however in c. 500 AD the language of the northern part of Eastern Balts was influenced by the Finnic languages , which fueled the development of changes from the language of the Southern Balts (see: Latgalian , which developed into Latvian , and extinct Curonian , Semigallian , and Selonian ). The language of Southern Balts
3645-616: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1/3 residents in Lithuania proper and up to 1/2 residents in Samogitia ) and 53% of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians ). Since the 19th century to 1925 the amount of Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor (excluding Klaipėda Region ) decreased from 139,000 to 8,000 due to Germanisation and colonization . As
3780-776: The January Uprising , Mikhail Muravyov , the Russian Governor General of Lithuania , banned the language in education and publishing and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books continued to be printed in Lithuanian across the border in East Prussia and in the United States . Brought into the country by book smugglers (Lithuanian: knygnešiai ) despite the threat of long prison sentences, they helped fuel growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to
3915-422: The King Mindaugas Cup - after winning their first match at home 85:81, Juventus lost a controversial rematch 94:103 in Vilnius, with Rytas advancing to the semifinals. In the LKL, Juventus was fighting for the 4th place in the standings against BC Neptūnas , with the strength of the new signings to the club and the improved Gytis Radzevičius , playing the best season of his career. Due to the coronavirus outbreak,
4050-520: The King Mindaugas Cup , winning both at home 89:87 and away 105:78, getting sweet revenge from the previous season's controversial losses. Juventus, having lost in the semifinals to Lietkabelis, won the KMT bronze medals by defeating BC Neptūnas . Juventus also participated in FIBA 3x3 tournaments during the season, having much success and becoming one of the best teams in the world. In the LKL, Juventus managed to reach
4185-585: The Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) , Juventus basketball team had to pay 350 thousand LTL . On 20 August 2009 Gintaras Kručkauskas became main Juventus basketball team coach. The 2009–2010 Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) season was the most successful in the club history as Juventus basketball team took fourth place in the LKL championship. On 7 July 2010 Robertas Giedraitis became main BC Juventus coach. During 2010–2011 season, BC Juventus first time in
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4320-581: The Lithuanian nobility to participate in the social-political life of the state. In 1599, Mikalojus Daukša published his Postil and in its prefaces he expressed that the Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked bishop Merkelis Giedraitis for his works. In 1776–1790 about 1,000 copies of the first Catholic primer in Lithuanian – Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško – were issued annually, and it continued to be published until 1864. Over 15,000 copies appeared in total. In 1864, following
4455-570: The Magistrate of Vilnius be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian. The same requirement was valid for the Magistrate of Kaunas . In the 16th century, following the decline of Ruthenian usage in favor of Polish in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language strengthened its positions in Lithuania due to reforms in religious matters and judicial reforms which allowed lower levels of
4590-557: The NKL championship and won regular season (25 wins and 7 losses), however in the final standings BC Juventus took only fourth place. In the end of 2007, Juventus guard Raimondas Ambrulaitis was named "Lithuania basketball discovery of the year", team coach Mindaugas Kildišius was named the best 2007–2008 NKL season coach. One year later, Juventus basketball team won NKL regular season once again and participated in NKL championship semi-finals . In 2009, Juventus wasn't able to participate in
4725-451: The NKL championship, BC Juventus won against Kauno LKKA-Atletas basketball team. But this wasn't the end for Juventus in the 2006–2007 season as BC Juventus went until third Lithuania basketball federation ( LKF ) stage and only there, after two unremitting matches lost to Klaipėdos Neptūnas . Same year, team coach Mindaugas Kildišius, was named the best RKL championship coach. In 2007–2008 season Utena's basketball team debuted in
4860-422: The NKL finals, because of that team coach Mindaugas Kildišius retired from his position. Also because of that, Mindaugas Kildišius assistant Rolandas Urkis coached Juventus basketball team until the end of the season. On 15 June 2009 LKF decided to let Juventus basketball team participate in the Lithuania super basketball league LKL because of the commercial principles. For the permission to participate in
4995-617: The Russian and Ukrainian territory. Hydronyms and archaeology analysis show that the Slavs started migrating to the Baltic areas east and north-east directions in the 6–7th centuries, before then, the Baltic and Slavic boundary was south of the Pripyat River . In the 1960s, Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict
5130-730: The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR restored Lithuanian as the official language of Lithuania, under from the popular pro-independence movement Sąjūdis . On 11 March 1990, the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was passed. Lithuanian was recognized as sole official language of Lithuania in the Provisional Basic Law (Lithuanian: Laikinasis Pagrindinis Įstatymas ) and
5265-413: The United States , Uruguay , and Spain . 2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars ), or about 86% of the 2015 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 3,200,000. Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of
5400-690: The Utena city coat of arms. Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( endonym : lietuvių kalba , pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ] ) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European Union . There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half
5535-628: The comparative method . Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania . It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus , Latvia , Poland , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well as by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Denmark , Estonia , France , Germany , Iceland , Ireland , Norway , Russia , Sweden , the United Kingdom ,
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5670-666: The industrialization in the Soviet Union ). Russian consequently came into use in state institutions: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (there were 80% Russians among the 22,000 Communist Party members in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948), radio and television (61–74% of broadcasts were in Russian in 1970). Lithuanians passively resisted Russification and continued to use their own language. On 18 November 1988,
5805-467: The 13th–16th centuries under the influence of Curonian . Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania . Even nowadays Aukštaitians and Samogitians can have considerable difficulties understanding each other if they speak with their dialects and not standard Lithuanian, which is mandatory to learn in the Lithuanian education system. Dialects are divided into subdialects. Both dialects have three subdialects. Samogitian
5940-567: The 18th century, was successful due to many publications and research. In contrast, the development of Lithuanian in Lithuania proper was obstructed due to the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility , especially in the 18th century, and it was being influenced by the Samogitian dialect. The Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in
6075-507: The 1995–96 season the league continued to accept the champions of the LKAL to the league, Savy Alytus joined the league. Sharpshooter Joe Vickery became the first foreigner to lead the LKL in scoring for Olimpas. League officials would start pressuring teams to play in better arenas by setting up certain criteria that were necessary to get accepted into the league. That's why no more teams were accepted until 1998 when Olimpas Plungė went bankrupt and
6210-501: The 19th century, when the Lithuanian National Revival intensified, and the preparations to publish a Lithuanian periodical press were taking place, the mostly south-western Aukštaitian revival writers did not use the 19th-century Lithuanian of Lithuania Minor as it was largely Germanized . Instead, they used a more pure Lithuanian language which has been described by August Schleicher and Friedrich Kurschat and this way
6345-487: The 2013–2014 season, Juventus replaced coach Vaišvila with former longtime Žalgiris player, coach and sports director Vitoldas Masalskis. Despite high hopes, the season started poorly, and coach Masalskis was replaced with Virginijus Sirvydis, former longtime player in the LKL. The move helped the team regroup and reach the playoffs, but lost to TonyBet Prienai 0:2. The team also played in the BBL Elite division, but didn't make
6480-494: The 2015 season in which Juventus won 3rd place, Arvydas Šikšnius and Simas Buterlevičius . Coach Gediminas Petrauskas was signed to replace Sireika. Juventus qualified for the Basketball Champions League by defeating PBC Academic 82:81 and 86:79. After this, Juventus had a horrible streak - after starting 0–7 in the LKL, coach Petrauskas resigned, and longtime player, assistant coach and team president Žydrūnas Urbonas took over as head coach. The team greatly improved, both in
6615-457: The Baltic and Slavic languages closeness and from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution. So, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic. However, as for the hypotheses related to the "Balto-Slavic problem", it is noted that they are more focused on personal theoretical constructions and deviate to some extent from
6750-459: The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the family of Indo-European languages , and Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact. There is also an opinion that suggests the union of Baltic and Slavic languages into a distinct sub-family of Balto-Slavic languages amongst the Indo-European family of languages. Such an opinion
6885-559: The Basketball Champions League qualification, Juventus managed to reach the final stage, by beating the Kapfenberg Bulls 90:68 in the quarterfinals, and multiple time German champions and past EuroLeague participant Brose Bamberg 83:79 in the semifinals, thanks to strong play from Miller. In the finals, Juventus lost to Kalev/Cramo 81:86 in the finals, not qualifying for the Basketball Champions League regular season. In
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#17328944215847020-517: The Constitution of 1992, written during the Lithuanian constitutional referendum . Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages , along with Latvian , and they constitute the eastern branch of Baltic languages family. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian , was extinct by the 18th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian , became extinct earlier. Some theories, such as that of Jānis Endzelīns , considered that
7155-619: The European Union . In the Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae , published in 1673, three dialects of Lithuanian are distinguished: Samogitian dialect ( Latin : Samogitiae ) of Samogitia , Royal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Regalis ) and Ducal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Ducalis ). Ducal Lithuanian is described as pure ( Latin : Pura ), half-Samogitian ( Latin : SemiSamogitizans ) and having elements of Curonian ( Latin : Curonizans ). Authors of
7290-567: The European languages of the participants in the Council of Constance in 1414–1418. From the middle of the 15th century, the legend spread about the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from the Palemon lineage ), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin, thus this let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as
7425-655: The Indo-European family (languages such as Albanian and the Germanic languages developed definite adjectives independently), and that is not reconstructible for Proto-Balto-Slavic, meaning that they most probably developed through language contact. The Baltic hydronyms area stretches from the Vistula River in the west to the east of Moscow and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south of Kyiv . Vladimir Toporov and Oleg Trubachyov (1961, 1962) studied Baltic hydronyms in
7560-407: The LKL championship that season. In the 2011–2012 and 2012–2013 seasons, Juventus did not accomplish anything notable. After the 2011–2012 season, where Juventus missed the playoffs entirely, Robertas Giedraitis was fired as head coach. After Rytis Vaišvila was hired as head coach, Juventus made the playoffs in 2013, and fought valiantly against Lietuvos rytas , though losing the series 0–2. In
7695-410: The LKL playoffs, Juventus faced Neptūnas in the quarterfinals - they were no match for Neptūnas, who swept the series 3:0 in dominating fashion, with a 19-point average. Before the 2017–2018 season, team star and LKL MVP Jamar Diggs left to play in France and coach Sireika returned to BC Šiauliai . Juventus signed strong players like Anthony Ireland , LaRon Dendy , Jonte Flowers and the stars of
7830-399: The LKL semifinals for the third time in club's history. Despite having a regular season victory over BC Žalgiris , Juventus was no match for BC Žalgiris in the semifinals, losing the series 0:3. Though, Juventus shockingly defeated EuroLeague participant Neptūnas 3:2 and won LKL bronze medals for the first time in club's history. Rashaun Broadus led the team with 25 points and 10 assists in
7965-406: The LKL semifinals with a win over CBet Prienai 2–0 in the quarterfinals. Juventus lost 0–3 to BC Žalgiris in the semifinals. Facing Eurocup team BC Lietkabelis in the bronze medal series, Juventus took the series to the limit, but lost the deciding game 63:84 in Panevėžys, and lost the series 2–3. Juventus finished the LKL season 4th. Success in the 2020–2021 season resulted in Juventus earning
8100-488: The LKL since 2015 because they were unable to meet the league requirements. In the 2021–22 LKL season , for the first time since 2014–15 LKL season , 11 teams played in the league, NKL winner BC Jonava joined the existing 10 teams. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history: Žalgiris directly enters the EuroLeague as a licensed club. The highest-placed team, apart from licensed club Zalgiris, gets an invite to play in
8235-504: The LKL, Juventus started strong, thanks to strong play from Miller, fighting for the third spot in the standings, including a memorable 111:89 win over BC Rytas in Vilnius. By the start of 2022, Juventus started struggling. Adreian Payne , the heavily hyped signing at center to replace the departed Kupšas, arrived not ready to play, had multiple conflicts with coach Urbonas and left the team in February. It would turn out to be his final team. The team started falling apart - injuries, losses in
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#17328944215848370-418: The LKL, a shock exit against BC Šiauliai in the King Mindaugas Cup quarterfinals, even some fan protests, resulted in head coach Žydrūnas Urbonas resigning in April. Juventus, left with the assistant Nedas Pacevičius at the helm, finished the LKL regular season in 6th place. In the LKL quarterfinals, Juventus faced, and lost to BC Lietkabelis , who swept Juventus 3:0 in the series, an anti-climatic end to
8505-400: The LKL, and the Champions League. In the King Mindaugas Cup quarterfinals, Juventus faced BC Lietuvos rytas in a previous season rematch, losing in overtime 88:91, after some questionable calls by the referees at the end of game. In the Champions League, Juventus finished the regular season with a 4–10 record, but a win against UCAM Murcia 70:56 in the last game of the regular season helped
8640-401: The Lietuvos krepšinio asociacija ( English : Lithuanian Basketball Association) (LKA) was founded. It was the first professional sports organisation in Lithuania. Lietuvos krepšinio lyga was built on the foundation of the LKA. Former basketball player Šarūnas Marčiulionis is named as the founder of the league. He was the first president of the LKL and served from 1993 to 2002. Remigijus Milašius
8775-436: The Polish Ł for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: łupa , lutas . During the Lithuanian National Revival in the 19th century the Polish Ł was abolished, while digraphs sz , cz (that are also common in the Polish orthography ) were replaced with š and č from the Czech orthography because formally they were shorter. Nevertheless, another argument to abolish sz and cz
8910-406: The Polish courtiers. Casimir IV Jagiellon's son Saint Casimir , who was subsequently announced as patron saint of Lithuania, was a polyglot and among other languages knew Lithuanian. Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon also could understand and speak Lithuanian as multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel and he also maintained a Lithuanian court. In 1501, Erazm Ciołek , a priest of
9045-459: The Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of the Polish language as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language . In 2015, Polish linguist Mirosław Jankowiak [ pl ] attested that many of
9180-644: The Vilnius Cathedral, explained to the Pope that the Lithuanians preserve their language and ensure respect to it ( Linguam propriam observant ), but they also use the Ruthenian language for simplicity reasons because it is spoken by almost half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note written by Sigismund von Herberstein in the first half of the 16th century states that, in an ocean of Ruthenian in this part of Europe, there were two non-Ruthenian regions: Lithuania and Samogitia where its inhabitants spoke their own language, but many Ruthenians were also living among them. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text
9315-447: The Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta (' simple speech '). Currently, Lithuanian is divided into two dialects: Aukštaitian (Highland Lithuanian), and Samogitian (Lowland Lithuanian). There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian and these are often described as separate languages. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in
9450-464: The Vilnius Region, especially when Vilnius Voivode Ludwik Bociański issued a secret memorandum of 11 February 1936 which stated the measures for suppressing the Lithuanians in the region. Some Lithuanian historians, like Antanas Tyla [ lt ] and Ereminas Gintautas, consider these Polish policies as amounting to an " ethnocide of Lithuanians". Between 1862 and 1944, the Lithuanian schools were completely banned in Lithuania Minor and
9585-438: The World Cup qualification. After a 2–5 start, Juventus also signed Marius Runkauskas and Tomas Dimša to strengthen the team. Hamilton, the team leader, left in December. Juventus recovered, and in February, the heavily improved Bičkauskis became the second player from Juventus to get an invitation to the national team. In the King Mindaugas Cup , Juventus eliminated the NKL champions BC Neptūnas-Akvaservis and BC Nevėžis in
9720-435: The acquirement of a foreign speech." Lithuanian was studied by several linguists such as Franz Bopp , August Schleicher , Adalbert Bezzenberger , Louis Hjelmslev , Ferdinand de Saussure , Winfred P. Lehmann and Vladimir Toporov , Jan Safarewicz, and others. By studying place names of Lithuanian origin, linguist Jan Safarewicz [ pl ] concluded that the eastern boundaries of Lithuanian used to be in
9855-401: The biggest rivalry in Lithuanian sports, the competitiveness has brought over to politics and society between the two biggest cities in Lithuania. 2010–11 saw Žalgiris reclaim the title, beating Lietuvos rytas 4–1. In the finals of 2012 Žalgiris was the winner again, by sweeping Lietuvos Rytas 3–0. During the 2013–14 season, Žalgiris defeated Neptūnas in the final. The 2014–2015 season saw
9990-489: The club history became Baltic Basketball League Challenge Cup champions. Also BC "Juventus" made a huge surprise as they eliminated 7-time LKL Bronze streaker Šiauliai in the first round of LKL playoffs (first game: 105:94, second game: 91:81). After eliminating Šiauliai in quarter-final, BC Juventus reached LKL semi finals and met Lithuania basketball powerhouse Žalgiris . On 27 April 2011 BC Juventus lost first game at Kaunas Sports Hall against Žalgiris with result 63–95,
10125-654: The common language emerged. Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor spoke Western Aukštaitian dialect with specifics of Įsrutis and Ragainė environs (e.g. works of Martynas Mažvydas , Jonas Bretkūnas , Jonas Rėza , and Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica ). The other two regional variants of the common language were formed in Lithuania proper: middle, which was based on the specifics of the Duchy of Samogitia (e.g. works of Mikalojus Daukša , Merkelis Petkevičius , Steponas Jaugelis‑Telega , Samuelis Boguslavas Chylinskis , and Mikołaj Rej 's Lithuanian postil ), and eastern, based on
10260-511: The crucial game. His comment following the game was: "We don't care what anybody thinks about us. We played hard every game. Everybody told us that we will be down 3–0 and now we won medals". Juventus also finished 4th in the LKF Cup, as well as winning the bronze medals in the BBL, capping off the most successful season in club history. In 2015–2016 season Utenos Juventus was invited compete in EuroCup for
10395-451: The earliest texts dating only to c. 1500 AD , whereas Ancient Greek was first written down about three thousand years earlier in c. 1450 BC). According to hydronyms of Baltic origin, the Baltic languages were spoken in a large area east of the Baltic Sea , and in c. 1000 BC it had two linguistic units: western and eastern. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name,
10530-537: The eastern Prussian Lithuanians ' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor . These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian , while other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts . Lithuanian became the official language of the country following the restoration of Lithuania's statehood in 1918. The 1922 Constitution of Lithuania (the first permanent Lithuanian constitution ) recognized it as
10665-468: The end of the season plays the playoffs and the winner of the playoffs is crowned a champion. A system of promotion and relegation exists between the LKL and the NKL. The lowest placed team in LKL is relegated to the NKL, and the top team from the NKL promoted to LKL. However, the last team that has been promoted from the NKL to the LKL was BC Mažeikiai in the 2014–15 LKL season . No any team has been promoted to
10800-412: The ever-improving competitiveness of the league. Consequently, the LKL achieved the average attendance record, with more than 2,000 spectators per game, during the regular season. Only Lietkabelis was able to fight defending champion Žalgiris, as Žalgiris easily defeated other top contenders Lietuvos rytas and Neptūnas. In the LKL semifinals, Lietkabelis beat Lietuvos rytas 3–1, to advance to the finals for
10935-589: The finals, Žalgiris beat Neptūnas 4–1 to win again. The 2016–17 LKL season off-season saw the rise of Lietkabelis, as tensions between FIBA and the EuroLeague resulted into them receiving a wild card as replacement in the EuroCup and greatly improving their roster which included signing the Lavrinovič twins ( Darjuš and Kšyštof ). A record of 8 Lithuanian teams competed in a European tournament that season, which added to
11070-432: The first consonant in lūpa [ˈ ɫ ûːpɐ] , "lip", is a velarized dental lateral approximant ; on the other hand, the first consonant in liūtas [ˈ lʲ uːt̪ɐs̪] , "lion", is a palatalized alveolar lateral approximant ; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long [ uː ] , and no [ ɪ ] can be pronounced in liūtas ). Due to Polish influence , the Lithuanian alphabet included sz , cz and
11205-471: The first game, 85:73, in Panevėžys, before Juventus fought back and beat Lietkabelis in Utena, 86:77, tying the series. The third and decisive game proved to be a classic - Juventus fought and led most of the way, before Lietkabelis regained the lead, and in the final minutes, pulled out a 101:99 win over Juventus, winning the series 2:1. Immediately after the season, long time coach and team president Urbonas left
11340-414: The first game, in Vilnius, Juventus lost, 91–93, after a last-second three-pointer by Gerben missed. In the second game, Juventus finally beat Rytas, 92–83, to tie the series at 1–1, giving Rytas their first ever loss in the quarterfinals. In the decisive game, Juventus lost, 63–84, losing the series, 1–2, but earning praise for their amazing efforts. Celebrating their 20th anniversary, BC Juventus announced
11475-449: The first time - they lost to Žalgiris 4–1. Rytas won the third place over Neptūnas. "Does not matter the strength of the opponent, no matter, if Žalgiris Kaunas or Rytas Vilnius wins, the result does not mater, it is important, that the Lord is with us." In the 2018–19 LKL season , Dainius Adomaitis , the coach of the Lithuania men's national basketball team , joined the renamed BC Rytas as
11610-481: The first time in the club history as LKL bronze medalists. Though, they decided to choose the FIBA Europe Cup version instead. By preparing for their debut in the first-ever European competition, BC Juventus signed with former Lithuania men's national basketball team head coach Antanas Sireika to replace the LKL bronze medals winning Dainius Adomaitis , who signed with Neptūnas Klaipėda . Juventus qualified into
11745-450: The first time since its establishment. During the 2020–21 LKL season , it was decided that in the next 2021–22 LKL season , 11 teams will participate in the tournament again after 6 years. BC Jonava joined the other 10 existing LKL teams by winning the 2020–21 NKL season. For the 2022–23 season , the number of teams was further increased to 12, with the addition of the 2021–22 NKL champions Gargždai-SC . During 2022–23 LKL season it
11880-419: The first two rounds, before facing BC Rytas for the third straight season in the quarterfinals – this time, in a two-game series decided on aggregate. Juventus lost the controversial first match in Vilnius, 85–87, after questionable calls in the final minutes, including the ejection of head coach Urbonas. In the rematch, Juventus started poorly, but recovered and led for most of the game – before Urbonas received
12015-426: The formation of standard Lithuanian. The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika , was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitian dialect with some features of
12150-419: The highest population literacy rates: Vilna Governorate (in 1897 ~23.6–50% Lithuanian of whom 37% were literate), Kovno Governorate (in 1897 66% Lithuanian of whom 55.3% were literate), Suwałki Governorate (in 1897 in counties of the governorate where Lithuanian population was dominant, 76,6% of males and 50,2% of females were literate). Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) made significant contributions to
12285-592: The independent Republic of Lithuania to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Soviet authorities introduced Lithuanian– Russian bilingualism, and Russian, as the de facto official language of the USSR, took precedence and the use of Lithuanian was reduced in a process of Russification. Many Russian-speaking workers and teachers migrated to the Lithuanian SSR (fueled by
12420-400: The introduction of the 'four wheel system', where all the teams have to play 40 games with no exceptions for teams competing in international competition like in the past. This year Žalgiris was able to finished 1st, but not before a dramatic win against Lietuvos rytas in the last game of the season 82–81. "...there's no better advertisement for Lithuanian basketball than this match. The season
12555-777: The language was almost completely eliminated there. The Baltic-origin place names retained their basis for centuries in Prussia but were Germanized (e.g. Tilžė – Tilsit , Labguva – Labiau , Vėluva – Wehliau , etc.); however, after the annexation of the Königsberg region into the Russian SFSR , they were changed completely, regardless of previous tradition (e.g. Tilsit – Sovetsk , Labiau – Polesk , Wehliau – Znamensk , etc.). The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 , German occupation in 1941 , and eventually Soviet re-occupation in 1944 , reduced
12690-407: The league. The competition format follows a quadruple round-robin format, which means that during the course of a regular season, which lasts from late September to May, each club plays every other club four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 44 games. Teams receive one point for a win, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the eight highest-ranked clubs at
12825-422: The legendary AEK team, and were eliminated, losing both at home 77:78, and away 54:75. In February, Juventus also delivered the biggest shock in the King Mindaugas Cup tournament, eliminating champion BC Lietuvos rytas 87:84 in the quarterfinals. In the tournament semifinals, Juventus lost a hard-fought game to another favorite, Lietkabelis , 70:75, but won the 3-rd place game against rival Vytautas 70:61. In
12960-865: The lifting of the ban in 1904. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897 (at the height of the Lithuanian press ban), 53.5% of Lithuanians (10 years and older) were literate, while the average of the Russian Empire was only 24–27.7% (in the European part of Russia the average was 30%, in Poland – 40.7%). In the Russian Empire Lithuanian children were mostly educated by their parents or in secret schools by "daractors" in native Lithuanian language, while only 6.9% attended Russian state schools due to resistance to Russification . Russian governorates with significant Lithuanian populations had one of
13095-494: The native language of Lithuanians. Initially, Latin and Church Slavonic were the main written ( chancellery ) languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the late 17th century – 18th century Church Slavonic was replaced with Polish. Nevertheless, Lithuanian was a spoken language of the medieval Lithuanian rulers from the Gediminids dynasty and its cadet branches: Kęstutaičiai and Jagiellonian dynasties . It
13230-432: The new head coach. During the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification , happening during the season, many LKL players debuted in the national team to play the games. BC Vytautas was renamed as BC SkyCop Prienai , signing veteran players like the Lavrinovič twins, Mindaugas Lukauskis and others. The team played improved basketball and reached the playoffs. Rytas won the King Mindaugas Cup , while BC Neptūnas finished
13365-631: The new team. Juventus started the season slow, with a 0–3 start in the LKL, before winning the next 11 out of 12 games, and reaching as far the third place in the LKL standings. Juventus also signed Reggie Lynch as the center later during the season, forming a formidable front-court with Alston. Martynas Paliukėnas also had his best season with Juventus in the LKL. The biggest win in the LKL came in February, with Juventus beating LKL champions BC Rytas in Vilnius, 88:77, in Kairys first match back in Vilnius, where he
13500-410: The playoff stage for two straight seasons. In 2014–15 LKL season the club reached new highs. Before the season, the well-known Rashaun Broadus was signed, and quickly became the leader of the team. The team took 5th place during the regular LKL season and in the quarterfinals they met the 4th seed Pieno žvaigždės . After the impressive series, Juventus overcome Pieno žvaigždės 3–2 and qualified into
13635-430: The previous season. Team leaders Ireland and Kupšas left the team, being replaced by Alex Hamilton and the returning Vaidas Čepukaitis . Dovis Bičkauskis , Kenny Gaines and Šikšnius remained with the team, while Urbonas remained as head coach. Martinas Geben , who Juventus loaned from BC Žalgiris , became the first player from Juventus to get an invitation for the Lithuania men's national basketball team , playing in
13770-437: The previous year, the results remained the same - Neptūnas once again defeated Lietkabelis 3–0 in the 3rd place series, while Žalgiris easily defeated Rytas 3–0 in the finals. During the 2019–20 season , the LKL board ended the season prematurely due to the coronavirus outbreak and crowned Žalgiris champions. In the 2020–21 LKL season the LKL has reached a historic agreement - LKL will be broadcast in foreign countries for
13905-484: The quarterfinals 3–2, but lost to Žalgiris in the semifinal sweep 0–3. In the bronze medal game, Juventus lost to BC Lietuvos rytas 0–3. In 2016–2017 season Juventus qualified into the Basketball Champions League after crushing FC Porto 77–59 on 29 September 2016. In the Champions League group stage, Juventus qualified to the playoffs, finishing 4th in the group with an 8–6 record. In the playoffs, Juventus faced
14040-471: The quarterfinals. Juventus lost the opening thriller in Utena, as Lietkabelis won 84:77, before beating Lietkabelis in Panevėžys, 89:88, as the series was tied at 1:1 heading in the deciding clash in Utena. Lietkabelis led nearly the entire game, before Juventus made a mircale comeback and erased a deficit to force overtime. In overtime, both teams traded shots, before a shot by Smith put Juventus up by 1 in closing seconds. Lietkabelis, however, made their move and
14175-425: The rebranded Prienai (Vytautas Prienai–Birštonas), Lietkabelis and the continued work from last season's playoff seeds gave fans hope for one of the most competitive seasons in league history. During the season, Žalgiris won 1st place in the regular season, over Lietuvos rytas. In the playoffs, Neptūnas shocked everyone, by beating Rytas in the semifinals, and reaching the finals for the second time in club history. In
14310-515: The regular season in second place, earning home-court advantage for the semifinals for the first time in club history. Žalgiris once again won 1st place in the regular season. In the playoffs, while Žalgiris and Lietkabelis beat their opponents in sweeps, Rytas struggled against BC Juventus , 2–1, while Neptūnas defeated SkyCop 2–1. In the semifinals, Žalgiris easily swept Lietkabelis 2–0, while Rytas shocked Neptūnas with an even easier 2–0 sweep, even without home-court advantage. Setting up rematches from
14445-532: The same. In the Grammatica Litvanica Klein also established the letter W for marking the sound [v], the use of which was later abolished in Lithuanian (it was replaced with V , notably by authors of the Varpas newspaper). The usage of V instead of W especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools. The Lithuanian writing system
14580-559: The season ended early, and Juventus, one win behind Neptūnas, finished the season in 5th place. Juventus also played in the Lithuanian 3x3 championship during the summer, winning the tournament. Juventus quickly became one of the better teams of the LKL of the 2020–2021 season. Under coach Urbonas, and led by their 3x3 championship, in particular Skučas, winning team, Crawford, the returning Mindaugas Kupšas and former Rytas player Martynas Gecevičius , and late season signing Vaidas Kariniauskas , Juventus shocked everyone by destroying Rytas in
14715-590: The season series against 7-Bet Lietkabelis and a sweet win in Utena in May over Rytas helped Juventus get home-court advantage for the first time for the LKL playoffs since 2021, with a 18–12 record and 4th place in the standings - one of the best finishes ever for Juventus. Coach Kostić was named the LKL Coach of the Year for the season. The home-court advantage, however, proved to be irrelevant as Juventus faced off Lietkabelis again in
14850-622: The season, Juventus was led by Brae Ivey , who departed Juventus in December. Signings like point guard Scoochie Smith , the front court of Ajdin Penava and Ivan Vraneš led the team in scoring. Late season signing TJ Starks in particular sparked the team, quickly becoming the new team leader in the absence of Ivey, while Evaldas Šaulys , Marius Valinskas and center Šarūnas Beniušis , along with Skučas and Sederevičius, also contributed in wins. Juventus returned to European competitions, participating in
14985-577: The season. Juventus had a turbulent summer - nearly the entire team left during the summer. Juventus signed ex-Rytas coach Donaldas Kairys as the new head coach for the season. Much of the new signings came weeks before the new season was set to start - Juventus signed back Skučas, returning after a one-season absence, and signed back Alex Hamilton , who had a brief tenure with the team in the 2018–2019 season. Other signings included Juwan Ewans , Justin Alston , who, along with Hamilton, quickly became leaders of
15120-536: The second match took place on 29 April 2011 in Utena . Juventus lost the second game too and had to fight for LKL Bronze against Rūdupis . Juventus lost first Bronze game at Prienai with result 65–79, the second game was unsuccessful for Juventus too as they lost it in their home arena in Utena with result 73–98. The third game took place in Prienai, which Juventus team lost with result 83–84, because of that they lost Bronze series 0–3 against Rūdupis and took fourth place in
15255-579: The second stage of the FIBA Europe Cup by being the second-best team among teams which took third place in their groups. After successfully playing at the Round of 32 where they took first place in the group, Juventus advanced into the playoffs but there they were immediately eliminated by the Croatian powerhouse Cibona Zagreb after two close games (78–83, 84–87). In the LKL playoffs, Juventus defeated Vytautas in
15390-801: The shape of zigzags through Grodno , Shchuchyn , Lida , Valozhyn , Svir , and Braslaw . Such eastern boundaries partly coincide with the spread of Catholic and Orthodox faith, and should have existed at the time of the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387 and later. Safarewicz's eastern boundaries were moved even further to the south and east by other scholars (e.g. Mikalay Biryla [ be ] , Petras Gaučas [ lt ] , Jerzy Ochmański [ pl ] , Aleksandras Vanagas , Zigmas Zinkevičius , and others). Proto-Balto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then sub-branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic. The Baltic languages passed through
15525-499: The sole official language of the state and mandated its use throughout the state. The improvement of education system during the interwar period resulted in 92% of literacy rate of the population in Lithuania in 1939 (those still illiterate were mostly elderly). Following the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920, Vilnius Region was detached from Lithuania and was eventually annexed by Poland in 1922. This resulted in repressions of Lithuanians and mass-closure of Lithuanian language schools in
15660-641: The specifics of Eastern Aukštaitians, living in Vilnius and its region (e.g. works of Konstantinas Sirvydas , Jonas Jaknavičius , and Robert Bellarmine 's catechism ). In Vilnius University , there are preserved texts written in the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian, which was spoken in a territory located south-eastwards from Vilnius: the sources are preserved in works of graduates from Stanislovas Rapolionis -based Lithuanian language schools, graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis relative Abraomas Kulvietis . The development of Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, especially in
15795-450: The team qualify for the 2017–18 FIBA Europe Cup playoffs. Juventus defeated Alba Fehérvár on aggregate 163:152 (87:74 at home and 76:78 away) in the Round of 16, qualifying for the quarterfinals. Juventus lost to Sidigas Avellino in the quarterfinals, on aggregate 145:162 (77:77 at home and 68:85 away). Jonte Flowers was replaced by Dino Pita during the season. By the end of the season, injuries, disciplinary issues and release of one of
15930-504: The team. Gintautas Matulis took over as the new sporting director in the club, starting a new era for the team. Juventus replaced Kairys with Oliver Kostić , a former assistant coach in BC Žalgiris and the current assistant coach in the Serbia national basketball team , during the summer, and only Skučas and Ernestas Sederevičius remaining with Juventus from the previous team. For the first half of
16065-448: The teams leaders LaRon Dendy caused the team to go on a 5-game losing streak in the LKL, plummeting in the standings and finishing only in 7th place. Juventus faced Lietuvos rytas in the playoffs, losing the series 0:3, though came very close to winning the second game in Utena, losing in the final seconds after erasing an 18-point deficit. In the 2018–2019 season, Juventus didn't play in European competitions, because of money troubles from
16200-528: The upcoming fall. By the end of spring, before the season started, the LKA and their new league accepted two more teams – Lavera Kaunas and NECA Kaunas . Following the 1993–94 season, the finalists of last season's LKAL , Sakalai Vilnius & BC Šiauliai joined the league, while Drobė Kaunas decided to withdraw due to financial difficulties. The 1994–95 season saw the league's foreign players emerge as star power, before they were more known to be role players. In
16335-404: The whole tournament, suffered a stunner when Liege went on to win the first game 95:84 at home. In the rematch, Juventus went on to win 96:87, however, with the win not being enough, as Liege shockingly eliminated Juventus from the competition. Meanwhile, Šiauliai, along with Urbonas, went on to advance to the competition's semfinals. In the LKL, however, Juventus had shined all season long - winning
16470-411: The writings has survived. The first recorded Lithuanian word, reported to have been said on 24 December 1207 from the chronicle of Henry of Latvia , was Ba , an interjection of a Lithuanian raider after he found no loot to pillage in a Livonian church. Although no writings in Lithuanian have survived from the 15th century or earlier, Lithuanian ( Latin : Lingwa Lietowia ) was mentioned as one of
16605-462: The written language of Lithuania Minor was transferred to resurgent Lithuania. The most famous standardizer of the Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis , established the south-western Aukštaitian dialect, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor, as the basis of standardized Lithuanian in the 20th century, which led to him being nicknamed the father of standardized Lithuanian. According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski 's article published in 1931,
16740-431: Was a spoken language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Duchy of Prussia , while the beginning of Lithuanian writing is possibly associated with the introduction of Christianity in Lithuania when Mindaugas was baptized and crowned King of Lithuania in 1250–1251. It is believed that prayers were translated into the local dialect of Lithuanian by Franciscan monks during the baptism of Mindaugas, however none of
16875-474: Was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian. Soon afterwards Vytautas the Great wrote in his 11 March 1420 letter to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , that Lithuanian and Samogitian are the same language. The use of Lithuanian continued at the Lithuanian royal court after the deaths of Vytautas the Great (1430) and Jogaila (1434). For example, since the young Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon
17010-492: Was caused by independent parallel development, and the Proto-Balto-Slavic language did not exist. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski . He proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view
17145-608: Was coached by Mindaugas Kildišius. Juventus basketball team first time in the club history won LKBL championship (same like RKL ) and won right to participate in the LKAL championship (same like NKL ). But because of various bureaucracy barriers, Juventus basketball team wasn't permitted to debut in the second-tier Lithuania basketball league. During 2005–2006 season, BC Juventus took third place in RKL tournament. One season later, Juventus won RKL championship once again and in transition match to
17280-468: Was fascination with the Lithuanian people and their language among the late 19th-century researchers, and the philologist Isaac Taylor wrote the following in his The Origin of the Aryans (1892): "Thus it would seem that the Lithuanians have the best claim to represent the primitive Aryan race , as their language exhibits fewer of those phonetic changes, and of those grammatical losses which are consequent on
17415-464: Was first represented by August Schleicher . Some supporters of the Baltic and Slavic languages unity even claim that Proto-Baltic branch did not exist, suggesting that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups: East Baltic , West Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Antoine Meillet and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay , on the contrary, believed that the similarity between the Slavic and Baltic languages
17550-559: Was football player Nerijus Kuzmickas (played in Kauno Inkaras team), now Šiauliai football academy, child and teenage coach. In the debut Juventus season also played: Egidijus Varnas ( FK Ekranas ), Tomas Keraitis , Tomas Karvelis and others. In 2003–2004 season, Juventus basketball team was coached by Rimvydas Vaitkus . Juventus debuted in Lithuania basketball B league and in their debut season, BC Juventus took sixth place. After year, in 2004–2005 season, Juventus basketball team
17685-474: Was heavily jeered all game by Rytas fans. Ewans and Hamilton later left the team during the season, and were replaced by Brandon Brown and Jon Davis , with Davis in particular quickly adapting and becoming the team leader. Juventus participated in the King Mindaugas Cup , losing to BC Lietkabelis in the quarterfinals. In the LKL, Juventus finished the regular season in 6th place, and in the quarterfinals, once again faced Lietkabelis. Lietkabelis beat Juventus in
17820-456: Was less influenced by this process and retained many of its older features, which form Lithuanian. According to glottochronological research, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between c. 400 BC and c. 600 BC. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after c. 800 AD; for a long period, they could be considered dialects of
17955-468: Was replaced by BC Kraitienė based in Marijampolė . Some of the strongest teams like Šilutė and Atletas faded away to the bottom of the league and left the league. During this time period, the league had been dominated by Žalgiris. They won the league's championship trophy for six consecutive years, from 1994 through 1999. Their main rival during those years was Atletas Kaunas led by Saulius Štombergas and
18090-419: Was to distinguish Lithuanian from Polish . The new letters š and č were cautiously used in publications intended for more educated readers (e.g. Varpas , Tėvynės sargas , Ūkininkas ), however sz and cz continued to be in use in publications intended for less educated readers as they caused tension in society and prevailed only after 1906. Lietuvos Krep%C5%A1inio Lyga On April 22, 1993,
18225-651: Was underage, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Lithuanian Council of Lords , presided by Jonas Goštautas , while Casimir IV Jagiellon was taught Lithuanian and customs of Lithuania by appointed court officials. During the Polish szlachta 's envoys visit to Casimir in 1446, they noticed that in Casimir's royal court the Lithuanian-speaking courtiers were mandatory, alongside
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