Two weeks ago, the USK Prague women’s basketball team broke the league record. On Friday, he registered his 259th win in a row on the home stage. USK’s dominance thus exceeded the Žabin era in Brno (1998-2007), which also included national team mainstay Hana Horáková. “I would like to cheer for them, but I’m not very good at it,” says the vice-champion of the world to the Prague club and explains why in an interview.
Would you have said in 2007 that anyone would ever surpass your Brno league winning streak of 256 games?
I didn’t even know about it then, I didn’t count it. I knew it was long, but I wouldn’t say if it was 100, 200 or 300. We didn’t deal with it, it just went game by game.
But you have lasted nine long years without defeat.
It depends on the state of the team and the strength of the opponents. Back then, the Czech league was quite clear. And it’s the same now.
How is it possible that no one has beaten USK Prague for ten years now?
It’s simple actually, as in any sport it’s about the money. If USK can do it and wants to be equal to the top of Europe, it has completely different means than the others. I’m just sorry that the Czech players don’t get to speak much there. And that in our time other teams played at least lower European cups and experience could be gathered there.
Does Czech women’s basketball suffer from weak league competition?
Certainly. For the men, I’m enjoying the fact that even Nymburk can lose. Even for the spectator, it is better if he goes to the match and does not know who will win. It is better in terms of competition and attractiveness.
Five Czechs are on USK’s thirteen-member roster. Is it very little?
I recently watched the Euroleague against Bourges and there was no Czech woman in USK. This is a really sad business card for our basketball and then it is reflected in the national team. I’m sorry.
When only Brno won in the Czech Republic, the national team also did well. She brought gold and silver from the European Championships, played at the World Championships and the Olympics. But now there is a decline.
Here in Žabiny, there were many people interested in the club who also cared about the national team. Eighteen-year-old or twenty-year-old girls were given space, it was clear to everyone that these are experiences that you cannot get elsewhere. When you play tough matches in the Euroleague, you can do it in the national team as well. In USK, after the end of Kačka Elhotová, no one really starts in the starting line-up. I understand that the club and the national team are different, but it’s a shame.
How to get out of it?
I remember how the national team really sacrificed for the European Championship 2001 in France. The young girls got the space and won, then they were successfully built on. I understand that USK may not be interested in the national team, but I think there are people there who are connected to it. They should take that into account. You can’t expect great performances from girls who don’t play in the national team.
How difficult was it for you in Žabiny to maintain proper concentration for a dozen league matches when you and Brno won everything between 1998 and 2007?
I didn’t really enjoy the matches. As a player or as a spectator. I personally played at half throttle. When it’s 20 or more points, I don’t like it. We went into the match with all our might, but gradually the concentration fell and it was definitely not 100%.
Wasn’t it difficult to switch to a higher level during the Euroleague?
Not exactly. When you see your opponent playing, you go into the match on alert. It was clear that if we didn’t do everything at one hundred percent, we wouldn’t win. In those days, anyone could beat anyone in the Euroleague.
You didn’t enjoy the league, on the contrary, you always had to look forward to this, didn’t you?
Horribly! That’s what it’s like when you don’t know if it’s going to work out. When, for example, a basket at the end decides. We didn’t know it from the league. I was very happy with every victory in the Euroleague.
Hana Horáková
Photo: CTK
43 years old, former basketball player, point guard/wing
Euroleague winner (2006), ten-time Czech champion and winner of the Turkish league (2011). She played with the national team at three Olympics, she has gold (2005) and silver (2003) from the European Championship and silver from the World Championship (2010), at which it was announced most useful player tournaments.
In 2021, she became the first Czech woman to become a member FIBA Hall of Fame.
USK gradually took over Czech domination from you. How?
Again, it was about money. Brno manager Jiří Hamza left basketball, money was running out, players were running out. Brno was no longer the top team and USK took over. That’s how it is. Nymburk used to be invincible in the men’s category, but now he too has problems.
Do you still watch basketball today?
Every now and then I watch the Euroleague and especially I support the teams where Czechs play. That’s why I always disagree with USK. I would like to support them because it is a Czech club, but there are so many foreign women there that I don’t enjoy it. Same Nymburk. I know it’s hard and I don’t build teams. But that’s how I feel.
There were also a few foreign women in the Brno era, but not yet in such a quantity, you see?
There was always a foreigner with us. They were really high quality and quite sensitively selected. We got along with them in the game and in the dressing room. It probably wouldn’t have been so easy without them, but it was different in that we had a Czech core.
