If you like basketball, watch EuroLeague, and your favorite team was not at the Final4 than you most probably supported Zalgiris from Lithuania. One reason was because they were underdogs, or because you were impressed with great energy of their coach Jasikevicius. But, if you like university sport, that should have been the reason to cheer for them.

Basketball is the sport number one in Lithuania without any doubt. Love for the sport can be compared to religion and is serious at every level. Here we will speak about the university basketball and especially Vytautas Magnus University from Kaunas.

University basketball in Lithuania is special because professional players are allowed to play for their university teams and a lot of them do. Paulius Sorokas explains it:

„In Lithuania, obtaining a bachelor’s or a master’s degree is held in high regard. All athletes who think they can enroll into faculties succeed in doing so. Another advantage is that the universities are willing to help athletes, doing everything in their power to help athletes balance training and their exams.”

And they really find it really serious. In the Zalgiris Kaunas Final 4 team played three playes that won the university competition just 20 days before – Paulius Valinskas, Gytis Masiulis and Martynas Sajus. And that is not all – some of Vytautas Magnus alumni also were in the team. The best known player is for sure Paulius Jankunas who played for the university team two seasons, along with Mantas Kalnietis, Jonas Maciulis, Arturas Milaknis and Adas Juknevicius. They played together and won 6 consecutive University titles from 2007 till 2012.

Beside them, players like Edgaras Ulanovas, Arturas Milaknis and a former NBA player Mindaugas Kuzminskas. And the list goes on.

What can describe the Vytautas Magnus team dominance than their success at EUSA events. So far they attended 6 European University Championships or European Universities Games and return home with 6 gold medals. It seems that when you see Vytautas Magnus University at the list of teams, you should know that the gold is already taken. Incredible!