Vasily Nikolayevich Karasev (russian: Василий Николаевич Карасев; born April 14, 1971) is a Russian former professional basketball player and coach. He was most recently the head coach of Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Professional playing career

For several years, Karasev was the starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

of the Russian League club CSKA Moscow, in the EuroLeague. He also led

CSKA CSKA (Cyrillic: ЦСКА) is an abbreviation for "Central Sports Club of the Army" in several Slavic languages, and refers to military sports teams in may stand for: Bulgaria * Football clubs ** PFC CSKA Sofia, a professional association football ...

to the 1996 EuroLeague Final Four, where he was named to the

EuroLeague All-Final Four Team The EuroLeague All-Final Four Team, or FIBA SuproLeague All-Final Four Team, was an award given by Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, to the top five basketball players of each season's EuroLeague Final Four competition. The EuroLeag ...

. He was selected to the FIBA EuroStars team in the years 1997, 1998, and 1999. He is widely considered to have been one of the best European point guards of the 1990s.

National team playing career

Karasev was the starting point guard of the senior men's

Russian national basketball team The Russia men's national basketball team (russian: национа́льная сбо́рная Росси́и по баскетболу, natsionalnaya sbornaya rossii po basketbolu) represents Russia in international basketball competition. Th ...

, between 1993 and 2003. With Russia's senior national team, Karasev won two

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

medals, the silver medal at the EuroBasket 1993 and the bronze medal at the EuroBasket 1997. He also won two

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

silver medals, one at the

1994 FIBA World Championship The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome and Maple L ...

, and one at the

1998 FIBA World Championship The 1998 FIBA World Championship was the 13th FIBA World Championship, an international basketball tournament held by the International Basketball Federation and hosted in Greece from 29 July to 9 August 1998. The tournament was contested by 16 n ...

. At the

, he was selected to the All-Tournament Team.

Coaching career

After he retired from playing professional basketball, Karasev began working as a basketball coach. He became the head coach of

Triumph Lyubertsy BC Zenit Saint Petersburg (russian: БК Зенит Санкт Петербург), formerly known as BC Dynamo Moscow Region (2003–2007) and BC Triumph Lyubertsy (2007–2014), is a Russian professional basketball team that is located in Sain ...

(later renamed to Zenit St. Petersburg), in 2012.

Personal life

Vasily is the father of Sergey Karasev. Sergey has been a senior

player, and has played with the pro clubs

, Canton Charge,

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

and Brooklyn Nets (

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

), and Zenit Saint Petersburg.

External links

FIBA Player ProfileEuroleague.net Player ProfileEuroCup Coaching Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karasev, Vasily 1971 births Living people 1998 FIBA World Championship players 2002 FIBA World Championship players Alba Berlin players Anadolu Efes S.K. players BC Khimki players BC Spartak Saint Petersburg players BC Zenit Saint Petersburg coaches BC Zenit Saint Petersburg players Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. players PBC CSKA Moscow players PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players PBC Ural Great players Point guards Russian basketball coaches Russian men's basketball players Shooting guards Soviet men's basketball players 1994 FIBA World Championship players