KIEV (EuroBasket 2015) - Yevgen Murzin has been charged with the task of keeping the positive momentum going for Ukraine after being named as coach of the national team.

The 50-year-old follows in the footsteps of Mike Fratello, a coach the country's basketball federation reluctantly parted with because of a lack of finance.

Murzin now holds the reins of a team that finished a surprising sixth at EuroBasket 2013, a performance that qualified the Ukrainians for the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the first time.

The new coach will lead the yellow-blues at EuroBasket 2015, where they will play in Group D in Riga against Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

The two sides that reach the Final of the 24-team tournament will clinch places in the Rio de Janeiro Games, and the sides that end up third, fourth, fifth and sixth will be invited to the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

"We are almost at the finish line of another national team cycle and there's no time to make any drastic changes," recently elected Ukrainian Basketball Federation President Mikhail Brodsky said to basket.com.ua.

"We'll see how everybody does in their positions and will make future decisions based on the outcome of the EuroBasket."

Murzin inherits a very talented squad that made huge strides under Fratello the previous four years.

They had many a bright moment last year at the World Cup, despite not progressing from the Group Phase in Bilbao.

Brodsky has also announced that Oleksandr Lokhmanchuk, who is Murzin's assistant at BC Goverla in Ukraine's top flight, will assume the same role on the national team, too.

The federation is also nearing an agreement with Denis Zhuravlev, a former assistant of Fratello, to continue his participation on the coaching staff.

Ukraine's new head coach is a former international player who took part at EuroBasket 1997 and last suited up for Ukraine during their qualification campaign for EuroBasket 2001, shortly before his retirement.

Murzin's coaching career commenced immediately after he stopped playing.

He became an assistant at Budivelnyk Kyiv while he also remained close to the national team, joining its coaching staff.

His first experience in charge of a team representing Ukraine came when he the country's University Team, a role he had for two years.

In 2009, Murzin assumed his current position as head coach of Hoverla.

Hoverla were promoted to the Ukrainian Superleague that same year and reached the play-off semi-finals in 2011 and the Ukrainian Cup final in 2013.

The Ivano-Frankivsk side competed in the Superleague this season with an almost entirely Ukrainian roster and finished in eighth place, although due to the competition system it was not enough to earn a spot in the play-offs.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for full coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA