Maybe Mike Fratello has seen the cyrillic writing on the wall.  The Ukrainian Basketball Federation on Friday named him as head coach of the national basketball team.

Olexandr Volkov, who played for the YES Network broadcaster when he coached the Hawks, is the president of the Ukrainian Basketball Federation and he said: "We have a verbal agreement and will sign an official contract any day now". But Al Iannazzone reports that Fratello has yet to accept the offer.

If a deal is worked out, Fratello will head to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev next week to introduce his staff and start planning for Eurobasket 2011 in Lithuania next summer.

• Ukraine hand reins to "the Czar" Fratello  - FIBA.com