Drazen Zlovaric has seen the international trend come to the NBA.
Now he’s trying to help it spread to college basketball.
The former Cleveland (Tenn.) High School and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout is an assistant coach at Ohio’s Cleveland State University, and he has honed his skills to become one of the top international recruiters in the country.
In this Feb.21, 2013, staff file photo, UTC’s Drazen Zlovaric, right, shoots over UNCG’s Kelvin McNeil during a Mocs’ basketball game at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga.Zlovaric – who came to the United States from Serbia wanting to either swim or play volleyball – played two seasons of prep basketball before signing with Georgia, choosing the Bulldogs over offers from Texas and other programs. He spent two seasons there before transferring to UTC, where he started 62 of 64 career games and averaged 9.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
He played a couple of seasons of professional basketball in the Euroleague (KK Parizan), Turkish Second Basketball League (Best Balikesir), the Osterreichische Bundesliga (BC Zepter Vienna) and the Adriatic League/Bosnian League (KK Ogokea) from 2013 to ’15. He made some connections there before receiving a call from Tennessee coach Rick Barnes – who recruited Zlovaric to Texas when Barnes was still with the Longhorns – about an opening for a graduate assistant’s position.