Zvonimir Ivisic has not quite lived up to his billing during the first two years of his college basketball career. The Croatian sensation wasn’t able to see.
Quite literally.
One of the most sought-after transfers in college basketball recently admitted to a major failure by former head coach John Calipari. Poor vision prevented him from playing to his full potential.
Who is Zvonimir Ivisic?
Ivisic was born in Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina and moved to Sibenik, Croatia when he was 14 years old. He played three years of professional basketball in Montenegro and Yugoslavia from 2020 to 2023.
At 7-foot-2, the man they call ‘Big Z’ ultimately committed to play for John Calipari at Kentucky in the recruiting Class of 2023 after deciding to withdrawal from the NBA Draft pool on two separate occasions. It took more than half of the year for him to be declared as eligible, which ultimately led him to dunk all over the NCAA during the most exciting debut in college basketball history.
Zvonimir Ivisic decided to follow coach Cal to Arkansas after his freshman season. He averaged 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in 19.1 minutes per game as a sophomore but did not stick around.
Ivisic went back into the transfer portal for a second time and signed with Illinois in April. He immediately added 27 pounds to his frame during his first four months on campus.
That was not the only change.
He can finally see the rim!
Zvonimir Ivisic scored 19 points with 14 rebounds and six assists during an exhibition game against a solid Illinois State team on Sunday. It was a big night for the true junior on his third team in three years.
When asked about the difference between this season and seasons past, he attributed his outlook to contacts. As in, contact lenses.
“It feels really good,” Ivisic said. “I haven’t seen the rim in three years.”
Uhhhh….. what?! I had to double take to make sure I heard his quote correctly.
Zvonimir Ivisic took 274 shots over the last two years and 141 of those shots were from beyond the arc. But he couldn’t see the rim at which he was shooting. Yikes.
That is a direct reflection on John Calipari not to figure this out. Brad Underwood created a monster!