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An interview with ex-Shocker Sasha Radunovich

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  • An interview with ex-Shocker Sasha Radunovich

    This is from last May, but I thought I'd throw it out there.



    The Shocker of a story

    In a blog last month, I shared about my family’s love for the Wichita State Shockers. I shared rather unabashedly about a crush I had as a nine-year-old on a Shocker player who was there in the late 1980s named Sasha Radunovich.

    Sasha hailed from the now former Yugoslavia and I thought he was so, so wonderful. I even got to meet him briefly at a practice for my wheelchair track meet. He was nice and incredibly pleasant and I’m happy to say that 25 years later, that hasn’t changed!

    Now, how could I possibly know that?

    Well, I got an email a while back that shocked me. To be perfectly honest, I thought at first it might be my cousins or brothers pranking me about the blog I wrote. I finally realized that this email was in fact from the Sasha Radunovich and he was writing from all the way across the world. He keeps up with the Shockers and through that found my blog. He was very kind and wrote to me about the blog and about his life since then.

    I wrote back and we had a very pleasant exchange. I couldn’t wait to tell my family about it and they were as shocked as I was. They told friends and everyone encouraged me to ask Sasha if he would be willing to be interviewed for my blog. See, he was pretty popular back then and a lot of Wichita folks remember him and have wondered where he went after graduation. He is known for great ball playing and just being an all-around nice guy.

    It was thrilling when Sasha agreed to the interview and to submit a current picture. I was pleasantly surprised that I recognized him from the photo (who else did I think it would look like?!?). My career plan to be a journalist began at a very early age and always thought it would be cool to interview Sasha.

  • #2
    Originally posted by 1979Shocker View Post
    This is from last May, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

    http://jamiesthots.com/2013/05/26/a-...ha-radunovich/
    beautiful person, "jamies thots" is

    Comment


    • #3
      I remember watching Sasha as a kid. On a good rebound you MAY have been able to slip a piece of notebook paper under his feet.
      "We can't win at home. We can't win on the road. As the general manager, I just can't figure out where else to play." -Pat Williams

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      • #4
        Originally posted by jpshocker View Post
        I remember watching Sasha as a kid. On a good rebound you MAY have been able to slip a piece of notebook paper under his feet.
        Just like Dave Leach, they jumped like a couple of white guys.
        An “Old West” Texas analysis and summary of Mueller report and Congress’ efforts in one sentence:

        "While we recognize that the subject did not actually steal any horses, he is obviously guilty of trying to resist being hanged for it."

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        • #5
          Serious ups......for white guys.
          "We can't win at home. We can't win on the road. As the general manager, I just can't figure out where else to play." -Pat Williams

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          • #6
            His between the knees fake with his back to the basket was so believable, it left our foes clueless and helped Sasha for a "quick on quick" visit to the pine by Coach Eddie Fogler. I loved that fake and it worked to the max.
            Shocker basketball will forever be my favorite team in all of sports.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by forevershockerfan View Post
              His between the knees fake with his back to the basket was so believable, it left our foes clueless and helped Sasha for a "quick on quick" visit to the pine by Coach Eddie Fogler. I loved that fake and it worked to the max.
              My all time favorite Sasha memory.
              Where oh where is our T. Boone Pickens.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by wusphlash View Post
                My all time favorite Sasha memory.
                He did it to 2 different teams. Both times coach Folger was not amused. But the crowd was...... :)
                Marge: The plant called and said that if you don't come in tomorrow, don't bother coming in Monday.
                Homer: WOOHOO! Four day weekend.

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                • #9
                  I was going to school at WSU when Sasha was there. He might not have been the best of leapers, but he had very good hands and was good with ball fakes. I believe he was 6'9- 6'10, good shooter could stretch the defense, good 3pt shooter and money from the line. He would fit nicely on our current team in the post. good story shocker1979, thanks for sharing it

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by capnkirk View Post
                    He did it to 2 different teams. Both times coach Folger was not amused. But the crowd was...... :)
                    The first time he didn't know how Eddie would react. The second time he was half-way to the bench before Eddie could get his sub to the scorer's table. Sasha is a free spirit.
                    Where oh where is our T. Boone Pickens.

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                    • #11
                      My heart-broken memory was in the first rd. of the NCAA tournement, when we were play ST. Johns, we lost on a last second 3pt shot, from their post player I believe. Sasha went for the steal at the top of the key ( oh so close ) and the guy drains the shot. Was a great game, close all the way...but what a heart breaker.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Blackmag View Post
                        My heart-broken memory was in the first rd. of the NCAA tournement, when we were play ST. Johns, we lost on a last second 3pt shot, from their post player I believe. Sasha went for the steal at the top of the key ( oh so close ) and the guy drains the shot. Was a great game, close all the way...but what a heart breaker.
                        Marco (you're kidding me) Baldi.:grumpy:
                        Where oh where is our T. Boone Pickens.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by capnkirk View Post
                          He did it to 2 different teams. Both times coach Folger was not amused. But the crowd was...... :)
                          Originally posted by wusphlash View Post
                          The first time he didn't know how Eddie would react. The second time he was half-way to the bench before Eddie could get his sub to the scorer's table. Sasha is a free spirit.
                          Didn't he do that a couple of times under Smithson in his freshman year and Gene liked it. Fast Eddie comes in for Sasha's sophomore year and put a stop to it. Your right, Sasha was a free spirit and I thought Folger sort of broke that spirit, IMO. I never thought Sasha played with the same great love of the game after that and his junior and senior stats showed it. Loved Sasha, not so much Folger after that. Probably why I was happy to see Eddie "retire" from coaching.

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                          • #14
                            Didn't anyone watch the YouTube clip that was included in that article? Apparently Sasha did not leave his patented pass fake move in Wichita. Wonder if Shoelace would fall for that trick?

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by BostonWu View Post
                              Didn't anyone watch the YouTube clip that was included in that article? Apparently Sasha did not leave his patented pass fake move in Wichita. Wonder if Shoelace would fall for that trick?
                              However, I don't recall he ever missed a shot from that patented move at WSU.

                              IMHO, Sasha would not have only made the NBA, he would have played. So glad to that others on this board that may not have had the privilege to see him play, got a good glimpse of the type of person I remember and of course, the patented fake pass move.

                              It would be great if blogs/articles/videos/pictures of past Shocker players could be compiled into a historical sticky for all to remember or "get to know" past Shocker players.

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