An interview with ex-Shocker Sasha Radunovich

[ciaomichael]

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.

Yeah, Gene was kind of a free spirit in his own way, too. I believe it was Dick Vitale (or maybe a predecessor) who used to call him "the Jonathan Livingston Seagull of college basketball."

Smithson actually developed a bit of a pipeline from Eastern Europe. As I recall, he took the basketball team on a European tour one summer. Came back with a couple of players - Zarko Drusic and Zoran Radovic. Their playing time was very limited, but when they did get in a game at junk time, they were crowd favorites.

[ABC]

I think Zarko played more than junk minutes. I remember him scoring 30 in a game.

[shockmonster]

Zarko was the starting 6'10" 230 lb. Center on the 25-3 1982-83 Shocker basketball team. He averaged 8.5 points and 6.4 rebounds. He started as a Senior along with Antoine Carr, Xavier McDaniel, Aubrey Sherrod, and James Gibbs. Coming off the bench was Karl Papke, Jackson (I forget his first name but he was a talented point guard who transferred to Loyola I think)Gilbert Wilburn, Terri Atwater, etc. This was a very good team with talent and depth.

[ciaomichael]

Yeah, Zarko did go on to become a contributor. I guess I was referring to earlier on when he and Zoran first came to WSU. Zarko must have been playing behind Ozell Jones at that point.

Speaking of centers in that era, Greg Dreiling was a freshman in 81-82. He then went on to transfer to KU. My question is: did he have to sit out the 82-83 season, or was he actually playing for KU that season?

[pinstripers]

Zarko was the starting 6'10" 230 lb. Center on the 25-3 1982-83 Shocker basketball team. He averaged 8.5 points and 6.4 rebounds. He started as a Senior along with Antoine Carr, Xavier McDaniel, Aubrey Sherrod, and James Gibbs. Coming off the bench was Karl Papke, Jackson (I forget his first name but he was a talented point guard who transferred to Loyola I think)Gilbert Wilburn, Terri Atwater, etc. This was a very good team with talent and depth.

Bernard Jackson

[HarpBros]

Yeah, Zarko did go on to become a contributor. I guess I was referring to earlier on when he and Zoran first came to WSU. Zarko must have been playing behind Ozell Jones at that point.

Speaking of centers in that era, Greg Dreiling was a freshman in 81-82. He then went on to transfer to KU. My question is: did he have to sit out the 82-83 season, or was he actually playing for KU that season?

it look likes he sit out a year per the norm.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dreilgr01.html#college::none

[Bluzrover]

Zarko was the starting 6'10" 230 lb. Center on the 25-3 1982-83 Shocker basketball team. He averaged 8.5 points and 6.4 rebounds. He started as a Senior along with Antoine Carr, Xavier McDaniel, Aubrey Sherrod, and James Gibbs. Coming off the bench was Karl Papke, Jackson (I forget his first name but he was a talented point guard who transferred to Loyola I think)Gilbert Wilburn, Terri Atwater, etc. This was a very good team with talent and depth.

Yep, I was attending WSU during the Smithson years and I remember he had the Yugoslavia connection as well and especially remember Zarko. I left for the Navy the summer of 83 but before leaving, my friends threw a going away party for me. Because I was a basketball junkie and a staff photographer for the Sunflower, I had struck up a friendship with Zarko (amongst other players). I invited him to my going away party and I remember him standing at the food table, devouring the two pounds of steamed shrimp I had bought earlier that day for the party. We were giving him so much grief he just stood there and ate the whole bowl of shrimp to spite us! We laughed our asses off. Tremendous guy and bb player. He's the Director of Player Personnel for the Timberwolves these days.

[JamiesThots]

Thanks for sharing my blog post! I've enjoyed reading the comments about Sasha, etc. Glad I discovered this board.

[pogo]

Welcome to SN. Always nice to have new people.