Virginia and Tony Bennett went the international route for the 2nd time in the 2021 recruiting class, securing a commitment this weekend from Croatian big man Igor Milicic. It was surprising news to many, even those that follow recruiting, as this was a classic Tony Bennett under-the-radar recruitment. Let’s dig in to the news.

The Recruitment

Virginia recruiting sleuths first started paying attention about a week or so ago when official UVA twitter accounts started following Igor on social media. It’s 2021, and that sort of thing now credibly passes for a lead, and outlets slowly started to let on that the UVA interest was real.

What’s the UVA connection here? The most prominent is Isaiah Wilkins, who is currently playing professional ball in the German Bundesliga league, the top league in the Deutsch Republic. Milicic is doing what many top young international players do, and that’s interning with a top professional team to gain experience playing with/against top adult competition, though doing so in such a way that maintains their amateur status, much as fellow 2021 Hoo commit Taine Murray did in the Australian NBL earlier this year. Milicic is seeing spot time with the Ratiopharm Ulm where Wilkins is a regular rotational player in the front court.

As it stands today, little is know about how long UVA has been recruiting Milicic, or the specifics of the relationship, only that things happened quickly and on Saturday afternoon (local time), ESPN’s Jonathan Givony broke the news.

Igor Milicic, one of the top European prospects pursuing the NCAA route, has committed to Virginia, he told ESPN. Milicic, a 6'9 forward with guard skills, made his debut with the Polish senior national team in February.https://t.co/ETPyMdsaFG

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 1, 2021

The Player

Standing 6’9″ and 220 lbs, Milicic is just built like a power forward. There’s certainly some finesse to his game, as he’s trained to be a perimeter oriented player, but I think it’s a stretch to think he’ll be deployed as a lengthy 3-man as we’ve done with Murphy and Hunter in recent years.

He does have some face-up to his game. He’s comfortable offensively shooting off spot ups, pick and pops, or curls, though at this stage in his development he’s way more effective in the mid-range than he is on 3’s. In his semi-pro international play the last two seasons, he’s shot 55% on 2’s, up to 58% this most recent season, hitting both at the rim and on short jumpers. Going out to the international 3-point line, his percentage drops to just 31.5% for the last two years, though that was at least 33% this past season. He’ll likely be used as a pick-and-pop big, a Nolte type, though we’ll have to see how well his 3-point shot translates and develops over the next couple seasons to see what kind of offensive ceiling he truly has. Playing downhill and at the rim, there isn’t a ton of athleticism to work with relative to most ACC defenders, and while his savvy will come in handy at times, he’ll still struggle against more vertical defenders.

Defensively, depending how fast he puts on muscle, he can guard either the 4 or the 5 in the ACC. In Europe he does some switching onto 3’s, but coming to the ACC he’s going to struggle to stay in front of smaller, faster opposing wings. He’s best utilized as a big man defender, whether on the blocks or guarding rival pick-and-pop bigs. He’s only blocked 14 shots in 42 games over the last two seasons, posting a block rate of just 2% last season, which isn’t anything to write home about, so don’t expect a rim protector defensively. His value will be provided with positioning and rebounding, where he posted a healthy OR% of 10.7% to go with a solid DR% of 18%.

We mentioned above Milicic’s experience interning with Ratiopharm Ulm in the top German league Bundesliga. It should be noted he’s only played 23 minutes for that club this year. Most of his game experience came with Orange Academy Ratiopharm, which is effectively a minor league club for the Ulm team. At Orange Academy, he played 23 minutes a game over 21 games (17 starts) this past season, after playing 19 mpg over 15 games (6 starts) the season prior. You can see his international stats: here.

For Orange Academy, Milicic ultimately posted a stat line this most recent season of 13.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, and 0.5 blkpg. As an interesting comparison, his teammate there was Jeremy Sochan, a 4-star PF committed to Baylor as part of the 2021 recruiting class, whose stat line was only 9.8 ppg and 3.8 rpg in similar minutes (24 mpg in 21 games, 15 starts) against the same competition.

Here are a few clips of Milicic getting some garbage production with the senior Ulm club a few weeks ago:

Igor Milicic got 10 minutes in a blowout win against Giessen. 2002 prospect finished with 11 pts and 5 rebounds. #koszkadra #plkpl pic.twitter.com/T2pQ0ry9b1

— Stanisław Woźniak (@stanio2002) April 11, 2021

Roster and Recruiting Impacts

We’re slating Milicic into the roster as a true power forward. Out of an abundance of conservativism, I’m coding him red for this upcoming season, as I don’t expect him to make an immediate impact on the roster. Part of that is his being international, part of it is his being a big man. At UVA, an international big man is about a 99% guaranteed to spend the first season simply acclimating, regardless of whether that’s formalized with a redshirt.

Trey Murphy is still included as a possibility to return, although at this stage it’s more likely than not he stays in the Draft and goes pro this summer.

Should Murphy indeed leave, the Milicic commitment puts UVA at 10 scholarships for next year, so just enough to hold a 5-on-5 scrimmage. But honestly there’s still some depth concerns, especially where 3-point shooting is concerned. Expect UVA to continue to target wing transfer prospects, someone in that 2/3/4 variety with a good shot, to buoy rotational depth for next season while young guys develop.

Domestic 2021 recruiting was basically done once Trevor Keels committed to Duke, and it should stay that way at this point.

If we’re going after teenagers at this point, it’s now full steam ahead for the 2022 class, where only Isaac McKneely is committed and we’re essentially recruiting for every position at this point still, point guard through center. Except news on that front to ramp up come June once official visits are permitted for the first time since the pandemic set in last summer.

Summary

It’s always a good day when a new player decides to commit to Tony Bennett’s program. Don’t let our conservative expectations for our predictions mean we’re not thrilled to have Milicic, or that we don’t have high hopes for the big man. If Tony took him, it means Tony sees something he likes, and of course we’ve learned to trust Tony by now.

Milicic will bring a fresh Euro perspective to the UVA program and immediately provide a quality presence in practices as he eventually builds towards on-court ACC contributions later in his career.

As we always do in these articles, let’s close out with a fresh round of highlights:

There is definite possibility of 6'9 2002 born skilled forward Igor Milicic Jr (son of @BMSlamStal coach @Mili44Igor) coming to NCAA, per sources. Teammate of #Baylor recruit Jeremy Sochan (@SochanJeremy)in Ulm is super intriguing HM talent who is one to watch.

? @Stanio2002 pic.twitter.com/VgpBsEtlQk

— Rodger Bohn (@rodgerbohn) March 4, 2021