'Hoos land European forward Igor Milicic Jr.

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On Saturday, Virginia picked up its second true freshman commitment for the Class of 2021 in 6-foot-9 forward Igor Milicic Jr. Like four-star guard Taine Murray from New Zealand, Milicic is an international prospect. He has not been ranked by a U.S.-based recruiting service (Murray also had to wait for a grade).

Milicic is the son of Igor Milicic Sr., who played for the Croatian national team and is now the coach of a Polish league basketball team. It's been reported that Milicic is a dual citizen of Poland and Croatia, and I read an article in which Milicic said he was half Polish and half Croatian, though I do not have a link to that article now. To add even more international flavor to this recruitment, Milicic has been playing as an amateur in the Bundesliga basketball league, which is the top German professional league. He also made his debut for the Polish senior national team in February.

Milicic is pretty skinny, but that's nothing new for most recruits that have yet to step foot on a college campus. He will add muscle at Virginia, and he has the body of a big man but the game of a small forward, sort of like Trey Murphy (also 6-9), who grew about 5 inches from his senior year of high school until he decided to transfer from Rice and commit to Virginia. Despite Milicic's similar build, my Hoos Place colleague St. Lou Hoo says he would not expect Milicic to be used in quite the same way as Murphy was this past season. St. Lou notes that Milicic is not a great 3-point shooter yet -- about 31.5% over the past two seasons -- though that is a part of his game. Murphy, on the other hand, shot better than 40% on 3s. Milicic is more comfortable in the midrange for now, and though his offensive game appears to be based more on finesse, he has a respectable ability to play defense and rebound -- to do the dirty work. In that way, he sort of reminds me of Sam Hauser, who obviously shot well from beyond the arc, but he also had a great midrange game, and while he was thought of as a finesse player, he certainly piled up the rebound totals in his one season as a Wahoo.

“I really think that I can fit the team well,” Milicic said in the ESPN.com article revealing his commitment. “My role will be to play and practice hard and Coach Bennett will find a role for me to help the team be successful. I’m tall for my position with a long wingspan and that should be a great fit for his defensive philosophy.

“Offensively they use many off-ball screens which fits my versatility. I feel good getting jump-shots or driving opportunities off flare screens, pin-downs or staggers. The plan is to get better each day and hopefully over time I’ll become a key piece of the program. I am going to work all summer to be 100% prepared from day one.”

Speaking of Murphy, the feeling is that he will remain in the NBA draft, though he has not made an official announcement. Of course, while I've mentioned Murphy and Hauser as comparisons for Milicic, think of him as a poor man's combination of those players. That's the type of player he appears to be and a guess for how he could be used at Virginia, but he has a ways to go to develop into a significant contributor. And if he gets bigger and or taller over the next year, perhaps he will end up as more of a true power forward that has the ability to shoot from deep at times. But for now, his skill set has been mostly based around the perimeter.

Here's a cool factoid. Milicic has been playing in the Bundesliga league with Ratiopharm Ulm, a team that features former UVa forward Isaiah Wilkins as a regular contributor. Wilkins was able to help form the connection between the 'Hoos and Milicic. In the video below, Wilkins talks about Milicic with the Locker Room Access podcast. The portion about Milicic runs from about the 2-minute mark to the 10-minute mark. Wilkins says Milicic is willing to do anything, plays with energy, and holds his own against grown men.


Milicic has not gotten many minutes this season with Ulm, but he did make solid contributions with Ulm's minor league club, Orange Academy Ratiopharm. With that squad, Milicic started 17 of 21 games and averaged 13.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.5 blocks.

Unless coach Tony Bennett adds another player from outside the U.S., Milicic will be one of four international players on the 2021-22 roster with Murray, Kody Stattmann (Australia), and Francisco Caffaro (Argentina).

The Cavaliers have now added three players in the offseason (transfers Armaan Franklin and Jayden Gardner being the other two) after losing three -- Casey Morsell, Justin McKoy, and Jabri Abdur-Rahim -- to transfer. Murray will also join the team in the fall. But with Hauser, Huff, and possibly Murphy moving on, there's still room to add more players, so let's see what Bennett does -- and of course we to keep our eyes and ears open for Murphy's ultimate decision.

Photo credit: Bayern Munich

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