Leatherneck Nation

Still rumor at this point, but...



Luka Barišić, 6'10" 240lb from Osijek, Croatia
Played 2 years at Highland CC (Freeport, IL), where Coach Boudreau was HC for 3 years w/ Coach Heikkinen as an assistant coach
Junior year at UT-San Antonio: "Played in all 32 games with 21 starts during his NCAA debut season ... averaged 6.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game ... shot 42.7 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from 3-point range ... made 27 of 89 3-pointers ... shot 81.6 percent (31-of-38) from the free-throw line ... blocked 10 shots, had 14 steals and handed out 27 assists."
Played this last season at UTSA: 14 games, 12 minutes per game, 5.3 ppg, 46 rebounds (3.3/game)
Don't know if he was injured or what this last season, but here's the full rundown of his stats from this last year: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ ... ined_6.pdf

EDIT - more fuel to the fire...

And something to consider with regards to the guys entering the transfer portal...there's a LOT of players in the transfer portal now. If they don't get much attention, they may decide to withdraw from the portal and come back. Not saying that'll happen, but I noticed another school that had that happen where all but one of their "transfers" decided to go ahead and come back.

Am I the only one that thinks this "Transfer Portal" is pretty whacked at the moment? 1000 transfers? I am not playing here so let me see if I can go somewhere else in "time" and play there. Doesn't do much for a program trying to build depth. How much better did Mr. Pyle do at San Diego? The King kid is the only one that seemed to make the most of his transfer to Tifin only to get injured after 12 games. I am hoping this is just a blip on the recruiting scope and some resemblance of order will follow. jc

Neckfansince71 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:59 am Am I the only one that thinks this "Transfer Portal" is pretty whacked at the moment? 1000 transfers? I am not playing here so let me see if I can go somewhere else in "time" and play there. Doesn't do much for a program trying to build depth. How much better did Mr. Pyle do at San Diego? The King kid is the only one that seemed to make the most of his transfer to Tifin only to get injured after 12 games. I am hoping this is just a blip on the recruiting scope and some resemblance of order will follow. jc

I agree, under normal circumstances, this would be insane. This spring, however, is nothing close to "normal circumstances". This year's sports not counting against eligibility plus the one-time "free" transfer without having to sit out a season has given a lot more players a chance to try out the transfer portal. I imagine that once those "waivers" are no longer available, things will go back to relatively "normal" in terms of postseason transfers. You'll still have a few that leave to drop down a level for more playing time, and a few every so often that head out for their last year as a grad transfer, but nothing like what we've seen this year.

Looks like Luka opted out in Jan at UTSA. Their 4/3 star soph Jacob Germany really came into his own and likely played into the decision.

Either way, hope he gets locked in and becomes a Leatherneck. Wonder what this might mean for Pearson and if one plays more of a PF. Side note, they likely went head to head 2 years ago, when UAB faced UTSA twice the previous season.

letsgonecks wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:14 pm Looks like Luka opted out in Jan at UTSA. Their 4/3 star soph Jacob Germany really came into his own and likely played into the decision.

Either way, hope he gets locked in and becomes a Leatherneck. Wonder what this might mean for Pearson and if one plays more of a PF. Side note, they likely went head to head 2 years ago, when UAB faced UTSA twice the previous season.

I think he is more for depth doubt he is a starter

letsgonecks wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:14 pmEither way, hope he gets locked in and becomes a Leatherneck. Wonder what this might mean for Pearson and if one plays more of a PF. Side note, they likely went head to head 2 years ago, when UAB faced UTSA twice the previous season.

To answer your question, it looks like both Luka and Pearson played in the same game on three occasions:
1/31/20, UAB at UTSA - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ ... /MBB22.PDF
3/1/20, UAB at UTSA in CUSA "Bonus Play" - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ ... /MBB29.PDF
3/11/20, UAB vs UTSA in first round of CUSA Tournament - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ ... 20_UAB.pdf

But you know who else he's played against...our transfer from Lamar, Quinlan Bennett:
12/22/20, Lamar at UTSA - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ ... /MBB07.PDF

leatherneckcountry wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:18 pm I think he is more for depth doubt he is a starter

You're probably right, he's a 6'10" Forward. Carius and Pearson play the same position, with Pearson being the same height. Unless he comes in and really impresses people during fall practices, I think he could be a solid bench guy behind those two.

Luka makes it official:

Sounds like another one aboard

leatherneckcountry wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:52 pmSounds like another one aboard

He might just be referencing Luka though, since Coach Heikkinen would know him from his Highland CC days.

Also, referencing the earlier mention about players in the transfer portal, I saw a tweet saying that as of around lunchtime today, there were 1,120 players in the DI transfer portal. A follow-up tweet says that that's over 1/3 of the entire population of DI players returning next year.