USC hoops star Vucevic to enter NBA Draft

Posted 4:07 PM | Last updated 5:30 PM

Just over a week since USC’s disappointing loss to Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA tournament came more bad news for Trojan basketball fans as star forward Nikola Vucevic announced Friday his plan to enter the NBA draft and forego his final year of college eligibility.

“I will always feel like a Trojan, I’m proud that I was apart of the USC basketball team and of the Trojan family,” Vucevic said.

USC head coach Kevin O’Neill said he never encouraged his star player one way or another, but rather to back either decision with 100 percent commitment.

“There were many discussions,”O’Neill said, who was at Vucevic‘s side when he made the announcement. “It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision.”

Vucevic will sign with agent Rade Filipovich of Bill Duffy management, the same agency who once represented former USC player and current Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo.

The 6-foot-10 Montenegro native has started all 34 games for the Trojans this season, averaging 17.1 points and 10.3 rebounds a game, and shot just over 50 percent from the floor. He was named the Pac-10 Most Improved Player in 2010.

Even teammates didn’t know Vucevic’s intention. They didn’t find out until he made the announcement publicly.

“I really didn’t know because I know he loves the team and everybody and if we were to ask him he’d never tell us. He’d say ‘I don’t know,’” freshman forward Curtis Washington said. “Just as he was unsure, we were unsure too.”

O’Neill mentioned Vucevic’s maturity while at USC, in light of the temperate climate, including a self-imposed postseason sanction in 2010.

“Can’t be underestimated what he did the last two years in the toughest of situations and in the toughest of sanctions and all those things, he was forced to grow up and be a man,” O’Neill said.

Vucevic and O’Neill jointly campaigned Vucevic’s ability to play the forward or center position in the NBA, because of his physical presence and defensive quickness. Vucevic led the Pac-10 in rebounding the past two seasons and was the conference’s third leading scorer this year.
“He has a huge upside ahead of him yet. For a 20 year old, if you’re 265 pounds and four percent body fat, you have pretty good upside,” O’Neill said.

The question of an NBA lockout wasn’t a factor in Vucevic’s decision, saying he firmly believes he can play internationally, if not in the NBA. When asked if Vucevic would go back to school and get his degree, he gave an emphatic yes.

“I can’t play [basketball] when I’m 50,” Vucevic said. “With a USC degree I can do anything.”