Žarko Đurišić ( sr-cyr, Жарко Ђуришић; born March 31, 1961), also credited as Zarko Durisic, is a Montenegrin-born Slovenian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

, former player, and former coach who is currently the Director of international player personnel for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA).

Playing career

Đurišić started his basketball career playing with the youth teams of Budućnost. In 1978, at age of 17, he moved to

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in B ...

of the Yugoslav Federal League. He played two seasons there, until 1980. Over 44 regular season games, he averaged 2.5 point per game. In 1980, Đurišić moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to play

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

where his four seasons in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I with the Shockers were very successful. Arriving to Wichita together with compatriot

Zoran Radović Zoran Radović (born February 17, 1961 in Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a retired Serbian basketball player and current FIBA administrator. Early career and college Known for tenacious defensive skills, Radović started playing basket ...

, Đurišić joined the squad featuring future NBA players

Cliff Levingston Clifford Eugene Levingston (born January 4, 1961) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. Professional playing career A former power forward, Levingston played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Levingston st ...

Antoine Carr Antoine Labotte Carr (born July 23, 1961) is an American retired basketball player. Nicknamed "Big Dawg", he played power forward (and sometimes center) for six different teams in the National Basketball Association across 16 seasons. Early life ...

Xavier McDaniel Xavier Maurice McDaniel (born June 4, 1963), nicknamed "X-Man", is an American retired professional basketball player who, at 6 ft 7 in, played both small forward and power forward. He played in college at Wichita State University. Hi ...

and

Ozell Jones Ozell "Hoppy" Jones III (November 20, 1960 – September 7, 2006) was an American professional basketball player. He was listed at and weighed . Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, his family soon moved to Compton, California, and later to Long B ...

as the sixth-seeded Wichita State team came within one game of making it to the Final Four, losing the Midwest regional final to first regional seed

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. After finishing college career he went back to the Yugoslav League where he played for Budućnost and Smelt Olimpija. With Olimpija he also played Premier A Slovenian League after 1992.

National team career

Yugoslavia national team

Đurišić was a member of the Yugoslavia national cadet team that won the silver medal at the 1977 European Championship for Cadets. Over three tournament games, he averaged 4.7 points per game. He also was a member of the Yugoslavia national junior team that participated at the 1979 World Championship for Juniors and also won the silver medal at the 1980 European Championship for Juniors.

Slovenia national team

Đurišić was a member of the Slovenia national team that participated at the

EuroBasket 1993 The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entered ...

. Over three tournament games, he averaged 4.7 points per game. Slovenia took 14th place at the tournament. He played 27 games for the national team.

Post-playing career

Đurišić briefly coached Smelt Olimpija during the 1995–96 season. He took over the team's coaching reigns from

Zmago Sagadin Zmago Sagadin (; born 1 November 1952 in Celje) is widely considered as the most successful Slovenian and top European basketball coach with 25 championship titles both on a national and international level, recognized 9 times as Slovenian Top Co ...

in January 2016, leading them to the Slovenian League title at the end of the season. Since summer 1996, Đurišić has been affiliated with the

organization where he heads up the team's international scouting efforts. Positions he previously held with the Wolves include director of college and international player personnel, director of player personnel, and head scout.

Personal life

Đurišić and his wife, Tatjana, have two daughters: Jelena and Aleksandra. Daughter Jelena (born 1989 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

) is a Slovenian former tennis player.

Career achievements and awards

;Player *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

winner: 1 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1993–94) * Premier A Slovenian League champion: 4 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95) *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

winner: 4 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995) ;Coach * Premier A Slovenian League champion: 1 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1995–96)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durisic, Zarko 1961 births Living people KK Budućnost players KK Crvena zvezda players KK Olimpija players KK Olimpija coaches Minnesota Timberwolves scouts Minnesota Timberwolves executives Montenegrin expatriate basketball people in Serbia Montenegrin expatriate basketball people in the United States Montenegrin men's basketball players Montenegrin basketball scouts National Basketball Association scouts from Europe Serbian expatriate basketball people in the United States Serbs of Montenegro Slovenian basketball coaches Slovenian basketball scouts Slovenian people of Serbian descent Slovenian people of Montenegrin descent Slovenian expatriate basketball people in Serbia Slovenian expatriate basketball people in the United States Slovenian men's basketball players Sportspeople from Podgorica Wichita State Shockers men's basketball players Yugoslav men's basketball players Centers (basketball)