Zoran Radović (born February 17, 1961 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 ...

PR Serbia , life_span = 1944–1992 , status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia , p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg , p2 ...

FPR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

) is a retired Serbian

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 ...

player and current

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

administrator.

Early career and college

Known for tenacious defensive skills, Radović started playing basketball at OKK Belgrade where he went through all age groups within the club's youth system. Among the various coaches Radović played for at OKK Belgrade,

Vlade Đurović Vlade Đurović ( sr-cyr, Владе Ђуровић; born 16 May 1948) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. Early life Born in 1948 to Bosnian Serb parents Danilo Đurović from Sokolac and Mileva Cerović from Rogatica� ...

would go on to a significant coaching career. In 1980, Radović 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 single season 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 was very successful. Arriving to Wichita together with compatriot

Žarko Đurišić Žarko Đurišić ( sr-cyr, Жарко Ђуришић; born March 31, 1961), also credited as Zarko Durisic, is a Montenegrin-born Slovenian basketball scout, former player, and former coach who is currently the Director of international player ...

, Radović 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 ...

, 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 ...

Professional career

After his NCAA adventure, Radović came back home, signing with

Red Star Belgrade 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 Bel ...

where he spent 9 seasons (1981–1990) and grew into a dependable point guard as well as a defensive stalwart on the Yugoslav national team. In addition to a suffocating and aggressive defensive style, going after

offensive rebound In basketball, a rebound, sometimes colloquially referred to as a board, is a statistic awarded to a player who retrieves the ball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game; if a shot is suc ...

s became the staple of his game — a practice he picked up while playing college ball and introduced to the Yugoslav League where guards at the time rarely engaged in such forays on offense.Željko Obradović: Svi smo postali deo Velikog Brata, a to ništa ne valja!
telegraf.rs, 2 January 2014 During his career at Red Star Radović played in four Yugoslavian playoff finals in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1990, one Yugoslavian cup final in 1990, and one European Korac cup final in 1984. In 1990, Radović moved to Berlin, spending two seasons at the developing German club

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a German professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Mercedes ...

where he played in two finals of the German league playoff versus Bayer Leverkusen. His 49 points in one game still stands as a record of the most points scored in one game in Alba Berlin history. In 1992, Radović came home to Belgrade again and played for the team where he started his career, OKK Belgrade and with the team he won Yugoslavian Cup in a memorable game vs Partizan in 1993. For the 1993-1994 season Radović played in Pavia, Italy and finished out his career in the 1994-1995 season with the club where he started it, OKK Belgrade.

National team career

Radović started playing with the junior national teams of Yugoslavia at the 1977 Balkan Junior Championship, where the team won a gold medal. He repeated the success in 1978, by winning the gold again at the same event. As a junior player, he also won the

Albert Schweitzer Tournament The Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) is an international basketball competition that is played between national basketball teams of the Under-18 men age category. It takes place every two years in Mannheim, Germany, and is contested between t ...

in 1979, and played at the 1979 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, where Yugoslavia finished in fourth place. He also played at the 1981 World University Games. With the senior Yugoslav national team, Radović's played at two

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

s, three

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

s, and two Balkan Championships. He missed the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

due to injury, and the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

due to the

sanctions against Yugoslavia A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a b ...

, that were imposed by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. In total, he played in 168 official

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

for Yugoslavia, which places him among the top 30 players in the number of appearances in the history of Yugoslavian national team basketball. During his national team career, Radović was coached by

Bogdan Tanjević Bogdan Tanjević ( sr-cyr, Богдан Тањевић; born 13 February 1947), nicknamed "Boša" ( it, Boscia) is a Montenegrin professional basketball coach and former player. He is best known for being KK Bosna's head coach when the club becam ...

Ranko Žeravica Ranko Žeravica ( sr-cyr, Ранко Жеравица; 17 November 1929 – 29 October 2015) was a Serbian professional basketball coach. With a career that spanned over 50 years, he is most noted for his work with the senior Yugoslav national t ...

Krešimir Ćosić Krešimir "Krešo" Ćosić (; 26 November 1948 – 25 May 1995) was a Croatian-Yugoslavian professional basketball player and coach. He was a collegiate All-American at Brigham Young University. He revolutionized basketball in Yugoslavia and w ...

, and

Dušan Ivković Dušan "Duda" Ivković ( sr-cyrl, Душан "Дуда" Ивковић; 29 October 1943 – 16 September 2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He served as head coach of the senior Serbian national basketball team from 20 ...

, with all of them being instrumental in the success of Yugoslav basketball.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radovic, Zoran 1961 births Living people Alba Berlin players FIBA EuroBasket-winning players KK Crvena zvezda players OKK Beograd players Point guards Pallacanestro Pavia players Serbian expatriate basketball people in Germany Serbian expatriate basketball people in Italy Serbian expatriate basketball people in the United States Serbian men's basketball players Basketball players from Belgrade Wichita State Shockers men's basketball players Yugoslav men's basketball players 1982 FIBA World Championship players Universiade medalists in basketball Universiade gold medalists for Yugoslavia Universiade bronze medalists for Yugoslavia 1986 FIBA World Championship players

Early career and college

Professional career

National team career

See also

References