Zoran Radović (born February 17, 1961, in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

PR Serbia The Socialist Republic of Serbia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Социјалистичка Република Србија, Socijalistička Republika Srbija), previously known as the People's Republic of Serbia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / " ...

, FPR Yugoslavia) 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 (appro ...

player and current

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

administrator.

Early career and college

Known for tenacious defensive skills, Radović started playing basketball at

OKK Belgrade Omladinski košarkaški klub Beograd ( sr-cyr, Омладински кошаркашки клуб Београд), commonly referred to as OKK Beograd, is a men's professional basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. They are currently competin ...

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-Cyrl, 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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to play

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

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 College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I with the Shockers was very successful. Arriving to Wichita together with compatriot Žarko Đurišić, 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 s ...

, Antoine Carr, 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 Beach, ...

as the sixth seeded Wichita State team came within one game of making it to the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

, losing the Midwest regional final to first regional seed

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

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 referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

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 rebounds 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 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 Uber Arena and c ...

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 DBB Albert Schweitzer Tournament (, abbreviated as AST), full name DBB Albert Schweitzer World Under-18 Tournament (), is an international basketball competition that is played between national teams of the Under-18 men's age category. It 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 is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

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 the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

due to injury, and the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

due to the

sanctions against Yugoslavia During the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s and early 2000s, several rounds of international sanctions were imposed against the former Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro that formed a new country called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. San ...

, that were imposed by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. In total, he played in 168 official

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

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-Cyrl, Богдан Тањевић; born 13 February 1947), nicknamed "Boša" () is a Montenegrin professional basketball coach and former player. He is best known for being KK Bosna's head coach when the club became the t ...

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 ...

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

, and Dušan Ivković, 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 Summer World University Games medalists in basketball FISU World University Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Yugoslavia 1986 FIBA World Championship players Yugoslav expatriate basketball people in Germany Serbia and Montenegro men's basketball players Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the United States Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy Goodwill Games medalists in basketball Serbian basketball executives and administrators

Early career and college

Professional career

National team career

See also

References