Radenovic still has Serbia dream
VALENCIA (EuroBasket 2011) - Anyone that watches Ivan Radenovic run up and down the floor for Menorca Basket in Spain's ACB will know just how difficult it is to earn a place in the Serbia national team squad.
Radenovic, who made his name as a big-time college player with the Arizona Wildcats in America, is a 2.08m power forward that runs the floor like a gazelle and can shoot it from anywhere.
On Sunday against Power Electronics Valencia, he gave the Euroleague team fits, especially in the first quarter when he scored eight of his 16 points in the game.
Menorca threatened to spring the upset at La Fonteta and led for three quarters but scored just seven points in the fourth and lost, 70-63.
With the setback, Menorca fell to 4-7 in the ACB.
Radenovic had a couple of costly turnovers in the fourth quarter but he had many more good moments than bad.
Last season, a teammate of Radenovic's at Cajasol Sevilla, Dusko Savanovic, parlayed a strong year in the ACB into a place in the Serbia squad and that was no easy feat when considering a young Serbia side had just captured silver at EuroBasket 2009.
"Hopefully it will happen someday," Radenovic said to FIBA.com.
"I hope.
"It's been my wish since I was a kid so hopefully it's going to happen one day.
"But you get like 20 players at top level and you have to compete with them for those 12 spots in the team."
For now, Radenovic is trying to develop into a top player in the ACB and help Menorca become a winning team.
"The fourth quarter is costing us in a lot of games," Radenovic said.
"We just can't keep our focus for 40 minutes.
"We've got to work on that."
Radenovic said there was a bright side to Sunday.
"I told my teammates that most of the top teams that we played in this league, we lost by 20 points but this is the first game we stayed in it for 40 minutes," he said.
"We've got to build on this and play like this, especially on the road."
Radenovic couldn't stay out of the headlines when he played college basketball for Lute Olsen.
In one memorable game against Stanford, he scored 37 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had seven assists in a Wildcats win.
In that contest, the men to guard him were the Lopez brothers, Brook (New Jersey Nets) and Robin (Phoenix Suns).
He left America after the 2006-07 campaign and moved to Spain for the 2007-08 season where he was a teammate of Mark Gasol at Akasvayu Girona and reached the Final of the ULEB Cup.
The next season, he moved to Panellinios in Greece and then followed that with a big move to Euroleague powerhouse CSKA Moscow.
That switch didn't go so well.
CSKA couldn't get him playing time so he returned to Spain to play for Joan Plaza at Cajasol Sevilla and then decided to leave for Menorca this summer.
"This has been a perfect fit for me this year," he said.
"The team is built really well, I'm playing with very good teammates and we work very hard and I hope that we're going to be successful."
Radenovic, who came through the youth ranks at Partizan Belgrade like so many other Serbian greats, might have turned professional earlier had he not gone to America.
It's a choice that many players make.
He has no regrets.
"I've been having a great career since college," he said.
"Last year I had a little bit of turbulence in my career, moving from one team to another.
"I moved to Sevilla and it was difficult for me to move from one team to another in the middle of the season.
"I never experienced that.
“I guess it was a good experience and now I'm better for having gone through it."
VALENCIA (EuroBasket 2011) - Anyone that watches Ivan Radenovic run up and down the floor for Menorca Basket in Spain's ACB will know just how difficult it is to earn a place in the Serbia national team squad.
Radenovic, who made his name as a big-time college player with the Arizona Wildcats in America, is a 2.08m power forward that runs the floor like a gazelle and can shoot it from anywhere.
On Sunday against Power Electronics Valencia, he gave the Euroleague team fits, especially in the first quarter when he scored eight of his 16 points in the game.
Menorca threatened to spring the upset at La Fonteta and led for three quarters but scored just seven points in the fourth and lost, 70-63.
With the setback, Menorca fell to 4-7 in the ACB.
Radenovic had a couple of costly turnovers in the fourth quarter but he had many more good moments than bad.
Last season, a teammate of Radenovic's at Cajasol Sevilla, Dusko Savanovic, parlayed a strong year in the ACB into a place in the Serbia squad and that was no easy feat when considering a young Serbia side had just captured silver at EuroBasket 2009.
"Hopefully it will happen someday," Radenovic said to FIBA.com.
"I hope.
"It's been my wish since I was a kid so hopefully it's going to happen one day.
"But you get like 20 players at top level and you have to compete with them for those 12 spots in the team."
For now, Radenovic is trying to develop into a top player in the ACB and help Menorca become a winning team.
"The fourth quarter is costing us in a lot of games," Radenovic said.
"We just can't keep our focus for 40 minutes.
"We've got to work on that."
Radenovic said there was a bright side to Sunday.
"I told my teammates that most of the top teams that we played in this league, we lost by 20 points but this is the first game we stayed in it for 40 minutes," he said.
"We've got to build on this and play like this, especially on the road."
Radenovic couldn't stay out of the headlines when he played college basketball for Lute Olsen.
In one memorable game against Stanford, he scored 37 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had seven assists in a Wildcats win.
In that contest, the men to guard him were the Lopez brothers, Brook (New Jersey Nets) and Robin (Phoenix Suns).
He left America after the 2006-07 campaign and moved to Spain for the 2007-08 season where he was a teammate of Mark Gasol at Akasvayu Girona and reached the Final of the ULEB Cup.
The next season, he moved to Panellinios in Greece and then followed that with a big move to Euroleague powerhouse CSKA Moscow.
That switch didn't go so well.
CSKA couldn't get him playing time so he returned to Spain to play for Joan Plaza at Cajasol Sevilla and then decided to leave for Menorca this summer.
"This has been a perfect fit for me this year," he said.
"The team is built really well, I'm playing with very good teammates and we work very hard and I hope that we're going to be successful."
Radenovic, who came through the youth ranks at Partizan Belgrade like so many other Serbian greats, might have turned professional earlier had he not gone to America.
It's a choice that many players make.
He has no regrets.
"I've been having a great career since college," he said.
"Last year I had a little bit of turbulence in my career, moving from one team to another.
"I moved to Sevilla and it was difficult for me to move from one team to another in the middle of the season.
"I never experienced that.
“I guess it was a good experience and now I'm better for having gone through it."
Comment