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<\/p>\nCHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2014 The back of the Illinois team bus is a Balkan party after most road wins. Tomislav Ivisic is banging the ceiling on drums. His twin brother, Zvonimir Ivisic, is on his feet and pumping his fist to the beat. David Mirkovic is on vocals \u2026 or at least the loudest one.<\/p>\n
A year ago, Tomislav Ivisic, a Croatian, was the lone player from the Balkan region of Southeast Europe on Illinois\u2019 roster. Then this offseason, Illinois coach Brad Underwood added his twin brother, Zvonimir; their former teammate Mirkovic, from Montenegro; and point guard Mihailo Petrovic, from Serbia. The Illini also hit the transfer portal for Andrej Stojakovic, who, while raised most of his life in America, is originally from Greece and the son of Peja Stojakovic, one of the best Serbian basketball players of all time.<\/p>\n
Michigan had the Fab Five; Illinois has the Balkan Five Four-and-a-half.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s perfect,\u201d Mirkovic says, laughing. \u201cFour and a half!\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a healthy takeover. A year ago, Tomislav tried to play his music and his teammates wouldn\u2019t allow it, but \u201cnow we\u2019re the majority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day you walk in the gym,\u201d assistant coach Orlando Antigua said recently, when he arrived at practice to the sound of a Serbian tune on the loudspeaker, \u201cand there\u2019s music playing from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
They are the soundtrack to one of the best teams in college basketball. In a year when the borders opened for some of the world\u2019s best young international prospects \u2014 the name, image and likeness era allowing American colleges to pay more than professional clubs overseas \u2014 no major-conference team has leaned in harder than No. 9 Illinois.<\/p>\n
The \u201cBalkan Bloc\u201d includes four of the Illini\u2019s six leading scorers and half the rotation for a team that projects to be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament next week.<\/p>\n
Illinois’ Balkan boys<\/p>\n
PlayerYearHometownStats<\/p>\n
Andrej Stojakovic<\/p>\n
Junior<\/p>\n
Thessaloniki, Greece<\/p>\n
13.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG<\/p>\n
David Mirkovic<\/p>\n
Freshman<\/p>\n
Niksic, Montenegro<\/p>\n
13.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG<\/p>\n
Tomislav Ivisic<\/p>\n
Junior<\/p>\n
Vodice, Croatia<\/p>\n
10.0 PPG, 5.6 RPG<\/p>\n
Zvonimir Ivisic<\/p>\n
Junior<\/p>\n
Vodice, Croatia<\/p>\n
6.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG<\/p>\n
Mihailo Petrovic<\/p>\n
Sophomore<\/p>\n
Prokuplje, Serbia<\/p>\n
1.9 PPG, 1.3 APG<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t by design that they all hail from the same region, but it accelerated the team bonding.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery team talks about family. Everybody tries to shoot for that goal,\u201d Antigua said. \u201cBut it\u2019s easier when there\u2019s a commonality that galvanizes everybody together.\u201d<\/p>\n
They teach their American teammates their curse words. They\u2019ve made plans to travel the world together. And the multicultural family in orange is so cohesive that they\u2019ve become the best offensive team of the modern era.<\/p>\n
How the Illini got here involves a Harlem Globetrotter, a Lithuanian student manager and the graduation of a 7-foot Jamaican center.<\/p>\n
Antigua and fellow assistant Geoff Alexander\u2019s passports are full of stamps. Antigua has visited 59 countries; Alexander 26.<\/p>\n
Illinois has embraced recruiting overseas because Illinois has a large international enrollment \u2014 21.8 percent of enrolled students in the fall this school year \u2014 but mostly it\u2019s because of the two assistants.<\/p>\n
Antigua was the first Hispanic player to ever join the Harlem Globetrotters, and he traveled the world with them from 1995 to 2002. When he became a college assistant in 2006 at Pittsburgh and later a head coach at South Florida in 2014, his recruiting territory was vast. In three seasons at South Florida, he had five players on his team born outside of the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople that I\u2019ve played against, people that I\u2019ve played alongside with, coaches that I played for, all began making recommendations,\u201d Antigua said. \u201cThe majority of the kids from overseas don\u2019t know what a blue blood is and so what they\u2019re looking for is just an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Illinois assistant Orlando Antigua, a former Harlem Globetrotter, has played a crucial role in the Illini\u2019s efforts to recruit internationally. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Alexander\u2019s introduction to international hoops came by way of Marius Tamolis, a Lithuanian who wasn\u2019t good enough to play college basketball but enrolled at Jacksonville (Texas) Junior College to be a student assistant in 2002, the same year Alexander started his coaching career. Alexander played for Underwood for two seasons at Western Illinois, where Underwood was an assistant, and after a year at Jacksonville, Alexander moved to Daytona State College to work for Underwood. Tamolis followed. In 2006, Alexander made his first trip to Lithuania with Tamolis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just been kind of turning the wheels from there,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
That means time spent overseas. Every summer, the assistants make their way across the pond, and Underwood even sent Antigua and Alexander on a trip midseason this year. From Dec. 14 to Dec. 22, between a home loss to Nebraska and the Braggin\u2019 Rights win over Missouri, the pair visited Spain, Serbia and Lithuania, checking in on five prospects the Illini are pursuing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if anybody else did what we do. We get a chance to work for a boss that allows us to go do those things,\u201d Antigua said. \u201cThat goes a long way in terms of the relationship building and people seeing you in their country.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Antigua\u2019s first stint with Illinois, from 2017 through 2021, the Illini signed nine international players, most notably Kofi Cockburn from Kingston, Jamaica.<\/p>\n
Cockburn was the anchor for Underwood\u2019s only team to earn a No. 1 seed, in 2021. The next year, which would be Cockburn\u2019s final season, Underwood built a roster around him with shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got away with playing, to be very honest, small,\u201d Underwood said. \u201cKofi was a cheat code at 310 pounds and a wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Cockburn left following his junior year, Underwood wanted to switch his roster-building strategy to chase shooting and positional size. It started with finding a floor-spacing center. The next two seasons, the Illini moved Coleman Hawkins from power forward to center. In 2023-24, it worked well, when Hawkins was surrounded by four big wings in the starting lineup and the Illini made an Elite Eight run. But the defense wasn\u2019t at a championship level without a true center.<\/p>\n
That next offseason, John Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas, leading to Antigua\u2019s return to Illinois. Antigua had just helped Kentucky land Zvonimir a year earlier. Ivisic\u2019s amateur status was up in the air after playing multiple seasons in the Adriatic League, but once he got cleared in mid-January 2024, \u201cthat kind of opened up that part of the world to the college ranks,\u201d Antigua said.<\/p>\n
Illinois needed a center, and Antigua immediately narrowed in on Ivisic\u2019s brother, Tomislav, who was playing professionally in Montenegro \u2014 and who he thought was perfect for Underwood and the Big Ten.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Tomislav Ivisic was the second-leading scorer for an Illinois team that reached the NCAA tournament\u2019s second round last season. (Stacy Revere \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Ivisics hail from a region with a long basketball tradition. The former Yugoslavia emerged as one of the best basketball countries in the 1970s, winning gold in the 1980 Olympics and three FIBA World Cups. In the 1990s, some of its best players \u2014 Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc and Vlade Divac \u2014 joined the NBA. Today, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Joki\u0107 (Serbia) and Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Don\u010di\u0107 (Slovenia), two of the best players in the world, are from the region.<\/p>\n
The brothers were both represented by Misko Raznatovic, who also represents Joki\u0107 and has become the most well-known international agent. Antigua worked with Raznatovic to help get both Ivisic brothers to college basketball, and last April at the Final Four in San Antonio, he introduced Underwood to Raznatovic. They hit it off immediately.<\/p>\n
Both straight shooters, Antigua said. \u201cYou know where you stand. There\u2019s no BS, and there\u2019s a lot of mutual respect for the way each of them handle themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
That meeting opened the floodgates. The Illini needed a big man \u2014 freshman Morez Johnson Jr. had hit the portal a week before the Final Four \u2014 and Zvonimir was available as a transfer from Arkansas. With Tomislav\u2019s blessing, Underwood decided to pursue. On April 6 \u2014 the Sunday of the Final Four \u2014 Zvonimir committed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw how much my brother improved,\u201d Zvonimir said. \u201cI know how he was before he came to Illinois, and then you see him a year later \u2014 10 times stronger, 10 times faster than he was, 10 times more confident than he ever was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirkovic had been keeping tabs on Tomislav, his former teammate with SC Derby in Montenegro, and asked him questions about what it was like at Illinois. Tomislav was also giving his coaches the scouting report on his former teammate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe exaggerated a little bit,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I really wanted him to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of March, Raznatovic called Mirkovic and his parents and told him he was set to go to the Illini.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t ask for any other offers or anything else,\u201d Mirkovic said. \u201cI said, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m ready,\u2019 and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Monday of the national championship game, Mirkovic committed. On April 22, 22-year-old point guard Mihailo Petrovic, another one of Raznatovic\u2019s clients, also committed.<\/p>\n
All Underwood needed was a wing with positional size who could put pressure on the rim when the Ivisics were stretched out to the 3-point line. Underwood also wanted someone with experience. He found the answer in Stojakovic, who had two years of college experience at Stanford and Cal and was fluent in Serbian. Six days after Petrovic\u2019s commitment, Stojakovic \u2014 not a Raznatovic client \u2014 was in.<\/p>\n
Underwood and Mirkovic are face-to-face, and Underwood is giving his young power forward the business for not giving satisfactory effort on the boards. He spent a majority of a film session that morning focused on rebounding, because it hadn\u2019t been good enough in a win at Penn State in early January, even though the Illini won the rebounding battle by 11. But one way to get to that elite level is continuously harping on it.<\/p>\n
So, this is the continuous harping.<\/p>\n
Mirkovic stares back intently, a serious look on his face. Then he breaks. The corner of his lips rises.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of a kind,\u201d Illini senior Kylan Boswell said. \u201cNothing bothers that kid. He takes things serious, but nothing bothers him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can call him the worst things, he\u2019ll think it\u2019s a joke,\u201d Stojakovic said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s kind of rubbed off on us when it comes to Underwood coaching us. He can say the worst thing to us and it won\u2019t affect us mentally because everybody else on the team is like, \u2018You\u2019re good. He\u2019s just trying to motivate you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Forward David Mirkovic said having teammates from his home region was \u201cthe greatest thing that they could do\u201d for him at Illinois. (Geoff Stellfox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also what they\u2019re used to. Even desire.<\/p>\n
Stojakovic didn\u2019t get serious about basketball until during the pandemic, when he was home regularly and sought the tutelage of his famous father, Peja, who would train him on their backyard hoop.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasketball wasn\u2019t forced on me,\u201d he said, \u201cbut as soon as I decided to pursue it, it was hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only would Peja \u2014 a three-time All-Star with the Sacramento Kings \u2014 put him through challenging workouts, but also he was his worst critic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I had a good game in my dad\u2019s eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Stojakovic started to see improvement, he realized his dad had been hard on him for a reason. And when he got to college and the coaching was much less critical at Stanford and Cal, he wanted to find a coach who would push him.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo what extent he would push me, I didn\u2019t know, but I wanted that,\u201d Stojakovic said. \u201cI would say the only person in my life that\u2019s ever been more harsh on me than Underwood is my dad. Taking it from somebody else in that aspect was something I needed and I wanted for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirkovic had a similar experience, just at a younger age. His mom won two European championships playing for the Yugoslavian national team and also played professionally. When Mirkovic was young, his mom would rent a gym to train him. And what she cared about more than anything else was that he didn\u2019t play soft.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I play like that,\u201d he said, \u201cshe always tell me that in a really bad way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirkovic said coaches back home are brutal and will scream the worst things at you.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey come at you like they want to fight you,\u201d he said, \u201clike fist fight you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Underwood is a \u201ccake walk in the park,\u201d he said, comparatively. And he also called him the best coach he\u2019s ever had.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t give a second of relaxation on the court,\u201d Tomislav said. \u201cHe never allows your mind to be at ease, like, OK, we won a game, we\u2019re good now. He never allows that. We can always be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Underwood coaches his guys hard but also likes to mix in some humor. Before a November game against UConn, he leaned into the bit that Illinois is the Balkan Bloc, wearing an orange jumpsuit and scally cap to mimic an AI-generated image of him that surfaced last spring after the commitments. Tomislav said all he was missing was the cigarette.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want them to think I\u2019m an asshole,\u201d Underwood said of his wardrobe choice that day.<\/p>\n
Not AI btw pic.twitter.com\/c7G64WaYV7<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) November 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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