Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990 TAG: 9006030152
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The Highlanders, whose 6-22 record in 1989-90 left a bad taste in the mouth of some, are looking forward to a much more tasteful season with the addition of five players. A couple of the more visible recruits come from across the seas.
Dragan Skoko, a 6-foot-9 Yugoslav, and Jose Ortiz, a 6-7 Puerto Rican, are expected to provide immediate nourishment for an inside game that at times was a little anemic last season.
"Recruiting [international] players has been very interesting for me," said Radford assistant Tim Franklin, the first member of the staff to draw a bead on Skoko. "It's one of the largely untapped talent pools. Some of the foreign players are getting better - a lot better."
But it's not as though Radford has abandoned the United States in its search for talent. The Highlanders' backcourt will be beefed up by 6-7 swingman Don Burgess of Harrisonburg, 6-2 guard Marcus Owens of York, Pa., by way of Fishburne Military, and 6-0 point guard Chris Horton of Aurora, Colo.
Skoko may be the most intriguing of the signees.
"We'd never seen him play, only saw a tape, before we signed him," Purnell said. "But here's a 6-9 guy who can run and has 3-point range. I saw that and said, `Let's take a shot.'"
Skoko was brought to Franklin's attention by Bogden Jovicic, a Yugoslav and former assistant at Marist. There, Jovicic recruited 7-4 Dutchman Rik Smits, now with the NBA's Indiana Pacers. Franklin met Jovicic, currently out of coaching, in 1979 when Franklin was a graduate assistant at Southern California. At the time, Jovicic was an unpaid observer at USC while learning the coaching trade.
Jovicic knew about Skoko, 18, through the player's older brother. Goran Skoko is a New York computer programmer who played center at Fordham from 1982-86.
Dragan, an accomplished club player in Yugoslavia, wanted to play collegiately in the United States. Eventually, that was conveyed to Franklin. Skoko visited his brother in January, at which point he took the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Then, he made an official visit to Radford.
"He liked the people, he liked the place and he really enjoyed his visit there," Goran Skoko said. "That was the key. Also, he's interested in computer science. I'm a programmer and I took a look at the curriculum there and found it to be very impressive."
Manhattan and Niagara also recruited the younger Skoko, who has been traveling with his club team in recent weeks and could not be reached for comment.
Skoko played for his club's junior and senior teams. For the junior team, he averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds; for the senior team, he played well off the bench.
"In Yugoslavia, there are a lot of tall players, 6-10 and taller," Goran Skoko said. "Dragan has played outside on the perimeter a lot. I told him that coming from overseas, there are a lot of expectations for you. I told him he just needs to play as he always has. Other than that, I'm not worried about him. He's very mature for his age."
Ortiz played for St. Anthony's High of Jersey City, N.J., the same school Bobby Hurley of Duke led to a No. 1 ranking in the USA Today national poll in 1988-89. Although he attended the Five-Star camp on Radford's campus, Ortiz never made an official visit.
"Last fall, I didn't like our chances with him at all," Purnell said. "We were in about sixth place, but we hung in there and persisted."
by CNB