A year ago, 6-foot-9 Croatian wing Luka Skoric was considered one of the top European prospects interested in making the jump to American college basketball, drawing interest from programs like Kansas, Pitt and West Virginia.
San Diego State just got him.
Skoric opted to stay for the 2025-26 season with KK Cibona, a storied club in the capital of Zagreb currently in third place in the Croatian Premier League. SDSU has been working for more than a month trying to secure his services for next season.
Skoric turned 23 on Feb. 1, putting him on the outside edge of what the NCAA has allowed for overseas pro players transitioning to Division I programs. He averages 6.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in a bench role for 21-8 Cibona, and similar numbers in the Europe Cup competition against clubs from other countries.
That’s deceiving, though. He’s fighting for playing time on a fully professional team with a starting lineup of 26-, 28-, 29-, 30- and 35-year-old veterans.
The Aztecs have had foreign players before, but most have African roots and attended high school in the United States first. That’s also the case with current guard Latrell Davis, who grew up in England but spent two seasons at a high school in Florida. Mehdi Cheriet, a French forward who played at SDSU from 2008 to 2011, went to Arizona Western Community in Yuma before transferring to SDSU.
The last Croatian-born player on the roster was 6-5 guard Karlo Kovacic in the early 2000s. He also attended junior college first.
Skoric, then, represents a departure from past recruiting models. But it didn’t take much convincing for coach Brian Dutcher and his staff after seven of their losses last season came against teams that had European bigs.
That included Tomislav Buljan from New Mexico, a 6-9, 240-pound forward who averaged 22 points and 16 rebounds in two regular-season meetings with the Lobos.
Buljan also played for KK Cibona and Croatia’s youth national teams, but that’s where the similarities end. Buljan is a beast on the boards. Skoric is a more skilled perimeter player who is shooting 41.8% on 3s and can attack the basket off the dribble.
He would most likely project as a shooting 4 or a big 3, both of which create matchup nightmares for opponents. It would also give Dutcher the option of playing large or small lineups.
Buljan, who turned 23 at the start of the season, was initially granted one year of NCAA eligibility before successfully petitioning for a second and transferring to Maryland.
Dutcher hinted that he would pursue at least one player from Europe in a postseason news conference last month.
Back in 2001, Kovacic served a one-game NCAA suspension for playing on what it deemed a Croatian pro team before graduating from high school.
Times have changed.
“Yeah, absolutely, we’re looking at guys right now,” Dutcher said of the European pro market. “We’re watching film and talking to agents everywhere. These guys, I mean, they’re European pros. These guys are playing professional basketball.
“There are buyouts in their contracts, and then you have to pay them and you have to get the paperwork done to get them over here. The big kid in New Mexico made a huge difference this year. He’s a 23-, 24-year-old European pro. He was a difference maker for them, wonderful player.”
Skoric is the fourth addition after Dutcher lost nine of his 11-man rotation, three as seniors and six more to the transfer portal. He has since added 6-11 Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry from Sacramento State, 6-4 guard Nick Anderson from Rice and point guard Chance Gladden from Boston University.
There has been an emphasis on experience, with a core of returning players that includes three freshmen.
That puts the roster at nine: Latrell Davis, Elzie Harrington, Tae Simmons, Thokbor Majak, Cherry, Anderson, Gladden and Skoric plus incoming freshman Zach White.