NCAA’s Serbian cager optimistic

La Salle Greenhills high school cager Marko Batricevic, who plays for St. Benilde in the NCAA juniors, said the other day he’s confident world champion Serbia-Montenegro–his native country–will make it to the Athens Olympic basketball finals despite losses to Argentina and New Zealand in the preliminaries.

Batricevic, 18, is a Greenhills senior playing in his first NCAA season after redshirting last year. He arrived from Vrbas, a small town in Serbia, to study and play here.

Two other Serbian teenaged players, Buksan Gagovic and Zeljko Radic, flew in with physical education teacher Bajan Milosovic on Batricevic’s prodding but left after a few months. Only Batricevic, a 6-6 forward who was once MVP in the Serbian national pool for 14-year-olds, decided to stay.

Batricevic averaged 11.3 points, 11.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.3 blocked shots, 2.0 steals and 26.9 minutes in his first seven NCAA games. Last Monday, he hit 21 points and gRabbed 24 boards in Benilde’s 82-68 loss to Philippine Christian University. Benilde’s record is 6-5 after a defeat to San Beda yesterday.

Batricevic said the Serbia-Montenegro squad in Athens is not the same as the team that won the world championship in Indiana two years ago. Six players, including Batricevic’s idol Peja Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings, are gone. Also missing is center Vlade Divac who recently inked a two-year contract valued over $10 Million to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. A third National Basketball Association (NBA) player out of the Athens lineup is the Los Angeles Clippers’ Marko Jaric. The absence of three NBA mainstays who play three different positions has taken a toll on the Serbs in Athens.

Divac, 36, declined the invitation to play in the Olympics to rest his aching bones after a grueling NBA season. If he bombs out in his first year with the Lakers, the club has the option to buy out the second year of his contract for only $2 Million.

Stojakovic, a Greek and Serbian dual citizen, also decided to take a break from basketball. He’s in Athens for military service, a requirement to keep his Greek passport. When not on duty, Stojakovic watches the Olympic games from his Greek coastal beach house.

Without the NBA stars, Serbia-Montenegro has relied almost exclusively on skipper Dejan Bodiroga who plays as an import for Barcelona in the Spanish league. Bodiroga, 31, is a celebrity in Europe and earns over $2 Million a year. Aside from Bodiroga, other reliables in the Serbian roster are NBA players Vladimir Radmanovic (Seattle), Nenad Krstic (New Jersey), Aleksandr Pavlovic (Utah) and Predrag Drobnjak (Clippers).

Batricevic said traditionally, the Serbs hold back in the preliminaries and play just hard enough to advance to the quarterfinals.

"We never show all our cards in the preliminaries," noted Batricevic. "We step up in the next round then in the semifinals, we show our real face. We’re not like Spain or Italy–they show everything right away. But we cannot take any team for granted. The rest of the world is improving, maybe except the US. I believe in the Serbian team. We know what we’re doing."

Batricevic said when he was in Serbia, he once played Drobnjak in a practice game. "He’s not only a good player but also a good person," continued Batricevic whose father Moncilo and mother Svetlana own a hotel and restaurant in Vrbas. "When the Belgrade team Partizan got into financial trouble, Drobnjak gave his own money to help out. Divac also contributed. Partizan has produced the best Serbian players like Drazen Dalipagic and Dragan Kicanovic. So the Serbs who make it to the NBA donate money to keep Partizan alive."

Batricevic singled out Bodiroga as a role model. "He always plays for the national team," said Batricevic. "Bodiroga doesn’t make excuses. He will play if he’s called to play. In Spain, fans mob his house. He’s 6-9 with the ability to play all positions, even point guard. He can set up, hit the three, drive, everything. But he’ll never play in the NBA because he’s such a celebrity in Europe."

In Athens, Serbia-Montenegro is bracketed in Group A with Argentina, China, Italy, New Zealand and Spain. The world champion must finish the round-robin preliminaries in the top four of its group to qualify for the eight-team quarterfinals.

The Serbs opened the Olympics on a sour note, losing a one-point decision to world runner-up Argentina. They bounced back to edge Italy, 74-72, then dropped a 90-87 shocker to New Zealand. It’s a must for Serbia-Montenegro to beat Spain tonight and China on Monday to keep coach Zelimir Obradovic’s flickering hopes alive for a quarterfinals berth.

As for Batricevic, he’s concentrating on the NCAA wars. Next year, he’ll be eligible to play for a UAAP or NCAA school of his choice in the seniors division.

Since landing here with two bags and not knowing a word of English, Batricevic has settled in. He’s a fast learner, thanks to extra English classes last summer and La Salle’s tutors. Batricevic said he wouldn’t have survived his first two years in a foreign country without the help of La Salle Greenhills president Bro. Bernie Oca, sports director Emmanuel Calanog, La Salle alumni Jack Rodriguez, Justice Andy Reyes and Timmy Lee, David de Joya, coach Mon Amador, Kenneth Matunan, Auty Villarama, Dickie Bachmann and many others who’ve been generous in welcoming him to Filipino basketball.