Is Illinois' Tomislav Ivisic an Elite College Player? One Metric Says Yes

Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic put together an impressive opening act in Champaign last season. The Croatian big man entered college basketball in 2024-2025 and immediately made his mark – both on the court in a hundred different ways and off the floor as a leader and steadying presence.

Tomislav Ivisic’s Year One was a success

Ivisic was an integral piece of what the Illini did on both ends of the floor. Ivisic finished second on the team in scoring average with 13.0 (trailing only Kasparas Jakucionis’ 15.0), while he paced the squad in rebounding (7.7) and blocks (1.2).

The 7-foot-1 Ivisic was also a valuable facilitator, adding 2.3 assists per outing, while also creating additional value as a floor-stretcher (35.7 percent shooting from three-point range). All of those numbers add up to a rock-solid Big Ten big – if not a galactic NCAA star.

But those were the raw and “simple” stats. As for the advanced numbers, well, they told an entirely different story. Ivisic’s overall box plus/minus (a catch-all stat that measures a player’s overall effectiveness) ranked fourth-highest in the Big Ten last season, while his win shares per 40 minutes put him at No. 12 in the conference.

Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois 7-1 C, 22 y/o
-PnR screener specialist: 30 3PTM on pops, 77% on rolls
-36% on 154 3PTA. Shoots easy ball at 7-1
-Effective mix of strength, footwork touch for low post
-Awesome passer, IQ/quick processing evident
-Translation questions around… pic.twitter.com/aokiYJ8J2e
— Jonathan Wasserman (@NBADraftWass) October 3, 2025

And, mind you, this was all in his first season of college basketball. With a full year of experience under his belt, not to mentionan offseason in the weight room with the one and only Adam Fletcher, Ivisic appears poised for a breakthrough season in 2025-26.

EvanMiya expects Ivisic to be one of the best players in the country

The EvanMiya metric seconds that notion. Per statistician Evan Miyakawa, the creator of EvanMiya, the analytical tool has a measure that accounts for “statistical output, impact on team performance, performance in previous seasons and high school recruiting profile” to pinpoint the best players in the country.

The metric creates a “Bayesian Performance Rating” for each side of the basketball, totals up each number and then ranks players based on their total. And in the eyes of the analytical tool, the Illini have one of the nation’s top players in Ivisic, who landed at No. 12 on the list.

Here are the top 30 players in CBB in the preseason ratings at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax!

These projections take into account statistical output, impact on team performance, performance in previous seasons, and high school recruiting profile. pic.twitter.com/FLs5bYKwzU
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) October 8, 2025

Only three players in the Big Ten rank ahead of Ivisic, including Purdue’s Braden Smith (No. 1), Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg (No. 2) and Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton (No. 6).

Although the numbers – even the advanced ones – can’t always tell the entire tale, it’s undoubtedly encouraging for Illini fans to see a key measure so high on Ivisic ahead of the season.