Jovan Milicevic Becomes Latest Prospect to Earn UCLA Men's Basketball Offer
The Bruins have taken the next step in their recruitment of a dual-nationality forward in the class of 2024.
UCLA men’s basketball sent an offer to Dream City Christian (AZ) forward Jovan Milicevic, the 6-foot-9 prospect announced Sunday afternoon on Twitter. Milicevic was featured on the list All Bruins compiled on Friday of recruits the Bruins had reached out to since the unlimited contact period for the class of 2024 began on Wednesday.
UCLA became the fourth school to offer Milicevic, joining Arizona State, Oregon and UC Santa Barbara.
In April, the Toronto, Ontario, native told PhenomHoopReport that he was also hearing from Utah State, Oklahoma State, Xavier, Michigan and North Carolina, but he has yet to be offered by those programs.
Milicevic is Serbian and Canadian, representing Canada on the international stage. The FIBA U17 Championships are set to begin on July 2 in Spain, and Milicevic will be a member of Canada’s roster for the event.
The offer to Milicevic comes just over a week after UCLA hired Ivo Simovic to be Mick Cronin's third assistant coach. Simovic, who is Serbian himself, has had experience scouting and recruiting internationally, and he did most of his overseas coaching work in Spain and Serbia.
Verbal Commits is currently the only recruiting service that has a page for Milicevic, while ESPN, 247Sports, Rivals and On3 do not have the forward in their databases yet. Verbal Commits has Milicevic listed as a two-star prospect, but considering the high-profile programs in contact with him, his star rating is likely to improve in the near future.
Milicevic plays with Arizona Unity on the Nike EYBL circuit. After his first live period back in April – when he averaged a league-best 25.0 points per game – he received his first Pac-12 offer from the Sun Devils.
As a stretch forward, Milicevic holds a similar skillset to class of 2023 targets Milan Momcilovic and Andrej Stojakovic, two more recruits with Serbian roots who took official visits to UCLA in June. All three are able to defend and score in the post, but can also drift to the wing to play from outside and knock down shots from beyond the arc.
Coming in a class behind Momcilovic and Stojakovic, Milicevic is a longer-term target for Cronin and Simovic, but he certainly represents a continued pivot in recruiting tendencies for the Bruins.
Milicevic will be on his biggest stage yet at the FIBA U17 Championships in July, but Cronin, Simovic and the staff were comfortable enough to solidify themselves as early players in his recruitment before he shipped out.
Follow Royer on Twitter at @thebenroyer
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube
Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA men's basketball stories: UCLA Men's Basketball on Sports Illustrated
