Filip Petrusev Leaves Gonzaga to Sign With Pro Team in Serbia
The 2019-20 college basketball season ended with a whimper as opposed to a bang. Instead of crowning a champion after another enthralling edition of March Madness, we saw the season come to an end before conference tournaments ever were finished. There were no postseason tournaments: no March Madness, no NIT, no CBI and no CIT. There was no walking off the floor for the last time before a standing ovation for those players who weren’t going to be back. With so much uncertainty going on right now in general about the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s making for concerns among players about what to do for the upcoming 2020-21 campaign.
One of the powerhouse programs of the past decade-plus and arguably the most dangerous mid-major program out there, Gonzaga was a team that looked like they were poised to make a run at a title last year. Now, they’re still a loaded team talentwise but they’re retooling at the same time. As it stands, coach Mark Few has another large hole to patch up going into next season.
Filip Petrusev, who manned the low block for the Bulldogs, is leaving school after his sophomore season. He will sign a deal with Mega Bemax of the Adriatic Basketball Association, his father stated Monday. At this point in time, Petrusev will keep his name in the NBA Draft as he has until October 6 to withdraw from it. Petrusev spoke about the uncertainty of the college basketball season and indicated that it was part of the reason for his decision to return to his home country and turn pro. He said: "There's a lot of uncertainty with the NCAA season. Here I should be able to showcase some skills I wasn't able to at Gonzaga and improve my draft stock.”
He put together a stellar season in 2019-20, starting all 33 games for Gonzaga while averaging 17.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. In conference play, he averaged 17.8 points and 7.8 rebounds a contest. His scoring average was third in the West Coast Conference. In addition, he finished second in rebounding while leading the conference by shooting 56.5 percent from the floor in conference contests. For his efforts, he earned the WCC Player of the Year Award and was named a Wooden All-American. He earned second-team All-American nods from the NABC and the USA Today while the AP plus the USBWA gave him third-team All-American accolades.
Petrusev poured in a career-high 31 points against Santa Clara on January 30. He also had a huge game against Oregon in the Battle 4 Atlantis on November 28, posting 22 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in 40 minutes as Gonzaga prevailed 73-72 in overtime. Overall on the year, Petrusev hit 56.2 percent from the field, including 18.2 percent from three-point range, but struggled at the charity stripe. After shooting 85.3 percent from the line as a freshman in 2018-19 (64 of 75), he struggled to shoot only 65.5 percent (156 of 238) in 2019-20. He’ll clearly have to improve on that overseas if he hopes to become an effective player at the NBA level.
As it stands, Petrusev was projected to likely be a second-round pick at best in the draft. Scouts have concerns about his average athleticism while stating that he needs to improve his shooting range and his shot blocking. He blocked just 41 shots in 65 college games, with a career-high of four coming against Arizona back in December 2019. Going overseas, especially back to his home country, can give him a chance to work on his shortcomings and potentially improve his draft stock. He has the skills and the opportunity to change the outlook of the scouts and front offices around the league if he puts in the work.
As for Gonzaga, the loss is a blow, especially with Killian Tillie and Ryan Woolridge both gone as well. The Bulldogs will reload with Drew Timme, who was solid as a freshman, and five-star prospect Jalen Suggs, who is likely a one and done player with the program. Few has to keep his eye on whether Corey Kispert and Joel Ajayi return to Spokane this fall or not as that would create a couple more voids in the rotation for the Bulldogs. Without Petrusev, it will be interesting to see how Few adapts. Much like Gonzaga, Petrusev has to adapt and overcome. We’ll have to see if either of the two can have success in that department.
