On Monday, Serbian 7-foot center Aleksa Dimitrijević officially committed to the Creighton Bluejays for next season. According to his agent, Steven Petrovic of Agency 55, Dimitrijević will move from Serbia to Creighton to potentially fill a big role.
The 7-foot-1, 215-pound big man is a Serbian U18-19 National Team member and plays for Partizan Belgrade professional club. Dimitrijević officially committed to head coach Greg McDermott and Creighton after considering the Illinois Fighting Illini, the Michigan Wolverines, and the Washington Huskies.
Serbian Seven Footer Aleksa Dimitrijević Has Committed to the Creighton Bluejays
The Bluejays will lose their seven-footer from Ryan Kalkbrenner this past season. This is ultimately a significant loss for Creighton, but they have found his potential replacement in Dimitrijević, who they feel has a considerable upside. The 7-foot-1 big man visited Creighton in February and credited that visit as the deciding factor in his final decision.
“I committed based off of my visit,” Dimitrijević explained. “It was my best visit, and I had good chemistry with the coach. We had a good talk when I was there, and the others were great. The most important thing was the coach followed up with everything there.”
Another enticing fact for Dimitrijević came in the demeanor of the head coach of the program, Greg McDermott.
“I loved their style of play and everything else while watching them play,” he said. “I loved how the coach treated his players during the game and practices. He’s not a guy who’s going to change. It’s important to keep your composure in different situations. I’ve been on teams before where players panic and make bad decisions, but he stays the same throughout.”
The Bluejays staff is very high on the 18-year-old’s potential. In fact, Creighton’s pitch to Dimitrijević focused on potentially replacing one of the school’s best big men in history, Kalkbrenner.
“They’re losing Ryan, so the plan is to work during the summer to prepare for next season and come in and make an impact,” Dimitrijević said. “I can shoot a little better than Ryan, but I’m not as physical as him because I’m a freshman. I’ll be a stretch 5 for them. Someone who shoots and plays in the pick-and-roll. They see me being the new Ryan with better shooting.”
Dimitrijević will join four-star forward Hudson Greer in the Creighton 2025 recruiting class. Despite losing some big pieces, Creighton has made it seem that they are already on the hunt for potential replacements, and they’re off to a great start now with Greer and Dimitrijević.
KEEP READING: Creighton Basketball Transfer Portal: Full List of Players Entering and Exiting
Dimitrijević also stated that he has apparent goals for himself upon his arrival on campus. Simply put, his goal is “the NBA,” Dimitrijević said. “I don’t know when and how, but I want to stay at Creighton until I can go to the draft. … You’re going to see what I can do, and hopefully, we will win many games.”
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