Another reported portal visitor coming to check out Tennessee
According to reports from Vol Scoops on Twitter and Tennessee Rivals recruiting writer Shayne Pickering, the 6-10, 224 pound forward (guard/wing…?) from Germany plans to visit UT next Tuesday.
It’s worth noting that at this point, 11:15 on Friday night, the these reports haven’t been officially confirmed by VolQuest, 247Sports or On3.
Regardless, this would be the third portal visitor for the hoops program within a week if Milicic does indeed visit after the already-reported duo of Hofstra’s Darlinstone Dubar (ranked 14th in CBS’ portal rankings) and Belmont’s Cade Tyson (ranked 16th in CBS’ portal rankings), who are scheduled to be in town for at least part of this weekend.
Milicic, from Croatia, started his career at Virginia as an unranked prospect out of OrangeAcadmey — a team that plays in the second-highest pro division in Germany and is based in Weißenhorn. He played in 16 games, averaged six-ish minutes, two points, just fewer than one rebound a game and shot 38 percent from the field, 36 percent from 3 (on just below a half attempt per-game) and 50 percent from the free-throw line.
After one season at Virginia, he transferred to Charlotte, where he spent two seasons and saw incremental increases in his production. During year No. 1, he averaged nearly eight PPG and four rebounds in 35 games, 22 starts and 21 minutes per-contest. He shot 48/36/78, and he averaged six FG attempts per-game, 3.5 of which were from 3-point range. His per-40 numbers: 14.4 points, eight rebounds and two steals/blocks with 48/34/78 shooting splits.
Last season, his junior year, Milicic finished second on the team in PPG at 12.8, first in rebounds at 8.5 and shot 49 percent from the field, 38 percent from 3 (on nearly five attempts) and 82 percent from the charity stripe. Those most-recent shooting figures, plus the increased in attempted 3s, all indicate an upward trend in his touch and ability to hit the 3-ball.
Per his bio on Charlotte’s website, he snagged a post-season accolade and was a top-25 defensive rebounder in the NCAA, among other intriguing stats:
In his second season in the Queen City, Milicic Jr. was named a Third-Team All-American Athletic Conference selection after starting 30 of the 31 games he appeared in and averaging 12.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 0.7 steals. In addition to being the team’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder, Milicic Jr. was fourth in The American in rebounds per game. He was 23rd nationally and second in the conference in defensive rebounding (7.0 per game). He also logged a team-high 10 double-doubles, including a stretch of four straight double-doubles, which was fourth in the AAC and 55th in the nation. He scored in double figures in 20 games, including three 20-point performances and he pulled down double-digit rebounds 12 times, including a career-high 16 boards against Temple in the Quarterfinals of the 2024 AAC Tournament. He scored a career-high 26 points, along with 10 boards vs. Rice (3/6). He registered another 20-10 game with 22 points and 13 boards against Tulane (1/27). Milicic Jr. also recorded new career-highs in three-pointers (5) vs. Davidson (11/29), assists (5) at South Florida (2/6), and blocks (5) vs. ECU (2/3). He shot 48.7 from the field and was the team’s top free throw shooter (81.8 percent) and three-point shooter with 56 made triples and a three-point percentage of .376. The 6-10 forward was 10th in the conference in three-point percentage and of the nine players ahead of Milicic Jr., eight of them were guards and none were listed as taller than 6-6. Throughout the season, Milicic Jr. earned AAC Player of the Week (11/20) after back-to-back doubles against Utah Valley (11/15) and George Mason (11/19) and he also picked up three AAC Honor Roll mentions (1/15, 1/29, & 3/11).
Though some of the rebounding numbers are eye-catching, Milicic has been listed as guard throughout his first three years of collegiate basketball on Sports-Reference and doesn’t look like he fits the mold of a traditional Rick Barnes post-player recruit.
Given his listed 224-pound weight, and that he hit two or more 3s in eight of his 31 games (30 starts) on the nearly five tries he averaged, it would seem that he fits the template of a long and tall, perimeter scoring threat more than a bruising big man who does his work in the restricted area.
And when you watch his highlights, that sentiment is backed up. He appears to be an active cutter, spends most of his time outside of the paint, seems comfortable shooting pull-up 3s and looks like he has the handle to attack the rim off the bounce.
I’ll say this — Barnes typically wants his big men near the basket, so this would be a sort of outside-the-box fit if Milicic ended up at Tennessee and wasn’t forced to camp out under the hoop.
All three players who are allegedly visiting over the next four-ish days were good-to-great shooters from deep last season and appear to be most suited playing outside. There’s still too many “ifs” to really speculate, but Milicic would certainly be an intriguing addition to next season’s overhauled team. It’s going to be difficult to replace Dalton Knecht’s three-level scoring from last year, and it’s likely going to have to come from multiple players.
Milicic announced his intentions to transfer on March 25th, and I’ve seen reports that Virginia is interested in a reunion and that Rutgers also has interest. I’m sure there are plenty more schools he’s going to be in contact with and/ or visit, but those are the two programs I saw the most chatter about.