Dragutin Kravic Makes Decision
Sweet shooting swingman Dragutin KravicDragutin Kravic from The
Dwight School in New York City has verbally committed
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to American University.
Kravic, a perimeter threat at 6'8'' 200 lbs, chose
the Patriot League program over interest from Cornell,
Princeton, Penn, Brown, Columbia, Bucknell, Lafayette,
William and Mary, and Buffalo. He had scholarship
offers from Rider and St. Francis (NY), along with
American.
Kravic had taken official visits to American and
Cornell before making his decision. Previously,
assistants from a number of different programs had
come out to evaluate Kravic. Columbia head coach
Armond Hill and assistant coach Bill Johnson checked
out the versatile performer, while Buffalo assistant
Mike Menninger, Brown assistant Kevin Jaskiewicz, and
Cornell head coach Steve Donohue all stopped in to
evaluate "Goggy". American assistant coach Ryan Odom
was on hand Thursday night at the Collegiate School in
Manhattan as Dwight lost to Dalton, 58-45, in the
Collegiate Invitational Tournament.
Kravic is a versatile and skilled player who eluded
recruiters for quite some time. The savvy staff at
Rider picked up on him last summer, while American and
St. Francis(NY) were also in the mix very early.
Kravic, a native of the former Yugoslavia, spent this
summer in his home country, not participating in the
AAU circuit. The lack of AAU exposure, coupled with
the fact that Dwight plays in a very low-profile
private school league in New York City left Kravic
with few suitors early. As word began to trickle out
of Goggy's pillowly shooting touch and offensive
repertoire, as well as his academic credentials(93
average, 1000 SAT), a number of Ivy and Patriot
programs began expressing interest, as well as MAC
member Buffalo.
Kravic is a typical European player in the sense
that despite his size, he spends an inordinate amount
of time on the perimeter, and his inside game is more
of a finesse game. Kravic has a sturdy frame, one that
will probably allow him to bulk up a bit, but is not a
banger. Kravic's brother is 6'10'' and father is close
to seven feet, so the likelihood that he could sprout
up a couple of more inches is good. If that happens,
Goggy will likely cause a lot of problems for opposing
Patriot front courts with his versatility.
Kravic is legitimately an Atlantic 10 caliber
player, considering his upside, but because he toiled
in obscurity at Dwight didn't garner the higher-level
recognition that he deserved, especially considering
that many programs already have players identified and
targeted by the fall of a student-athlete's senior
year. If Kravic can continue to develop his offensive
game and bulk up a bit, he could ultimately be a major
contributor for Jeff Jones's American club, who just
clinched the Patriot League regular season
championship. With Swiss wing Vladimir Buscaglia
graduating, Kravic will likely fill a similar role as
an outside threat at the three slot for the Eagles.
Kravic, who is averaging 27.3 points and 15.3
rebounds for 16-7 Dwight, is a terrific pick-up for
American, and could develop into an all-conference
type standout down the road.