Montana added the final piece of its 2017 recruiting class on Tuesday, receiving a commitment from 7-foot center Admir Besovic just one day after announcing the signing of Norwegian point guard Lars Espe.
The addition of Besovic completes the Grizzlies’ 2017 signing class and adds much needed size to a team that often found itself looking up at opponents during a 16-16 campaign. Besovic stands 7 feet tall, giving the Grizzlies two incoming 7-foot freshman after Kelby Kramer signed with the Grizzlies in November.
Admir Besovic
Besovic, who played at the Virginia Episcopal School this past season, visited Montana this week after playing in the Classic Central Virginia All-Star game earlier this month. He was one of three players Montana brought in to fill its 13-scholarship limit.
Besovic, 19, averaged averaged 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds, helping VES to a 16-8 record. He was named to a number of all-area teams by various newspapers in the Lynchburg, Virginia area.
“I knew this is the best place for me right after the first day of the visit, it’s just a great community to be a part of,” Besovic wrote Wednesday in a message to Skyline Sports. “When the coach told me about the system they play and my role in it I immediately knew it’s going to be great fit for me.”
A native of Sarajevo, Besovic will join a frontline that graduated Brandon Gfeller and Jack Lopez and is certain to add a number of new faces alongside Fabijan Krslovic and Bobby Moorehead.
In addition to Besovic and Kramer, the Griz will gain the services of juniors Jamar Akoh and Donaven Dorsey after both players were forced to sit out the 2016-17 season by NCAA transfer rules. Akoh, at 6-8 and 240 pounds, transferred from Cal State Fullerton, while the 6-7 Dorsey came to Montana from Washington.
Montana also adds incoming freshman Karl Nicholas to its frontline rotation after the Dawson finished up his decorated senior season as one of the best players in the Houston area.
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire and his assistants went in search of a rim protector after it granted freshmen forwards Alphonso Anderson and Jared Samuelson a release from their scholarships on March 31.
A rule change enacted last season that allows posts to stand in front of the rim and jump straight up to challenge shots regardless of contact often put Montana, which listed the 6-8 Krlsovic as its tallest player, at a disadvantage.
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire/ by Jason Bacaj
“It happened to us late in the year, you look at conference and people just started plugging up the gap with the big body who never left the paint,” DeCuire said earlier this month. “The only way to keep people from doing that is to put five 3-point shooters on the floor or put a guy like that of your own in there and then no one gets any layups.”
Much like Espe, who played a two seasons in Norway’s most competitive professional league, Besovic played professional basketball in his native Bosnia and Herzegovina before coming stateside to attract the attention of college basketball programs.
Besovic, recruited by assistant Marlon Stewart, is the last addition to the Grizzlies’ 2017 recruiting class that included Espe, Kramer, Nicholas, and guards Timmy Falls and Niko Bevens, a sharpshooting 6-6 transfer from North Idaho College who signed with Montana on April 12 and will have three years left to play.
“The coaching staff and the guys made my decision a lot easier with a great welcome, they made me feel like I’m already part of the team,” Besovic said.
