How DJ chartered success

DJ Vasiljevic has been lighting up the NBL court since the start of the decade. He’s a two-time NBL champion with Sydney, and now he’s the linchpin in an Adelaide side that is starting to turn its fortunes.

Before he hit the NBL court though, Vasiljevic spent a full collegiate career at one of the NCAA’s powerhouse schools – The University of Miami.

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Vasiljevic was heavily recruited by the American collegiate scene prior to his return to the NBL, and while new global pathways to the professional level have emerged in the short time since his attendance at Miami, he entered the program as a heavily recruited freshman.

“It started from the U/17 World Championships where we won a silver medal, and Isaac (Humphries) and I were named in the All-Star Five,” Vasiljevic told The Huddle.

“Then we go nine months later to the 19s, I had another good one and I got a scholarship. They came out, they visited me, Stanford then came out and visited me, I had the Stanford coach during the 2015 School Championships. He came out and I had 40 or something in that game, so I kind of proved my point.

“I picked Miami because I look at both basketball and school, because if you get hurt it can change your life completely. I’ve got a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree – a lot of people don’t know that.

“Both of my parents are highly educated, and I wanted to keep the trend going. It was a great lifestyle ... it’s multicultural. English is the second language in Florida, there’s Spanish, there’s Cuban, and you get to learn that so who wouldn’t want to go to Miami.”

Vasiljevic playing for Miami in 2017.

Vasiljevic left his time in the program 21st on the all-time scoring list with 1271 points – the leader is still NBA legend Rick Barry who attended the school in the 1960s – and second all-time in made threes with 272.

He earned All-ACC Academic Team honours in his senor year, and says he’s maintained relationships with his collegiate teammates to this day – including NBA champion Bruce Brown.

“We had big wins against Duke, we had a big win against Virginia who played that slow-paced game. You have to enjoy it. The guys I played with I still talk to every day. Those memories will last forever,” he said.

“My senior night I had my best mates fly in, I had my sister, and it was unreal. It’s a great lasting memory for me.

“We support each other, he (Brown) sometimes even watches our games. That’s how connected we really are.

“He’ll reach out and say ‘hey man, you just went crazy’. Yeah, so did you. He’ll shout you dinner, because he’s on the millions and millions of dollars. Money aside, all that stuff just seeing your friends and brothers succeed is the biggest thing for me.”