Illinois State Transfer Dusan Mahorcic Receives BYU Offer, Updates His Recruitment

BYU offered Illinois State big man Dusan Mahorcic a scholarship Wednesday afternoon after talking with BYU coaches for about a week.

Mahorcic averaged 10 points and 7.7 rebounds on 59% shooting last year for Illinois State. Dusan told me that he’s hearing from schools such as Texas, Florida, Oregon, and over 25 others but loves the energy that Mark Pope brings. He considers himself energetic but said even he had a hard time matching Pope’s energy. He started his career in the JUCO ranks and has two years of eligibility remaining.

One main reason BYU offered Mahorcic is due to the status of Matt Haarms. Haarms has been contemplating a return to Provo, but Mahorcic told me that coaches told him that Haarms will not return to BYU next season. BYU has been talking to Mahorcic for close to a week but coaches officially offered him a scholarship shortly after learning of Haarms’ decision. I have not heard yet on Alex Barcello’s official decision.

Mahorcic is a traditional big man who does most of his damage around the basket. He is effective in the pick and roll and is a great rebounder. According to KenPom he was 51st nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and 173rd in defensive rebounding percentage nationally. Mahorcic would team with Gavin Baxter, Richard Harward, and newcomers Atiki Ally Atiki and Fousseyni Traore to form the frontcourt nucleus. Caleb Lohner showed this year to that he can play the 4.

Mahorcic is still talking to other teams and plans to trim down his list early next week.