Žarko Đurišić ( sr-cyr, Жарко Ђуришић; born March 31, 1961), also credited as Zarko Durisic, is a Montenegrin-born Slovenian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, former player, and former coach who is currently the Director of international player personnel for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA).

Playing career

Đurišić started his basketball career playing with the youth teams of Budućnost. In 1978, at age of 17, he moved to Crvena zvezda of the Yugoslav Federal League. He played two seasons there, until 1980. Over 44 regular season games, he averaged 2.5 point per game. In 1980, Đurišić moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

to play

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

where his four seasons in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

Division I with the Shockers were very successful. Arriving to

Wichita Wichita ( ) may refer to: People *Wichita people, a Native American tribe *Wichita language, the language of the tribe Places in the United States * Wichita, Kansas, a city * Wichita County, Kansas, a county in western Kansas (city of Wichita i ...

together with compatriot Zoran Radović, Đurišić joined the squad featuring future NBA players Cliff Levingston, Antoine Carr,

Xavier McDaniel Xavier Maurice McDaniel (born June 4, 1963), nicknamed "X-Man", is an American retired professional basketball player who, at 6 ft 7 in, played both small forward and power forward. He played in college at Wichita State University. H ...

and Ozell Jones as the sixth-seeded Wichita State team came within one game of making it to the Final Four, losing the Midwest regional final to first regional seed

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. After finishing college career he went back to the Yugoslav League where he played for Budućnost and Smelt Olimpija. With Olimpija he also played Premier A Slovenian League after 1992.

National team career

Yugoslavia national team

Đurišić was a member of the Yugoslavia national cadet team that won the silver medal at the 1977 European Championship for Cadets. Over three tournament games, he averaged 4.7 points per game. He also was a member of the Yugoslavia national junior team that participated at the 1979 World Championship for Juniors and also won the silver medal at the 1980 European Championship for Juniors.

Slovenia national team

Đurišić was a member of the Slovenia national team that participated at the

EuroBasket 1993 The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

. Over three tournament games, he averaged 4.7 points per game. Slovenia took 14th place at the tournament. He played 27 games for the national team.

Post-playing career

Đurišić briefly coached Smelt Olimpija during the 1995–96 season. He took over the team's coaching reigns from Zmago Sagadin in January 2016, leading them to the Slovenian League title at the end of the season. Since summer 1996, Đurišić has been affiliated with the

organization where he heads up the team's international scouting efforts. Positions he previously held with the Wolves include director of college and international player personnel, director of player personnel, and head scout.

Personal life

Đurišić and his wife, Tatjana, have two daughters: Jelena and Aleksandra. Daughter Jelena (born 1989 in Belgrade) is a Slovenian former tennis player.

Career achievements and awards

;Player *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

winner: 1 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1993–94) * Premier A Slovenian League champion: 4 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1991–92,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

, 1993–94, 1994–95) *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

winner: 4 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995) ;Coach * Premier A Slovenian League champion: 1 (with Smelt Olimpija: 1995–96)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durisic, Zarko 1961 births Living people KK Budućnost players KK Crvena zvezda players KK Olimpija players KK Olimpija coaches Minnesota Timberwolves scouts Minnesota Timberwolves executives Montenegrin expatriate basketball people in Serbia Montenegrin expatriate basketball people in the United States Montenegrin men's basketball players Montenegrin basketball scouts National Basketball Association scouts from Europe Serbian expatriate basketball people in the United States Serbs of Montenegro Slovenian basketball coaches Slovenian basketball scouts Slovenian people of Serbian descent Slovenian people of Montenegrin descent Slovenian expatriate basketball people in Serbia Slovenian expatriate basketball people in the United States Slovenian men's basketball players Sportspeople from Podgorica Wichita State Shockers men's basketball players Yugoslav men's basketball players Centers (basketball)