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On Nemanja Calasan’s first day of basketball practice, he caught a pass and took off running.
He didn’t know about dribbling, didn’t really know much at all about the game.
But his dad wanted him to start playing, partly because he was tall but also because he wanted his son to be more active. Calasan said he sat around watching TV and was “a bit chubbier” as a kid.
When Calasan showed up for practice, he towered above the rest of the kids because he was almost 15 when he started playing in Eastern Europe and was with a younger age group.
So perhaps, it’s not surprising Calasan’s introduction to the game wasn’t overwhelming.
“After the first practice, I didn’t like it very much,” said Calasan, Purdue’s 6-foot-9 Serbian forward. “I went home and said I didn’t like it. My dad was, ‘Well, you don’t want to quit after the first time. Give it another try.’ So I went back to practice and started to like it more and more, day by day I liked it more. So I stayed with basketball.”
The late start hasn’t hampered him.
Calasan made a successful transition to playing in the United States, including the challenges off the court of learning the language, fighting homesickness and adapting to a new culture.
On the court, he’s already won a national championship in junior college at Midland Junior College in Texas. His Purdue debut was delayed when the NCAA ruled he had to sit two games for playing two club games with a professional team in Montenegro. But since his first game against Loyola on his birthday, Nov. 24, he has shown why he’s a pivotal piece for the Boilermakers.
He is an aggressive, physical player. He has a quick release on his shot from the perimeter and in the post. He’s also not afraid to be emotional, yelling to encourage and fire up teammates.
No wonder Purdue coach Matt Painter said he was “very, very fortunate” to sign Calasan, who initially signed with Utah out of Midland but was released from that obligation when the Utes got a new coach. Calasan visited Kentucky and Purdue after that and opted for the Boilers because he felt comfortable with the coaching staff and players.
Painter says Calasan gives the Boilermakers the type of player they desperately needed.
“He has a grasp of what’s going on, knows how to pass the basketball, understands what’s going on on the court,” said Painter, who initially saw Calasan play while recruiting other players at Midland.
“At times, he’s a little too aggressive shooting it, and sometimes he’s too aggressive physically. But I’d rather have a guy you’ve got to dial down because the guys you have to dial up, you can only go so far.”
Calasan said he picked up the game pretty quickly, though he certainly put time into learning it. That’s what his father always taught him: “Do something 110 percent or don’t do it.”
In his first year, he spent about 90 minutes before school with his club coach, learning the basics. Then he’d spend about the same amount of time after school practicing with the team.
That kind of work ethic continued, regardless of the level.
Painter said he doesn’t have a player who puts more time into his game than Calasan.
If Calasan isn’t stretching somewhere – he said it helps his body recover more quickly and to stay in shape – then he’s shooting or lifting weights. If he’s not in class or doing homework, he’s usually over at Mackey Arena.
“I need to work a lot, a lot, a lot,” Calasan said. “I work every day, all day if I can. I think I need to work a lot on my game. Shooting, defense, passing, everything.”
Painter loves that attitude.
“I think that’s refreshing that he enjoys the game of basketball,” Painter said. “A lot of time all the work they have to do here blows them away in the first month or two. It doesn’t blow him away.”
With that willingness to work, Calasan said he wants to play professional basketball.
But, for now, he’s loving life as a student-athlete.
It’s the life he envisioned almost as soon as he picked up a basketball, even if he didn’t know what to do with it.
“When I started practicing when I was 14, my dream was to come to the States and play college,” Calasan said. “Back home, we wished (for) the college life, be a basketball player in college. It was amazing to see how people are doing there, how they lived, play basketball in front of 20,000 people. It was a great experience. I want(ed) to do this, and I was working my way up from zero to up. Every day, step by step.”
sclardie@jg.net
