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How men’s basketball’s director of recruiting turned an obsession into a profession

Related Topics: Sam Patterson, Rick Pitino

While taking classes to pursue a career as a sports agent, Ognjen Stranjina realized it wasn’t what he wanted to do.

“You have honest agents,” he said. “But most of (the) agents are not honest with people … I just can’t lie to people … I do not want to be involved in that stuff.”

When he and his friend Ivan Mitroviu0107, a scout for the NBA’s Washington Wizards, created a basketball scouting database called Balkan Prospects, Stranjina’s obsession became his profession.

Surrounded by and watching basketball from a young age, he knew “Scouting and recruiting, in general, was something I always wanted to do.