What feels like the inevitable, Zvonimir Ivisic has entered his name into the transfer portal.
Ivisic or "Big Z" as many of Big Blue Nation knows him as is a 7'2" center from Croatia who decided to make the jump to the NCAA under former Kentucky head coach, John Calipari. His lone season at Kentucky was a hassle as it took Ivisic from October 12th when he arrived on campus all the way to January 20th for the NCAA to even clear him to play.
Since the season was nearly halfway completed before Zvonimir got cleared to play, resulting in him getting to suit up for only fifteen games for the Wildcats. In those 15 games, Ivisic averaged 5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game all while shooting 57.7% overall from the field and 37.5% from beyond the 3-point line.
Big Z has been a fan favorite since arriving on campus, and since the NCAA seemed to be taking their sweet time on clearing the "Croatian Sensation", Kentucky fans took matters into their own hands.
A fan group called "Rupp To No Good" organized a GoFundMe to fund this billboard that went up just miles away from the NCAA eligibility center based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. This is the epitome of what makes the Big Blue Nation so special as hundreds of Kentucky fans donated to this fund to try to get their beloved "Big Z" cleared to play so that they could witness him at least once in a Kentucky jersey.
Probably the most iconic moment in the "Big Z" era was during the Georiga game at Rupp Arena when he had a behind-the-back pass to Antonio Reeves for a three-point basket. Rupp Arena went nuts and some say it’s the loudest they’ve ever heard it get in there. He went on to have 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 assists in that performance.
John Calipari was the coach to bring Zvonimir Ivisic to college from all the way across the world, and unless I am wrong, it looks like Z will probably follow Calipari to Arkansas if I had to guess.