With international recruiting taking over college basketball the Florida Gators have steadily started to dip their toe in the water with some rumored additions coming in the coming weeks. Todd Golden and his staff have recruited internationally in the past but have largely looked at traditional high school players that would be coming in as true freshmen, but they’re now looking at the kind of professional players that have taken over the top end of the sport as NIL lures them from their pro contracts in Europe.
The Gators are yet to go all-in on any starter level guys that would be expected to play huge roles, but they are tied to two separate players that would command a decent chunk of change and be expected to contribute right away. These players are Arturas Butajevas and Slovenian Domen Petrovic.
Butajevas is the younger of the two, and someone who is considered by scouts to have more upside. Born in March of 2007 he still has a lot of room to grow, but is already showing the kind of upside that has teams like Florida interested. You will see Butajevas listed at different heights just about everywhere you go, but in checking out the film he looks like a legitimate 6’9” or 6’10” with long arms, something that helps him at the center position where he gets most of his minutes. His high upside is shown in the fact that he left his native Lithuania to head to Spain to play for Barcelona’s development program which is one of the best in the world and one that has produced a number of NBA players. In order to get more minutes and to compete in the newly formed Spanish U-22 league, Butajevas moved to Malaga where he has even gotten minutes with the top club. Though he hasn’t been able to make a ton of noise in the top Spanish league or at the U-22 level, he has been a fixture in Lithuania’s youth national teams where he has always been productive as a scorer and rebounder. With good movement, touch, and intelligence, Butajevas gives a lot of the traits coaches are looking for from international talent.
Domen Petrovic is someone who might have less longer term upside, but is the older, more productive player at the moment who the Gators would expect to play and contribute from day one. Born in 2004 and standing at 6’9” with over three years of professional experience in Slovenia, Petrovic is a do-it-all forward who can pass, shoot, dribble, and bang on the inside to give coaches whatever they could possibly want from a frontcourt player. Last season in the top league in Slovenia Petrovic averaged 16.7 points and 6.9 rebounds, and while that league might not be in the upper echelon of European competition it’s still grown men playing professional basketball and Petrovic was one of the best players in that league. Because of the level of production this wouldn’t be a “flyer” by the Gators who would be paying a good amount of money, as they’d also need to outbid a number of suitors. With good size, skill, and oh by the way–a 40% three-point stroke, Petrovic is exactly what the Gators would be looking for for the “4” position, and even if Rueben Chinyelu were to not return they’d feel strongly about their frontcourt rotation.
Currently the Gators are expected to get at least one of these players and possibly both, so they are players to monitor in the coming weeks.