IOWA CITY, Iowa – A number of days after Iowa’s 2021-22 basketball season had come to a untimely finish, Filip Rebraca went on the lookout for a pickup recreation on campus.

And when he discovered one, he knew the competitors he’d be going through wouldn’t be as much as par with the regular weight loss plan of fellows like Zach Edey, Kofi Coburn, Trayce Jackson-Davis or Hunter Dickinson that he’d gone in opposition to within the Large Ten.

It might be common college students, taking part in due to their love for the sport. You see, basketball has all the time been Rebraca’s love. However his ardour had grow to be an occupation in the course of the grind of the season. His confidence was shot.

“I knew I used to be quite a bit higher than I confirmed,” Filip stated.

His love for hoops had grow to be a job he didn’t like. However when Rebraca performed in these pickup video games, he felt free. His ardour returned. And so did his confidence.

“It was enjoyable,” Rebraca stated. “And it simply reignited my ardour for the sport. And with that, I acquired confidence in my talents. I felt like I used to be having enjoyable with the sport I like. That was the important thing.”

Recharged and able to go, Rebraca’s faculty basketball profession has reached the ultimate chapter. And the 6-foot-9 ahead is able to present everybody the true Filip Rebraca.

“I’m very excited, however unhappy on the similar time,” stated Rebraca, who performed his first three seasons at North Dakota. “That is my final time going by means of this. It flew by so shortly. However I undoubtedly wish to depart my mark right here. As a group we left our mark final yr. We wish to do it once more. However I wish to have an even bigger position for myself. I wish to be remembered right here for one thing. It’s necessary to me.”

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery anticipates that the Rebraca that Hawkeye followers see this season will probably be extra productive than the one who began all 36 video games and averaged 5.8 factors and 5.6 rebounds in 2021-22..

“He has far more offense in his recreation than we noticed final yr,” McCaffery stated. “It was good at instances, and fairly good normally. However I feel you’ll see a extra aggressive participant. Defensively, he’s spectacular. Guarding ball screens, shut and get better, guarding smaller folks. He’s everywhere in the glass. His vitality stage is nice. He’s in nice form bodily. He’s mature. He’s been round. He’s taking part in with quite a lot of confidence proper now.”

Along with higher scoring and rebounding numbers, McCaffery predicts that Filip will play greater than the 21 minutes he averaged final season.

“He performed a variety of minutes final yr, and was a starter for us, however he’s going to be on the market quite a bit,” McCaffery stated. “We’d like him on the market.”

A local of Serbia, Rebraca attended prep faculty at Williston Northhampton College in Easthampton, Mass. That’s the place former Iowa assistant Brian Jones, the top coach at North Dakota, discovered him. North Dakota didn’t have a variety of competitors for Rebraca’s companies, and Filip accepted their scholarship supply.

He performed 89 video games over three seasons for the Combating Hawks, with 74 begins. He averaged 13 factors and seven.5 rebounds for his profession there.However Rebraca needed to check his recreation at a better stage, and Iowa and the Large Ten match the invoice.

When Iowa beat Purdue to win the Large Ten Event Championship in Indianapolis, McCaffery hugged Rebraca and the 2 had phrases.

“He stated “For this reason you got here right here,’ ” Rebraca recalled. “I stated, “Rattling proper.’ ”

However his first style of the Large Ten was a 36-game grind that had Filip questioning himself and his recreation.

He had been the go-to man at North Dakota. Keegan Murray was Iowa’s go-to man. Murray, a consensus first-team all-American and chosen by Sacramento with the fourth choose within the NBA Draft, tried 554 pictures for the Hawkeyes final season. Rebraca took 161 pictures, lower than half the 344 he tried the earlier season at North Dakota. The fewest pictures he had ever tried in a season had been 180 as a freshman.

His averages at Iowa have been a big drop from the 16.8 factors and seven.6 rebounds he averaged as a junior at North Dakota.

“At North Dakota we performed gradual and deliberate,” Rebraca stated. “It was, “Get Filip the ball in these positions and let him do his factor.’ Right here, it’s extra free flowing. If you wish to rating, you need to get your self open. And you need to get your teammates open so you may get open. It was a unique fashion that I wasn’t used to. It was an adjustment. And I realized a variety of issues.”

Within the Summit League, Rebraca confronted gamers that have been a mirror of his recreation, guys who have been efficient inside and outside.

Within the Large Ten, guys like Coburn, Jackson-Davis and Edey have been paint-dominant gamers.

“That was an adjustment,” Rebraca stated. “They usually have been all larger than me, and weighed greater than me.”

Rebraca’s confidence began to erode because the season went on.

“I used to be centered on myself, and the way I used to be doing in my eyes,” Rebraca stated. “That’s what made me wrestle.”

He stated that dropping confidence was powerful on him, and led to some sleepless nights. He talked to his father, Zeljko, trying to find methods to get out of his funk. Zeljko performed 16 skilled seasons, 5 of them within the NBA and relaxation in Europe. He performed for Yugoslavia on a silver medal Olympic group in 1996, and a FIBA World Cup Championship group in 1998.

Again in 1995, Zeljko had been a high-profile signing by Benetton Treviso of Italy. He had a depressing first season, and needed to struggle by means of self-doubt to get again his recreation. In 1997, he helped his group win an Italian League Championship.

“Within the second, I used to be overthinking it,” Filip stated. “I used to be attempting to do an excessive amount of. I used to be always within the fitness center, always placing within the work, pondering I used to be going to interrupt by means of that wall or barrier.”

Filip finally discovered the solutions he was on the lookout for in a campus pickup recreation. Lacing them up and working up and down the ground was the right tonic for this lovesick hoopster.

“Generally, you’ve simply acquired to let it unfastened and be free,” Filip stated.

Rebraca expects his numbers to enhance this season.

“I don’t have Keegan to steal rebounds from me, so my numbers will most likely go up,” Rebraca stated. “Offensively, I really feel like I’ve been capturing the ball, spacing the ground and simply being aggressive. I feel my capturing would be the most seen factor.”