By JARROD POTTER
MOST people circle the calendar longingly waiting for a trip abroad, but for basketballer Bosko Kostur, the date he flies out of Melbourne holds extra significance knowing his college career is about to start.
Sunday 25 August is when Kostur, 18, from Hallam, heads off from Australia to join up with his Bryant University Bulldogs team, in Rhode Island, USA.
Waiting for this week, knowing for months he was set to become a Bulldog, was the most agonising part of the process for the young basketball rising star.
“It seems like it’s never going to come – then the next day ‘it’s two weeks away’, next day after that you’re packing to go and after that you’re flying off,” Kostur said.
“I’m a bit excited, bit nervous – mix of emotions, but I’m really keen to see what happens over there.
“How I do, how I fit in with American culture, American lifestyle and how they play – it should be interesting.”
A gentle giant off the court – the 200cm guard/forward has a different mindset once he steps on court and wants to make his mark on college basketball’s biggest stage early as Bryant’s opening match against Gonzaga University is televised on ESPN.
“The most important thing is winning – you want your individual successes, make sure you can provide for your team in assists, rebounds and points – but I just want to go over there and try my best and win for the team,” Kostur said.
“You see the crowds over there in college sports and professional sports and it gets you going – fires you up before the game knowing you’ve got your whole school supporting you or other schools supporting their teams.
“Knowing there’s a lot of people watching you – it motivates you to play well, do well in front of the crowd and earn their respect.”
Kostur gets the added luxury of his older brother, Dejan, being an experienced collegiate athlete – having spent the last two seasons at Idaho State University.
“He’s given me a couple of tips what to do and what not to do – he had a pretty good college experience so I try to take as much as I can from him,” Kostur said.
One Kostur is a handful enough – but playing for the McKinnon Cougars this Big V season was a matching pair – the roster featured Bosko and his older brother Dejan – with the younger brother thrilled to play together before he heads off to Bryant.
“Getting to play – the first time together in serious basketball – it was good,” Kostur said.
“It’s a great experience – we did well together and worked well together – and I’m happy I played with him at least once before I head over.”
Kostur finished his inaugural season with McKinnon Cougars in the Big V Division 1 Men’s competition, averaging 10.6 points, 1.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds a game.
Bryant’s season-opener is against Gonzaga on 9 November.
