Northwestern University Athletics
Vedran Vukusic Signs With Hapoel Ironi Nahariya
9/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 22, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Former Northwestern great Vedran Vukusic has signed on to play for Hapoel Ironi Nahariya of Israel. Naharyia's General Manager, Micky Berkowitz, recognized by many as the greatest Israeli player ever, had targeted Vukusic for months and has finally landed the former Wildcat star.
Naharyia has advanced to the semifinals in three of their four seasons in Israel's Premiere League. The league, which includes the well-known Maccabi Tel-Aviv team, is recognized as one of the top and most competitive leagues in all of Europe.
"We're all very happy for Vedran," head coach Bill Carmody said. "This is a tremendous opportunity for him to play among the very best players in Europe. I've spoken to him and he's excited about it. He knows that the team is expecting him to make a big contribution and he's anxious to take on the challenge."
Vukusic, a three-time all-Big Ten selection, was one of the all-time greats to don a Wildcat uniform. Last season he led the Big Ten in scoring through the regular-season with a 19.4 point per game average, the first Wildcat to do so since 1951. He is Northwestern's all-time leader in three-point field goals (212) and finished his career fourth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,581 points -- just the seventh player at Northwestern to ever eclipse 1,500 points.
