Cavaliers Now

Report: UVA Basketball Set to Host Bosnian Sharpshooter for Visit

Matt Newton

Harun Zrno/IG
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Virginia is in a tricky spot when it comes to recruiting during this interim season under Ron Sanchez. We have no idea of what benchmark the Cavaliers have to reach this season in terms of wins or postseason success in order for athletic director Carla Williams to make Sanchez the full-time head coach at the end of the season. But whatever that threshold is, UVA is probably falling short of it right now with a 6-4 record and a handful of blowout losses and no impressive wins.

While Sanchez and his staff would love to consider this "Year 1" of his tenure as Virginia basketball's head coach and hit the recruiting trail hard as if years 2, 3, and 4 were guaranteed, that's simply not the reality right now. The lone commit Tony Bennett secured for the class of 2025, Charlottesville's own Chance Mallory, has decommitted and reopened his recruitment, taking visits to Miami and Tennessee. While Mallory could consider recommitting to Virginia, he certainly wouldn't do that before the Cavaliers confirm who is going to be their full-time head coach moving forward. By then, Mallory will likely have committed elsewhere.

Like I said, it's a tough spot for the Hoos to be in from a recruiting standpoint.

With that said, Virginia isn't completely dormant when it comes to recruiting. In fact, the Cavaliers are one of several major conference programs who are targeting a 20-year-old Bosnian sharpshooter named Harun Zrno. According to a report from Adam Zagoria of ZAGSBLOG, Zrno is planning to take visits to Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, and Rutgers at the beginning of 2025.

Here is his visit schedule, according to Zagoria:
- Virginia: January 4th
- Indiana: January 8th
- Wisconsin: January 14th
- Georgia Tech: TBD
- Rutgers: TBD

If those dates are correct, that would have Zrno visiting Virginia for its Saturday home game against Louisville on January 4th, the first of the five visits he is planning to take.

So, who is this mysterious recruit Virginia is chasing?

A 6'6" shooting guard from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Harun Zrno has been playing at a high level of international basketball for several years now and currently plays for KK Slavija in the Bosnian BiH Liga, or Basketball Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In nine games so far this season, Zrno is averaging 19.4 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game and shooting 54.8% from the floor and an impressive 46.7% from three-point range on five attempts per game, per Real GM.

Watch some of his highlights below.

The numbers and the highlight tape suggest that Zrno is one of the best shooters available and if the Cavaliers have to go halfway around the world to find him, then so be it.

So, while Virginia had to reset the deck for recruiting the high school class of 2025 and sit in standby until the future becomes more defined, the Cavaliers are still being somewhat active in pursuing talent and the coaching staff undoubtedly has plans for attacking the class of 2026 next spring and summer if Sanchez is retained. Whether that happens or not depends on if Virginia can get this season turned around after this lackluster start through the first 10 games.

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.