John Calipari interviews Zvonimir Ivisic: "He's gonna be good."

ZVON-EE-MEER (Zvonimir). EE-VEE-SHITCH (Ivisic). Straight from the horse’s mouth.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari sat down with the newest member of the basketball family, Zvonimir Ivisic, for a one-on-one interview following his arrival. First order of business? Get the pronunciation down.

Coach Cal jokes that he’ll be calling him Big Z regardless. But for fans interested in nailing the Croatian big man’s name at the water cooler, you now have your answer, Ivisic slowing things down both first and last. Add the V with long Es and the SH sound.

Beyond the name lesson, we also learned why the 7-foot-2 forward wanted to make his way to the United States and play college basketball. It was a joint decision between him and his mom, a way for him to receive an education but still work toward his dream of playing in the NBA.

“I mean, my mom wanted me to finish school and I wanted to play basketball,” Ivisic said. “So we kind of found a way for me to go to college and play basketball.”

He also discussed his time going through the draft process and weighing his professional options in back-to-back cycles. After testing the waters twice, the international standout decided it was in his best interest to remain patient before making the jump to the league.

“I got invited there so I could work out with all of the guys, all of the teams, so it kind of meant a lot to me. That really meant a lot,” he said. “I had a great time and it’s a really great experience. … (They told me) I had to get better at strength and conditioning.”

As for his decision to play for Kentucky, he said it came down to two simple factors. First, he wanted to win. Second, he wanted to play for John Calipari.

Easy enough.

“I just want to help the team win, that’s most of it,” Ivisic said. “And I want to play for you, also.”

Maybe the most important part of the interview? After Coach Cal sent his newest signee off to class, he closed things out with one final message.

“He’s one of the nicest people, a great smile. He gonna be good.”

Get to know a little bit about Big Z as he gets settled in on campus! https://t.co/q17fZJKIJi pic.twitter.com/ibDHxk0aD1

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) October 16, 2023

Calipari said in a separate clip “he’s not King Kong” and ”he’s not the answer to all of our dreams.” He did, however, add that Ivisic is a ”terrific young person who wanted to be here and wants to help us win.”

“He’s a talented player now, I don’t want to take that away. It’s just going to take time, he just showed up here. He’s just now here. It took us a long time to get him here, but now he’s here.”

Welcome to the family, Big Z.