What if Mario Hezonja had gone to college?

On April 23, 2015 Croatian basketball sensation Mario Hezonja declared for the 2015 NBA Draft. Let’s pretend he did the opposite and committed to The University of Kentucky to play for head coach John Calipari. Let’s pretend he spurned the money and fame the NBA provides for an opportunity to dominate the college ranks.

Coming into the draft Hezonja was projected to go anywhere from 3-10. His stock was a bit volatile because he was an unknown product. His role and minutes were up and down in his time at FC Barcelona, but he showed flashes of potential that got NBA general managers talking. Several impressive performances with the Croatian National team helped his draft stock immensely. Not many 6-8 wings have his three-point shooting ability, his athleticism and length provide the makings for a good slasher, but with all those tools he’s not yet a quality playmaker or defender.

The 6-foot-8 swingman is brimming with confidence. At one point he promised to David Pick of Basketball Insiders, “If I was in college I’d probably be the number one pick.” I When asked if he wanted to go watch Lionel Messi play he said, “Let Messi come see me.” That’s the best soccer player in the world, maybe ever, he’s talking about. It’d be like a soccer player many casual fans don’t know saying “LeBron James needs to watch me come get bucket (goals?).”

Confidence makes Hezonja an incredibly fun player to watch, it also makes him incredibly frustrating. It works for and against him. He wants the ball and is very vocal about it, He takes some ridiculous shots that even Stephen Curry would balk at, and when his shots aren’t falling he is prone to bad body language.

If being a moody wing who can get buckets doesn’t make you the perfect college player I’m not sure what does. He could go from splashing threes to bickering over not getting the ball, from posterizing big men to struggling to do anything besides put up shots.

Once he got to Kentucky and Calipari learned how to pronounce his name, I got big money on him pronouncing the J in Hezonja, he would have joined an absolutely stacked class of 2016. Calipari had three five-star recruits, Skal Labissiere, Jamal Murray and Isaiah Briscoe, committed to the class of 2016. Kentucky returned point guard Tyler Ulis, forward Alex Poythress and center Marcus Lee. As usual Calipari’s quasi NBA farm system would be coming into the 2015-2016 season with the best roster on paper.

Before the season Murray was projected to go in the late lottery, then he had a breakout performance with Team Canada in the Pan-American Games, which propelled his draft stock from late lottery to a likely top 5 pick. In his only season at Kentucky he averaged 20 points on 45 percent shooting from the field and 40.8 percent shooting from three-point range. He also averaged 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. The shooting guard became one of the most exciting college basketball players in the NCAA using his incredible range and scoring ability.

The guard that controlled the offense while Murray got buckets this past season was Ulis. The 5-9 guard played his way into being a possible top 20 selection in the 2016 NBA Draft. He averaged 17.3 points and seven assists per game — showing a remarkable improvement in his sophomore season.

Combining these two with Hezonja would have made the Wildcats the most interesting combination of guard talent in college basketball. The biggest question is if Murray and Hezonja could co-exist on the wing. At best they could be a devastating force of three-point shooting and extreme bucket getting. They are both confident players that would no doubt have fun playing together and all I can envision is Hezonja talking trash while Murray pantomimes shooting his foes with a bow and arrow. He’d be like Legolas picking off guys on the bench while Hezonja stared into their souls. 

At its worst the pair would struggle to share the ball and Hezonja would end up unhappy. If Hezonja started playing poorly his body language would most likely go south, which would lead to more struggles and his stock slipping even more. Calipari could even go as far as benching him. That would lead to Murray having to take over his primary scoring role — something we’ve seen him do.

It would fall to Ulis to move the ball around between the pair. The Croatian’s presence would mean less shots for Ulis, but it would provide more assist opportunities. He would have been unable to show off his unique scoring ability that made so many fall in love with him. Instead, he would show off his ability to run an offense and distribute even more than he already has.

It made sense for Hezonja to spurn college in favor of the NBA. Most international prospects that are projected to go into the lottery do the exact same thing, many have proven themselves in their respective countries. There are so many variables in play that it’s probably for the best that he went into the 2015 NBA Draft. 

If he struggled at Kentucky he would be labeled as a project and experts would start dropping him down in the first round. Slipping spots in the first round or completely out of the draft is a huge reason many international players skip college. Some international players would improve their draft stock while others already have too much to lose by showcasing their game in the NCAA’s for a season.

This 2016 NBA Draft is weaker than this past year’s draft. If Hezonja exploded offensively while at Kentucky, he theoretically could have entered the discussion for being picked in the top 3, possibly even number 1.