UAA’s Svejcar to play professional basketball overseas

Throughout his sports career, former UAA guard Spencer Svejcar has always had to tell people how to pronounce his last name.

That won't be the case with his new team.

Svejcar, who is of Czechoslovakian descent, signed a professional basketball contract with a team in the Czech Republic.

"I'm still an import (player), but my grandma was born and raised in Czechoslovakia just outside Prague," Svejcar said. "My last name is Czechoslovakian … They think I'd be a marketable player."

But Svejcar (pronounced Svay-car) is more than a name.

The 6-foot-3 shooting guard was lights out for the Seawolves during his senior season, shooting 46.4 percent from the field, 45.8 from 3-point land and 86.3 from the free-throw line.

He averaged 15.1 points per game — second best on the team, trailing only All-American Suki Wiggs — and pulled in second-team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors.

"The No. 1 thing is he's a dead-eye shooter," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said. "There was a time there in conference where he was putting up 50-40-90 — 50 percent from two, over 40-percent from 3 and over 90-percent from the free-throw line."

The nearly 5,000-mile trip from his home state of Colorado to Eastern Europe will be the latest in a series of big jumps for Svejcar.

A standout football player at Ralston Valley High in Arvada, Colorado, where he was the defensive player of the year, Svejcar pursued basketball in college. After two years at Laramie County Community College, he took a gamble on playing hoops in Alaska.

"I wouldn't be in the position I'm in now if I didn't take the chance and come up to Alaska," said Svejcar, who played two years at UAA. "It's far away, it's scary, but … the best decision I made up to this point was to go up there."

Svejcar said he's never been to Europe, but he has a cousin and an uncle in the Czech Republic.

More than 70 years ago, Svejcar's grandmother escaped the area as a teenager during Hitler's invasion of Poland during World War II, he said. What was supposed to be a two-year absence turned into a lifetime spent in the United States.

"I actually visited my grandma in Oregon last week to tell her (about the pro contract)," Svejcar said. "She's very old now at this point, she's mid 90s … I told her and she was really, really excited."

Svejcar said he received the offer from his new team — SLUNETA Usti nad Labem of the Czech NBL — before UAA finished its season in March and signed a contract later in the spring. He'll join the team in September.

Some of his former UAA teammates are still pursuing professional contracts.

Osborne said Wiggs, UAA's leading scorer each of the past two seasons after transferring from Division I Idaho, is training in Los Angeles in front of NBA teams and scouts with other pro prospects.

"(Suki) feels he had a good workout and hopefully it will generate some interest with some of the clubs and he can get into a camp some place or maybe go to a summer league team even if he doesn't make the NBA, which might be a long shot this year," Osborne said.

Point guard Diante Mitchell is also in search of a pro team. Like Svejcar, he's hoping his ancestry will give him a hand.

"Diante's grandmother is actually German, so they're working to see if they can use that to their advantage," Osborne said. "They're pretty confident that he's going to get a chance also."

Last year, there were 11 UAA men and two UAA women playing professional basketball.

"It's obviously a very small percentage of players who get to play college sports, yet alone play professionally," Svejcar said. "The competitor in me is excited to see if all the work I put in in college will pay off and see if I can make my dream a reality."

Seawolves in the pros in 2016

Men
Kenny Barker (2008-09), Cyprus
Peter Bullock (2000-04), Norway
Luke Cooper (2004-08), Australia
Derrick Fain (2014-15), North American Basketball League
Liam Gibcus (2009-13), Australia
Brian McGill (2013-16), Germany
Ivan Platenik (2006-07), Croatia
Taylor Rohde (2010-12), Romania
Travis Thompson (2010-15), Germany
Kevin White (2007-10), Australia
Steve White (2008-12), Australia

Women
Hanna Johansson (2008-12), Sweden
Megan Mullings (2014-16), Romania
Limor Pelleg (2005-08), Israel