Contra Costa Times interviews Hana Cutura

[BearClause]

Cal volleyball is perfect fit for another Croatian
www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/sports/15739123.htm

Here's a short excerpt:

Jerkov is partly responsible for Cutura getting to Cal. Cutura's older brother, Tom, came to the U.S. to play basketball for Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., and Hana was interested in doing the same thing to play volleyball. Cutura's parents know Jerkov's parents and were familiar with Jerkov's experience at Cal. Cutura's mother, Gordana, sent Feller an e-mail to initiate contact. Cutura then contacted Jerkov to find out more about Cal.

"She told me how great Berkeley was," Cutura said. "She loved it here. She helped me to understand what it was like here."

Eventually, the word about Cutura spread to some of the other top programs in college volleyball. Cutura, a member of the Croatian Junior National Team, was recruited by such schools as No. 1 Nebraska. But she said she was either going to Cal or staying home.

"They called me from different colleges," Cutura said. "I didn't like those colleges because they were not in a good spot or they didn't have really good volleyball. Berkeley has great volleyball and great education. I was either going to come to Berkeley or stay in Croatia."

Addendum: I decided to spice up the title a bit. I've been a bad, bad boy.

Addendum 2: Title back to original. That's enough bad behavior for a day. Time to retire "Nebraska? I don't think so!"

[brybry]

It's either Berkeley or facing bombs at home, but hells no I ain't going to Nebraska. *shudder*

[BearClause]

brybry said:

It's either Berkeley or facing bombs at home, but hells no I ain't going to Nebraska. *shudder*

;D ;D ;D ;D

To be fair, bombs going off in the former Yugoslavia are (fortunately) a thing of the past.

[Deleted]

I see you changed to a more inflammatory headline! ;D

[JT]

The same could be said of Berkeley.

[Keystonekid]

Cutura's decision to not attend Nebraska may have been made easier by the fact that the Nebraska compliance dept. ruled her to have been a professional player.

[BearClause]

keystonekid said:

Cutura's decision to not attend Nebraska may have been made easier by the fact that the Nebraska compliance dept. ruled her to have been a professional player.

Sour grapes in my opinion. I don't think she even played for that club team at issue until the Fall where she signed her NLI.

[IdahoBoy]

keystonekid said:

Cutura's decision to not attend Nebraska may have been made easier by the fact that the Nebraska compliance dept. ruled her to have been a professional player.

Funny that Nebraska's academic standards will allow pretty much anyone to come in.

[roofed!]

bearclause said:

keystonekid said:

Cutura's decision to not attend Nebraska may have been made easier by the fact that the Nebraska compliance dept. ruled her to have been a professional player.

Sour grapes in my opinion. I don't think she even played for that club team at issue until the Fall where she signed her NLI.

Hmmm...doesn't Nebraska has a semi-pro (if I can call her that) player? A player who was sent to train with a pro club in Japan.

[BearClause]

roofed said:

Hmmm...doesn't Nebraska has a semi-pro (if I can call her that) player? A player who was sent to train with a pro club in Japan.

Filing taxes with the IRS is easier than figuring out NCAA "amateur eligibility" rules.

[huskervbfan]

idahoboy said:

Funny that Nebraska's academic standards will allow pretty much anyone to come in.

Top 10 list of Academic All-Americans:

1 Nebraska 27
2 Washington 12
3 Penn State 11
4 Pacific 10
5 Northern Iowa 9
6 Stanford 9
7 Texas A&M 9
8 Arizona State 9
9 Georgia 9
10 Ball State 8


Tied for 62-92 Hawaii with 2

[bigfan]

keystonekid said:

Cutura's decision to not attend Nebraska may have been made easier by the fact that the Nebraska compliance dept. ruled her to have been a professional player.

USC would have been a nice fit.

[BearClause]

bigfan said:

keystonekid said:

Cutura's decision to not attend Nebraska may have been made easier by the fact that the Nebraska compliance dept. ruled her to have been a professional player.

USC would have been a nice fit.

A lot of places would have been a good fit for Hana. However - it's clear that Cal was the front-runner for her commitment from the beginning. The "UC Berkeley" name is well-recognized in Europe, and I can't help but think that was a key in her decision making process. We've had a history of Croatian student-athletes who have done very well and adjusted well at Cal, including Mia as well as 2004 Olympic swimming silver medalist Duje Draganja. I will say that Draganja did fess up to breaking a rule at the 2004 Olympics, where he illegally wore his "lucky" Cal swim cap rather than the required national team cap. Nobody though it was enough to disqualify him. ;D

I'd say I'm disappointed that there are so many people who seem to be willing to spread a campaign of disinformation. I'll just add that I didn't imply anything from the interview with Dave Rubio about Hana other than she had extensive high-level playing experience before coming to Cal. It sounded like he was merely complaining about her head start against high-level competition. Still - his team has yet to face Hana.

[Keystonekid]

Again, not saying she is a pro, because I don't know that for cetain. As for sour grapes, the one fact I do know is that Nebraska did indeed deem her to be a pro by virtue of having played with players who were paid. That is a fact. The fact they believe she was, still doesn't mean she was, but she was not offered by Nebraska, therefore didn't choose Cal over UN.

[Keystonekid]

In the end it was a desire to smell like Patchouli that led her to Cal.