School Clears Luka Bogavac, Ending UNC’s Long Wait for International Guard

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina’s waiting game for Luka Bogavac finally has reached the finish line. The international import has been cleared by the school, a move months in the making that lifts his playing status out of the state of limbo from which it had been stuck.

The news was confirmed with the Tar Heels about 30 minutes shy of their season-opening game on Monday night. At long last the 6-foot-6 guard Bogavac now is fully eligible to play, which puts new-look UNC’s overhauled roster at full strength. The Tar Heels take on Central Arkansas at the Smith Center, tipping off the new college basketball season. His mother, Bozana Zindovic-Bogavac, is expected to be on hand in attendance, according to a source. She’s visiting from their native Montenegro.

Luka Bogavac already had gained NCAA clearance to play during the 2025-26 campaign, certification from the governing body of college sports which coach Hubert Davis confirmed two weeks ago. But his playing status had continued to linger in limbo as UNC worked toward a resolution.

What remained were internal institutional checkpoints for UNC to complete related to Bogavac’s transcript, program sources have said, before he could be given the go-ahead to take the court as a member of the Tar Heels. While his admittance to UNC as a student occurred months prior, and he has been enrolled in classes since the fall semester began in mid-August, the school’s determining of his playing status ultimately made for another separate step in the eligibility process, program sources have said.

UNC had to rely on outside assistance in resolving the matter, Inside Carolina has learned. Schools, with the approval of the NCAA, use such agencies to obtain and help process international transcripts. That happened in Bogavac’s eligibility case, sources have confirmed. The NCAA determined and certified Bogavac to be a college junior based on his college and professional background in Europe, sources confirmed. UNC then had to determine that Bogavac had the necessary hours of applicable completed college credit, and thus match the appropriate equivalency courses.

Given the reliance on others to provide the transcripts, and a third party to process and certify them, this became a lengthy ordeal that proved much longer to complete than expected, per sources. UNC changed paths multiple times across the last five months to try to get it done.

The nature of the case was unprecedented for the school, in terms of obtaining and evaluating the high school and college courses of a 22-year-old foreign student and former four-year pro, who already is under a major financial contract with UNC. All of which while coordinating with outside agencies and agents to determine his playing eligibility. Sources have emphasized that the school admissions staff, athletic department and basketball office have been closely coordinated and focused on approval, but they couldn’t complete this process by themselves.

“Hopeful this week,” a program source told IC last week, when asked about the timeline parameters in play, with opening night against Central Arkansas and the start of the regular season looming closer and closer.

“We’re making progress,” a program source told IC on Oct. 24, when UNC was in Salt Lake City to play its exhibition opener against BYU.

Bogavac wasn’t in uniform that night and looked on from the Tar Heels’ bench during their 78-76 loss at the Delta Center. Five nights later, he sat out the Tar Heels’ 95-53 rout of Winston-Salem State at the Smith Center, UNC’s final exhibition tune-up of the preseason. And so the waiting game continued again and again.

Bogavac is the newest addition among the 10 newcomers on Carolina’s overhauled roster. He arrived on campus more than two months ago, after playing professionally for European club teams in Serbia and Montenegro. Bogavac spent the last two seasons in the Adriatic Basketball Association (ABA League) with the SC Derby club in his native Montenegro.

Bogavac turned 22 years old in September. After finishing high school, he took college courses for two years while overseas, a situation that became among the complicating factors in his playing eligibility status at UNC, sources have said.

Two weeks ago, Davis said Bogavac “possibly” could play in the exhibition game against BYU. A school official said then that the UNC athletic department and university were working to finalize the process, but there remained no timetable for completion.

“From an NCAA standpoint, yes,” Davis said then, when asked if Bogavac had gained clearance to play for the Tar Heels. “Institutionally-wise, we’re working on it, and we’re making progress.”

Bogavac committed to Carolina on May 31, cleared UNC admissions in early July, and was granted a student visa in August, after interviewing with U.S. embassy officials in Montenegro. He’s coming off the best pro season of his young career, during which he scored nearly 15 points per game. And he has picked up plenty of international experience while competing in a number of FIBA championships and qualifying tournaments for Montenegrin national teams.

He supplied 14.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game last season for SC Derby in the ABA, while shooting 45.1 percent from the field, including 39.9 percent from 3-point range. He sank 87 percent on free throws. He delivered 19 points or more in eight of his final 15 ABA games, including a season-high 27 points (fueled by five successful 3-pointers) and 24 points (on the strength of a season-best seven 3s). Last month, he scored 14 points in UNC’s Blue-White scrimmage game.

“He’s been great getting to know and also coaching him,” Davis said earlier in the preseason. “He’s been fantastic in the classroom and also on the court. As a player, he’s somebody who can do a number of different things on both ends of the floor. He’s got great size, can handle it, and make plays with the ball in his hand. Can shoot, score on many different levels, mid-range, get to the bucket, excellent passer, and somebody who had a burning desire to be here and to be a part of this program. And as soon as he walks into a room, it just brightens up. He just has that type of personality I’ve really enjoyed being around.”

Bogavac is the son of an accomplished basketball father, too, in addition to his own professional background. His dad, Nebojša Bogavac, played professionally in Europe for 13 seasons and has worked in coaching since 2012. He’s currently an assistant coach for the French club Metropolitans 92 in Paris.

Several of Luka Bogavac’s former teammates from the SC Derby club are embarking on their own NCAA basketball journeys this season, including David Mirkovic (at Illinois), Andrija Grbović (Arizona State) and Vladimir Sudar (Pepperdine). Illinois twin towers Tomislav Ivisic and Zvonimir Ivisic are recent alums of SC Derby and the ABA.

Last week, Illinois cleared Serbian guard Mihailo Petrovic to play this basketball season. Like UNC’s Bogavac, Petrovic, also is a 22-year-old product of the ABA League. He has been classified as a sophomore at Illinois with three seasons of college playing eligibility.