Utah basketball has added Serbian Luka Tarlac to their 2022 recruiting class

[administrator]

On Friday, Craig Smith and his Runnin' Utes program added two commits to their class. While the second one was celebrated locally as the Utes added for BYU big man Gavin Baxter as a walk-on, the first commit was actually being a European player, Serbian forward Luka Tarlac, who committed to Utah as part of its 2022 recruiting class, according to reports from both Eurohopes and Balkan Prospects. Tarlac was a teammate of current Utah hooper, Lazar Stefanovic. 

Tarlac is a 6-foot-8 wing/forward that played this past season for Dunav SB in Serbian KLS — the Basketball League of Serbia — and averaged 8.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 54% from the field and 34% from 3-point range. Prior to his time with Dunay SB, Tarlac played with Partizan NIS U19 in 2019-20, where he averaged 12.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in five games. 

According to Eurospects.com, here is a brief scouting report from a 2020 tournament on Tarlac: 

Glue guy of the team, doing the work on the defensive end. Luka has elite defensive instincts, especially good rotations and help from the weak side, resulting in some great blocks. Great hips and can drop low, has good reactions and great lateral movement. Versatile defender, capable of guarding most players on perimeter. Maybe he was too impatient in some on-ball defense situations and going directly for a steal and not waiting and defending the opponent cleanly. This resulted in him losing the balance and the offensive player getting past him but otherwise very good on ball defense. Has good footwork and can go around the screens fluidly. Had a minor offensive role in this tournament, made some good drives but hasn’t shot many shots from distance so hard to evaluate his offense. In past tournaments he was a pretty poor shooter and probably still needs to put more work on his shot and become a better, more consistent shooter and offensive player overall.

For Utah and their efforts to rebuild the roster, adding athleticism and size was important. At 6-foot-8, Tarlac has tremendous size for a versatile wing player. As a defensive player, he'll be able to defend multiple positions and add to the matchup capabilities of Utah's defensive effort. 

Tarlac joins the Utes other four in the class in big men Keba Keita and Gavin Baxter, as well as wings/guards Wilguens Exacte and Mike Saunders. These five players are set to join the program in the coming weeks. With Tarlac's commitment, Utah still has two scholarship spots remaining in their final recruiting efforts.

https://247sports.com/Article/Utah-basketball-has-added-Serbian-Luka-Tarlac-to-their-2022-recruiting-class-186951214/