New Lobo Tomislav Buljan is 22-year-old freshman who has been playing professionally in Croatia

Who needs the transfer portal?

While the recent trend in college basketball has been to try to get older and bigger through the transfer portal, the UNM Lobos on Friday got a commitment from Tomislav Buljan, a 6-foot-9 forward from Croatia who is 22 years old and has played several seasons of professional basketball in his home country.

“Honored to commit to New Mexico Lobos men’s basketball. Excited for a new chapter! #committed #lobos,” Buljan posted on his Instagram profile along with a photo of him wearing a Lobos jersey with an image of a sold out Pit crowd behind him and the word “Committed” written large across the middle.

Buljan, who will be a freshman, is the 13th player who has committed or already signed to play with the Lobos under first-year head coach Eric Olen in the coming 2025-26 season. He is expected to immediately be in the running to start at the four- or five-spot for the Lobos.

Recruited initially by Lobos assistant coach Tom Tankelewicz, who oversees international recruiting for Olen’s staff, Buljan’s most recent professional season in Croatia’s top league finished this past weekend.

There has been a trend picking up pace this college offseason of international players leaving their professional teams in Europe and coming to the United States to play in college because of new rules allowing player compensation.

Technically, the 22-year-old Buljan is part of a four-man freshman recruiting class for the Lobos, with all three others in the Class of 2025 being more traditional recruits from high schools in the United States.

The rest of the roster is comprised of transfers from other colleges.

Currently in his hometown of Split, Croatia, Buljan is expected to the join most of the new Lobos in a couple weeks in early June to begin summer workouts — and get to know one another as not a single coach or player for the coming season was at UNM this past season.

Most recently, Buljan averaged 13.0 points, a league-best 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game for Cedevita Junior in Zagreb, Croatia. Cedevita finished in third place this past season but lost in the first round of the playoffs.

In a game on May 3 against Vrijednosnice Osijek, Buljan had a triple-double with 18 points, 20 rebounds, 12 assists and seven steals. That stat line accounted for the league’s best rebounding performance of the season, tied for most steals in a game and was fourth best for assists.

He also posted six of the top eight offensive rebounding games this season, including 10 in a March 28 loss to Kvarner.

Buljan originally started to get on the radar of scouts with impressive play with the U20 Croatian National Team, where in seven games in the 2022-23 season of Euro U20 play he averaged 15.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals and shot 35.3% from 3-point range.

The methodical roster build of the past six weeks under Olen and his staff appears now to be mostly compete at 13 players committed or signed to scholarships.

While the still-unsettled House vs. the NCAA case has provisions that are expected to push the scholarship limit for men’s basketball for the coming 2024-25 season to 15, the Lobos are now in a comfortable position to wait out the next couple months with two scholarships to sit on in case a player unexpectedly becomes available in what has been a rather volatile and constantly-changing recruiting landscape this spring.

The Lobos roster as of now includes four players who are expected to be in the running to start or be in the regular rotation of 7-1 T.J. Rock (Iowa State transfer), 6-9 Buljan, 6-9 guard/forward Antonio Chol (the No. 5 ranked junior college transfer in the country) and 6-8 USC transfer Kevin Patton, Jr., who the team lists as a guard.

There are also two fifth-year, 6-foot-7 transfers joining the team, giving the Lobos experience and length in the frontcourt for a team not expected to run a system that emphasizes frontcourt play near the rim. Rather, much of the offense is initiated from the perimeter and often utilizes a five-out (five players outside the paint) style.2025-56 Lobos rosterAs of May 23, this is the expected roster for the 2025-26 UNM Lobos men’s basketball team:

• Deyton Albury, 6-2, guard, transfer from Utah State (two years of eligibility)

• Tomislav Buljan, 6-9 forward, incoming freshman from Split, Croatia (four years of eligibility)

• Antonio Chol, 6-9 guard/forward, junior college transfer from Garden City Community College in Kansas (two years of eligibility)

• Jake Hall, 6-4 guard, incoming freshman from Carlsbad (California) High School (four years of eligibility)

• Luke Haupt, 6-6 guard, transfer from Division II Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego (one year of eligibility)

• Chris Howell, 6-6 guard, transfer from UC San Diego (one year of eligibility)

• Sir Marius Jones, 6-4, guard, incoming freshman from Sacramento (California) High School (four years of eligibility)

• Tajavis Miller, 6-4 guard, transfer from North Dakota State (one year of eligibility)

• Kallai Patton, 6-4 guard, transfer from USC (four years of eligibility)

• Kevin Patton, 6-8 guard, transfer from USC (two years of eligibility)

• J.T. Rock, 7-1 center, transfer from Iowa State (three years of eligibility)

• Uriah Tenette, 5-10, incoming freshman from Prescott (Arizona) High School (four years of eligibility)

• Milos Vicentic, 6-7 forward, graduate transfer from UC San Diego (one year of eligibility)