Bruno Skokna

Basketball player Bruno Skokna has an interesting journey which took him from playing as a teenager in Croatia to a top collegiate program in the United States. During his time at Loyola University Chicago his team had a historic run at the biggest basketball tournament in U.S. college basketball. He talks to us about where he came from, who he has met along the way, and where he is today.

Please tell us which part of Croatia you hail from and which sport you play.

I am from Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Growing up, I wanted to play soccer, probably like every other kid in Croatia. I was pretty good so I went to a practice with Soccer Club Zagreb which was the best academy in Croatia at the time. The coach showed us the fields and the one where everyone practiced was all muddy and not in great condition. Realizing that even if it's raining, snowing, or cold we would still have to practice in these conditions I thought it would be best to find something better. At the same time I was looking for a soccer club one of the coaches at my school was running basketball practices and I decided to attend because I wanted to stay in shape and I just really wanted to play sports. During the first few practices only two of us showed up, but eventually more and more kids came so I stayed with it because I realized that I was playing well and enjoying it.

How did you begin your college recruitment process and why was college in the U.S. the best option for you? Which U.S. colleges/universities did you attend and when did you play?

When I was 16 years old and playing for Cibona at the U16 national championship game my parents had drinks with a friend of a friend and it turned out he was a professor at Loyola University Chicago. Professor Jukić taught information systems at Loyola. He told me that he thought I was playing great and asked if I had ever thought about coming to the U.S. to study and play college basketball while going to school there. When my parents and I learned that it might be an option for me to continue playing while also going to school it was like a dream come true. It was really a no brainer because once you reach the age of 18 in Croatia you have to decide between playing your sport professionally or continuing your education, but you can't do both. So I decided to stay in touch with Professor Jukić and sent him some highlight videos which he forwarded to the coaches at Loyola. The coaches were very interested to have me play and gave me an offer to come study and play once I graduated. As I completed high school we stayed in touch and when I was 18 years old, playing for the national team in the U18 European championships, where I was the second leading scorer, I received many other offers from schools like Gonzaga University, University of Arizona, Davidson College, University of Dayton, etc. I wasn’t completely sure where to go but Loyola seemed like the perfect fit because it was in a large city - Chicago, I knew Professor Jukić who was teaching at the school, and at the time it wasn't a top basketball school so I thought I would get a lot of playing time. Additionally, it is also a great academic school. Eventually I decided on Loyola even though I had never been to the campus before arriving for my first day of classes. I just did some research online and collected feedback from people familiar with the school.

I went to Loyola University Chicago from 2016 to 2020 and played there all four years. I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in business and an M.B.A. with a concentration in finance.

You also played on the Croatian national team, what was your experience like ?

I played for the youth national team and the B selection for the senior national team. One summer while I was in Chicago playing with Loyola I got invited to play with the Croatian national team, so after summer workouts I went straight to China for a tournament with the national team. That summer I travelled a lot for basketball between Chicago, Croatia, and China. If it hadn’t been for basketball I definitely wouldn't have seen so many places or met so many people at such a young age and I think this was very helpful to my development.

What was it like going from Croatia to the U.S. and how was the transition to a new country and culture?

At first I was super excited because everything was movie-like and the first three months were the best months of my life. When something negative happens such as not playing basketball as much, or the coach is pressing you hard everyday, and all the responsibilities with studying; that is the moment where you realize “I miss my parents, I want to go home.” But you're only three months in, you have seven more to go until May of the next year when you can go home. So the next seven months were super hard for me, everyday I missed home and at the same time was very busy with basketball and school. I also needed to learn and adjust to American culture. I realized that people are very open at first, but they're not going to always be there for you when you really need something. That is how I personally felt. My second year started out hard again, but then I met a lot of Croatian people because there is a huge Croatian-American community in Chicago, which made my stay in the U.S. very nice. I can tell you that those few years in Chicago were some of the best of my life so far. I now feel like Chicago is my second home. I started learning English in school at the age of 6, but that was on and off where we would have class one day then not speak it for two days. When I first got to Loyola I was getting super tired after only a few hours of speaking English because of the need to constantly translate in my head. It took me a couple of months to really get in the flow and after a year or so it became great where I didn't have to think about translating sentences or every other word when speaking. Getting out of that comfort zone and being surrounded by Americans who only speak English was very helpful.

Did your Loyola University Chicago provide you with sufficient resources to help you get accustomed to your new surroundings and school system?

At the beginning, yes, everyone was very open and offered to help with anything I might have needed, they were super welcoming. But then once the season started everyone got busy with their own responsibilities and lives. I don't think they felt the sense of “I need to understand him better or help him.” I come from a different culture where I like to build relationships and connect with people on a deeper level which was not necessarily the case for them. I don't fault them for it, but that is what it felt like for me. I did have great mentors though. Professor Jukić was like a second father to me and I had him by my side all the time. Another one of my mentor’s was Mr. Parkinson, a member of the board of trustees at Loyola, and one of the most successful people to come out of the school. He came to speak to my team at the beginning of my freshman year and gave us his email and told us to reach out to him if we ever needed anything. He said he would be there to help. I did reach out and we ended up creating a great relationship. It was unbelievable to me that I could send a text or email to such a successful man and he would respond within minutes. I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity.

How did your family help you during the time you spent in college?

Unfortunately my parents never made it out to Chicago in person but they were a support to me from afar. Senior Day is a big day for the graduating players in college but we decided that it was best for my family not to come to Senior Day because it took place only two months before graduation. It wouldn’t be possible for them to make the trip twice over such a short period of time. At the end of my senior year it was all planned out for my family to come because I was selected for a commencement speech at graduation. My parents and brother were supposed to make the trip to attend graduation, but unfortunately it never happened because of COVID-19. During the season they did get to watch games online but because of the time difference it would be 2-3am in Croatia and my dad would stay up to watch until 4-5am then have to go to work, so it was tough. Also I wasn't getting a lot of minutes so I can't imagine staying up so late to only watch me play a few minutes.

Going back to basketball, what was the level of college basketball in the U.S. when compared to the level of play in Croatia?

I was lucky that I had played professional basketball at the age of 17 in Croatia so I already knew what great competition looked like. I think competition-wise basketball in the NCAA is at a lower level than professional basketball in Europe, but it is still a high level of basketball with a bunch of young players that are some of the best in the world. In the NCAA every game is played like it's the last and every game counts which is the biggest thing in college basketball. In professional sports you know it's a long season and you pace yourself a little bit, but in college you have 30 games and every game matters. Everyone gave 110% because of this and that is why I think we had such success at Loyola, because our coach drilled that mentality into us every practice and every game.

You have a very unique March Madness story, making it to the final four as the underdogs, what was that like?

As I was coming to America for the first time I couldn't have ever imagined that this was what I was going to experience with college basketball. I remember when I first talked with my coach I did tell him that when I get to Loyola I want to go to March Madness and I promised him I would work for that. Then when we actually made it to the tournament we joked about it saying that I called it. The way it happened, no one could have imagined. The first two games ended in game-winning buzzer-beaters, the third game was also very close, and in the Final Four we fell just short of making it to the championship game. The mindset has also changed at Loyola basketball since 2018. When I first arrived they hadn't won the conference in thirty years and now they are expected to win it; there is a set culture of winning. 2018 was a very good sports year for me as I helped Loyola make a historic run in the national tournament. It was certainly a great year for Croatian sport as well! The Vatreni made the whole nation proud and as I watched one of the World Cup games in Chicago a journalist was coincidentally at the same place and he ended up writing a story about me.

What did the reaction from the public feel like for you after your March Madness run with Loyola?

At the time, I didn't have social media which I think was a good thing for me because it can be so distracting in a tournament like that, but the team knew what was going on. We came back to Chicago from Texas after making it to the Final Four and our bus received a police escort with ten cars around us. When we arrived at the school the entire gymnasium was filled with people and cameras waiting to congratulate us. It was nuts. Throughout the tournament everyone was tweeting and posting about us and after the winning shot of the first game the artist Drake actually DM'd one of my teammates. After the tournament ended we were invited to many sporting events by all the professional teams in Chicago including the Bulls, Cubs, Blackhawks, and more. Once we were in a box suite at a Chicago Bulls game when Toni Kukoč walked in! I couldn't believe it. I have a million stories about this time in my life and a lot of great memories. In contrast, in Croatia the March Madness tournament is actually not a big deal at all. People don't understand the importance of it for sports fans in the States. So only my parents and my friends in Croatia really cared or even noticed. On the Croatian news they covered the story by adding a small print ticker on the bottom of the screen that said “Bruno Skokna at the Final Four.”

Did your college experience academically help you get to where you are today?

Yes, I think the academics at Loyola are great. When I compare academics in the U.S. to Croatia, the Croatian education system is more difficult and I found college to be easier than some of my high school classes in Croatia. It’s not that it was worse in the U.S. though, it was just more practical and gave me more time to educate myself on many different things. For example, in finance we didn't talk about definitions, instead we focused on understanding the system and the business side of it. The professors were also super helpful. In my experience in Croatia you can't really talk to your professors or teachers whenever you like, but in the U.S. you could stay after class and ask the professor your questions or reach out to them via email or phone call whenever you like. They are always easily accessible to their students.

Do you continue to have contact with your former college, teammates, friends, coaches, etc. and have good relationships with them? Has this network helped you frame your plans for your future?

I definitely still talk to my teammates. For this year's March Madness tournament I sent them messages to encourage them and show my support. I still talk to some of the coaches as well and of course to Professor Jukić. My years were amazing in Chicago and the people that I met and the relationships I built were great. Hopefully I can go back to Chicago soon to visit. Since I graduated and returned to Croatia I haven't had the chance to get back yet.

How did you make the decision of whether or not you would play professionally after college?

It was a very hard decision to make because since I first started playing basketball I always planned on playing professionally. During my time at Loyola my team had great success, but personally I did not play as much as I think I should have. And with every sport you need to have stats and a good agent if you want to continue your career and go professional. After a lot of thought I came to the conclusion that it would be better for me to start my business career. I thought that if I tried to establish myself in basketball I would probably end my sports career in my thirties and during that time I would have lost the experience necessary to establish a solid business career. I feel that this was the best long-term decision for me. I currently work for a management consulting firm in Zagreb and am happy with where I am in my life.

Do you have any tips for young athletes from Croatia looking to go to college in the U.S. to continue in their sport?

Firstly, I would say that U.S. college basketball is not for everyone. No one should make the decision to go just for the sake of going. It’s not wise to join just any team, at any school, or in any city. Everyone should do the research and find the best place for themselves. Consider whether you want to be in a city or do you not care if you're in the middle of nowhere? Do you want to be at a great academic school or does that not matter as much to you? There are many things you have to think about and decisions you have to make. If you don't feel any of the schools available to you are the right fit then I don't think it is the best idea to go. Being prepared as much as possible in advance is necessary to make the experience a good one.

What is your favorite sport to watch and who is your favorite athlete?

My favorite sport to watch is basketball and I love watching the big games like NBA playoffs and finals as well as March Madness, of course. My favorite NBA team is the Los Angeles Lakers because of Kobe Bryant, I grew up watching him and he was my favorite player. I like to take a little bit from a lot of athletes. I love Conor McGregor's mentality from a few years ago when he was a champion, Kobe Bryant’s mentality, LeBron with the discipline of his body, Michael Jordan with the greatest killer mindset ever, and Diego Maradona’s love of the game. So I admire different things from different athletes and learn from them.

Thank you Bruno, for speaking with us and sharing your experience. We are sure your story will encourage other young Croatian athletes to not only play at the collegiate level, but also receive a great education they can put to good use for the rest of their lives. We wish you well in your future endeavors.