Mason’s Last Scholarship is Filled by Slovenian Stas Sivka

By
Palmer Johnson
-
174
4979

Tony Skinn and your George Mason Patriots have filled the last scholarship spot with the addition of Slovenian big Stas Sivka.

It was widely believed that Mason’s 13th scholarship spot was going to be a big man, as the last two public interests we had seen were visiting Utah Tech forward Larry Olayinka, and bringing in College of Southern Idaho center Shahid Muhammad for a visit. Ultimately, it seems like Mason went the “high school” route, while not getting a high schooler.

Sivka will be an older prospect, with him turning 21 in late June, but he will have the same four years of eligibility as everyone else. I really like the idea of a 24-year-old big man someday. I would like to note that for his birthday, most sites have it as June 26th or 27th, but RealGM has it listed as September 16th. Either way, he is 21 during his freshman year.

Per FIBA, Stas is listed at 6’11. Some other sites have him listed between 6’7 and 6’9, but I imagine they measured him when the Slovenian was younger, considering he has played high level pro basketball since he was 15. Even if Sivka is 6’8, that is passable at the 4 and 5 in the A10.

The Slovenia native has played in the top Slovenian league since 2018, with his latest one being his sixth season, all for KK Rogaska.

The elephant in the room when talking about any freshman is that the transfer portal exists, and there is a chance that you will not see this player for four seasons. I don’t know the details of his contract, but Sivka has been with the same team for six seasons. That sounds like someone who could find a situation they like and stay for a while.

Stas Sivka By The Numbers

During his age 19 2022-23 season, in 31 games, Sivka averaged 6.61 points, 3.9 rebounds, .84 assists, .88 steals, .71 blocks, .71 turnovers, and 1.35 fouls in 23.5 minutes per game on 38.6% from the field, 22.2% from three, and 79.6% from the line. His fouls per 40 come out to 2.3, which is very low for a big man. He also has a positive assist to turnover ratio, which is pretty good for a big. That’s a guy who’s the age of a college freshman going against grown men. The 22.2% from three was on 90 attempts, so he was getting shots up.

Around this time, he played for the Slovenian U20 team. In six games he averaged 2.3 points, 1 rebound, .7 assists, .5 turnovers, and .5 fouls on 41.7% from the field and 50% from three (4/8) in 10 minutes per game. Once again, the low fouls and positive assist to turnover ratio shines.

During Sivka’s age 20 2023-24 season, in 5 games, he averaged 3.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1 assist, .2 steals, .4 blocks, .2 turnovers, and 1 foul on 29.4% from the field, 30% from three, and 100% (3/3) from the line in 14.5 minutes per game. You hate to see the efficiency from the field go down, but I see that assist to turnover ratio going to 5 to 1. I know it’s a small sample size, but there might be something there. The fouling is up a bit, up to 2.76 per 40, though not nearly enough that it should be concerning. I believe Stas was injured this season, as his picture on the team’s website has him in a sling, which would explain the dip in both minutes and stats.

The Slovenian big has shot a bit above 80% from the line, 42 for 52, over the last two seasons. That free throw percentage has me holding out hope for his three-point development, as generally guys who shoot well from the line will eventually come around with their shooting.

See his highlights for yourself.

Stas Sivka Scouting Report (Liga Nova KBM/Slovenian Basketball League)

Since Sivka only played a total of 72.6 minutes over five games this season, I think it is reasonable enough to watch every minute. I was only able to find VODs of four of his five games. If you’re a true sicko and click the links to watch yourself, he is #9.

I watched Sivka and Rogaška vs. Hopsi Polzela (1/27/2024), Rogaška vs. Triglav Kranj (2/3/2024), Rogaška vs. GGD Šenčur (3/2/2024), and Rogaška vs. Šentjur (3/9/2024). I normally split my scouting sections into individual games if I watch multiple, but having 5 sections is too much.

Regarding his athleticism, Sivka moves very well for a 6’11 guy. He moves well in transition on both ends, letting him chase bigs down on defense, and break away from them on offense. Stas is definitely more of a horizontal athlete than a vertical one. Stas feels like a wing who just kind of kept growing.

The big man’s conditioning seems to be pretty good, as I saw him play an entire fourth quarter of a close game. That is a problem with some bigs, but it seems like it won’t be with Sivka.

On offense, I could see Stas becoming an awesome pick-and-popper down the road. While it didn’t go in as often as you’d like, his jumpshot looks nice, and is fast enough that if he is open when he starts, it will likely be out of his hands before the contest gets there. I definitely see the potential there. Along with the nice jump shot, Stas looks good shooting free throws.

Sivka is very willing to attack closeouts, but definitely needs work finishing around the rim. This could get more effective as his shooting improves.

If you put a smaller defender on the Slovenian, he’s willing to post up and force you to send help.

Sivka puts himself in position to get putbacks and has the athleticism and coordination to be able to put it back up while still in the air.

The big man scored on a play where his teammate got the rebound, and Sivka took off and rim-ran with the other team’s center lagging behind, getting him an and-one from a foul by a guard.

I really liked Stas’ passing, as he was always able to get it to the open man. I’m not saying I could see him playing a point forward role, but if the big man sees an open guy, he can probably get it to him.

More on his playmaking, Sivka is able to bring the ball up the court. You wouldn’t want him manning the press, but if he gets a rebound and starts going, he isn’t going to lose it without someone making a real play on the ball. Stas is also able to handle that ball as part of plays near the perimeter, whether he’s handing it off or making a set pass.

I’ve mentioned his horizontal movement in transition, but it works in the half-court as well. The big man got himself open on an inbound play by making a sudden movement toward the rim. I like that. It didn’t have to be on an inbound play though, as he has the instincts to cut when his man is looking elsewhere.

On defense, Sivka is very versatile. He is especially good on the perimeter, as both a team and one-on-one defender. Stas is able to switch on ball-screens, even onto guards, and make sure they don’t get anything easy. If he gets lateral with the ball-handler, Sivka is pretty good at getting between him and the rim. I liked the recovery speed.

When Stas is covering a ball-screen, he’s able to balance dropping back while not completely abandoning the ball-handler.

Sivka is able to navigate around off-ball screens and will cut off, or cheat, the screen if the big man thinks he can cut off the passing lane.

One time I saw him fly out from under the rim to block a corner three. Sivka was directly under the basket when the guy made the pass, but he got there fast. About that aggression, he overextended a lot when the ball was passed to his zone on the perimeter, but they were in such a help-heavy defense that it was possibly by design since he’ll have multiple guys ready to help behind him. It’s like a center fielder diving for a ball he probably shouldn’t when he knows he has a guy behind him.

The Slovenian will still have his mental lapses here and there, as I saw him not notice his man drift from under the basket to the corner, leaving him wide open for a three.

Stas is definitely a better one-on-one defender than help defender, but it seems like he wasn’t given much responsibility as a helper. I saw him play it well once or twice in four games. You’d like to see it more, but at least we know he can do it.

I enjoyed seeing Sivka back off of a guy when he was in position to take a long two.

Something that got me really excited was seeing the Slovenian’s post defense, as this was something Mason kind of lacked last season. To start, he’s really good at denying the ball in the post. Sivka isn’t long enough to completely deny it, but he will at least make it so that the entry pass has to be very, very on target.

Once the offensive guy has the ball in the post, he’s going to have a tough time scoring. I saw Sivka force some tough shots in the post. Seeing him get a true post rep was rare since he did such a great job at denying the entry. If his opponent faces up, there is little to no chance that he is getting a good shot opportunity, as his lateral quickness is very, very good.

I mentioned Sivka moves very fast in transition on defense. The big man does it so well that he can scare guards away from the rim and turn the fast break into a half-court possession.

Stas makes sure that the possession is over before he stops playing, as the Slovenian boxes out well, and doesn’t stop until somebody has the rebound. Not only does he try, but he’s smart. Sivka is able to get around box-outs when he sees the way the ball will end up bouncing off the rim.

Sivka played in a pretty complex European style team defense, and would likely be able to understand the concepts of Skinn’s defense pretty well.

Overall, his defense is ahead of his offense. I think the defense is probably playable already, but the offense might not be there yet.

Areas of Improvement

It seems like Sivka has somewhat hard hands, as he dropped a pass on one end of the court, although the pass seemed to come unexpectedly, and then couldn’t control a rebound on the other end that hit both of his hands and eventually went to an opponent.

The overall vibe I was getting from Stas was that he was looking to pass much more than shoot when the big man got inside, as I saw a couple times where he was in great position to score and then passed it out to a guy who wasn’t really open.

Going along with the unselfish vibe, the big man didn’t look to post up guys very often, and if he did, it was likely because of a mismatch.

A big thing I saw on the defensive end was that Sivka was a bit inactive as a help defender, and I would like to have seen him have more of an impact there. Him being a less than stellar help defender is odd because he is a very good team defender on the perimeter. This does somewhat explain his low foul numbers.

Lastly, Stas didn’t set the best of screens.

Swing Skills

Sivka’s three swing skills are shooting, help defense, and a post game. If he develops one of these three, he will be a good role player. With two, he would be a good starter. And with all three, he could be a star.

Of the three, a post game is probably the least impactful since, in modern basketball, you cannot play the four without being a threat from three anymore. You also cannot play the five without being a good help defender, so a post game is pretty much the cherry on top of any other skills he develops.

Where Does He Fit In?

I think that it is very important to bring in a project big like this with a big man coach like Steve Curran. For the past couple of years, I have found it a bit concerning that all the bigs were older guys, but now some youth has been injected into that position group. Well, maybe not exactly youth, more in terms of years of eligibility. Curran can mold Sivka into whatever he thinks the Slovenian can be.

Stas probably fits better as a four earlier in his career, since I do not believe he has the help defense to be able to play the five, but the Slovenian can defend in the post and on the perimeter. This could definitely change if he improves on it, and would make him an incredibly versatile defensive piece.

Once again, Sivka is more of a project. I don’t think the foreign big really has a role as a freshman, but that is more about Mason being a team in the contending stage and already having veterans in Stas’ role. At the four and five, you have Jalen Haynes, Giovanni Emejuru, Zach Anderson, and Woody Newton. That is a tough group of four to take minutes from.

I don’t think Mason’s newest addition officially redshirts, but I could see a scenario where he only plays as an emergency center if Haynes and Emejuru have both fouled out. Regarding his possible redshirt, the rules change so often that I cannot find a concrete answer, but I believe that you can play up to 30% of games and still have it counted as a redshirt after the season. If I’m wrong, it is probably because the rule might only apply if it is a medical redshirt.

If I don’t sound too excited for Mason’s newest member, you’d be wrong. I am both excited and intrigued by what he could be as a Patriot down the road. A raw but talented 6’11 big man who moves very well and is extremely switchable sounds like someone who could be awesome.

Welcome your newest member, Stas Sivka, to Mason Nation.

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