The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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38 ■ THE WOLFPACKER one of his American host families from his high school days. The Last Recruit Evtimov's path to NC State was quite remarkable. Having grown up with dual citizenship in Bulgaria and France, the young player traveled to follow his father and his brother. That left him as a bit of an unknown, especially after he played each of his three prep seasons at different high schools, the first a Catholic school in New York, the second a public school in Kern- ersville and the third a private school in Winston-Salem. When he signed a late scholarship with NC State 20 years ago, the sixth signature in the largest class brought in by Sendek, few people were impressed. One publica- tion rated Evtimov, whose other interested schools were Furman and Davidson, as the ACC's worst incoming prospect. The stoic Evtimov wasn't amused. At his daily workout at the YMCA, Evtimov told one of his training partners that he would be in the Wolfpack's starting lineup before the season was over. He continued his daily regimen of 500 jump shots, weightlifting and pickup games to make himself better. As a rookie, Evtimov started 11 games for Sendek's team and would have been selected to the ACC's All-Freshman team if voting sportswriters knew how to spell. In the days before internet voting, Evtimov was listed on multiple handwritten ballots, but there were so many different variations of his name that he missed out on making the league's official all-rookie unit. Just before the start of his sophomore season, Evtimov blew out his knee during an exhibition game. While it was a pain- ful physical injury, it was an even bigger psychological wound. Evtimov had to find something to fill the basketball void during his rehabilitation period. So he worked in the NC State athletics marketing office. In addition, he studied Sendek's playbook, not only learning the duties of his power forward position, but also learning the duties of every position on the court in order to hone his anticipation skills. Sendek said that in Evtimov's first full practice after sitting out a season, it only took 7.8 seconds before he threw his first backdoor pass to Hodge for an easy layup. For the next three seasons, including his senior campaign as the team's fourth-lead- ing scorer and third-leading rebounder, Ev- timov was a key component in the success of Sendek's program, becoming the only player in Wolfpack basketball history to par- ticipate for five NCAA tournament teams. In 131 career games, the 6-7 Evtimov scored 1,214 points (40th in program his- tory), and is still eighth in games (131) and minutes (3,626) played in NC State men's basketball history. He made 199 three-point baskets, which is sixth in program history, even while mostly playing at the 4 and 5 positions in Sendek's motion-heavy offense. His move from the 5 to the 4 as a senior cut down on his scoring opportunities, but he will always be remembered for his distinc- tive style. And while he's put away his "old man game," Evtimov is still young enough for a new start in a familiar area, something he has done many times before. ■ After graduating from NC State, Evtimov played professionally in Spain, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, France and the island of Cyprus until he was 36 years old. He recently visited to watch the Wolfpack play in Raleigh, where he's contemplating settling down with his family. PHOTO BY TIM PEELER Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.