Serbia native never planned to come to America. Now he’s Boise State’s starting big man
There are certain basketball skills that cannot be taught, and Charles Baker recognized Mladen Armus’ talent immediately.
Armus was practicing with the Serbian national team when Baker dropped in to watch a practice while on a recruiting trip to Belgrade, Serbia, in 2015 for Southwest Christian Academy, a private K-12 school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“What stuck out about him almost instantly, not only does he rebound in his area, he rebounds in everybody’s area,” said Baker, who is now an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
“You can’t teach some of the things he does. He goes after balls that he’s not supposed to get, and he’s real aggressive around the basket.”
The same rebounding skill that caught Baker’s eye helped bring the Serbia native to Boise, where the 6-foot-10, 232-pound forward has started the first two games of the 2020-21 season for the Boise State men’s basketball team after sitting out last season as a transfer from East Tennessee State.
Armus will make his ExtraMile Arena debut at 5 p.m. Friday against College of Idaho. Armus is averaging 8.5 points and a team-best 9 rebounds per game for a Boise State squad that must replace 70% of its rebounding production from a season ago.
“That’s one of the exciting things about Mladen is he’s done it. He’s been a good rebounder in college already,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “He’s got that ability, and that needs to be something that he keeps getting better at and become one of the best rebounders in the league. That would really help this team.
“… He’s a big body. He’s durable. He’s physical, and he does his job every day. That’s what a great rebounder has to do, and he checks all those boxes.”
Surprisingly, Armus never planned on coming to the United States.
From Serbia to the U.S.
After seeing Armus in person, Baker knew he had to have him on his team, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“It all happened quick. I didn’t want to come to America at all. I didn’t have a plan to come here and play here,” Armus said. “… I was busy with school and practices, and they were calling me constantly to come and talk with them. After the fourth or fifth call, I was like, ‘OK.’ I had to talk to my dad and decide what to do. I called my dad, and he said we didn’t have anything to lose if we go there and talk to them.
“So in 5 minutes I got ready, went to my dad’s job, we went there to meet them. Coach Charles Baker presented to me his whole plan and strategy of the next season, the environment there, how I would live and how they would take care of me and stuff like that.”
Armus said he took a week to weigh his options, including a professional contract with KK Paritzan, which is part of the Adriatic Basketball Association. The opportunity for a better education sealed the deal.
“Education and basketball, back home, those two things can’t really go together at a high level,” Armus said. “My mom, she’s always for education, and my dad is more for sports. But I can combine those two things here, and it became like the perfect match.”
Immediate success
Between layovers and flight time, it took more than 20 hours for Armus to get from Belgrade, Serbia, to his new home in Little Rock in 2016.
He made the journey on his own, leaving behind his parents and a younger brother.
“I didn’t know English well, so that was a problem,” Armus said.
But basketball wasn’t.
Armus played his senior season of high school basketball in 2016-17 at Southwest Christian Academy, leading the Lions to the National Association of Christian Athletes (NACA) championship in 2017. He was named the MVP of the NACA National Tournament after averaging 16.3 points and 12.8 rebounds per game.
Gradually, his English got better, too.
“Before I came to America, I was taking some private lessons of English, but it was more like a British English, more formal,” Armus said. “When I came to America, it was nothing like that. You know, the American slang and ways of talking. It took me a couple months to first relax, don’t be afraid to talk and don’t be afraid of mistakes. After I got rid of that fear, I started learning way quicker and way better.”
On to the college ranks
Armus received interest from Arkansas, Iowa State, South Florida, Memphis, Missouri, Creighton, Vanderbilt and St. Bonaventure, among others, while playing for Southwest Christian.
“Over in Europe, everybody’s skilled and everybody’s passing it and shooting from the perimeter,” Baker said. “We did a little of that when he was playing for me, but I slowly started moving him to the block. He was telling me, ‘I’m more comfortable facing the basket.’ I told him, ‘Well, the guys over here are going to be uncomfortable with you playing with your back to the basket because nobody can guard you in there.’ He can always step out every now and then, but he’s got a gift around the basket because he’s so long and he’s quick and he’s got moves down there.
“We could talk about his basketball attributes all day, but if you’ve been around him, you’ll see what’s really special about him. He’s a great kid and a great teammate to have.”
Armus ended up committing to East Tennessee State, where he played his first two seasons of college basketball. He started five games as a freshman for the Buccaneers in 2017-18 and was named to the All-Southern Conference Freshman Team after averaging 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
As a sophomore in 2018-19, Armus started 24 of the 33 games he played and upped his averages to 8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1 block per game. He scored in double figures 10 times and had seven games with double-digit rebounds.
Armus did not indicate why he chose to leave ETSU, but he said once he put his name in the transfer portal following the 2018-19 season, Boise State assistant coach Mike Burns reached out.
“I really liked what I was hearing, and they offered me the official visit, and I decided that I would come here and see this place,” Armus said. “So when I came here, I stayed here. I really like this place. … The city, it’s beautiful. I’m finding myself here. I didn’t know that I was going to meet so many great people here when I first came here, but how things were going, I was liking this place more and more and more every week and month. Now I am just enjoying being here.”
Waiting his turn
Armus played in his last game for East Tennessee State on March 20, 2019, finishing with 15 points and nine boards in an 81-72 loss to Wofford in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.
He arrived in Boise for his official visit on May 2, 2019. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Armus sat out the entirety of the 2019-20 season.
“It was ups and downs, to be honest,” Armus said. “In the beginning, I accepted the role that I had to play being on the bench. But how the season was going, it’s not easy to watch the guys and you cannot help them or be on the court with them. But somehow, some way I handled it good and always with the thought to help them and make them better and myself better for the next season.”
The interdisciplinary studies major — comprised of minors in computer science, business and communication — hasn’t been home to Serbia in more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
His basketball family has helped to fill some of that void, as has the elation of finally representing the Broncos in uniform.
Armus made his Boise State debut on Nov. 27 — a full 619 days after his last game with ETSU. The redshirt junior totaled 11 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes in that first game. He followed up with six points and 12 rebounds in the Broncos’ 86-55 win over Sam Houston State.
And Rice and his staff can’t wait to see how much more Armus grows over his next two seasons with the Broncos.
“That’s a word that comes to mind when you think of Mladen is strength — physically, emotionally, mentally,” Rice said. “But one thing I’ve learned as a coach is sometimes you look at these big, strong athletes and forget there’s part of them that are still kids and part of them that are somebody’s son and they’re away from home and they’re dealing with all this stuff.
“… It’s been our mission as a staff that this gym and this arena has been a place where they can come, we can enjoy each other and we can compete.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
