DATE: Friday, November 21, 1997             TAG: 9711210919

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                       LENGTH:   65 lines

PLAYING BALL, FORMING BONDS LIFE ON THE ROAD IS NOTHING NEW FOR FRESHMAN FROM YUGOSLAVIA.

He insists he's not homesick. But the charms of the City of Angels - and for that matter, Norfolk - appear to be having little effect on Mihajlo Delic as he adjusts to life away from his native Yugoslavia.

Sunset Boulevard and its famous Hollywood Walk of Fame barely held his interest. And when the rest of the Norfolk State team went mall-hopping Thursday afternoon, Delic slumped down on a green bag of basketballs in his room and bid his teammates farewell, then swapped stories in his native Serbian language by phone with one of his countrymen living in Los Angeles.

``This place, it's OK,'' the Spartans' freshman swingman said. ``No, how you say, big deal, but OK.''

The stories about people fleeing war-torn Yugoslavia for sanctuary in the United States don't apply here. Delic says he was never sad in NoviSad, where he developed the basketball skills that earned him a spot on the Yugoslavian Junior National Team.

But Delic, 19, found his hoop options limited upon graduation from high school. He wanted to go to college, but Yugoslavian universities don't have teams. Nor was he ready to play in a European pro league.

So when his coach told him about an opportunity to play at Norfolk State, Delic prepared to come to America for the first time in his life.

``I didn't know what Norfolk was,'' he said. ``But I wanted to play. I said, `This sounds OK.' ''

One of the reasons this trip is no, how you say, big deal to Delic is he's familiar with traveling. His Yugoslavian national team toured extensively throughout Europe, most recently in September, when he took a two-week break from school to participate in the adidas European National Championships in Milan.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, he also travels a lot when he has the ball. While he tries to eliminate the extra step he takes on drives that is legal in Europe but a no-no here in the states, Delic has heard more whistles than a pretty girl walking past a construction site.

``I must adjust,'' Delic said.

Other adjustments have gone much smoother. Although speaking English occasionally gives him trouble, Delic displayed an impressive ability to read this language while poring over Norfolk State's prospectus in a preseason college basketball guide.

``How can they give us only a C for intangibles?'' he said.

``What's intangibles?''

And while some from other countries get to the U.S. and binge on all the fast-food options, the 6-foot-7, 198-pound Delic cringes at the sight of golden arches, big beef burritos and the like.

``Maybe this food is OK,'' Delic said. ``For me, it seems so, what's the word, unnatural?''

Delic concedes he sometimes feels a bit unnatural getting used to being an American college student. But he seems to fit in well with his Spartan teammates, who are continually chuckling over what they perceive as Delic's deadpan sense of humor.

``They say I'm funny?'' Delic said. ``I don't know. Funny? I think it's OK.''

This bonding that has taken place among Delic and the Spartans appears to be a large reason why, even as the Yugoslavian native sat by himself on a green bag of basketballs in a five-star hotel in the middle of downtown Los Angeles, Delic didn't feel alone.

``You have second thoughts, sure,'' he said. ``But I like the guys. And I want to improve my game. So here I am. And it's OK.''

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