After being selected as a
1996 McDonald's All American, Evtimov played
NCAA Division I
college basketball with the
University of North Carolina. Although he saw limited action off the bench, he participated in two Final Fours with the Tar Heels. Evtimov was recruited by the legendary coach
Dean Smith and was then caught in the transition to coach
Bill Guthridge. Despite this, his sophomore year Evtimov led his Tar Heel team in rebounds and points preseason until the NCAA deemed him to have had an unfair advantage by playing overseas for a professional team. He was given an 18-game suspension and returned to the team with 14 games left. Because of these circumstances, he decided to turn professional. He has played for teams in France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine and Cyprus over his ten-year professional career. Vasco Evtimov was a key player for
Maroussi BC when they won the
Saporta cup in 2001, averaging 13.6 points and 12.6 rebounds during that tournament. Other clubs he has played for are
Pau Orthez,
Dafni BC,
Maroussi BC,
Skipper Bologna,
PBC Ural Great,
ASVEL Basket,
CB Sevilla,
Lottomatica Roma,
KK Union Olimpija, Upea Capo d'Orlando, Climamio Bologna,
CB Valladolid, Reggio Emilia,
BC Khimik,
Panionios BC, AEL Cyprus,
Mitteldeutscher BC and
Paris-Levallois Basket. In February 2015, he signed with Levski Sofia. Evtimov announced his retirement in October 2016. In 2019, 20 years after leaving the
University of North Carolina early to turn professional, he fulfilled a promise to himself and finished his Communications degree at UNC, dedicating it to legendary basketball coach
Dean Smith.
Coaching career On September 16, 2020, Evtimov was hired by the
BC Chernomorets as a head coach. In his first
season, his team finished fourth in the regular season, eliminated in the quarterfinals in the playoffs and eliminated in the first round of the
Cup. In
21-22, he had similar results, fourth in the regular season, eliminated in the quarterfinals in the playoffs and eliminated in the first round of the
Cup.
National team career Evtimov played for the
France national team at the
EuroBasket 2001. He is also a member of the
Bulgaria national team. Apart from players who acquired new nationalities due to political changes resulting from the
fall of communism in Europe, he is the only player to ever compete at EuroBasket for two countries. He was selected to compete for the Bulgarians at
EuroBasket 2009, where he was the team's leading rebounder. ==Personal life==