Dusan Ristic is a dreamer.

Nothing is too big; anything is possible.

If you know him, you know that. You know that less than five years ago, he spoke very little English and had never stepped foot in America. You know that he didn't know McKale Center from McDonald's. You know the idea of him turning into perhaps the winningest player in the history of Arizona Basketball was more than a longshot.

But, Dusan Ristic is a dreamer. He knew all of this was out there for him.

"My goal since I was a little kid was to play in the NBA," Ristic said. "And that's still my goal; it's what I'm working on every day. I love the game of basketball, and I want to play it for as long as I can."

As a young boy in soccer crazed Novi Sad, Serbia, Ristic fell in love with basketball. When he was 7-years-old, living in Novi Sad, he remembers watching the Yugoslavian national team beat the USA in the 2002 FIBA World Championships. He watched as Yugoslavia went on to win the gold, and a love story was born.

He began waking up extra early in the mornings before he went to school at Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj Primary School to watch NBA highlights from the games that took place overnight. If it was a particularly big game or deep into playoff action, he would do his best to wake up in the middle of the night, just to watch some hoops.

Ristic was sure this was the sport he wanted to pursue. This was the sport he loved. He began playing when he was nine. When he was 12, he was invited to join the prestigious basketball club in Belgrade, Serbia, Red Star. Already standing 6-feet-4-inches, Ristic was a tall body and a harder worker.

He spent six years with the club, and when he turned 18, he could go on to continue his career with the club. However, one of his teammates was former Wildcat, Ivan Radenovic, who talked to him about the benefits of playing college basketball. Two other teammates, Demarcus Nelson, who used to play at Duke, and Charles Jenkins, who played at Hofstra, also talked to Ristic about college basketball.

After much consideration, he decided what he wanted to do.

"I surprised everyone, and I decided to do something unusual," Ristic said. "Most of the players with my ability and reputation stay and play professionally. But those guys gave me their knowledge, and told me college basketball was the best thing for my long term development. After thinking about it for a long time, I decided to come here."

"Ivan told me he had his best four years of his life at Arizona, and I can say now, he was right."

Ristic committed to the Wildcats, and after the first semester of his senior year, he moved to America to enroll at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kansas. He had taken English while he was in school in Serbia, but couldn't put together multiple sentences and couldn't always follow when people spoke to him in English.

"When I got here, it was a real struggle for the first few months," Ristic said. "I really didn't know what was going on. They moved me to an English as a Second Language class, and it helped the transition. By the time I got to Arizona, English wise, I was much better. I knew good enough to talk to people. I paid extra attention, and just learned what I could as quickly as possible."

Ristic's first season in Tucson was in 2014-15, and he was eased into the transition of college basketball. He played in 36 games, playing just 8.6 minutes per game. He got better as the season went on and one of his best games in March when he grabbed a then career-high eight rebounds versus Cal.

He doubled his playing time as a sophomore in 2015-16 and had a 20-point game against UNLV in December. It was his first breakout game as a Wildcat and a sign that his hard work and his decision to come to college were paying off.

He started 34 games as a junior last season and averaged 10.9 points per game and 5.5 rebounds a contest. This season, he has started all 26 games for the Wildcats and has become one of the most critical pieces to an already loaded team.

Ristic is averaging 11.8 points per game and seven rebounds per game. In conference games, he's upped his production, averaging 13.8 points per game and 7.8 rebounds. He's currently third on Arizona's all-time individual wins, having been a part of 108 wins. With two more victories, he'll tie Matt Muehlebach and Kaleb Tarczewski for No. 1. And it's a pretty safe bet, he'll overtake both of those guys relatively soon.

"I just think Dusan has become an All-Conference player," coach Sean Miller said recently. "Statistically, there's no denying that. He does it game-in and game-out. He's a terrific kid. I hope he can become the winningest player in program history.

"I think it will be a remarkable story considering where he was when he came from high school, and how he stayed and impacted this last team."

His fingerprints have been all over this year's 20-6 squad. He's scored in double figures in 13 of his last 14 games and he topped the 1,000-point mark earlier this season against Utah when he hit the only three 3-pointers of his season. He posted the fifth double-double of his season last time out against USC in a critical win over the Trojans and is proving to be one of the emotional leaders of the team.

All of that is pretty good for a man who was just trying to understand the language this time five years ago.

"Coming from a new country is like a new beginning," Ristic said. "I knew when I got here, I had to work harder than anyone else. I had to pay extra attention, just to keep up with everyone. But it has all been worth it. Playing in front of the fans at McKale has been an amazing feeling. The fact that I have only two games left here; it's unreal. Right now it's really hard to think about it. I'm just trying to play every game as hard as possible, and as best as possible."

Just like he dreamed about.