Globalization is now as prevalent in college basketball as it is in industry.
Utah sophomore Andrew Bogut, winner of the Wooden and Naismith awards as college basketball’s player of the year, leads the growing trend of international players filling college rosters. Despite recruiting challenges, the success of foreign players and the increasing ease of global communication have led coaches to look beyond the United States for size and talent to augment the domestic crop.
Duke has jumped aboard this trend in the last few years. Three of the last nine recruits to commit to Duke have been from abroad, including United Kingdom’s Eric Boateng and Lithuanian Martynas Pocius of the recruiting class of 2005.
All of the Blue Devils’ international prospects, however, have played high school basketball in the United States. Duke assistant coach Chris Collins said while both Boateng and Pocius were recruited in the United States, it is possible that in the near future top programs could recruit players directly from their home countries.
“The globalization of the game makes it much more likely now as opposed to five years ago,” Collins said. “There are now worldwide scouts for all levels, for pro and for college, and now there is more access to information about these players.”
Though some players, like Australian-born Bogut, are brought straight from their homelands, the majority of international recruits come to the United States for at least a couple of years of high school. Collins said an early arrival is helpful in establishing a comfort level with living in America, but he conceded that it might not be the best thing for basketball development.
“Sometimes the competition back home on a club team may be better than in the high schools here,” Collins said. “On these club and national teams, they get to play with grown men at a young age, so it might be a higher playing level there.”Old Dominion is one program that is taking advantage of the global recruiting environment. The Monarchs had five foreign players on their roster this season, including their star, Australian junior Alex Loughton. Head coach Blaine Taylor said a major advantage to recruiting an international player is the absence of preconceived notions about the college landscape.
“An international player is less influenced by hyperbole, less influenced by his friends at the playground telling him where he should be playing,” Taylor said. “He more often looks at an opportunity at face value—the day-to-day life, the academic experience, the relationships involved—none of those have to do with what conference you play in.”
Colleges face both practical and administrative challenges when recruiting foreign players. The practical difficulties can be as basic as a language barrier or time-zone differences, but Taylor said these can hinder the recruiting process significantly.
Institutional challenges arise because programs must ensure that players comply with NCAA rules regarding academic standards and amateurism.
Few countries have educational systems that can be compared directly to the American system, and since no international equivalence tests or standards have been developed, the NCAA must rely on its Foreign Student Records Committee.
The NCAA developed the committee to set qualification guidelines for international student-athletes. To achieve that end, the FSRC produces a guidebook that sets an equivalent to the American requirements for every country. The NCAA Clearinghouse—the administrative body that grants NCAA eligibility—uses the guidebook to evaluate all foreign students seeking eligibility. The FSRC serves as an appeals board for any questionable cases.
“We’re probably the only committee in the NCAA that is not comprised of coaches, athletics directors and people of the athletic sort,” committee chair Robert Watkins said. “We are not here because of what we know about athletics, but rather what we know about credentials. That’s really what distinguishes us from other committees.”
Many stumbling blocks stand in the way of the FSRC’s attempt to level the academic playing field, the most significant of which is “streaming.” High school curricula in the United States require a wide range of studies, but in many foreign countries, a high school student may choose a “stream”—the rough equivalent of a major in a U.S. college. Watkins said students who choose a specific stream may be deficient in certain areas and therefore may not meet the Clearinghouse requirements.
The amateurism question emerges from the presence of youth club teams in foreign countries, especially in Europe. Most talented young players will join club teams, which are financed to play other teams around the country. Associate Athletic Director Chris Kennedy, who heads Duke’s NCAA compliance efforts, believes that determining whether these club teams pay players is a major obstacle to overcome.
“If you are a talented young basketball player in Spain, you will probably be on a U-13 or U-16 club team,” Kennedy said. “What is the club paying for? It’s sometimes difficult to determine if they are just paying expenses. They have different ideas as to what they should and shouldn’t be doing to develop these players.”
Despite these potential pitfalls, colleges will continue to look for international players as the talent levels abroad rise.
“They’ve done a great job in developing their talent,” Collins said of the international basketball community. “The talent level is a lot more equal now. We were so dominant for so long. But the popularity of the sport and the stars that have emerged from all parts of the world have leveled the playing field.”
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