It surprises me that we don’t use Yao Ming (who was slated to come here) to assist us in finding and using the top talent in China. Paying him for his help. Personally, a 7’4 player playing in the chinese leagues would be easier to get than the same in Europe. JMHO
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The Chinese government makes it pretty hard to get someone over here just look at all the money and stuff the Rockets have to pay for Yao.
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I think Sampson will be just fine with AMERICAN players.
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He’s even better with Big 12 players.
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I am ambivalent on international players. UH has had its share of international players and Pat Foster used probably more than any UH basketball coach. One of UH’s most famous players, Hakeem Olajuwon, was an international player.
I will let Coach decide who is part of the program.
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My reaction to this thread
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Can foreign players even be all-americans?
Something for you to pontificate over elevenses.
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I think that a lot of Euro players play college ball here. They have some good talent over there.
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I’m not complaining
Euros are more interested in coming to the US for college now due to NIL.
You already have 1 Euro on just about every roster. I would expect that number to only rise given that many of the good Euro basketball countries don’t exactly have great economies.
Most European basketball teams are affiliated with their soccer teams.
They have a youth system that identifies talent and rely more on passing, shooting, off the ball movement then athleticism and one on one hero ball in the USA.
To be honest, for most Euro. Australian and even Chinese players, it doesn’t make sense to play college ball. They can play semi-pro ball at the age of 14, get paid while doing it, and then still get drafted into the NBA at 18 (unlike American players, thanks NBPA).
The reason you still see Canadian, African and LATAM players still coming over to the states to play college ball is because those areas don’t have strong semi-pro/developmental leagues unaffiliated with the NBA. So if those guys want an opportunity to play at a high level, then college ball is it. Ironically, due to some tax rules, foreign born players generally are unable to get NIL as American players do. A lot of tax planning is involved, which can get pricey (wink:).
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In some countries, you are an adult at like 16 lol.
Incorrect. Lots of Euros are coming over to play college basketball, especially the last couple years as the money has increased.
And they’re getting NIL too. They may have to jump through hoops to get it but they’re definitely getting paid or they wouldn’t be here.
I said it doesn’t make a lot of sense, I didn’t say that there weren’t any. Obviously the Wagner brothers are great examples. The guy at UIUC was another.