Should Cal Focus More on International Recruiting?

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01Bear
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3:46p, 6/14/24
After Wednesday's NBA Finals game, the local ABC affiliate had a couple former NBA players on the postgame show. They (Austin Croshere and Tracy Murray*) mentioned that European and international players were surpassing US players because the international players were practicing more while playing fewer games. This gives them a chance to develop skills, like learning to read a defense, passing, ball-handling, and shooting.

If that's the case, should Cal focus more on recruiting international players? Keep in mind, international players are ineligible to receive any compensation (i.e., NIL money, wages) under current immigration law. By focusing more on international players, this could also stretch the Cal collective's funds.

Of course, the international players Cal has landed lately have not been great shakes. It's possible that the better international players opt to forego college altogether and choose to play professionally, instead. This would limit Cal to recruiting players who need more development. If that's the case, would it still be worthwhile for Cal to recruit that international player?

*Lamond's cousin.
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eastcoastcal
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9:08p, 6/14/24
Most college programs scour Europe (& Australia). I think we could be ahead of the curve and start mining Asia. Some great ballers over there. In 10 years everyone will be doing it and wondering why they didn't sooner
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Big C
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10:01p, 6/14/24

We should be able to mine the niche of international players who:

+ value a degree from "Berkeley"
+ didn't get the memo about US players not being developed as well as international players
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calumnus
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In reply to eastcoastcal • 10:26p, 6/14/24
eastcoastcal said:
Most college programs scour Europe (& Australia). I think we could be ahead of the curve and start mining Asia. Some great ballers over there. In 10 years everyone will be doing it and wondering why they didn't sooner


I was thinking Madsen's trip to Asia might be partly for scouting/recruiting.
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brevity
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In reply to eastcoastcal • 11:27p, 6/14/24
eastcoastcal said:
Most college programs scour Europe (& Australia). I think we could be ahead of the curve and start mining Asia. Some great ballers over there. In 10 years everyone will be doing it and wondering why they didn't sooner
Absolutely. You have to wonder if Coach Madsen's current tour in Asia is partly about developing contacts for future networking/recruiting purposes.

I think it's worth the investment of time and money to pursue international players as a steady part of the recruiting diet. Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett developed and maintained an Australian pipeline of talent for the past 20 years, and so you can expect a few Aussies year in and year out. (I count three on their 2024-2025 roster.) More recently, UCLA's Mick Cronin and Arizona's Tommy Lloyd have focused on European imports.

You can work to build these international connections from scratch, but one shortcut is to hire an assistant coach who already has something of an infrastructure in place. Orlando Antigua was an assistant at Kentucky, and brought in 7-2 Bosnian center Zvonimir Ivisic last year. Now Coach Antigua is an assistant at Illinois, and according to 247 Sports, he was instrumental in recruiting twin brother Tomislav Ivisic for Illini head coach Brad Underwood:

Quote:
There wasn't a multi-year connection between Underwood and Croatian big man Tomislav Ivisic. No history that could have helped Underwood on his own land Ivisic. Illinois did have a connection, however, through assistant coach Orlando Antigua.

Antigua recruited Zvonimir Ivisic to Kentucky last season Zvonimir has since followed John Calipari to Arkansas and knew not only the Ivisic family but also the people in Ivisic's circle, a key part of the recruiting puzzle.

Video scouting is easier than ever. The above article mentions that Coach Underwood saw his future recruit play in an exhibition against USC last summer, when the Trojans were touring Europe. I can tell you for a fact that he had no special access, because I saw that game as well; it was broadcast on NBA TV. Not every overseas game gets that kind of live coverage -- NBA TV no doubt got involved because Bronny James was supposed to play, before his medical incident -- but you can find quite a few full game replays on YouTube.

California, like most major universities, already has some system in place for the admission of international students. Recruiting international student-athletes is a logical next step, especially with the NCAA less concerned than ever about the fine details of amateur status. Seems sensible for Coach Madsen and his staff to develop a recruiting network in Asia for the long term.
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Bearprof
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In reply to 01Bear • 8:32a, 6/15/24
01Bear said:
After Wednesday's NBA Finals game, the local ABC affiliate had a couple former NBA players on the postgame show. They (Austin Croshere and Tracy Murray*) mentioned that European and international players were surpassing US players because the international players were practicing more while playing fewer games. This gives them a chance to develop skills, like learning to read a defense, passing, ball-handling, and shooting.

If that's the case, should Cal focus more on recruiting international players? Keep in mind, international players are ineligible to receive any compensation (i.e., NIL money, wages) under current immigration law. By focusing more on international players, this could also stretch the Cal collective's funds.

Of course, the international players Cal has landed lately have not been great shakes. It's possible that the better international players opt to forego college altogether and choose to play professionally, instead. This would limit Cal to recruiting players who need more development. If that's the case, would it still be worthwhile for Cal to recruit that international player?

*Lamond's cousin.


I've always thought so.
'Berkeley Universiity', as they often call it, is very highly respected academically in Europe (and Asia) as it should be.
That's a recruiting plus for some of these students, for sure.
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bear2034
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2:09p, 6/20/24

This high school player from Quebec, Canada reminds me of Shawn Bradley plus 50 pounds.
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calumnus
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1:04a, 6/21/24
An article on an 18 year old 7'1 center playing in China:
https://www.si.com/nba/draft/newsfeed/2024-nba-draft-hansen-yang-thriving-in-chinese-basketball-association

Maybe Madsen's Asia trip and our new Marbury connection will pay off?

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