Question Re Recruiting Foreign Players

[BillW]

How are really good foreign players identified and recruited. Nurse is on the Canadian national team as was Achonwa. The recent coverage re the Minn. center is phenomenal. Duke is getting Salvadores next year.
IDing the Nurse/Achonwa (doesn't OSU have a great posts from Canada?) and Salvadores seems pretty straightforward. Is the Minn. center an anomaly?
Are their problems re academic qualifying e.g. Core Course requirements (and language).

 

[CocoHusky]

Bill welcome.
Q: Are their problems re academic qualifying e.g. Core Course requirements (and language).
Academic requirements as same SAT or ACT, GPA scores and core courses and English translation of documents through NCAA clearing house from what I can tell Any difference in terms of eligibility are spelled out in this NCAA document.
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/sjsu/genrel/auto_pdf/2013-14/misc_non_event/prospects-guide-int-110413.pdf
More and more of the recruiting ranking services are intergrating ( ESPN has 2 foreign in top 10 ) or have separately group internationals players ( prospectsnation) so if you are a good player you will get ranked. Canada has AAU teams (Kia Nurse got notice at USJN in DC in summer of 13) that play in major AAU tournaments in the US. Just in terms of geography being easier most northern states sharing a border with Canada will have one or two players on that NCAA teams. But the USA basketball tournaments is were most international players get noticed-Salvadores made her name by schooling many top USA college prospects this summer.
Q: Is the Minn. center an anomaly?
A: Not really, I understand Louisville was very high on her. There are some other very good players who decide to play in europe for the money sometime in Europe you can turn pro at 15.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Here is an article from an Australian site that gives the basics that an Aussie will need to get into a US College. Classes, tests, etc.
http://pickandroll.com.au/preparing-aussie-kids-us-college-basketball/

Many of these players are noticed at the various age group, i.e U15, U16, U17, etc. tournaments held around the world each summer. In these tournaments players represent their countries. It is hard to follow the players other times because a trip to watch one or two HS games is a long trip for a US College coach with limited time on their hands. Most HS games in other countries arent on live stream, but may be put on a you tube upload. I would think if there is some interest a player will make a US College coach aware of the posting.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Also, you have "connections". The Belgium Caroline deRoose, one of the better players of her era (late Grentz) at Rutgers, was responsible for Dana Boonen that played backup center under Vivian. This has played out with various programs over the years.

 

[Wbbfan1]

There are plenty of schools that are able to get International Players qualified for US Colleges. Many of these players are attending Sports Academy's which I suspect are just as good for Academics as most highly rated High Schools. Geno has said he wouldn't mind having a roster full of International Players, yet we don't hear of him recruiting any, besides Kia last year. If I'm running a SR team looking to build teams for the 2020 Olympics and later, I'd do everything I could to encourage our best young players to attend US Colleges that are known to develop their players.

 

[jennyo70]

There is a group that I follow on twitter that helps international students navigate this process. I presume they have a scouting service that coaches can sign up for, which would help tremendously in id'ing talent of your caliber, without having to travel overseas until you know it is a good fit.
http://www.passionhoops.com

p.s. it is how I knew about Amanda Z (Minn. center) that we were so high on and after.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Being in the AAC may have a benefit we didn't think about -- exposure to foreign basketball players. The Florida schools especially have a lot, as USF has 6 international players (3 from Spain, 1 from Portugal, Sweden, and Denmark), and UCF has one from Jamaica and one from Senegal. Cinci, ECU, Houston and Tulsa mainly recruit locally, but SMU has three Australians, Tulane and Memphis have a Canadian, and Temple has a women from Mali.

I'm sure Jose Fernandez would be happy to run a clinic for Geno to show him how to recruit foreign players since all the AAC coaches want to help UConn get better.

 

[UcMiami]

I think there is really little true 'international' recruiting going on. Foreign players that decide they want to play in the US for college generally initiate the process. The exception is Canada where there is better exposure for the players to US coaches. But still I don't think there are many college coaches that spend any time recruiting foreign players that have not already declared their intention to play in the US.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Jose Fernandez of USF actually spends a lot of time recruiting international players. IMHO a coach who attempting to build a program would be wise in their first few years recruit good international players. This enables coaches to build their programs more quickly like Oregon State has done. Then when you've built a program, the coach has the ability to recruit better US players outside of their immediate area. I think you'll find more coaches recruiting international players.

I think there is really little true 'international' recruiting going on. Foreign players that decide they want to play in the US for college generally initiate the process. The exception is Canada where there is better exposure for the players to US coaches. But still I don't think there are many college coaches that spend any time recruiting foreign players that have not already declared their intention to play in the US.

 

[alexrgct]

Anyone have the full story as to how this wonderful Russian specimen was evaluated and (successfully) recruited?

 

[DobbsRover2]

Anyone have the full story as to how this wonderful Russian specimen was evaluated and (successfully) recruited?

This old article gives some basics. She was one of the most acclaimed players in Europe before her recruitment, though I'm not sure that UConn recognized that she also had a lot of modelling potential.

 

[geneticrex]

Where oh where is our next Svetlana???

 

[DobbsRover2]

Where oh where is our next Svetlana???

If you can read Russian you can follow her on her tweets. There is some English in there from a recent tweet about seeing Sue in NYC for lunch.

 

[geneticrex]

If you can read Russian you can follow her on her tweets. There is some English in there from a recent tweet about seeing Sue in NYC for lunch.

They were in NYC and didn't invite me???

Although, maybe she did. I can't read Russian.

 

[DobbsRover2]

They were in NYC and didn't invite me???

Although, maybe she did. I can't read Russian.

Better learn how.

 

[geneticrex]

Better learn how.

I have a GREAT Russian language barrier story, but I can't tell it here.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

How are really good foreign players identified and recruited. Nurse is on the Canadian national team as was Achonwa. The recent coverage re the Minn. center is phenomenal. Duke is getting Salvadores next year.
IDing the Nurse/Achonwa (doesn't OSU have a great posts from Canada?) and Salvadores seems pretty straightforward. Is the Minn. center an anomaly?
Are their problems re academic qualifying e.g. Core Course requirements (and language).

Australia, specifically the Australian Institute for Sport, was put on the map because of the Aussies' performance in the 2000 Olympics (winning the silver medal). The 1999 AIS class produced Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Suzy Batkovic, etc.

This is how Jessica Foley got on Duke's radar, and she entered with the high school class of 2002.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I would also assume that most of the top teams also subscribe to services such as NetScout to get info on the top players around the world that are interested in the US college option. Clearly USF reads the reviews pretty extensively, but Geno obviously sees a lot of the good young foreign players through his USA basketball coaching