oldude
bamboo lover
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In 1972 USA basketball lost the Olympic gold medal game to Russia, the first loss in the history of the Olympics for the USA from the time they originally fielded a team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. While the ending of the game was extremely controversial, it heralded the global growth of basketball to the point where it is today, the second most popular sport in the world behind futbol (soccer).
While MBB lead the way internationally, WBB inevitably followed. The 2010 Enes Kanter decision opened the international flood gates of college basketball to players that had participated with foreign professional teams so long as they had not earned a salary. WBB teams from Baylor, MS St, USF and just about every team in the Pac12 lead the way by recruiting talented international players to enhance their rosters. During this period the greatest team in the history of WBB largely eschewed international players. Yes, UConn recruited Sveta years ago, a great player from Russia, after which Geno sarcastically stated that he “would never recruit another foreign player.”
A couple years later Geno recruited a kid from Chino, CA whose parents immigrated from Argentina. The fact that her father was originally from Italy has always lead many to wonder if the GOAT would have travelled all the way across the country to play in Storrs, CT if Geno had not been able to hit it off with Mario Taurasi in his native language. A few years ago, Geno recruited a kid from up north who turned out to be a NDPOY, but it’s hard to consider Canada a foreign country when we share a 5,525 mile border and, for the most part, a common language.
The truth is that when it comes to international players Geno and UConn were late to the party. That’s been changing significantly over the past few years, not only with foreign born and raised players, but also with players who either came to the US as young children or were born here to a parent or parents who immigrated to the US.
The recent trend in foreign born or affiliated players coming to UConn started with Pheesa, whose father Gamal was born in Sierra Leone. The next year Batouly transferred in. Batouly was raised in NYC by her parents who immigrated from the West African nation of Guinea. Over the past few years, literally half the players UConn has received commitments from have some foreign affiliation. Liv’s father Sebastian played on the Kenyan national team. Ania was born and raised in Poland. Evelyn grew up in London, England. Nika hales from Croatia. Finally, Piath was born in the Sudan, and moved to the US as a young girl.
While Geno continues to recruit great players like Christyn, Paige, Aubrey, Mir and Saylor, there is no denying that WBB recruiting has gotten a whole lot more competitive in the US. One of Geno’s greatest traits is his ability to learn and adapt. While Geno slugs it out on the recruiting trail with a myriad of tough recruiters like Dawn, Tara, Jeff, MM, Kim, Kelly, Brenda, Vic, etc., internationally Geno has a real opportunity that other coaches may not possess.
Young girls growing up playing basketball in Warsaw, Zagreb, London, Khartoum and elsewhere around the world know and revere the name Geno Auriemma from his role in leading the US team to the last two Olympic gold medals as well as his reputation as the greatest WBB coach in the history of the game. In addition, who better than Geno to talk to a foreign born or first-generation American kid about the challenge and opportunity of succeeding in this country.
To understand Geno’s ability to effectively recruit internationally you need only read the remarks of pure joy and excitement from Evelyn, Ania, Nika and Piath while accepting scholarship offers to play basketball at UConn. The recruitment of foreign players in WBB is here to stay. It took UConn a little while to come around, but Geno has struck gold in pursuing top international players overseas, as well as 1st generation players here in the US. Over the next few years, I expect this international pipeline to Storrs, CT to continue to grow with UConn regularly competing for both the top foreign players as well as the top American players.
While MBB lead the way internationally, WBB inevitably followed. The 2010 Enes Kanter decision opened the international flood gates of college basketball to players that had participated with foreign professional teams so long as they had not earned a salary. WBB teams from Baylor, MS St, USF and just about every team in the Pac12 lead the way by recruiting talented international players to enhance their rosters. During this period the greatest team in the history of WBB largely eschewed international players. Yes, UConn recruited Sveta years ago, a great player from Russia, after which Geno sarcastically stated that he “would never recruit another foreign player.”
A couple years later Geno recruited a kid from Chino, CA whose parents immigrated from Argentina. The fact that her father was originally from Italy has always lead many to wonder if the GOAT would have travelled all the way across the country to play in Storrs, CT if Geno had not been able to hit it off with Mario Taurasi in his native language. A few years ago, Geno recruited a kid from up north who turned out to be a NDPOY, but it’s hard to consider Canada a foreign country when we share a 5,525 mile border and, for the most part, a common language.
The truth is that when it comes to international players Geno and UConn were late to the party. That’s been changing significantly over the past few years, not only with foreign born and raised players, but also with players who either came to the US as young children or were born here to a parent or parents who immigrated to the US.
The recent trend in foreign born or affiliated players coming to UConn started with Pheesa, whose father Gamal was born in Sierra Leone. The next year Batouly transferred in. Batouly was raised in NYC by her parents who immigrated from the West African nation of Guinea. Over the past few years, literally half the players UConn has received commitments from have some foreign affiliation. Liv’s father Sebastian played on the Kenyan national team. Ania was born and raised in Poland. Evelyn grew up in London, England. Nika hales from Croatia. Finally, Piath was born in the Sudan, and moved to the US as a young girl.
While Geno continues to recruit great players like Christyn, Paige, Aubrey, Mir and Saylor, there is no denying that WBB recruiting has gotten a whole lot more competitive in the US. One of Geno’s greatest traits is his ability to learn and adapt. While Geno slugs it out on the recruiting trail with a myriad of tough recruiters like Dawn, Tara, Jeff, MM, Kim, Kelly, Brenda, Vic, etc., internationally Geno has a real opportunity that other coaches may not possess.
Young girls growing up playing basketball in Warsaw, Zagreb, London, Khartoum and elsewhere around the world know and revere the name Geno Auriemma from his role in leading the US team to the last two Olympic gold medals as well as his reputation as the greatest WBB coach in the history of the game. In addition, who better than Geno to talk to a foreign born or first-generation American kid about the challenge and opportunity of succeeding in this country.
To understand Geno’s ability to effectively recruit internationally you need only read the remarks of pure joy and excitement from Evelyn, Ania, Nika and Piath while accepting scholarship offers to play basketball at UConn. The recruitment of foreign players in WBB is here to stay. It took UConn a little while to come around, but Geno has struck gold in pursuing top international players overseas, as well as 1st generation players here in the US. Over the next few years, I expect this international pipeline to Storrs, CT to continue to grow with UConn regularly competing for both the top foreign players as well as the top American players.
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Uhm, the vast major of good college players ( both mem and women) end up playing overseas-so much for that contribution to US society. The reason most overseas teams limit the number of foreign players is so that local fans will actually come out and see the local players. It's not like Americans are going to go overseas to attend games in meaningful numbers.