richard levy
2nd String
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By the numbers: 23 of the 62 players (37%) on the Final Four rosters have a foreign country listed as their hometown. Five are starters and five others are in their team's regular rotation.
Global game: It's not just the Final Four. There were 888 international men's D-I basketball players last season, according to the NCAA's latest available data. That's more than twice as many as there were in 2010 (406), and a 557% increase compared to the first reported numbers in 1993 (135).
What's driving this? NIL has changed the calculus for elite international prospects, particularly those in Europe who would have otherwise played professionally close to home. But now that they can make money in college, I mean, would you rather play for Crvena zvezda… or Arizona?
The broker: One man has played an outsized role in the NCAA's boom of international talent. Serbian agent Miško Ražnatović — whose most famous client is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić — represents 26 men's college basketball players, including four of the Illini's "Balkan Five." He's been supplying the NCAA with talent since 2023, and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.
"I'm really trying to, when I speak with teams, convince them to have at least two guys," Ražnatović told Front Office Sports. "If you have two, you have someone to adjust with and they perform much better. Next season, I think you'll see more package deals."
Looking ahead: As more foreign-born players come to the states, NCAA teams have also increasingly played games abroad in recent years. That footprint is set to expand as soon as this fall, with games planned in Croatia and Serbia as part of a proposed international series launched by Intersport and Rochelle Management Group.
Zoom out: While the influx of international talent is more prominent in the men's game, the women's side has its fair share, too. Every team in the Final Four (UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas) has at least two foreigners on its roster, representing eight countries: Canada, Kenya, France, Egypt, Ireland, Ecuador, Sweden and Croatia.
Global game: It's not just the Final Four. There were 888 international men's D-I basketball players last season, according to the NCAA's latest available data. That's more than twice as many as there were in 2010 (406), and a 557% increase compared to the first reported numbers in 1993 (135).
What's driving this? NIL has changed the calculus for elite international prospects, particularly those in Europe who would have otherwise played professionally close to home. But now that they can make money in college, I mean, would you rather play for Crvena zvezda… or Arizona?
The broker: One man has played an outsized role in the NCAA's boom of international talent. Serbian agent Miško Ražnatović — whose most famous client is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić — represents 26 men's college basketball players, including four of the Illini's "Balkan Five." He's been supplying the NCAA with talent since 2023, and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.
"I'm really trying to, when I speak with teams, convince them to have at least two guys," Ražnatović told Front Office Sports. "If you have two, you have someone to adjust with and they perform much better. Next season, I think you'll see more package deals."
Looking ahead: As more foreign-born players come to the states, NCAA teams have also increasingly played games abroad in recent years. That footprint is set to expand as soon as this fall, with games planned in Croatia and Serbia as part of a proposed international series launched by Intersport and Rochelle Management Group.
Zoom out: While the influx of international talent is more prominent in the men's game, the women's side has its fair share, too. Every team in the Final Four (UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas) has at least two foreigners on its roster, representing eight countries: Canada, Kenya, France, Egypt, Ireland, Ecuador, Sweden and Croatia.
