Need proof of internationalisation of NCAA Tournament? Look at 2, 4 and 9

REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) – With the NCAA Tournament starting in earnest today, it is once again clear that college basketball’s elite event is a very international affair – and not just the fans watching the Big Dance around the world.

More than half of the final 64 teams in the field have at least one non-U.S. born player. Moreover, the internationalisation of the game can be seen by looking at the numbers 2, 4 and 9.

Two non-Americans go into March Madness hoping to defend their title; four teams have five or more international players on their squads; and nine alums of the Australian Institute of Sports make the talent-producing factory from Down Under well represented.

Dirk Nowitzki was not the only German to celebrate a basketball championship in the United States last season. Niels Giffey and Enosch Wolf helped the University of Connecticut to the 2011 NCAA crown.

And with it, Giffey and Wolf joined the likes of Henrik Rödl with North Carolina in 1993, Christian Ast with Duke University in 1991 and 1992 as well as German-Colombian Magus Pelkowski in 1987 with Indiana University as the only Germans to take the NCAA title.

If UConn were to repeat, Giffey and Wolf would become the first Germans to repeat.

Two other Germans in the tournament also have a noteworthy connection as Elias Harris and Mathis Mönninghoff are part of Gonzaga University’s large contingent of international players.

In all, the university from Spokane, Washington has seven players from outside the United States. The others are Mathis Keita (France), Guy Landry Edi (Ivory Coast/France) and Canada's trio of Kelly Olynyk, Kevin Pangos and Robert Sacre.

And Gonzaga is one of four teams that have at least five internationals on their rosters.

The others are St. Bonaventure University (with Sam de Haas, Netherlands; Charlon Kloop, Suriname; Youssou Ndoye, Senegal; the Canadian pair of Andrew Nicholson and Matthew Wright), New Mexico State (France's Remi Barry and Bandja Sy; Canadians Sim Bhullar, Renaldo Dixon, Christian Kabongo, Hernst Laroche, Daniel Mullings and Tyrone Watson; Tshilidzi Nephawe, South Africa), and St. Mary’s (Australia's Matthew Dellavedova, Matt Hodgson, Jorden Page, Clint Steindl and Mitchell Young; Eividas Petrulis, Lithuania; Kyle Rowley, Trinidad & Tobago).

St. Mary’s also brings up the number 9 as the college from northern California features four players – Dellavedova, Page, Steindl and Young – who received their basketball education at the reputable Australian Institute of Sports (AIS), which has produced past and present Australian internationals such as Andrew Bogut, Patrick Mills and Luc Longley.

Besides the St. Mary’s quartet, the other former AIS players in the NCAA tournament are Shane Harris-Tunks from Colorado; Cameron Bairstow and Hugh Greenwood from New Mexico; Cody Ellis of St. Louis; and Jordan Vandenberg from North Carolina State. 

And just like Bogut (University of Utah), Mills (St. Mary’s), Longley (New Mexico) and others, they all chose to continue their basketball training on the grounds of colleges and universities throughout the United States. And some of those in the NCAA tournament this year will undoubtedly eventually make their way into the senior Australian national team.

And perhaps even one of them will have the chance next season to defend their NCAA crown like the two Germans Giffey and Wolf this season.

David Hein

FIBA

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.