NBA trends tend to take their time trickling down to the college game. Several modern concepts—how to use pace and space offensively, a ball-screen-centric style of play—are just now beginning to influence college basketball. And as high-profile moves at some of the nation’s biggest programs over the past week have shown, the NBA and basketball’s global tilt has officially reached college hoops.
In the first 50 years of the Naismith College Player of the Year award, only five players from outside the United States earned the honor, and two (Butch Lee in Puerto Rico, Tim Duncan in the U.S. Virgin Islands) of those were born on American soil. But the last two winners (Oscar Tshiebwe from Congo and Zach Edey from Canada) were born abroad. Although both played prep basketball in the U.S., there has been a major shift lately in the impact of global recruiting.
Overseas recruiting used to be a niche taken advantage of by only a few of the top programs. Gonzaga’s rise can be credited in large part to Mark Few and longtime top assistant Tommy Lloyd’s willingness to go abroad for talent: think Domantas Sabonis, Przemek Karnowski, Rui Hachimura and Ronny Turiaf. Even Canadians like Kevin Pangos and Kelly Olynyk fit the mold.
