The international players market in college basketball has exploded. At the Final Four in April, all four teams had at least one international player in their rotation, with Arizona and Illinois starting multiple Europeans.
For these overseas players’ eligibility, there had been a “we’ll figure it out” vibe, and the NCAA had done nothing to discourage the migration.
That changed May 8, when the NCAA sent guidance reiterating that athletes who had been paid above “actual and necessary expenses” would not be eligible to play college basketball.
That emphasis was directed at older, more accomplished professionals such as Quinn Ellis, a 23-year-old point guard who signed with St. John’s in the spring after starting 30 games this past season in EuroLeague, the top professional league in the world outside the NBA. Now the status of a long list of newcomers who played professionally overseas, particularly those who earned a paycheck, is up in the air. Some are awaiting clearance from the NCAA before moving to the United States, forcing them to miss summer practices.
The tone from coaches has changed as the school year approaches. In the late spring and early summer, most coaches seemed to think players such as Ellis would be cleared and the NCAA would hold off on stricter enforcement of the “actual and necessary expenses” requirement until 2027-28. After all, most players had already signed to play this upcoming season under the previous enforcement.
As of mid-July, many of those players have yet to be cleared.
“It’s a lot of uncertainty, especially now,” said an ACC coach, who, like the other coaches quoted in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity so he could speak freely about recruiting strategies without fear of retribution from the NCAA. “I know a lot of coaches and a lot of teams don’t have their internationals, and don’t know when they’ll be here — or if they’ll get them at all, right?”
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An NCAA source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told The Athletic that one reason for the delay is that there is more urgency to work through the paperwork for international athletes participating in fall sports — women’s soccer and tennis also have a large international contingent. The NCAA also does not publicize when an athlete is cleared. Instead, it’s up to the schools to announce clearance — which many have not — breeding more uncertainty.
Coaches who are trying to get their players cleared, or recruiting players who might be on the fringes of eligibility, say that the holdup stems from whether an athlete has earned more than “actual and necessary expenses.” Multiple coaches and the NCAA source said that where a player competed is taken into consideration. For instance, if a player played in Paris, his “actual and necessary expenses” may be significantly higher than someone playing in a small, less expensive city.
“They’re just scrutinizing that to a level that was not what happened last year,” a Big 12 head coach said.
That coach has shifted his attention away from international players to a new class of players who have exhausted their eligibility but, as of now, could return to play one more season. Earlier this month, an Ohio judge granted a temporary injunction to 15 Division I college players whose eligibility ran out after this past season. The ruling has led to several other lawsuits and a belief among coaches that those players will eventually be considered eligible.
The uncertainty is already reshaping how programs approach recruiting overseas. In a poll of 25 high-major coaches at Nike’s annual EYBL Peach Jam, most said their future efforts will be focused on younger, high-school-aged athletes overseas.
“So many of the older international kids have been siphoned off already,” an ACC assistant coach said. “There’s just not that many left that haven’t come over. So I think the eligibility issues are going to be less and less because it’s going to be much more 18-year-olds.”
The new trend is bringing players over earlier, as Duke and UCLA have done with Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje and Nikola Kusturica, both 17-year-olds who will probably play at least two years of college basketball because they are not eligible for the NBA Draft until 2028. Both are projected to be lottery picks.
Those younger players tend to draw less NCAA scrutiny because international clubs rarely give big salaries to young players. The NCAA’s new age-based eligibility model, which starts a student-athlete’s clock the year after they turn 19 or graduate high school, also incentivizes getting those players earlier.
“I think we’ll treat them all the same,” a Big Ten coach said. “High school kids are getting paid in the United States. … I think it will come to some realization of what pro athletes look like through their contracts. And we’ll all treat them the same internationally. And the age limit will help.”
Agents overseas are already sending their top prospects to the United States earlier because of the pay-for-play model. However, the market overseas could be adjusting as well. Gonzaga point guard Mario Saint-Supery recently signed what’s believed to be a multimillion-dollar, four-year deal with Spanish club Valencia. Several coaches thought that was more likely a one-off example rather than a possible trend, but it’s something to monitor during the next few cycles.
Mario Saint-Supery abruptly left Gonzaga for a Spanish club, but coaches believe that is a rare instance. (Troy Wayrynen / Reuters Connect)
Programs such as Gonzaga once dominated international recruiting, but the market has become more competitive in recent years with a bigger pool of players entering the pipeline. While most coaches believe there is more talent in the United States, a few said that the quality of top players in Europe matches the U.S. for the next few classes.
“You have some studs in Europe that I think all of us will be in some dogfights over,” one ACC assistant said.
Those top prospects will probably demand prices similar to top prospects playing abroad, but an issue one coach said he is starting to experience with agents overseas is a misunderstanding of the market.
“I think one of the things that agents in the European basketball community can struggle with is, ‘Wait, my 18-year-old isn’t ready to compete in an under-24 league?’” the first ACC assistant said. “They don’t quite understand that we’re not going to pay or play your 18-year-old right now, and it’s not because we don’t think he’s good — it’s just that he’s not ready.”
Those agents will probably still send their players to colleges — even for a lower rate than their older clients get because it’s still more than what their clubs can afford overseas.
“I think what’s going to happen with Europe is it’s going to level set again if you have to start taking kids out of one class,” a Big 12 coach said. “The last few years, we’ve been able to take kids out of five classes. You had this wide range of guys you could take. The guy could be playing for Barcelona, like real games. I think that’s going to go away, but I still think that more top European kids are going to come here, just because I don’t think the economics of European basketball — they won’t be able to invest in it, you know?
“You can’t overpay a young player out there because they can’t impact winning like they can for a college team.”
The forthcoming decisions on players such as Ellis could also dictate which players coaches recruit going forward, but in the immediate term, those decisions could have major implications on programs such as St. John’s and LSU, whose fate probably rests on the eligibility of their international commitments.
