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How many games do basketball teams play in a season
How Many Games Are In An NBA Season? (Breakdown)
As a fan of basketball, you may wonder how many games you have to look forward to in a standard NBA season.
To give teams a chance to play other teams across the country, the NBA created a season that pits teams against one another.
The season follows a formula for a certain number of games that a team plays in their own division.
We found out how many games in a typical NBA season and what you need to know about NBA seasons.
How Many Games In NBA Season? (Breakdown)
There are 82 games in a standard NBA season.
Teams play 41 of those games at home while the other 41 games are in the respective opponents’ cities.
If teams make it into the NBA finals, then they play an additional 28 games.
These series consist of seven games called the playoffs.
There are four series of seven games each.
Each series represents a different division.
The team that makes it to the final game of the finals plays will have played 110 games in an entire NBA season.
When including every team as a whole, there are 1,230 games in a season.
Special circumstances can reduce the number of games.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the NBA season had only 72 games.
Who Do Teams Play Against In The NBA Season?
A team starts the season by playing other teams in their division.
They play those teams four times for a total of 16 games.
Once the gathering multiples time of the NBA starts, a team will then play six other groups from the other two divisions.
The total number of games for this next set of games is 24.
Besides the gathering multiples, they also play the staying four groups.
Those games equate to 12 total.
Finally, the team plays the other teams in the gathering.
The total number of games played during this part of the season is 30.
When Do The NBA Playoffs Start?
Before the playoffs begin, all the teams involved in the season play their divisions.
They play their standard 82 games.
The goal is to rank high.
Only the top teams from each division can play in the playoffs.
Those teams are the ones who ranked high during their 82 games prior to the playoffs.
After the 82 games are over, the playoffs tend to start around the first or second quarter of the year.
The finals for the NBA championship are in June.
How Many NBA Teams Are There?
Shortly after forming the NBA, the organization put together 11 teams.
Since then, the sport has seen rapid expansion.
A total of 30 teams now play in the NBA.
While 29 of the teams are from the United States, one of them is based in Canada.
The 30 teams make up two conferences.
There are the Western and the Eastern Conferences.
Those conferences are then split into smaller divisions.
The divisions are regional and give a better description as to where the team is originally from.
The divisions are:
Northwest
Southwest
Central
Southeast
Pacific
Atlantic
Within each division is five teams.
They’re broken up as follows.
1. The Northwest Division
The Northwest division started in the 2004–2005 NBA season.
The teams that make up the Northwest division include:
The Denver Nuggets of Denver, CO
The Minnesota Timberwolves of Minneapolis, MN
The Utah Jazz of Salt Lake City, UT
The Oklahoma City Thunder of Oklahoma City, OK
The Portland Trail Blazers of Portland, OR
The team that’s won the most in that division is the Oklahoma City Thunder team.
They have six championships to their name.
The Denver Nuggets come in at second with five championships under their belt.
Unfortunately, the Minnesota Timberwolves have never won a championship.
During the 2020–2021 NBA season, the championship went to the Utah Jazz.
2. The Southwest Division
The Southwest division also had its inception in the 2004–2005 season.
This division has a reputation for fierce competitiveness.
The teams that make up the Southwest division include:
The Dallas Mavericks of Dallas, TX
The Memphis Grizzlies of Memphis, TN
The San Antonio Spurs of San Antonio, TX
The New Orleans Pelicans of New Orleans, LA
The Houston Rockets of Houston, TX
In the Southwest division, the San Antonio Spurs are the highest-winning team.
They have nine wins to their name.
The Houston Rockets come in at second with four wins.
The last team is the Memphis Grizzlies.
They’ve never won a Southwest division title.
The Southwest division also has four NBA championships to its name.
The Spurs won most of the championships, but the Mavericks have one once.
In the 2020–2021 season, the Dallas Mavericks won the division title.
3. The Pacific Division
The Pacific Division has been going strong since the 1970–1971 season.
At that point, the NBA had grown from 14 to 17 teams.
The teams that make up the Pacific division include:
The Golden State Warriors of San Francisco, CA
The Los Angeles Lakers of LA, CA
The Los Angeles Clippers of LA, CA
The Sacramento Kings of Sacramento, CA
The Phoenix Suns of Phoenix, AZ
The team with the most titles in the Pacific division is the Los Angeles Lakers.
They have a total of 24 titles.
The Golden State Warriors have a total of seven division titles, making them the second-most-winning team.
They also won five of their titles consecutively.
The Phoenix Suns won the most recent division title in 2020–2021.
The Pacific division also has several NBA championships to their name.
They have a total of 18 NBA championships.
Most of those championships came from the Lakers.
They won 12 NBA championships.
4. The Southeast Division
This is also another recently created division.
It started in the 2004–2005 NBA season.
It’s part of the Eastern Conference.
The teams that make up the Southeast division include:
The Atlanta Hawks of Atlanta, GA
The Charlotte Hornets of Charlotte, NC
The Miami Heat of Miami, FL
The Washington Wizards of Washington, DC
The Orlando Magic of Orlando, FL
The Miami Heat is responsible for the most division wins.
They carry 10 titles to their name.
The Orlando Magic comes in at second with four division titles.
The last spot goes to the Washington Wizards with one title.
The Miami Heat also have the record for the most consecutive wins in the Southeast division.
That record is four consecutive title wins.
The 2020–2021 title champions were the Atlanta Hawks.
There are three NBA championships that the Southwest division has claimed.
The Miami Heat won each championship.
5. The Central Division
Originally known as the Midwest division, the Central Division came out of it and added a few other teams to its roster.
It started in the 1970–1971 NBA season.
The teams that make up the Central division include:
The Chicago Bulls of Chicago, IL
The Cleveland Cavaliers of Cleveland, OH
The Indiana Pacers of Indianapolis, IN
The Detroit Pistons of Detroit, MI
The Milwaukee Bucks of Milwaukee, WI
Of those teams, the Milwaukee Bucks have the most division titles.
They have 10.
The Detroit Pistons come in second with nine division titles.
The most recent division title went to the Milwaukee Bucks for the 2020–2021 season.
The Central division claims 13 NBA championships.
The Chicago Bulls are the most responsible for the championships, earning them six.
Of all the divisions, the Central division has the most teams that have won at least one championship.
6. The Atlantic Division
The Atlantic division is the final division that makes up the NBA teams.
This division started in the 1970–1971 season.
Canada is also a part of this division.
The teams that make up the Atlantic division include:
The Philadelphia 76ers of Philadelphia, PA
The Toronto Raptors of Toronto, ON, Canada
The Boston Celtics of Boston, MA
The Brooklyn Nets of New York City, NY
The New York Knicks of New York City, NY
The Boston Celtics have the most division titles.
They have won 22 titles thus far.
They also have won the most NBA championships for the Atlantic division.
As a whole, the Atlantic division has won nine championships.
The Boston Celtics are responsible for six of those wins.
During the 2020–2021 season, the Philadelphia 76ers won the division title.
Why Does The NBA Shorten And Lengthen Seasons?
In certain circumstances, the NBA may choose to add or remove a number of games from the NBA season.
During its inception, the NBA decided to increase the number of games played in a season.
As they gained more teams to the roster, the need for more games arose.
This also helped extend the length of the season which had more fans able to visit and watch their favorite teams play at stadiums.
The 2020–2021 season saw a reduction in games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NBA wanted to do its part in protecting the players and fans.
By reducing the number of games, they gave each less of a chance of spreading the virus to one another.
They also instituted the use of bubble games.
These were games where the players had to stay isolated in hotel rooms.
They had little contact in the world, so they could stay uninfected and play the game.
How Many Games Will Be In The 2021–2022 NBA Season?
The NBA will return to its standard 82-game schedule during the 2021–2022 NBA season.
The season will start mid-October and run through mid-April.
The 2021–2022 season will mark the 75th season since the NBA started.
What Are The Most Points A Team Has Ever Scored In The NBA Championships?
During the 1983 season, the Detroit Pistons scored 186 points against the Denver Nuggets’ 184 points.
To date, 186 points are the highest point value that an NBA team has ever scored.
Has An NBA Player Ever Scored 100 Points In A Game?
Yes, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points during a game in 1962.
He was playing for the Philadelphia Warriors at the time.
They were in a match against the New York Knicks.
The Philadelphia Warriors ended up winning 169-147.
To date, Wilt Chamberlain is the only NBA player to have ever scored 100 points in a game.
Has Any Team Ever Gone Undefeated In The NBA Season?
No, none of the NBA teams have ever completed a season without losing a few matches.
The team that has come closest to remaining undefeated in a season is the Golden State Warriors.
During the 2015–2016 season, the Golden State Warriors won 73 games and only lost 9.
There has also never been a team that has only ever lost matches during the NBA season.
The team that has come closest to losing all their matches in a season is the Philadelphia 76ers.
During the 1972–1973 season, the Philadelphia 76ers won only nine games.
They lost 73 games.
Conclusion
A standard NBA season has 82 games.
When you multiply all the teams in every division together, the total number of games comes out to be 1,230.
The NBA season has its teams play against their own division before playing against other divisions in the country.
They can also add and remove the number of games in a season based on safety concerns.
Know How Many Games Are There In An NBA Season
The 2019-20 NBA season has just started. It is the 74th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). So, how many matches will team Boston Celtics play in this season? We know you’re a basketball freak. So, answer me. OK, let me ask you relatively an easier question. Do you know how many games are there in an NBA season?
NBA is a collection of 30 teams. All 30 teams are divided into two conferences with three divisions apiece. Each division consists of five teams. This means you get 15 teams in each conference.
Table of Contents
Number of Games In An NBA Season By Phases
1. Pre-Season
2. Regular Season
3. Post Season
4. Playoffs
5. Final Season
1. Pre-Season
Actually, this season is regarded as practice games for the teams. This is the time when players try to get in shape and prepare themselves ahead of the season. Thus, teams are given an opportunity to showcase their potential and analyze their playing strategy once more. There are eight preseasons games for each team.
2. Regular Season
How many games are played in the NBA regular season? During the regular season, all NBA teams play as many as 1230 games between them.
Why are there 82 games in an NBA season?
-In a regular season, each team plays 82 games. Among them, they play 41 at home and the remaining 41 games away. The NBA schedule allows each team to play with each other at least once.
A single team will face opponents in its division four times a year (4 X 4=16 games). Then, they will play with 6 teams from the other two divisions of its conference four times (6 X 4=24 games). After that they play with the remaining 4 teams from its conference three times (4 X 3=12 games). Finally, they go on to play with all the teams in other conferences twice apiece (15 X 2=30 games).
In February, the regular season gives a break to celebrate the annual NBA All-Star game. Two teams are formed. Each team consists of a 12 player squad. Fans give their votes. The top vote-getter in each conference is named captains. They also get to choose the rest of the All-Star starter. Coaches decide the remaining 14 All-Star players.
Generally, NBA regular season begins in the last week of October and ends up around the middle of the April.
3. Post Season
The All-Star game features best players from the league. It’s a mix of the league’s star players. This is actually done to regain public attention to the league. Fans select the starting lineup, and coaches choose the reserves. There is also a trade that happens shortly after the All-Star break.
So, now the regular season is over. And in this period, the voting starts for individual awards and selection of the honorary, league-wide & post-season teams.
4. Playoffs
The playoffs begin in April. Regardless of divisional alignment, the top eight teams in each conference compete for the Larry O’Brien Championship Title. Here the playoffs follow a tournament format. Seeds are awarded to teams in strict order of regular-season record. The first seed plays against the eighth seed, the second seed plays the seventh seed, the third seed plays against the sixth seed, and the fourth seed plays the fifth seed.
Each team plays in a best of seven series. One team advances to the next round and the other team are eliminated. So, here we get four teams in a single conference. They are engaged in the semifinals before the actual semifinal. So, four becomes two. Then of the final two, one team emerges as the winner of that conference.
5. Final Season
The final playoff round is also a best of seven series between the victors of both conferences. This is famously known as NBA finals. It is usually held in June. So, two teams can play up to 110 games if they reach the finals.
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This season, 8 Russians play in the NCAA. How are they? - The Interception - Blogs
Editor's Note: You are reading the user blog Interception, which talks about European basketball. Don't forget that pluses are still the best way to thank the author.
Before the start of last season, I wrote this text. Then I talked to almost all the Russians who were preparing to compete in the NCAA - there were 11 of them at that time - and tried to understand why Russian youth began to leave more massively for American universities. There have never been such a number of Russians in the NCAA.
A year and a half has passed since then, and half of the guys have parted ways: Konstantin Dotsenko is now playing in the Loko farm club, Zakhar Vedischev plays at the base of Krasnodar, Mark Tikhonenko signed a contract with Astana, Andre Toure recently played in Maykop in the second Super League, and Samson Ruzhentsev moved to the Serbian "Mega".
But some remained in America. They were joined by a few more guys who either just left Russia or got into the NCAA from American schools or the NJCAA. In this text, I will talk about all the Russians who play in the first division of the main student league in the world. If last season I wanted to explain why exactly they are leaving, now I have focused on their career.
If you prefer reading, then below is a large text with comments from the players themselves; but this time you have the opportunity not only to read, but also to watch a video about all of our in the NCAA. Inside is my story and a video interview with the guys.
If you watch a YouTube video, don't forget to thumbs up and leave a comment. This will help promote the channel. Subscribe if you love Russian basketball and want to learn more about it.
And now - the promised text about our guys in America.
What is the NCAA
The NCAA, or NCDA, is the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States and Canada. It includes almost 1300 schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions. The teams of these universities are represented not only in basketball - the NCAA also has competitions in American football, wrestling, fencing, bowling, softball, gymnastics, tennis and God knows what else.
But basketball is a very popular sport in the association. Both guys and girls have three divisions, which are ranked by strength. This text is only about those Russians who compete in the first, strongest, division.
The NCAA has a playoff called March Madness. When knockout games start, the whole country switches from professionals to students. Although during the season, the teams also have enough attention from fans: the clubs play in large and good arenas, many people come to the matches, the games are shown on television, and sometimes on national television. There are even universities whose fans spend the night in front of the arena in the hope of having time to buy a ticket.
So the NCAA is a really serious tournament, albeit a student one.
How many Russians are there
I have spent an hour and a half of my life checking the composition of all the colleges that are represented in the first division. There are 358 of them. I broke my eyes, learned about the existence of several countries and even about the presence of basketball in these countries, but still I counted all the Russians.
I got eight people, and now we will get to know them better. The sequence on my list doesn't mean anything, it's just that way because I talked to the guys in that order.
I hope I haven't missed anyone. Please write in the comments if you know someone whom I have overlooked.
Evdokimov is the newest member of the NCAA Division I. He joined the Charleston Cougars - the name of the team of the University of Charleston from South Carolina - in early December last year.
This university belongs to mid-major. In the American system, there is a gradation of universities by strength - from low-major to high-major. Mid-major is the middle level. Most Russian guys perform at universities that fall into this category.
Before moving to the USA, Nikita played for the youth team of Lokomotiv-Kuban and for the national team. Last summer, the defender represented the Russian under-20 team at the Euro Challenger, although he himself was only 18.
Evdokimov has an interesting story about how he fell in love with basketball. In fact, it is strange that he did not go to handball, because his dad is the famous Russian handball player Yegor Evdokimov. Six-time champion of Russia, champion of Spain, champion of Belarus, champion of Ukraine, participant of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. At the dawn of his career, Yegor Viktorovich played in his homeland, in the Chelyabinsk region, the city of Snezhinsk. Nikita was born there.
- I fell in love with basketball when I was 9 or 10 years old. My cousin and grandmother and I went on vacation to the Crimea. There was a playground where I constantly ran and played. Grandma suggested trying to sign up for basketball. And before that, I didn’t consider basketball as a sport at all ... But I went to a training session and instantly fell in love. Didn't miss it at all. Then Lokomotiv saw me at the Russian Championship. Together with a team from my city, from Chekhov, we took fourth place, and everyone was very surprised. I was seen by coach Petar Marinkovic, who called me to Loko, ”recalls Evdokimov.
He says that he could have been in the red-green system even earlier. He was invited to the Yug-Basket camp - this is a camp organized by the club and within which it looks for players in its youth system - but then Evdokimov was with relatives in the United States and could not come.
He ended up in the Loko system in 2017. True, Evdokimov says that, even while playing for Krasnodar, he often thought that he actually wanted to try his hand at American basketball. He has relatives living in the USA, he has been there more than once, and when the chance to move to the university appeared, he did not hesitate for a long time.
Evdokimov learned about the university's interest in him in advance, so he spent the summer with benefit: he trained individually with personal trainers in Moscow and Cyprus, where his father plays handball. There, the defender, at the request of the university coach, worked hard on three-pointers and performed at least 500 long-range shots a day.
Evdokimov will be coached at the College of Charleston by Pat Kelsey, a strong specialist who is widely known in college basketball. He once worked with Jeff Teague and Chris Paul.
Alex is not short for Alexander, but his passport name. He was not born in Russia, but in Canada, his parents went there to give birth to Alex. In this country, he lived the first year of his life, after which he left for Moscow. In memory of Canada, Alex has citizenship (he has a double one).
But he started playing basketball in Russia.
— I started playing basketball at Gloria when I was 10-11 years old. People came to my school - and I studied at an ordinary secondary school - who were looking for young guys who were ready to play basketball. They came into my class, saw that I was tall, did a couple of tests, asked me different questions and invited me to practice. I studied at Gloria for a long time, then I got into the MBA Junior Junior League, from there I was taken to the Super League. I played there for literally a year, and after graduating from high school I decided that it would be wise to go to the United States. I contacted Skryagin (Alexander Skryagin, ProFuturo Sports, - note "Interception"), because he was the only person who knows more about moving to the USA than me. We talked to him, I dropped my highlights to him, and he helped me find a school, - says Kotov.
Alex arrived in the US in 2017 and entered the Montverde Academy. This is a very famous program that prepares players for the NCAA. Kotov spent a year in Montverde and won the championship with this team, the result for the season is 35-0. Alex's partners then included, for example, RJ Barrett, who now plays for the New York Knicks in the NBA, and Turkish Efes center Philip Petrushev.
Alex left Montverde not immediately for the NCAA, but for the NJCAA. It is an association of junior colleges and is also often referred to as Juko. A common story for those who feel like they're not ready for the NCAA yet, but want to play hard and improve. Kotov spent two years in this association, after which he moved to the NCAA, to the Illinois State Redbirds team. This is also a representative university of the mid-major category.
Alex has six months left to study at the university, but he can play in the team for another two and a half years. This happened because the players have the right to use the redshirt option. In fact, this is the right of the player to extend his career at the university, even if he has already graduated from the university. Plus, there's also the "cancellation" of the season due to the coronavirus (this happened last year), which also doesn't count, as well as the "cancellation" of the season due to injury (this happened to Alex in his second year in the NJCAA).
In general, these rules are very complicated.
- Due to an injury in my second year at the NJCAA, I opted to save the year. That's plus one season. In addition, this year I had a lot of misunderstandings with the coach, it all started last year. I thought that it would be possible to influence it somehow, to establish relations with him in the summer, but it turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. Therefore, after a huge number of meetings, we came to the conclusion that this year it would be easier for me to also take the option to save the year. So this year I'm graduating from university, getting an education, but I still have, roughly speaking, two seasons to play in the NCAA, - says Kotov.
Lakhin is the only Russian who represents a high-major university. This means that the university where Vitya plays often goes to the "March Madness" and has a tangible chance of winning the NCAA.
And the story of Lakhin began in Anapa. The parents wanted to send their sons - Vitya and his brother Vasya - to some kind of team sport so that they would play together. And chose volleyball. But because of the coach, they did not last long in the volleyball section and eventually went to basketball.
Lahin started in fourth grade but quickly rose to the city team. And in the Krasnodar Territory, if you play for the city team, then you are in full view of the Lokomotiv scouts. Vitya did not play Loko on a permanent basis, but by the 7-8th grade he was regularly on the team to participate in the Russian championships. The Railroaders took him as a reinforcement player - this is a common practice in children's competitions.
Further - a matter of chance. Loko juniors played in the final stage of the Russian championship and met CSKA twice - in the group stage and in the semi-finals. Lakhin gave two good games and ... received an invitation from the "soldiers".
At first he did not think of moving anywhere and stayed to finish the season in the south. But summer came, and he still went to see it. He was offered to stay after the first practice. Vitya talked to his parents and a month later he arrived at CSKA.
- The first season was probably the most emotional, full of some moments, memories. Because my brother and I arrived for the first time in a big city. On the one hand, this is a great freedom, because there are no parents nearby, but, on the other hand, this is also a great responsibility. Because you have never done the things that your parents did for you before, like laundry, cleaning, all sorts of small things. Even a waste of money: you never thought about it before, you were given - you spent it. And here you have money, and you know that if you spend everything, then at the end of the month you won’t have any left, ”recalls Vitya.
Lakhin reached the final stage of the youth Euroleague with CSKA and spent a pretty good season overall. Alexey Zhukov, the head coach of the “army” CYBL, left to work as an assistant in Nizhny Novgorod, and Maxim Sharafan came to CSKA from Lokomotiv. He worked with Vitya for three years, and during this time Lakhin managed to understand that he wants to play in Russia only at the highest level - in CSKA - and if it doesn’t work out, then it’s better to leave.
- I realized that it would be very difficult for me to get into the base. This is a top club with the highest goals, and as a young player I need to be not even the same as everyone else, but better, because I have no experience. It was necessary here and now to show some level and bring results. Let's be realistic, there were no players who can immediately enter the CSKA system and show something like that for a long time. Probably the Swede was the last one. I realized that I can’t do that, and since my dream is to be in the NBA, I decided to move closer to this league, this Wednesday, to America. That's why I'm here, - says Vitya.
But not everything was so simple. Back in Russia, Lakhin managed to get injured. He fell in the game moment, and his knee hurt. The medical staff did not suspect anything, and Vitya continued to train. The state of health worsened, but then the pandemic came, everyone went into self-isolation, and the center just went home. The knee was still swollen, but the pain was slowly receding. Vitya did not train and therefore did not feel any signs of deterioration. He already knew that he was leaving for America, and just waited for all the permits.
The injury happened in February and the departure was due in September. In the summer, Lakhin himself did an MRI, which showed that he had ... a torn meniscus. He took the results of the examination to the surgeon who scheduled the operation. Vitya went for it and began to recover in Russia, and he came to the USA with an already operated knee.
Everything should have been fine, but when he started running, the pain returned. Lakhin did another MRI, and it showed that the same meniscus was completely torn. The doctors said that it would take six months to recover. Therefore, Vitya simply missed his first season in the NCAA.
— All this time I didn't train, but I was always with the team: in scouting, in the locker room, in training. All lessons were online, and we lived in an apartment with the team. So that year helped me a lot, because even though I didn’t play, I was in the system and I knew the guys. It was my year of adaptation - to a new culture, to people, to new faces, to food. I had the same feeling as when I came from a small town to Moscow. You leave Russia for any other country - even to America, even to Italy, even to Spain - and you go through the same thing, Lakhin believes.
He adds that the Cincinnati had a new head coach at the end of last season and it was a difficult moment. A new specialist was appointed the day before Lakhin's departure to Russia, when he did not yet understand whether he would remain in the team for the next season or not. Whether to leave it, decided the new head coach. But in the end, the center managed to meet with him before departure and find a common language. The coach wanted to protect the Russians in the composition.
During the summer Vitya worked in the USA on his body and improved his skills. The season began in October, and in December, Lahin was the best freshman of the week in his conference. By the way, he has a situation similar to Alex: academically, Lahin is a sophomore, but he is considered a rookie in the team.
Andrey Savrasov, Georgia Southern Eagles
2021/22 stats: 14 games, 23.7 minutes average
11.9 points (51.5% 2-point, 30% 3-point, 73.1% free throws), 6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.4 block shots, 0.9 interceptions, 1 loss Andrey's first coach is a well-known Russian specialist Oleg Aktsipetrov.
— I remember that at first I had very different hobbies: football, basketball, taekwondo… But after the first two or three years of training, I realized that basketball is really mine, that I want to do just that. Slowly, I began to play for the sports school of the Admiralteisky district, for the Zenit Junior Junior League, played for the Russian national team U16, U18. We went to different tournaments, and somewhere the scouts saw my game and invited me to the USA, says Savrasov.
Andrey moved to America three years ago - in January 2019of the year. Now he is finishing his third year at the university, in the American education system it is possible to start studying in the middle of the academic year and, accordingly, then graduate also in the middle of the academic year.
Savrasov managed to play for the Texas Tech team, where he spent a year and a half. The first six months he did not play, he spent in redshirt mode - he trained, worked on his body, was with the team, but did not play for it. But the next season already played in the status of a freshman, that is, a freshman.
Andrei didn't get much playing time, but he still wanted to stay at the university. It was a high-major, and Savrasov wanted to prove that he deserved another role.
But then I talked to the head coach, and together they decided that it would be better to change the university in order to continue their career. The coach even helped find a new team, and that's how Savrasov ended up in Georgia, in the Georgia Southern Eagles team. This is a mid-major university.
Now in his second year with the new team, he is in the starting five and generally has a good role on the court. In theory, Andrei can play for the university for another two years, although he graduates from the university in a year.
Vladislav Goldin, Florida Atlantic Owls
2021/22 stats: 14 games, 16.5 minutes average
5.7 points (47.9% 2-pointers, no 3-pointers, 52.2% free throws), 5.5 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.6 block shots, 0.4 interceptions, 1.3 losses He played with his 2001, but at some point the team just fell apart and disappeared.
Goldin was sent to play by the year 2000, and the coach of this team turned out to be familiar with the coach of CSKA-DYuBL. Vlad and another guy were offered to the "soldiers" - just to look at them. But the screening went well, and after one of the training sessions, Vlad was offered to move to Moscow. New school, new surroundings, heavy loads, training twice a day - Vlad says that the first six months in the capital were the most difficult time in his life.
- At that time, I probably did not quite understand where I was moving and how much it changed. To be honest, I didn't even really know what DUBL was. Wasn't very knowledgeable. Youth League, Junior Team, Superleague… I knew the tournaments where we played: first the Southern Federal District, then the Russian Championship. When I found out that I was already in Moscow and had to go to the CYBL team for a tryout, I even got scared. But they left me, and I trained at CSKA for another four years. Then he played for the Russian national team U18 and U19, after which he received an offer to try himself in America. I decided to take a chance and moved there to the Prep school,” says Goldin.
Prep school is short for preparatory school. In essence, this is an opportunity to play basketball in the USA before going to university.
In October 2019, Vlad entered Patnam School in Connecticut. This is a small private school about an hour from Boston. Together with the team, Goldin became the champion of America in the championship among preparatory schools.
After that, Vlad was called to Texas, to the Texas Tech team - to the same team where Andrey Savrasov played for a year and a half. Goldin saw that this was a big and serious high-major team, saw the conditions for training and accepted their invitation without hesitation.
— In Texas, things are a little different. The way we played there was not like the way I played before, so the first experience was difficult. And then the head coach left us, replacing TexasTech with Texas. Most of the coaching staff left with him, and our team did not quite understand what to do. Only the assistant coach remained with us. And in the end, I decided to move to another team, to Florida, - say Goldin.
Due to the coronavirus, Vlad has the same situation as most student athletes: academically he is a sophomore, but the last sports season did not count, so he is a freshman in the team. Goldin has three years left to study, and he can play four more.
He himself says that his current team plays more European basketball, so he feels great there.
Alexander Glushkov, Appalachian State Mountaineers
2021/22 stats: 7 games, 4.7 minutes average
2 points (60% 2-pointers, 0% 3-pointers, 33.3% free throws), 1 .1 rebounds, no assists, 0.1 blocks, 0.1 steals, no losses
Born in Vladivostok, Glushkov started playing basketball at the age of 13 when he went to summer camp. I came home and told my father: "I want to play basketball." Parents sent Sasha to the section.
Glushkov's first coach is Eduard Sushko. After a year of working with him, Sasha was invited to the Spartak-Primorye system. He played in the Junior Junior League for a year, after which the entire management of the team and almost the entire squad moved to the PSC Sakhalin. At the same time, the base of the club remained in Vladivostok. Glushkov spent a year in the new club, after which he received an invitation from Moscow, from the IBA. His coach Alexander Antipov invited him.
And then it was a matter of chance, and a year later Sasha was already flying to the USA to study at school.
— I came to Moscow and played there for a year. When we were preparing for the Summer Spartakiad in Krasnaya Pakhra at the Trinta base, a coach from the USA arrived there. He was familiar with Alexander Antipov, because before that our guy had already played at the same school. He came just to relax, but he also wanted to look at the players. He probably liked me, and he invited me to school. I took the chance and got into high school. I spent 11-12 classes there, received several offers and decided that I would play in Appalachian State, says Glushkov.
Now Sasha is in his second year, but as you know, last year doesn't count. So Glushkov is considered a “freshman” in the team and can play for the university for another three and a half years, while he has two and a half to study.
When Sasha arrived at the university, he weighed about 90 kg. But now he has noticeably added muscle mass. He began to grow muscles during the last season, but he did the main work in the summer. Due to problems with visas, he could not go home to Russia, and he went to a friend in Houston. There he lived for a month, ate a lot and rocked. As a result, he entered the new season in excellent physical shape. True, the coach still does not really trust him.
Glushkov University is a mid-major who, last year, entered March Madness for the first time in 20 years. Sasha was not released then, but he nevertheless felt the atmosphere of the main student event of the year. Here's what he says about it:
- It was ... unbelievable (unbelievable - approx. "Interception"). Very cool feeling. 64 top teams, all at the highest level. We had two or three hotels, each floor was dedicated to a specific team. I don’t know how much it could be called the same “March Madness”, because, of course, all the measures were taken anyway. We had a quarantine, we had to be tested every day. And so everything was at the highest level,” recalls Glushkov.
David has probably the most atypical fate among all our guys who now play in the first division of the NCAA.
Didenko was born in the north, in the city of Yakutsk. He remembers his childhood quite vividly: he says that the city authorities allowed not to go to school at -45 degrees Celsius, and if the thermometer was only -43, you had to pull yourself together, stick yourselves into a thick down jacket and stomp to school.
— I had a healthy down jacket, maybe five centimeters. I walked around like a big bubble. When I was 8 or 9 years old, we had -57 degrees in winter. Very cold. I didn’t leave the house for two days,” Didenko recalls.
In 2010, David ended up in the USA even before he started playing basketball. He was 10. His older sister was leaving for New York to study English, and David just went with her for a month.
While still in Russia, they found him something to do in the USA. On the classifieds website, the family looked at a message from a Russian coach who lived there, his name was Boris Karebin. The coach was needed so that David would not just mess around in the States.
But the boy got so caught up in basketball that he eventually wanted to stay. Parents allowed, and he went to an American school. Karebin trained him in Brighton Beach, this is a Russian-speaking area, so immersion in American culture was gradual.
— I first lived in New York, where I arrived, and then I traveled. Lived in Florida, then studied in Georgia, in Tennessee. I travel a lot around the country - sometimes I live there, sometimes there. Somehow I quickly learned English, apparently because I was still young. Literally in a year. In Russia, I studied English for three classes, but could not learn it. Here I first lived with my sister, she pushed me to talk to people, and somehow everything turned out by itself, - says Didenko.
David spent his first year after school in Juko. Remember the story of Alex Kotov? This is the same league that prepares players who have not yet grown up to the NCAA. But already in the second year, Didenko ended up in the first division, at the University of Georgia.
He is currently a UT Martin Skyhawks player, where UT is the University of Tennessee. Accordingly, David now lives and studies in this state. He has a year and a half left at the university, and he can still play the same amount at the university level.
At the same time, he is 21 years old and automatically enters the NBA draft next year. In mocks - that is, expert predictions - he is not drafted, but he still has to play the whole season, so everything is in his hands.
Last on the list - not by value, but simply because he is the only Russian I could not contact - Pavel Zakharov from California Baptist Lancers.
Zakharov was born in Sør-Varanger, Norway. In Russia, Pasha played for the Zenit youth team and helped CSKA play in the youth Euroleague, and in 2018, after playing for the Russian U18 team at the European Championship, he left for the Montverde Academy. We talked about it a little earlier.
He was considered a four-star recruit. In American sports, when they want to talk about the prospects of a particular player, they talk about him in terms of stars, and four stars is very good. Such an assessment helped him get into the Gonzaga College in the NCAA - this is one of the top programs, which, for example, reached the NCAA finals last season, having suffered its first loss of the season in this very final. Pasha then did not go to the parquet. A year before, the team did not get into the "March Madness" only because the championship was stopped due to a pandemic.
Zakharov spent two seasons at this university and moved to the California Baptist Lancers in the summer of 2021. Most likely due to playing time, because, obviously, it was much more difficult to get it in Gonzaga. But even at the new university, he still has an average of 10 minutes on the floor and one and a half rebounds. By the way, about playing on the shields: the height of the Russian center is 213 centimeters, in America these guys are called seven-footers.
This is almost all I know about Pavel Zakharov.
It seems that the Russians in the first division of the NCAA are over. If you know someone else that I forgot, please write in the comments.
Thank you for your attention! I will be glad if you share the text or video with your friends who are interested in young Russian players. Well, thumbs up, comments, subscriptions to YouTube - everything is traditional.
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Photo: official websites of clubs, personal archives of players; twitter.com; instagram.com; cskabasket.com
Season 2022/23: two new participants, 4-round regular season starting from the semi-finals
A meeting of the Council of the VTB United League took place in Moscow today.
It was attended by the leadership of the VTB United League, representatives of participating clubs and members of the federations of the playing countries. Several changes have been made since last season.
Firstly, two new clubs will compete in the VTB United League - Moscow MBA and Samara. Thus, the number of participants increased to 12. Russia is represented by 10 teams at once (Avtodor, Yenisei, Zenit, Lokomotiv-Kuban, MBA, Nizhny Novgorod, PARMA, Samara, UNICS and CSKA), one each from Kazakhstan (“Astana”) and Belarus (“Tsmoki-Minsk”).
Secondly, the format of the regular season has changed. At the first stage, 12 participants will play in two rounds, after which they will be divided into two groups - A (1-6th places) and B (7-12th places). At the second stage, the teams will again play each other in two rounds within their groups (10 matches each). According to the results of the regular season (it starts in early October), the top 8 teams will determine the champion in the playoffs.
Thirdly, the number of matches in the playoffs itself will increase. If last season only the final series took place before 4 wins, now the series of 7 matches will be held starting from the semi-finals. In the 1/4 finals, the teams will still play up to 3 wins.
Vladimir Dyachok, Executive Director of the Russian Basketball Federation
- Two new Russian players have joined the VTB United League. And they deservedly entered. Both Samara and MBA have built the entire basketball vertical - from children's teams to a professional club. We hope that in the structure of these two clubs, after some time, the second teams will appear, which will be able to play in the Super League.
This also applies to other members of the VTB United League. Vivid examples for them are CSKA and Lokomotiv-Kuban. These clubs run their youngsters not only in the youth league, but also in games with older men, which allows them to progress faster.
In general, in connection with the new realities, additional opportunities for the growth of Russian players have appeared. At the same time, new jobs for coaches appeared. It should be noted that the newcomers of the VTB United League were headed by specialists who had previously been the head coaches of the Russian national team: in Samara it was Sergey Bazarevich, in the MBA it was Vasily Karasev.
Post Season
Then, they will play with 6 teams from the other two divisions of its conference four times (6 X 4=24 games). After that they play with the remaining 4 teams from its conference three times (4 X 3=12 games). Finally, they go on to play with all the teams in other conferences twice apiece (15 X 2=30 games).
Fans select the starting lineup, and coaches choose the reserves. There is also a trade that happens shortly after the All-Star break.
They are engaged in the semifinals before the actual semifinal. So, four becomes two. Then of the final two, one team emerges as the winner of that conference.
Last summer, the defender represented the Russian under-20 team at the Euro Challenger, although he himself was only 18. 
Then Lokomotiv saw me at the Russian Championship. Together with a team from my city, from Chekhov, we took fourth place, and everyone was very surprised. I was seen by coach Petar Marinkovic, who called me to Loko, ”recalls Evdokimov. 
There, the defender, at the request of the university coach, worked hard on three-pointers and performed at least 500 long-range shots a day. 
They came into my class, saw that I was tall, did a couple of tests, asked me different questions and invited me to practice. I studied at Gloria for a long time, then I got into the MBA Junior Junior League, from there I was taken to the Super League. I played there for literally a year, and after graduating from high school I decided that it would be wise to go to the United States. I contacted Skryagin (Alexander Skryagin, ProFuturo Sports, - note "Interception"), because he was the only person who knows more about moving to the USA than me. We talked to him, I dropped my highlights to him, and he helped me find a school, - says Kotov. 
This means that the university where Vitya plays often goes to the "March Madness" and has a tangible chance of winning the NCAA. 
Lakhin gave two good games and ... received an invitation from the "soldiers". 
Alexey Zhukov, the head coach of the “army” CYBL, left to work as an assistant in Nizhny Novgorod, and Maxim Sharafan came to CSKA from Lokomotiv. He worked with Vitya for three years, and during this time Lakhin managed to understand that he wants to play in Russia only at the highest level - in CSKA - and if it doesn’t work out, then it’s better to leave. 
Lakhin did another MRI, and it showed that the same meniscus was completely torn. The doctors said that it would take six months to recover. Therefore, Vitya simply missed his first season in the NCAA. 
Whether to leave it, decided the new head coach. But in the end, the center managed to meet with him before departure and find a common language. The coach wanted to protect the Russians in the composition. 
Slowly, I began to play for the sports school of the Admiralteisky district, for the Zenit Junior Junior League, played for the Russian national team U16, U18. We went to different tournaments, and somewhere the scouts saw my game and invited me to the USA, says Savrasov. 
Vlad and another guy were offered to the "soldiers" - just to look at them. But the screening went well, and after one of the training sessions, Vlad was offered to move to Moscow. New school, new surroundings, heavy loads, training twice a day - Vlad says that the first six months in the capital were the most difficult time in his life. 
And in the end, I decided to move to another team, to Florida, - say Goldin. 
He played in the Junior Junior League for a year, after which the entire management of the team and almost the entire squad moved to the PSC Sakhalin. At the same time, the base of the club remained in Vladivostok. Glushkov spent a year in the new club, after which he received an invitation from Moscow, from the IBA. His coach Alexander Antipov invited him. 
"Interception"). Very cool feeling. 64 top teams, all at the highest level. We had two or three hotels, each floor was dedicated to a specific team. I don’t know how much it could be called the same “March Madness”, because, of course, all the measures were taken anyway. We had a quarantine, we had to be tested every day. And so everything was at the highest level,” recalls Glushkov. 
Lived in Florida, then studied in Georgia, in Tennessee. I travel a lot around the country - sometimes I live there, sometimes there. Somehow I quickly learned English, apparently because I was still young. Literally in a year. In Russia, I studied English for three classes, but could not learn it. Here I first lived with my sister, she pushed me to talk to people, and somehow everything turned out by itself, - says Didenko. 
In mocks - that is, expert predictions - he is not drafted, but he still has to play the whole season, so everything is in his hands. 
Such an assessment helped him get into the Gonzaga College in the NCAA - this is one of the top programs, which, for example, reached the NCAA finals last season, having suffered its first loss of the season in this very final. Pasha then did not go to the parquet. A year before, the team did not get into the "March Madness" only because the championship was stopped due to a pandemic. 
Several changes have been made since last season. 
In the 1/4 finals, the teams will still play up to 3 wins. 
