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How many games in the ncaa basketball season
GAME OF BASKETBALL
INTRODUCTION
In order to determine the nutrition and hydration needs of a basketball player, and develop plans to help meet those needs, the structure of game day, practices, and the off-season must be considered. The rules of the game, which allow for frequent substitutions, time-outs, breaks between quarters (high school and professional) and a halftime break, lend themselves to incorporating good nutrition and hydration habits. These habits should be developed and maintained in practices and training sessions throughout the year.
An actual game of basketball is of fairly short duration, ranging from 32-48 min of total playing time depending on the level. However, like any sport, players have responsibilities before and after a game, during which time nutrition and hydration should also be a consideration. During the season, practices will vary in duration and intensity, although most teams will practice, lift weights, prepare with film sessions, or compete six days per week. Basketball is a long season; for high school and college athletes it spans semesters and the holidays, which in many cases influences the nutrition and training of the athletes. Tournaments and playoffs provide unique challenges with multiple games in one day or games on consecutive days. Lastly, although off-season expectations vary based on the level, most basketball players are engaged and hydration plans should be developed within the structure of the game as well as with consideration for training and practices throughout the season and year-round.
PART I: HIGH SCHOOL
Alan Stein
Introduction
High school is a unique time period in working with athletes because of the wide range of age, maturity, and physical stature. Regardless of these differences, in general, many high school basketball players have poor nutritional habits, do not get sufficient sleep, and lack proper recovery and training techniques. Addressing these issues is vital to keeping players healthy and maximizing their performance.
The Competitive Season
High school basketball games usually occur 2–3 times per week and are structured as four 8-min quarters with a 10-min halftime. Most high schools will play 25–35 games per season, depending on tournament play. The structure of game day varies widely amongst high schools. Some may have a walk-through or shoot-around right after school on weekdays and in the morning of a weekend game. Coaches may have a set meal coordinated with a walk-through; others leave it up to the individual athletes and parents. During the warm-up, most coaches will take the team into the locker room at a set time, which can be used as a planned fueling opportunity. Because of the great variability in schedules and strategies of different coaches, as well as school rules on eating and drinking during the day, an individual approach needs to be used to ensure players are adequately fueled.
The frequency of practices during the season will vary depending on the game schedule, but are usually 4–5 times per week, approximately 2 hours in duration, and consist of moderate to high-intensity drills focused on skill work, conditioning, and offensive and defensive sets and schemes. The afternoon prior to most games, teams usually gather for 30–45 min to discuss the opponent’s scouting report, walk through plays, and get in additional shooting practice of low to moderate intensity. In addition, some coaches hold film sessions before practices 1–2 times per week, which require about 15–20 min of mental intensity. Most coaches will also maintain in-season strength workouts about 1–2 times per week, 20–30 min in duration, with moderate intensity. The timing of practices and workouts varies greatly, often due to gym availability and coaches’ schedules, since most don’t coach basketball full time. The player’s lunch schedule and school policies are another consideration. Therefore, high school players need help in determining not only the right foods to eat, but also the right time to eat in relation to their school day and practice/training/game schedules.
The Off-Season
The landscape of high school basketball in the United States has changed vastly over the past 20 years. For both males and females, the now year-round mental and physical demands of the sport are at an all-time high, as is the competition to earn a college scholarship. The two biggest changes include specializing in basketball at an earlier age and participation on AAU travel teams in addition to their high school team, thus making it a year-round sport. The structure of practices and training programs of high school basketball players should be adjusted accordingly to accommodate for these two trends. For example, players participating in the sport at this level of commitment could benefit from a year-round strength and conditioning program focused on injury prevention, using sound recovery techniques (including adequate sleep), and developing good nutrition and hydration habits.
PART II: COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Jeffery Stein, DPT, ATC
Introduction
Collegiate basketball athletes usually range in age from about 18–22 years. While physically and physiologically they are a more uniform group than a high school team, maturity levels vary greatly. The transition during the freshman year can be difficult for some as they move away from home for the first time. Transition challenges include establishing healthy eating and sleeping habits. Also during the freshman year, players are usually introduced to more intense collegiate strength and conditioning programs, and many players will greatly change their body composition over their collegiate careers.
Lastly, the student-athletes have class, practice, and eating schedules that vary each day and from semester to semester. Athletes must be able to juggle their academic schedules and the demands of their sport, as well as the social environment of a college campus. The day-to-day variability in schedules means preparation is important for proper fueling throughout the day.
The Competitive Season
College basketball games are structured with two 20–min halves with a 15–min halftime. Many colleges will play about 25–35 games per season, depending on the level (NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, or NJCAA) and tournament play. NCAA teams must follow the 20–hr rule, which states teams are allowed up to 20 hrs of team activities per week, not including competition. Team-related activities can include practice, film, and weight training. Most programs will practice 4–6 days per week, depending on the game schedule, and practices may be up to 3 h of high-intensity work. In addition to on-court time, athletes are expected to attend film sessions, strength train, and attend to injuries in the training room when needed. Overall, the time commitment is greater than as a high school athlete. The travel requirement during the competitive season is also greater and, depending on the level, more time-intensive. While the top Division I programs charter flights to return home the night after a game, smaller schools rely on bus trips and spend significant time on the road. The provision of food and nutrition services also varies based on level. Most top-level schools have a sports dietitian on staff for consultation and education, but even at the Division I level, the use of a registered dietician varies greatly between schools. At the majority of the major and mid-major universities, athletes are provided a “training table,” or a cafeteria with foods selected specifically for the athletes. However, per NCAA rules, only one meal at the training table can be provided per day while the athletes are on campus. Snacks, such as fruits, nuts, and bagels, can also be provided along with occasional meals on special occasions. At smaller schools, athletes rely on their own cafeteria plan, and the budget is often limited to provide meals and snacks on the road. Overall, the demands of the sport increase at the collegiate level compared to the HS and AAU levels, along with the increased demands placed on the athlete to also handle their academic, family, and social lives. The increased demands combined with the increased independence of the athlete make it difficult to ensure that they are appropriately fueling and getting enough rest.
The Off-Season
The majority of collegiate basketball players are one-sport athletes and dedicate the off-season to improving their game, although multi-sport athletes are found at every level of competition. Most collegiate basketball players will be given a short time off after the competitive season, usually 2–4 weeks, to recharge and catch up on family and school matters as necessary before starting back with skill work and strength and conditioning workouts.
Basketball commitments during the off-season will vary depending on the level and coaching demands. Spring semester workouts can range from captain-led workouts and open gyms to coach-led individual skill workouts that vary from 1 to 5 athletes at a time. The non-competitive season is also prime time for the strength and conditioning program to ramp up to work toward the specific goals set for each athlete. During the summer, athletes at smaller colleges are usually at home and often balance an off-season training program provided by their coach with a summer job. At larger schools, the athletes are usually on campus for summer school and summer workouts. These workouts include strength and conditioning sessions 3–5 days per week and on-court workouts with the coaches. Overall, during the off-season the NCAA allows up to 8 h of team-related activity per week, 2 h of which can be direct contact, with the basketball coaches on the court.
Back on campus in the fall, again the commitment will vary depending on the level. Most teams will start up with open gyms and strength and conditioning workouts as soon as the athletes arrive back on campus. Shortly after the start of the school year, individual workouts might take place with the coaching staffs. During the preseason, coaches can work with players on the court for up to 2 h per week, preparing for the competitive season.
PART III: PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL
Jack Ransone, PhD, ATC
Introduction
The best of the best basketball players make it to the professional level. For the first time, the athlete’s schedule is completely dedicated to the sport; however, there are also increased demands for the athlete’s time for charity work, endorsements, social obligations, etc.
The Competitive Season
For male athletes in the United States, the National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season runs October-April, with the playoffs extending into June. It is not unusual to play 3 to 4 games per week with the possibility of competing on back-to-back days. Each team plays 8 preseason games and 82 games in the regular season. Teams competing in the World Championship finals will play over 100 games in a season and postseason. Women play in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), whose regular season of 34 games runs June—September, with playoffs extending into October. For both leagues, most team practices are short (less than 1 h) and infrequent due to game and travel demands. Travel requirements are extensive, including a minimum of 42 regular season games on the road for the NBA and 17 for the WNBA. Both the NBA and WNBA have the luxury of traveling by charter airplane and staying at the best 5-star hotels with excellent restaurants. Many teams also employ or consult with a sports dietitian. However, nutrition is still a challenge, as most players seek meals on their own at restaurants outside the control of the team. Additionally, during a game, hydration is always a challenge. Inadequate hydration during competition can be further compromised by the demand for air travel immediately post game (low humidity environment of the fuselage) for half of the regular season games. Given the length of the regular season, frequency of games, and travel demands, proper nutrition and hydration practices are important and should be planned into the schedule wherever possible.
The Off-Season
Professional athletes are employed based on their ability to stay competitive. Therefore, the off-season is a period of time to recover from the long season, rehab injuries, develop a base fitness level, and focus on skill development. Overall the schedule is very individual. For example, younger NBA players might play in the summer league, while veterans may focus more on recovery and some specific skill work. All players will participate in training camp and preseason games, essentially extending the competitive season.
College basketball season starts in 68 days: Get ready with 68 names, games, storylines to know for 2022-23
Football gets going in earnest, on the college side, this week/weekend. The NFL's start is merely eight days away.
So, now is quite clearly an optimal time for some optimism on college hoops, yeah? What we have here, in fact, is a calendar-induced piece of content. Wednesday marks 68 days until the start of the 2022-23 season. We're more than 75% of the way through the offseason. Woohoo!
Can we rev up our engines of anticipation just a little? I think it's time. Preview season is almost here, so consider this an inception to 2022-23. School is back in session, summer's effectively over. It's time to look ahead with a happy hoops hodgepodge of facts, predictions, things to know and what to be excited about for a season that will be here before you know it.
1. If you did the math and think a mistake was made re: 68 days until season-openers, alas, no. The '22-23 season will indeed begin on Nov. 7 -- a Monday. The reason: it's the day before Election Day, and so there was an initiative to get teams to play on Monday instead of a day of civic duty and engagement. (Many teams decided to abide by this, but some still opted to play on Nov. 8.) It's an uncommon occurrence. And unfortunately, it will make for an underwhelming opening.
2. The best game of the opening night of the season? Murray State at Saint Louis, I guess? Memphis is also playing at Vanderbilt. Uh, hey there, Oral Roberts-Saint Mary's. It's not ideal.
3. If you're wondering why the Champions Classic isn't slotted on opening night like usual, again, check the calendar. Monday night in November = Monday Night Football on ESPN. College basketball has no place in that house, let alone at that table. The Champions Classic will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 15, and as always features Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.
4. Meantime, the projected top team in the sport won't have a high-profile game until the Friday after Thanksgiving. That team: North Carolina. Don't take it from me (I'm not convinced of that yet), take it from the coaches. They just voted the Tar Heels as the best team in our Candid Coaches series. If UNC winds up as preseason AP No. 1 it will mark the first time since 2016 that North Carolina has started a season No. 1and the 10th time overall that Carolina's landed preseason top billing. That would break a tie with -- of course -- Duke (nine apiece). More trivia for you. The last time UNC wasn't ranked in the preseason: 2006.
5. If UNC isn't the best team, then is itGonzaga? The Bulldogs sit atop the CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1. Mustachioed muck-a-muck Drew Timme, arguably college hoops' most famous player, is back for his senior season. Gonzaga is coming off a definitive Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas. I was there. In the aftermath, I wrote this. At the time, I thought Timme would opt to leave college. Thankfully, he didn't. It seems Gonzaga has one more big-window year of opportunity to win a national championship. Will Mark Few and Co. do it?
6. Speaking of Timme, you'll be forgiven if you think this is the Year of the Big. In fact, college hoops has had many Years of the Big in recent seasons, and will likely continue to feature more traditional 4s and 5s as the NBA continues to relegate such players. It's no longer a once-every-few-years trend; this is the norm, and it's a good thing for college hoops. That in mind, the best of the bigs figure to be Timme, reigning NPOY Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), Armando Bacot (UNC), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Zach Edey (Purdue) and Hunter Dickinson (Michigan), among many others. The aforementioned oaks are prime preseason first/second/third team All-American candidates.
7. Kentucky is playing Gonzaga on Nov. 20, and when that happens, it will be historic and rare in terms of head-to-head credentials of established stars.
Oscar Tshiebwe vs Drew Timme on November 20 will be the first matchup between a returning AP Player of the Year and a returning 2-time AP All-American since…
December 1, 1973:
2-time POY Bill Walton and (1) UCLA beat 2-time All-American Tom McMillen and (4) Maryland, 65-64.
— Jared Berson (@JaredBerson) August 4, 2022
8. Hoops on the high seas! It's been a decade since a college basketball game took place on an aircraft carrier. They said it wouldn't be done again and they were wrong! Gonzaga vs. Michigan State is scheduled to tip on the USS Abraham Lincoln on Veterans Day (Nov. 11). That's the first Friday of '22-23 and should have served as the start of the season. Gonzaga will almost definitely be ranked in the top three, while Michigan State is also destined to have a number next to its name in the preseason polls.
9. The biggest regular season spectacle will be the game on the ship, but the biggest regular season event is the return of the Phil Knight-themed, 16-team, dual basketball tournament happening the week of Thanksgiving in Portland, Oregon. It'sthe PK85, in honor of Knight's 85th birthday. All 16 men's teams (and eight women's teams) are Nike-backed schools. I was there in 2017 and it was magnificent. I expect more of the same this year. Notable teams involved: North Carolina, Gonzaga, Duke, Michigan State, UConn, Purdue and Alabama, among others. Strangely absent again: Kentucky (a Nike school).
After a three-year hiatus, the Lahaina Civic Center will once again host the Maui Invitational. Getty Images
10. The Maui Invitational is back to normal this season. This year marks the event's return to Hawaii for the first time since 2019, due to COVID-19. The teams: Arkansas, Creighton, Arizona, Ohio State, San Diego State, Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Louisville. Every team except Creighton has a hue of red as a dominant feature in its colorway, so watch the red-less Bluejays go out and win the thing.
11. Duke after Coach K. First big game is against Kansas in the Champions Classic. How will Jon Scheyer do in Year One? He brings in the top-rated freshman class to pair up with one returning starter from last season's Final Four team. Fortunately, that starter is in charge of running the offense. Welcome back, Jeremy Roach.
12.College basketball after K. It's one thing to see how Scheyer adapts and how Duke transitions for the first time in 43 years without having Krzyzewski on the sidelines or running the program. That's going to be a storyline for not just this season, but really at least the first three years of Scheyer's go of it. Beyond that, for me and for a majority of people reading this, '22-23 will be the first time we'll experience a college basketball season that won't have K coaching in it. That's going to take some getting used to. He was a fixture, an institution, the greatest coach in basketball. That void will in part eventually have to be filled by someone. But it won't be …
13.Villanova after Jay will be almost as drastic as Duke after K. Jay Wright's retirement on April 20 was a stunner. At 60 years old, it seemed like he was poised to coach another five years at least and become the conscience of college basketball. Instead, former assistant Kyle Neptune is now manning the best program in the Big East, a top-three program in the past decade and historically one of the 10 best programs in the sport's history. How's this going to go?
14. Kansas' encore … or lack thereof? Bill Self winning a second national championship was one of those things that seemed inevitable. If he stuck around long enough, it was going to happen; he's too great of a coach not to join that club. Kansas has been top-10-good all but a few years over the past near-two-decades in the Self era. Will the champs be able to keep that going, or will the IARP case that continues to grow mold eventually be settled and lead to punishments that hamper KU's outlook on the season ahead? Something to monitor as we draw closer to the season. For Self's part, he begrudgingly took on a school-imposed ban on in-person recruiting this past offseason.
15. It's fair to declare that '22-23 is the most pressure-packed season of John Calipari's career as a college coach. Thanks to a nine-win season two years ago (amid COVID chaos) and losing as a No. 2 seed to No. 15 seed Saint Peter's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament back in March, Kentucky fans are irritated. Cal also lost coveted assistant Jai Lucas to Scheyer and Duke. He then received blowback for his mid-August comments centered around his belief that UK's practice facilities should be upgraded, insulting the football program and coach Mark Stoops in the process. Fortunately for Calipari, he seems to have a team capable of making a Final Four run, so this bluster has the potential to blow away if the pieces fit. If not, the drama may find a new volume.
16-20. Five seniors to know. We'll go all four year classifications and start with the vets. I'll go five apiece for each class and will avoid having the same team represented twice. The list starts with Tshiebwe, who will try to become the first player since Ralph Sampson in the early 1980s to win national player of the year in consecutive seasons. If he doesn't do it, it might be because Timme leads Gonzaga to another 1-seed campaign and ups his already-impressive averages. Then again, North Carolina's Armando Bacot is coming off a record-breaking six-game run in the NCAA Tournament. He's a strong third option for preseason POY. Two other seniors, both on the West Coast: UCLA's Jaime Jacquez has a viable claim as the nation's most underrated player heading into the season; at San Diego State, Matt Bradley could be the MVP of a Mountain West team that will have its sights on a No. 3 seed or better.
Hunter Dickinson averaged 18. 6 points and 8.6 rebounds as one of the five best players in the Big Ten. Getty Images
21-25. Players to know: the juniors. We'll lead with Dickinson at Michigan, who healthily increased his averages last season, and if anything, was slightly underappreciated in a Big Ten chock-full of big-time attractions. The Big Ten probably has the best array of juniors, as Dickinson will have two other bigs he'll compete with for player of the year in IU's Jackson-Davis and Edey at Purdue. If a wing is going to steal the show like last year, Iowa's Kris Murray is the best bet. One more junior to put on your radar and it's another big: UConn stalwart Adama Sanogo might be due for a star turn.
26-30. Players to know: the sophomores. You want to know how much influence recruiting rankings have over players' draft decisions? Emoni Bates, who will be a sophomore at Eastern Michigan, is the only player in 247 Sports' rankings from the top 15 of 2021 who is going to play college this season. And the only reason Bates is going to play college is because he was not eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft. He'll be an intrigue machine at Eastern Michigan, which is based in his hometown of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Aside from Bates, four more sophomores piquing my interest are Creighton's Ryan Nembhard (could grow into the best point guard in the country), Texas' Tyrese Hunter (transferred from Iowa State), Stanford's Harrison Ingram (Stanford will be desperate for him to be a stat monster) and NC State's Terquavion Smith (maybe the best player who opted not to remain in the draft).
31-35. Players to know: the freshmen. I wouldn't call this a megawatt class, but there are marquee attractions and sure-fire lottery talents across the country. The five newbies who intrigue me most are Duke big Derrick Lively, Arkansas guard Nick Smith, Baylor combo Keyonte George, Kansas wing Gradey Dick and South Carolina tweener G.G. Jackson. Lively will be one of many highly ranked frosh at Duke, whereas Smith could be the talent to send Arkansas to its first Final Four in 27 years. George could be the best Baylor freshman ever, and Dick will probably have to be a shooting machine to give Kansas a shot at winning the Big 12. As for Jackson, he reclassified and has given South Carolina fans as much optimism heading into a season as they've had in ages.
36. The NIL game in college hoops will hit its next phase. In light of how UNC players were able to capitalize on their unexpected push to the national title game, I think the good-hearted NIL stories will get even better, more creative and more noteworthy in the second season of this new era. I don't know if college hoops has a Decoldest Crawford-type dream NIL pairing, but I think the positive stories surrounding this will bring more good pub to the sport. Then you've got Nijel Pack at Miami, whose $400,000 deal was intentionally made public when it was signed in May. That will put a spotlight on him akin to an NBA player being scrutinized for performance due to his salary. A consequence of this new era.
37. There are some coaching homecomings to track, three of them in the Big East. The biggest splash is Sean Miller's return to Xavier. He went 120-47 in his five previous seasons there (2004-09), helping set the table for a few years down the road when X upgraded from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East. A lot of people in college basketball believe this was a home run, maybe the best hire of 2022 (Arizona baggage and all). It seems like it's going to work. I've got more on Xavier below.
Thad Matta returns to coaching at his alma mater after stepping away at Ohio State in 2017 USATSI
38.Thad Matta's return to Butler. Matta, a BU alum, spent only one season at Butler back in 2000-01 before getting the Xavier job. He last coached in 2017, resigning from Ohio State because of health issues stemming from his drop foot. He's back and he brings with him a .740 career winning percentage. Maybe he turns Butler into a Big East powerhouse. Wouldn't that be something?
39. Shaheen Holloway scoots back to Seton Hall. So completes the Big East trifecta of come-on-home narratives. Unlike Miller and Matta, Holloway is not a former head coach here, but he did play at SHU and he was a longtime assistant under Kevin Willard. Coming off Saint Peter's Elite Eight run (which, five months removed, is already feeling like a top-three Cinderella story in the history of the tournament), can Holloway keep the Pirates relevant nationally and in the top half of the Big East? We'll have more on Holloway here at CBSSports.com next week.
40. We haven't had a season unaffected by COVID cancellations since 2018-19. Will this be the one? Please? As we sit on the precipice of September, it feels like we've moved into the later stages of living with this virus. But administrators were of a similar hope nearly a year ago. Then Omicron wrecked a month of the season and triggered scheduling PTSD. Fingers crossed that era is forever behind us.
41. Let's get to a few more games you should already be marking on your calendars. Here are 10 flavorful nonconference pre-Christmas battles. I'm not including any November tournaments or the Champions Classic here. Team rankings are according to our Top 25 And 1.
When you factor in the four- and eight-team MTEs in addition to another dozen quality home-and-homes on the books for this season, there's going to be a lot to take in during the first six weeks. I don't think the average informed fan even realizes how good November and December's slate will be from a Quad 1 games standpoint.
42. Love the smell of a new gym. Two teams will get the exciting opportunity to open new digs this season: Texas (Moody Center) and Georgia State (GSU Convocation Center). Texas' building holds north of 10,000 for basketball games, while GSU's is about 7,500 in the heart of Atlanta. The Moody Center seems like it's the best multi-purpose venue in college athletics.
43. The one new rule in place for this season: technical fouls for flopping. Long overdue. Here's the official language from the NCAA: "Flopping continues to be a major concern in our game, and the rules committee felt that the current penalty of an initial warning for flopping has not deterred players from continuing to flop. An immediate penalty for flopping is needed to curb this behavior. The rules committee will also provide additional guidance to players, coaches and officials to better define flopping. This rules change has been reviewed and supported by the Division I Men's Basketball Competition Committee as well as the Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee." Hear, hear!
44. Sensible conference realignment! No, not Texas and Oklahoma and UCLA and USC. Those are still down the road. In '22-23 we have Loyola Chicago now in the Atlantic 10, while the Ramblers were replaced in the Missouri Valley by the satisfying 1-2 of Murray State and Belmont. There's a path for the MVC to become a multi-bid league more reliably moving forward, should the league produce at least four top-100 teams annually. If curiosity has your noodle on this front, here's every new team in a new league for 2022.
45. Conferences change and so has D-I's registrar … again. It's now up to 363 teams, five more from a year ago. D-I has grown by 36 programs in the past two decades, an 11% increase since 2002. When does it end? No one else is brave enough to scream it, so I will: There are too many teams in D-I. Lock the door. Here are the latest schools to squeeze themselves into an already-too-crowded party: Lindenwood (think I've seen this at a Home Depot), Queens (no, not that Queens), Southern Indiana (we sure this isn't just a really good high school?), Stonehill (stuffy country club, ice cream producer or D-I program -- you decide) and Texas A&M Commerce (potentially just another team formed by Buzz Williams over the summer).
Kendric Davis is one of the best points guards in college hoops. He transferred from SMU to Memphis. Getty Images
46. There were 1,784 transfers for the 2021-22 academic year, which was down from the 2021 all-time high of 1,834. Truth is, approximately 1,740 transfers really won't matter on a national level, but it's inevitable that a few dozen will wind up playing a significant role in how teams either make the NCAA Tournament or win games once the Big Dance begins. I'm not saying the names below are destined to be the best, but here's a baker's dozen worth of transfers to keep an eye on:
Fardaws Aimaq (Utah Valley to Texas Tech)
Emoni Bates (Memphis to Eastern Michigan)
Manny Bates (NC State to Butler)
Keion Brooks Jr. (Kentucky to Washington)
Andre Curbelo (Illinois to St. John's)
Kendric Davis (SMU to Memphis)
Dawson Garcia (UNC to Minnesota)
Jaelin Llewellyn (Princeton to Michigan)
Kyle Lofton (St. Bonaventure to Florida)
Matthew Mayer (Baylor to Illinois)
Kevin McCullar (Texas Tech to Kansas)
Nijel Pack (K-State to Miami)
Courtney Ramey (Texas to Arizona)
47. As mentioned earlier, Calipari is entering a season with more pressure on him than ever before ... and he might have Hall of Fame company. The more I think about it, I think something sort of similar could be in play at Syracuse. No, Jim Boeheim cannot be on a true "hot seat" there. But: SU hasn't finished better than two games above .500 in league play, nor won more than 19 games in a regular season, since 2013-14, which was the last time the program received a seed better than No. 8 in the NCAAs. Syracuse fans are hungry and fidgety. Maybe the Orange surprise people this season.
48. Dick Vitale embodies the essence of enthusiasm for college basketball and I'd be remiss if I didn't take some space in this column to congratulate Dickie V for recently being cancer-free. If ever the universe were to nod in someone's direction, Vitale is as worthy as anyone to be spared of having an endless bought with cancer. Few have done more to rally and raise funds for cancer research than him. This was some of the best news of the summer. Can't wait to have you back at the games, Dick.
Dr Rick Brown just notified me with my results of my major Pet Scan & told me news I wish EVERY cancer patient can hear . He said “Dick u have gone from being in remission to being CANCER FREE” ! Thank u to ALL of YOU that have sent me 🙏🙏🙏 .
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) August 17, 2022
49. Five non-obvious schools whose football programs will have better seasons than their men's basketball counterparts: Kansas State, Louisville, Michigan State, NC State, Utah.
50. Five non-obvious schools whose men'sbasketball programs will have better seasons than their football counterparts: Purdue, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, USC.
51. Power-conference programs with NCAA Tournament droughts of seven years or longer that will still not be making the Big Dance in '23: DePaul (2004), Boston College (2009), Penn State (2011), South Florida (2012), Nebraska (2014), Georgia (2015).
52. The lone power-conference program I'm predicting ends its lengthy NCAA Tournament drought:Stanford. (Barely.) Jerod Haase has stud sophomore Harrison Ingram, plus two of the team's other three top leading scorers from last season. The schedule is manageable and this is a NCAAs-or-bust season for Haase, who avoided a firing after a sixth consecutive season without fielding an NCAA Tournament team. The Cardinal are in the midst of their longest Big Dance hiatus since the '80s, having last punched a ticket in 2014.
53. Virginia might be poised for a strong return to the upper echelon. The Cavaliers won the 2019 title, then finished 42nd at KenPom in 2020, was 19th (and one-and-done in the NCAAs) in 2021 and all the way down at 72nd last season, failing to field an NCAA Tournament-level team for the first time since 2013. But from 2014-19, Virginia finished anywhere from 12th to 1st at KenPom. I think Tony Bennett gets UVA back, minimally, to top-15 stature this season.
54. The WAC's wild standings initiative. If you missed the story earlier this offseason, one of the more intriguing developments for '22-23 will be the WAC's unprecedented approach to how it will determine its regular season standings and seeding its conference tournament. Modern analytics taken too far, or an overdue meritocratic approach to fairly seeding teams with unbalanced league schedules?
55. Now hear this. If you are loving this type of college hoops content, here's where I remind you that there is no better way to regularly engage with this sport than to subscribe to the Eye on College Basketball podcast. We reliably publish at least three episodes per week, and you can also see every show live on YouTube. (With a lot of bonus content.) If you're not already a regular, we'd love to have you. I'm told we'll have shirts available soon!
56. There were 61 coaching changes in 2022. Last year I said seven new coaches would strut straight to the NCAAs in Year One at their new spot; I went six for seven, only missing on Porter Moser and Oklahoma. This year I think six tango right away: Todd Golden (Florida), Jonas Hayes (Georgia State), Sean Miller (Xavier), Kyle Neptune (Villanova), Jon Scheyer (Duke) and Kevin Willard (Maryland).
57. Let's get to some conference-champ predictions. We'll start with the American Athletic Conference. The best Houston team … potentially ever. At least in terms of where it stands in a given season. The Coogs have a proud history, but the roughly 100 coaches we polled across the country indicated to us that this team should be No. 2 in the land. It's going to have its best offensive battalion under Kelvin Sampson, and it'd be a shock if the defense wasn't again among the nation's most rugged. This is UH's final season in the American, and it should once again represent and uplift the conference.
58. In the ACC, the most practical pick is North Carolina. Almost the entire roster is back from a team that won 29 games, finished 16th at KenPom and was a win away from the national title. Caleb Love could make the jump to All-American status. Northwestern transfer Pete Nance will add 3-point legitimacy. Bacot might be the best player in the country. Everything's in place in Chapel Hill.
59. The Big 12 once again rated as the best conference last season. In fact, the league's +4. 28 efficiency margin gap on No. 2 SEC was the second-largest separation in KenPom history (dating back to 2002). I don't expect the Big 12 to be that dominant again, a prediction that will be reflected by the league standings. Baylor, Kansas, Texas Tech and Texas are the four outfits under consideration to win the league title. Hard to go against Kansas, but with the IARP timeline for punishment still unclear, I will lean Baylor. If Scott Drew's team wins the Big 12, it will mark the third consecutive year BU ends atop the league ledger, which would be a program record.
60. I told you I had more on Xavier back at item 37, so here it is: I'm taking the Musketeers as my dark horse pick to win theBig East. I recently explained why here in our weekly Dribble Handoff roundtable. There's almost always at least one surprise team that wins a power conference. X is my pick for 2023.
61. The Big Ten's had a noisy offseason, mainly due to football. On the hardwood, the league should produce at least six NCAA Tournament teams, but I'm not convinced it will be a top-two conference this season. Picking the regular-season champ feels like a crapshoot. I'm getting closer to convincing myself the title will be shared. Let's fling a dart here … and … Illinois! OK!
Senior Jaime Jacquez will be the centerpiece for a UCLA team projected to win the Pac-12. Getty Images
62. Can Arizona go back-to-back and take the Pac-12 in Year Two under Tommy Lloyd? The Wildcats lost two first-round NBA picks (Benn Mathurin, Dalen Terry) and an early second (Christian Koloko). Meanwhile, UCLA returns Jacquez and veteran PG Tyger Campbell, in addition to the powerful addition of five-star prospect Amari Bailey. The Bruins are the practical pick in what again feels like a top-heavy league.
63. Since Calipari got to Kentucky in '09, the Wildcats have never gone three straight seasons without a claim to the SEC's regular-season title. After Alabama took it in 2021, then Auburn this year, I'm predicting Calipari's streak will continue. Give me Tshiebwe and the Wildcats to win their 52nd regular season SEC crown.
64. Seven best-of-the-rest teams to watch out for: Wyoming, Dayton, UAB, Saint Louis, VCU, Grand Canyon, Furman.
65. Selection Sunday is March 12. If looking at a mock bracket 193 days from the real thing is your thing (and why wouldn't it be?), here's a recent portrait from Jerry Palm.
66. I like how the NCAA makes a point to return to cities that go long stretches between hosting tourney games. Big Dance sites returning after a long hiatus: Birmingham is back and hosting a first weekend for the first time in 15 years. Albany's waited even longer: it will host tourney games for the first time in 20 years.
67. In terms of regionals, 2023 will be a flashy set. The men's tourney returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time since 2017. (Florida's Chris Chiozza's buzzer-beater over Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.) Also: Las Vegas will host for the first time, which is setting the table for the inevitability of Sin City hosting a Final Four by the end of the decade. There's a lot to be excited for with how and where the 2023 men's tournament is built. The full list of sites and dates are here.
68. Finally, the 2023 men's Final Four is in Houston. It's the fourth time the city has hosted (1971, 2011, 2016). The last time Houston got the big stage, the greatest ending in NCAA Tournament history happened.
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.
If you want to keep a close eye on Rosbasket, subscribe to my Telegram channel. There I regularly publish news, insiders, interviews and analyzes.
Photo: official websites of clubs, personal archives of players; twitter.com; instagram.com; cskabasket.com
Extended statistics as a popularizing factor NCAA / Collegiate Basketball Association
Understanding how this works using the examples of Zion Williamson and Sabrina Ionescu.
Probably, during the season of the NBA (or any other overseas league) for a long time no one is surprised by the news about the most incredible statistical achievements and records of players and teams. Special services and hundreds of people under a microscope disassemble and analyze every second spent by athletes on the floor. Gigabytes of this information is studied by coaches and scouts, basketball players and all lovers of the best ball game.
The most striking and amazing facts are presented to fans in the form of colorful infographics in news feeds. This "pipeline" starts at the High School, and then gets a powerful development in the NCAA.
A player's individual statistics in the NCAA is considered in the context of his performance at three levels at once: for the university, in the conference and in the entire Association. At each of these levels, there are a huge number of awards, prizes and symbolic teams, which practically exclude "passing" matches for any of the teams.
Many years of tradition, great attention from fans and the media to the tournament, a scrupulous approach to keeping statistics - all this creates additional motivation even for those universities that can only dream of participating in the March Madness.
New Orleans forward Zion Williamson spent only one season in the NCAA, but received 6 major Player of the Year awards for it (we discussed these awards in detail in a previous article). And this is the 21st such case since 1982nd year and only the 4th in the history of Duke University.
Williamson's epic season as a student illustrates how the NCAA's statistical toolbox works.
Zion ranked in the top five in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in seven major stats.
First in points per game (22.6 - 15th in the entire NCAA)
First in field goal conversions (68.0% - second in the NCAA)
First - in offensive rebounds per game (3.5 - 9th in the NCAA)
Second - in steals per game (2.12 - 26th in the NCAA)
Third - in rebounds per game ( 8.9 - 44th in the NCAA)
Third - in double-doubles (14th - 27th in the NCAA)
Fifth - in block shots per game (1.8 - 62nd in the NCAA)
All this allowed Zion Become the only player in the 2018/19 NCAA to finish the season with 20+ points, 8+ rebounds and 2+ steals per game and the only player in the Association with 20+ points and 60%+ field goal conversion.
The NCAA has enough statistics for geeks. Williamson holds the Duke freshman record for most 25+-point games (16), but his 23 20+-point games rank second among ACC freshmen.
The record of 26 games with 20+ points is still held by… Zion's current teammate JJ Redick .
And this is another important indicator of statistics - the individual statistics of an athlete in different courses. When you are compared not with other basketball players, but with yourself, but in different years (freshman - sophomore - junior - senior).
One can't help remembering Kevin Durant , who in 2007 became the first freshman in the history of the NCAA basketball tournament to collect all the major individual awards of the season.
It's important to note that you don't have to make dozens of clicks on various sites and understand hundreds of tables to get all these statistics - all this information is available in the profile of any NCAA player.
The afternoon prior to most games, teams usually gather for 30–45 min to discuss the opponent’s scouting report, walk through plays, and get in additional shooting practice of low to moderate intensity. In addition, some coaches hold film sessions before practices 1–2 times per week, which require about 15–20 min of mental intensity. Most coaches will also maintain in-season strength workouts about 1–2 times per week, 20–30 min in duration, with moderate intensity. The timing of practices and workouts varies greatly, often due to gym availability and coaches’ schedules, since most don’t coach basketball full time. The player’s lunch schedule and school policies are another consideration. Therefore, high school players need help in determining not only the right foods to eat, but also the right time to eat in relation to their school day and practice/training/game schedules.
For both males and females, the now year-round mental and physical demands of the sport are at an all-time high, as is the competition to earn a college scholarship. The two biggest changes include specializing in basketball at an earlier age and participation on AAU travel teams in addition to their high school team, thus making it a year-round sport. The structure of practices and training programs of high school basketball players should be adjusted accordingly to accommodate for these two trends. For example, players participating in the sport at this level of commitment could benefit from a year-round strength and conditioning program focused on injury prevention, using sound recovery techniques (including adequate sleep), and developing good nutrition and hydration habits.
The transition during the freshman year can be difficult for some as they move away from home for the first time. Transition challenges include establishing healthy eating and sleeping habits. Also during the freshman year, players are usually introduced to more intense collegiate strength and conditioning programs, and many players will greatly change their body composition over their collegiate careers. 
NCAA teams must follow the 20–hr rule, which states teams are allowed up to 20 hrs of team activities per week, not including competition. Team-related activities can include practice, film, and weight training. Most programs will practice 4–6 days per week, depending on the game schedule, and practices may be up to 3 h of high-intensity work. In addition to on-court time, athletes are expected to attend film sessions, strength train, and attend to injuries in the training room when needed. Overall, the time commitment is greater than as a high school athlete. The travel requirement during the competitive season is also greater and, depending on the level, more time-intensive. While the top Division I programs charter flights to return home the night after a game, smaller schools rely on bus trips and spend significant time on the road. The provision of food and nutrition services also varies based on level. Most top-level schools have a sports dietitian on staff for consultation and education, but even at the Division I level, the use of a registered dietician varies greatly between schools.
At the majority of the major and mid-major universities, athletes are provided a “training table,” or a cafeteria with foods selected specifically for the athletes. However, per NCAA rules, only one meal at the training table can be provided per day while the athletes are on campus. Snacks, such as fruits, nuts, and bagels, can also be provided along with occasional meals on special occasions. At smaller schools, athletes rely on their own cafeteria plan, and the budget is often limited to provide meals and snacks on the road. Overall, the demands of the sport increase at the collegiate level compared to the HS and AAU levels, along with the increased demands placed on the athlete to also handle their academic, family, and social lives. The increased demands combined with the increased independence of the athlete make it difficult to ensure that they are appropriately fueling and getting enough rest.
Most collegiate basketball players will be given a short time off after the competitive season, usually 2–4 weeks, to recharge and catch up on family and school matters as necessary before starting back with skill work and strength and conditioning workouts.
Overall, during the off-season the NCAA allows up to 8 h of team-related activity per week, 2 h of which can be direct contact, with the basketball coaches on the court.
Many teams also employ or consult with a sports dietitian. However, nutrition is still a challenge, as most players seek meals on their own at restaurants outside the control of the team. Additionally, during a game, hydration is always a challenge. Inadequate hydration during competition can be further compromised by the demand for air travel immediately post game (low humidity environment of the fuselage) for half of the regular season games. Given the length of the regular season, frequency of games, and travel demands, proper nutrition and hydration practices are important and should be planned into the schedule wherever possible.
All players will participate in training camp and preseason games, essentially extending the competitive season.
15, and as always features Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.
Gonzaga is coming off a definitive Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas. I was there. In the aftermath, I wrote this. At the time, I thought Timme would opt to leave college. Thankfully, he didn't. It seems Gonzaga has one more big-window year of opportunity to win a national championship. Will Mark Few and Co. do it?
The teams: Arkansas, Creighton, Arizona, Ohio State, San Diego State, Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Louisville. Every team except Creighton has a hue of red as a dominant feature in its colorway, so watch the red-less Bluejays go out and win the thing.
That's going to take some getting used to. He was a fixture, an institution, the greatest coach in basketball. That void will in part eventually have to be filled by someone. But it won't be …
Will the champs be able to keep that going, or will the IARP case that continues to grow mold eventually be settled and lead to punishments that hamper KU's outlook on the season ahead? Something to monitor as we draw closer to the season. For Self's part, he begrudgingly took on a school-imposed ban on in-person recruiting this past offseason. 
If not, the drama may find a new volume. :no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19560942/usa_today_9677363.jpg?w=696&ssl=1)
6 points and 8.6 rebounds as one of the five best players in the Big Ten. Getty Images 
And the only reason Bates is going to play college is because he was not eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft. He'll be an intrigue machine at Eastern Michigan, which is based in his hometown of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Aside from Bates, four more sophomores piquing my interest are Creighton's Ryan Nembhard (could grow into the best point guard in the country), Texas' Tyrese Hunter (transferred from Iowa State), Stanford's Harrison Ingram (Stanford will be desperate for him to be a stat monster) and NC State's Terquavion Smith (maybe the best player who opted not to remain in the draft). 
George could be the best Baylor freshman ever, and Dick will probably have to be a shooting machine to give Kansas a shot at winning the Big 12. As for Jackson, he reclassified and has given South Carolina fans as much optimism heading into a season as they've had in ages.
He's back and he brings with him a .740 career winning percentage. Maybe he turns Butler into a Big East powerhouse. Wouldn't that be something? 
Then Omicron wrecked a month of the season and triggered scheduling PTSD. Fingers crossed that era is forever behind us. 
I don't think the average informed fan even realizes how good November and December's slate will be from a Quad 1 games standpoint. 
This rules change has been reviewed and supported by the Division I Men's Basketball Competition Committee as well as the Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee." Hear, hear! 
Lock the door. Here are the latest schools to squeeze themselves into an already-too-crowded party: Lindenwood (think I've seen this at a Home Depot), Queens (no, not that Queens), Southern Indiana (we sure this isn't just a really good high school?), Stonehill (stuffy country club, ice cream producer or D-I program -- you decide) and Texas A&M Commerce (potentially just another team formed by Buzz Williams over the summer). 
I'm not saying the names below are destined to be the best, but here's a baker's dozen worth of transfers to keep an eye on:
But: SU hasn't finished better than two games above .500 in league play, nor won more than 19 games in a regular season, since 2013-14, which was the last time the program received a seed better than No. 8 in the NCAAs. Syracuse fans are hungry and fidgety. Maybe the Orange surprise people this season.
The Cardinal are in the midst of their longest Big Dance hiatus since the '80s, having last punched a ticket in 2014.
Now hear this. If you are loving this type of college hoops content, here's where I remind you that there is no better way to regularly engage with this sport than to subscribe to the Eye on College Basketball podcast. We reliably publish at least three episodes per week, and you can also see every show live on YouTube. (With a lot of bonus content.) If you're not already a regular, we'd love to have you. I'm told we'll have shirts available soon!
The best Houston team … potentially ever. At least in terms of where it stands in a given season. The Coogs have a proud history, but the roughly 100 coaches we polled across the country indicated to us that this team should be No. 2 in the land. It's going to have its best offensive battalion under Kelvin Sampson, and it'd be a shock if the defense wasn't again among the nation's most rugged. This is UH's final season in the American, and it should once again represent and uplift the conference.
28 efficiency margin gap on No. 2 SEC was the second-largest separation in KenPom history (dating back to 2002). I don't expect the Big 12 to be that dominant again, a prediction that will be reflected by the league standings. Baylor, Kansas, Texas Tech and Texas are the four outfits under consideration to win the league title. Hard to go against Kansas, but with the IARP timeline for punishment still unclear, I will lean Baylor. If Scott Drew's team wins the Big 12, it will mark the third consecutive year BU ends atop the league ledger, which would be a program record. 
On the hardwood, the league should produce at least six NCAA Tournament teams, but I'm not convinced it will be a top-two conference this season. Picking the regular-season champ feels like a crapshoot. I'm getting closer to convincing myself the title will be shared. Let's fling a dart here … and … Illinois! OK!
Since Calipari got to Kentucky in '09, the Wildcats have never gone three straight seasons without a claim to the SEC's regular-season title. After Alabama took it in 2021, then Auburn this year, I'm predicting Calipari's streak will continue. Give me Tshiebwe and the Wildcats to win their 52nd regular season SEC crown. 
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. 
Special services and hundreds of people under a microscope disassemble and analyze every second spent by athletes on the floor. Gigabytes of this information is studied by coaches and scouts, basketball players and all lovers of the best ball game. 
