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College Basketball: Ranking the Power 6 Conferences | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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College Basketball: Ranking the Power 6 Conferences

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Now that men's basketball conferences have reached league play, we really have a feel for which teams are really good and which ones are struggling.

As a whole, which of the major conferences are the best? On the other hand, which are the worst?

Here's a look at the "power six conferences," ranked in order from worst to best, based on each one's performance so far this season.

6. Pac-12

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Yes, the Pac-12 still holds the honor of being the worst "power six conference" around. It was one of the worst conferences we'd ever seen last year, but obviously has improved this season.

A huge problem with the league last year was that there was not a very good team in it, but that too has changed.

Arizona and UCLA have seemingly separated themselves from the rest of the league. Sure, the country looks at Arizona as the best Pac-12 team and one of the best teams in the country, but I have no problem calling UCLA the best team in the league.

If Arizona's narrow victories over San Diego State and Utah weren't bad enough, the Colorado debacle takes the cake.

UCLA, on the other hand, has found its stride, as it has beaten Missouri, California and Stanford in three straight games.

The bottom of the league, though, is extremely bad as Utah, USC, Washington State and Oregon State make up the cellar dwellers.

A third team needs to establish itself as possible challengers to Arizona and UCLA; whether that is Colorado, Oregon or Cal remains to be seen.

It wouldn't be a surprise if a third team doesn't step up, though, which is a big reason why this conference is still so bad.

5. SEC

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Boy, this conference sure is bad. If it wasn't for Missouri, the SEC would be even worse than it already is.

Kentucky's drop-off obviously hurts, but the problem is that no other team has stepped up in its place.

With that being said, the Wildcats are still easily the third-best team in the conference behind Florida and Missouri.

Look at what those top two teams have been doing lately, though; Missouri recently lost to UCLA and then came back and only beat Bucknell by two at home. Florida probably isn't as great as we thought they were a few months ago either, as it has recently lost to Arizona and Kansas State.

Kentucky is getting better and better, but the rest of the league is very poor. Who is possibly the next best team: Ole Miss? Arkansas? Tennessee? None of those three are anything special.

Plus, the bottom of the league is about as bad as it gets. Mississippi State, South Carolina and Georgia are some of the worst BCS conference teams around. Vanderbilt has completely fallen off the map, while Texas A&M looks like a terrible addition this year.

Honestly, it wouldn't be too surprising if Kentucky still wound up winning this league. Florida and Missouri will be right there as well, but both teams will lose their share of games.

The SEC should be darned thankful it added Missouri this year. It's scary to think where this league would be if it didn't have the Tigers.

4. ACC

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The ACC has been down for a few years now, and this year is no different.

Sure, Duke is one of the best teams in the country, but there's a huge drop-off after the Blue Devils.

North Carolina is nowhere near the team we thought it would be, and neither is NC State.

Maryland, Miami and Virginia look like they all could be solid, but the rest of the league behind those teams is very bad.

The ACC shares a popular trend with the other conferences mentioned so far, in that the bottom of its league is simply horrible.

Boston College, Wake Forest and Clemson are some of the worst teams around, and Florida State and Georgia Tech aren't much better.

It would be pretty shocking if Duke somehow didn't win this league. However, the notion that it could possibly go undefeated is absurd, as the Blue Devils will certainly lose a game or two they shouldn't.

That statement is even more evident when considering Duke's recent struggles with Santa Clara and Davidson.

3. Big 12

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We've seen the Big 12 have a very strong league in recent years, and although it isn't as strong this year, it's still solid.

Once again, Kansas is the class of the Big 12, and honestly, it's not even close. The fight for that No. 2 spot is an interesting one, though.

Will it go to Kansas State or Oklahoma State? What about Baylor? Could Texas even creep back into things?

After an absolutely horrible start to the year, Texas is figuring things out a bit. It recently beat North Carolina and nearly won at Baylor.

New member TCU brings absolutely nothing in terms of basketball, as it is probably the worst team in the conference. West Virginia, on the other hand, is also looking like one of the worst teams in the Big 12 in its first season.

In fact, this is one of the worst West Virginia teams we've seen in a long time. However, given the Mountaineers' recent success, this move will still probably pay off in the long run.

It will be interesting to see if anyone can even challenge Kansas for the conference crown. We'll see if Kansas State or Oklahoma State has what it takes.

2. Big East

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A few years ago, the Big East ruled as the king of college basketball, but it has fallen from that perch over the last year or two.

It is still obviously a solid league this year but not as strong as we've seen it in recent years.

When the Big East was at its best, it frequently held as many as four or five elite teams that were among the best in the country.

However, that is missing this year. Yes, Louisville and Syracuse fall into that category, but nobody else does.

Another thing missing is the presence of some of the traditional national powers we've come accustomed to seeing. The best example of this is Villanova. What in the world has happened to Villanova basketball? Last year was a down year for the Wildcats, but this year is even worse. It currently looks like one of the worst teams in the conference.

The success of St. John's was also short-lived, as the Red Storm have fallen off the map even with the return of Steve Lavin.

We thought Pittsburgh was turning a corner after last year's disaster, but recent losses to Cincinnati and Rutgers disprove that.

Marquette isn't at the level it has been at the past few years, and neither is UConn. West Virginia's absence was thought to weaken this league, but it actually has been a good thing so far.

Having three very solid teams in Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Georgetown plus two elite ones in Louisville and Syracuse help make the Big East the second-best conference in America.

1. Big Ten

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There is absolutely no question that the Big Ten is the best conference in college basketball. Honestly, you can't even make a case for any other conference to be No. 1.

Slowly but surely, Michigan and Indiana have separated themselves from the rest of the conference and have shown that they are two of the best teams in the country.

In fact, Michigan just might be THE best team in the country. If you don't want to call Indiana the second best, then it is probably either third or fourth.

Ohio State has fallen back from the pack a bit with recent losses to Kansas and Illinois, but it is still on the edge of being a great team. Minnesota is also on the edge of being a great team, as the Gophers only have one loss on the season to Duke.

Heck, you could even say Illinois is on the verge of being great if it could just show a little more consistency.

What's different about the Big Ten from basically every other league is that the bottom of the conference isn't too bad.

Penn State and Nebraska are clearly the two worst teams, but even those two have shown potential. Penn State recently nearly won at Wisconsin, while Nebraska has already proved it is better than other leagues' bottom feeders (Wake Forest and USC).

Having two elite teams at the top in Michigan and Indiana and then a plethora of very good teams that make up the middle of the league are the main reasons why the Big Ten currently rules as the king of college basketball.

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Complete list of NCAA Division I College Basketball teams

The College Basketball NCAA D-I is made up of 32 conferences, each conference has an average of 11 teams, some conferences like MEAC and IVY are below average with 8 teams each. Apart from teams, very few conferences are made up of two divisions, only three conferences have two divisions: Sun Belt, Conference USA and Atlantic Sun. In total the conferences have 357 teams in D-I of College Basketball.

From the beginning of the season in D-I, the objective of each of the teams is to reach the NCAA D-I Men's Basketball Tournament that starts two days after the regular season ends on March 15. The type of the tournament format is known as Single-Elimination.

The most famous schools are the most dominant in NCAA D-I college basketball, among those schools, also known as programs, is the University of Kentucky with 58 tournament appearances and 8 championship titles.

NCAA Basketball 2021-2022: List of D-I College Basketball Teams and Conferences

As mentioned above, in total there are 32 NCAA College Basketball D-I conferences, the season offers a total of approximately 10,710 games. Each of the teams in D-I, during the College Basketball season, will play between 25-35 games for an average of 30 games per team.

NCAA Basketball 2021-2022:  How many teams does each D-I conference have?

The largest divisions have 14-15 teams each, only one conference in NCAA College Basketball has 15 teams (ACC). The smallest conferences have fewer than 10 teams, and most conferences have between 10-12 teams each.

NCAA Basketball 2021-2022: How many conferences have won titles (current)?

Not all conferences in D-I have college casketball championships, some programs (schools) from those conferences played in the tournament but have never won the title, many have been close but always end up falling to the big favorites.

Only 13 of the 32 D-I conferences have won championship titles, some of the teams within those conferences are multiple championship winners. The conferences that have D-I titles are: West Coast, SEC, Patriot, Pac-12, Mountain West, Missouri Valley, Conference USA, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, Atlantic 10, ACC and American Athletic.
 

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 know 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 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.

Nikita Evdokimov, Charleston Cougars

2021/22 stats: 2 games, 10.5 minutes avg. .5 assists, 1 turnover

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 Kotov, Illinois State Redbirds

2021/22 stats: 12 games, 8 minutes avg. .9 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.1 blocks, 0. 2 steals, 0.8 losses

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.

Victor Lakhin, Cincinnati Bearcats

2021/22 stats: 14 games, 14.1 minutes average

6.2 points (56.9% 2-pointers, 0% 3-pointers), 4.9 rebounds , 0.4 assists, 0.5 blocks, 0.7 steals, 1.2 losses

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 squad.

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% two-pointers, 30% three-pointers, 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 had 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 Didenko, UT Martin Skyhawks

2021/22 stats: 11 games, 17 minutes average

6.2 points (37. 3% two-pointers, 37.8% three-pointers, 33.3% free throws), 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.3 blocks, 0.2 steals, 1.7 turnovers

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.

Pavel Zakharov, California Baptist Lancers

2021/22 stats: 4 games, 10 minutes average

1.3 points (14.3% 2-pointers, 0% 3-pointers, 60% free throws), 1 .5 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 1 block shot, 0.3 steals, 1 turnover

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 the game 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

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