How many players on a ncaa basketball team

Basketball Roster Size

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Table of Contents

• Basketball Team Rosters
• Basketball Active List
• Basketball Inactive List
• NBA Roster Size
• NBA Hardship Exception
• College Basketball Roster Size

Basketball Team Rosters

The number of players on a roster in different basketball leagues can differ. However, in both the NBA and the NCAA, the roster holds 15 players. In basketball, there are five players on the court at a time, while there are eight players on the bench. There are also two players who are healthy scratches that do not dress, sit on the bench, or play. 

Basketball Active List

The active list is a list of all players that are active on a team roster. To be active means to be able to enter the game off the bench or as a starter. Each team must have a minimum of eight and a maximum of 13 active players for each game. Unhealthy players and healthy scratches are inactive and are not on the active list.

Basketball Inactive List

The inactive list is a list of all players that are inactive on the team roster. The active list and inactive list can change every game. Healthy scratches and any players that are physically unable to play are placed on the inactive list in order to keep them on the roster while not playing them in the game quite yet. Teams can have between zero and two players on the inactive list at a time.

NBA Roster Size

In the NBA, teams have a maximum of 15 players on their rosters. 13 players can be on the benches during an NBA game, including the starters. This means there is a maximum of eight players on each bench per team. There are five players for each team on the court at a time. The five players who start the game are called the starting lineup or “starters”. Most NBA teams will only play between 8-10 players every game, so even if a player is dressed for the game, they may not play in it.

NBA Hardship Exception

In the NBA, if a team has more than four players that are seriously injured, they can apply for a hardship exception to increase the roster size to 16 players. This is rare and is used only to try and keep things somewhat fair for the team that has been plagued by injuries.

College Basketball Roster Size

In college basketball, there are 15 players on the roster, just like in the NBA. However, there are a definite 13 players that can be on the bench during a college basketball game. In the NBA, it can be 12 or 13, making them a bit different. NCAA Division I men’s and women’s teams are limited to giving out 13 scholarships to players, meaning at least two players on the roster will be non-scholarship players, called “walk-ons.”

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How Many Players Are On a Basketball Team? (NBA/NCAA/Youth)

Everyone knows that basketball is a game played between two teams, but most people don’t know how many players make up each team. While it differs depending on the league you’re playing in, basketball team rosters must stay under a certain number of players.

So, how many players are on a basketball team?

Most basketball teams consist of 12-15 players. There are always five players on the court at one time for each team, with the rest either sitting on the bench or listed as a healthy scratch. While superstars get a majority of the money and attention, having a deep roster is very important.

Building a roster isn’t easy. There are a wide range of rules, guidelines, exceptions, and requirements involved, which makes building a roster challenging for basketball general managers and head coaches.

Since this can be confusing for newcomers to the game, let’s go over everything you need to know about roster sizes in basketball.

Just because a basketball team has 12-15 players on the roster doesn’t mean all of them play. Some of those players only see a few minutes of action all season long. Ultimately, it’s the difference between being listed on the active roster and being listed as a healthy scratch.

In basketball, the active roster consists of the players available to play each game — usually no more than 13. Players on the active roster fall into one of five categories — superstars, starters, sixth man, role players, or bench players.

The number of minutes they receive each night depends on which category they fall into.

While making the active roster is every player’s dream, it doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed minutes. Many players that fall in the ‘bench player’ category won’t see time on the court.

There are generally two players of this nature, no matter which league you’re in. At the end of the day, head coaches have the final say on who plays and how long they play for.

Since the active roster is what teams roll with on game day, these players are the most important players at any given time. They must understand the game plan and their roles, and execute when called upon.

Whether they’re a superstar or bench player, coaches need 110% every time they step foot on the court. 

Being listed as a healthy scratch is less-desirable than landing on the active roster, but it’s still a step in the right direction for any young player — unless you’re demoted to the role.

The good news is you’re still on the team roster and are the next man up when someone is either injured or underperforming.

Healthy scratches are considered part of a team’s inactive list, which also consists of injured players that can’t play. While injured players must wait for the ‘okay’ from a team doctor, head coaches can call up a healthy scratch at any time during the season.

Most teams reserve these roster spots for a proven veteran that acts more like a coach’s assistant.

A good example of this is Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat. He’s entering his 18th season since being drafted by the team in 2003. He has spent a majority of the past five seasons as a healthy scratch.

His main responsibility on the team is molding teammates like Bam Adebayo, Chris Silva, and Precious Achiuwa.

The other type of player that’s often listed as a healthy scratch is the young, unproven player. These players are more common because they’re more valuable and have a higher ceiling when a replacement player is needed mid-season.

Whether they’re a veteran or young player, healthy scratches play an important role in a team’s success year-round.

Much like any other sport, teams are limited to a certain number of players on the court at one time.

When basketball was originally invented, there were a total of 18 players on the court — nine for each team. James Naismith chose this number because there were 18 children in his class when he invented the game of basketball.

Today, the limit is five players on the court for each team. That means there are a total of ten players on the court at one time during a live game. Teams with more than five players on the court at any time are assessed a technical foul, resulting in one free throw for the opposing team.

The five players on the court at the start of the game are considered the ‘starters.’ The more ‘superstars’ you have in your starting lineup, the better.

Either way, teamwork is highly important in basketball and head coaches must ensure their roster works well together — especially their starting lineup.

At any time during a game, a head coach can turn to his bench and substitute a player into the game. This gives the starters some rest and allows a head coach to keep certain players ready for certain moments.

In some dire situations, such as multiple injuries, teams are left with less than five active players during a game. Teams can continue playing but are at an obvious disadvantage to the opposing team. A good example of this happened in 2010 with the Golden State Warriors.

They needed eight dressed players to start the game but only had six healthy players. To hit their minimum, they dressed two of their injured players with no plans of playing them at all.

During their game, however, one of their healthy players suffered an injury.

They were down to five healthy players the rest of the game until one of them fouled out. Down to four healthy players, the refs forced the Warriors to send in their injured players, which they did.

The Warriors ended up winning the game in incredible fashion, but it was an awkward situation for everyone involved.

With five players on the basketball court at all times, that leaves no more than eight players on the bench at any one time — no more than 13 on an active roster.

The actual number of players on the bench depends on how many players are injured and how many total players the head coach has on their team.

Any player sitting on the bench must be ready to enter the game, especially since no one knows how a game will turn out.

Injuries happen more often than we’d like, players foul out often, and everyone needs a rest at some point. A deep roster puts your team at an advantage no matter what happens.

When setting up your roster, it’s important to make sure each bench player has a role — whether or not you plan on giving them frequent minutes.

Better yet, it’s imperative each bench player understands that role and fulfills it when they step out onto the basketball court. It takes an entire team to win a basketball game, not just a solid performance from the starters.

In many aspects, a bench is just as important as the starting lineup. They don’t play as often as the starters and they don’t receive the same amount of attention each NBA game, but the minutes they play are crucial when establishing or maintaining a lead.

They don’t just give your starters a moment of rest, but they lift your entire team in the process. A good bench puts points on the scoreboard and plays a strict brand of defense.

If your team is behind, they can cut down the lead or erase it completely. If your team is already ahead, they can help you pad the lead.

When looking at your bench, there are a variety of player types and roles they maintain. The most exclusive role on the bench is the sixth man — the first player off the bench.

These players are generally good enough to start but are saved so the team has consistency and reliability coming off the bench.

Beyond that, some players are viewed more as an offensive piece, while others are utilized for their defensive prowess. Either way, these role-players enter the game strategically and sometimes not at all.

This is where being extremely talented in one area can help your team. For example, head coaches generally roll with their best three-point shooters when points are needed late in the game.

Without a reliable bench, teams can quickly fall behind the opposing team. These teams can have solid first quarters, but disadvantages start presenting themselves as games go on.

Before you know it, these teams dig themselves into a hole they can’t get out of and must fight their way back the rest of the game.

In basketball, teams are allowed to substitute as many times as they want or need. Instead of limiting the number of times, head coaches are limited on when they can substitute.

For example, substitutions are only allowed during a dead ball when the clock stops.

A few things must happen before a substitution enters the game. First, they must report to the scorer’s table.

When a dead ball occurs and the clock stops, the referee must whistle the player in and give the player being replaced an opportunity to exit. This happens rather quickly in real-time.

Beyond that, the NBA has a wide range of other rules that must be met — some of them more specific than what’s listed above.

Let’s take a look at how the NBA handles substitutions:

• The player must approach the 8’ Substitution Box, check-in with the attendant at the scorer’s table, and notify them who they’re replacing.
• The player must remain in the vicinity of the 8’ Substitution Box until called in by the referee.
• Players must be ready to go when called in by the referee. That means no delays, removing clothing, or tying shoes once called in.
• Players can’t replace a free throw shooter or someone taking a jump ball unless an ejection occurred.
• Once called in, a player can’t be replaced until a player legally touches the ball during play, the ref calls a personal or technical foul, there’s a change in possession or a team takes a timeout.
• Players can be removed from the scorer’s table before being called in, but not during or after.
• Players can return to the game after being subbed out during the same dead ball.
• If players aren’t in the vicinity of the scorer’s table at the time of a violation, they must wait until the next substitution opportunity.
• During free throws, teams must wait for the final free throw before substituting any players.
• Teams can’t substitute after a field goal unless a foul or timeout is called.
• If the officials suspend play for any reason, teams are not allowed to substitute.
• Once disqualified, a player cannot return to the game.

Much like the game plan itself, substituting during a live basketball game is one of the major reasons coaches get paid ‘the big bucks’ on the staff.

They must make extremely important decisions in real-time when setting their team up for success. Strategic substitutions are just as crucial as the game plan itself.

We’ve mentioned a majority of the basics when it comes to NBA basketball team rosters, but we haven’t mentioned the specifics when looking at the different basketball leagues across the world.

In the NBA, teams are allowed a maximum of 15 players and a minimum of 14 players under contract. This differs from the active roster, which must have 12 or 13 active players — a minimum of eight suit up.

It also differs from the number of players allowed during the offseason, which is 20 players per basketball team.

Once the NBA season starts, the maximum and minimum roster sizes take effect. There are a few exceptions and instances where a basketball team might dip above or below these numbers.

Let’s take a look at some of these below:

• Teams are allowed 16 players if there are more than four players seriously injured at any given time. Once a player returns from injury, they must return to a 15-player roster. This is known as the ‘hardship exception.’
• Teams are allowed 16 players if one of their players is suspended. For a 4-game or 5-game suspension, the basketball team can add a player following the 3rd game of the suspension. For any suspension lasting 6 or more games, the basketball team must wait until after the 5th game when signing an extra player.
• Teams are allowed 12 or 13 players in rare circumstances. Anytime a basketball team dips below the 14-player minimum, the league must approve it and they must return to the 14-player minimum within two weeks.

In addition to allowing 15 NBA players per basketball team, head coaches are allowed up to two two-way contracts. These are generally given to G League players on the cusp of becoming an NBA role player.

When signing someone to a two-way contract, they can only play up to 50 games. The good news is they don’t need to be consecutive and can happen strategically.

There’s nothing more exciting than FIBA (International) basketball. It’s where players wear their country’s colors proudly, no matter where they’re from.

For the United States, it means bringing a majority of the greatest players in the game together on the same basketball team. It’s what makes our country so dominant in FIBA play.

When building a roster for FIBA games, each country is allowed 12 players — which is two players less than the minimum for NBA.

When you consider how many superstars and elite players the United States is choosing from every four years, there are plenty that don’t make the final cut.

Of the 12 players, FIBA teams can have one naturalized player per roster. These players weren’t always a citizen of the country but acquired citizenship over time.

Let’s take a look at Team USA’s roster for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup:

• Derrick White
• Donovan Mitchell
• Joe Harris
• Marcus Smart
• Harrison Barnes
• Jaylen Brown
• Jayson Tatum
• Mason Plumlee
• Myles Turner
• Brook Lopez
• Khris Middleton
• Kemba Walker

The Head Coach of Team USA is Gregg Popovich. His assistant coaches are Steve Kerr, Lloyd Pierce, and Jay Wright.

They finished 6-2 in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and 7th in the standings, earning a ticket to the 2020(2021) Olympics in Tokyo.

College teams are extremely similar to NBA teams, especially since they’re allowed up to 15 players on the roster at any point in time.

The major difference is that college teams must have 13 players suit up each basketball game — whereas the NBA allows teams 12 or 13 players.

The two players that don’t suit up are allowed to sit behind the bench, but this often turns into an issue during away games.

Some colleges and universities don’t have a lot of money to spend on travel — unlike colleges like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, etc.

When budgeting, these other less-fortunate teams often decide against traveling with the two inactive players, also known as healthy scratches.

They are, however, almost always at home games and are available to suit up when replacing a player on the active roster.

The number of players on a high school basketball team varies greatly on the high school itself. Varsity and junior varsity teams across the nation set limitations for roster sizes and it largely has to do with the amount of interest from students.

Most high school basketball teams can’t roster more than 15 students at one time, with 12 oftentimes being the minimum. Many schools have high turnouts when making the final cuts and elect to have multiple teams.

Since these additional teams aren’t part of the actual school’s conference, it’s often an added expense for the school.

In some instances, you see high schools with more than 15 basketball players. While allowed in some areas, it’s extremely difficult to give every student proper minutes and often takes away from the students that deserve a lot of minutes each basketball game.

On the basketball court, players have positions they specialize in. Most players fall under one position or two positions, but the game is evolving and players are starting to specialize in all facets of the game.

This is true for basketball players like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Ben Simmons.

At the end of the day, there are five positions on the basketball court and they each have their responsibility:

1. Point Guard – the main ball handler and play-caller, the point guard is generally running the show. They’re often the smallest, but also the smartest.
2. Shooting Guard – as the name suggests, the shooting guard specializes in shooting. They live on the three-point line and on the wing, but they also know how to defend.
3. Small Forward – the small forward lives on the wing too, but they’re more built for driving and drawing bodies into the paint. They often open up space for the guards to work.
4. Power Forward – in traditional basketball, the power forward was more of a down-low big man. That’s still the case today, but they’ve added an outside element that makes them versatile.
5. Center – the centers are the basketball players tasked with protecting the rim at all times. They’re starting to work on their shooting, but they spend most of their time down low.

The more versatile you are as a player, the more valuable you are to your basketball team. Head coaches love that in a player and it’s an excellent way of getting noticed at any level.

That’s why players must always work on improving their basketball game and strengthening their various weaknesses time and again.

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This season, 8 Russians play in the NCAA. How are they? - The Interception - Blogs

Editor's Note: You are reading the user blog Interception, which talks about European basketball. Don't forget that pluses are still the best way to thank the author.

Before the start of last season, I wrote this text. Then I talked to almost all the Russians who were preparing to compete in the NCAA - there were 11 of them at that time - and tried to understand why Russian youth began to leave more massively for American universities. There have never been such a number of Russians in the NCAA.

A year and a half has passed since then, and half of the guys have parted ways: Konstantin Dotsenko is now playing in the Loko farm club, Zakhar Vedischev plays at the base of Krasnodar, Mark Tikhonenko signed a contract with Astana, Andre Toure recently played in Maykop in the second Super League, and Samson Ruzhentsev moved to the Serbian "Mega".

But some remained in America. They were joined by a few more guys who either just left Russia or got into the NCAA from American schools or the NJCAA. In this text, I will talk about all the Russians who play in the first division of the main student league in the world. If last season I wanted to explain why exactly they are leaving, now I have focused on their career.

If you prefer reading, then below is a large text with comments from the players themselves; but this time you have the opportunity not only to read, but also to watch a video about all of our in the NCAA. Inside is my story and a video interview with the guys.

If you watch a YouTube video, don't forget to thumbs up and leave a comment. This will help promote the channel. Subscribe if you love Russian basketball and want to 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 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.

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% 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 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 at the university level for the same amount of time.

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 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.

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