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How many teams left in college basketball
Final Four 2022: Ranking the 4 remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament from Duke to Villanova
Upon glancing at the NCAA Tournament bracket the men’s basketball committee had composed on Selection Sunday night, it was easy to see that chaos would follow. But how does one anticipate such a thing? If it were predictable, it wouldn’t be chaos.
So even though it was easy to see that every team on the bracket had significant flaws, it was also true that the teams tasked with beating them were even more impaired. So how would anyone win?
Well, they play games, and someone has to advance.
So away went Kentucky, Tennessee and Auburn, and that was just the SEC. And No. 1 seed Baylor fell to a resurgent North Carolina. And soon all of them were followed by No. 1 seeds Gonzaga and Arizona.
It was a series of unexpected results – that was totally expected.
MORE: Tip-times, TV info for Final Four
All of the teams that survived and will travel to New Orleans had their moments of concern. Duke was down five points with 5 minutes left against Michigan State. Villanova’s offense never quite was potent enough to leave behind the Ohio State and Michigan teams the Wildcats defended so ferociously. Providence took Kansas all the way to the tape before finishing a close second. North Carolina blew a 25-point lead against Baylor but prevailed in overtime. Any one of them could have been one of the 64 victims of the tournament’s capriciousness, but all accomplished just enough to instead call themselves the 2022 Final Four.
This is how they rank in terms of ability to win the championship.
1. Duke (32-6)
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Why they will win it: All along, the Blue Devils had every ingredient historically required to win an NCAA basketball championship. The idea of what wins in March is often complicated or overlooked. It was reflected in the sudden presentation of Houston, once past the Sweet 16, as the betting favorite to win the NCAA championship. What the Cougars accomplished in this tournament after losing two of their five top scorers to season-ending injury at mid-season was remarkable, but winning it all without a projected first-round pick, with a leading scorer averaging 13.8 points and shooting 33 percent on 3-pointers, with a team ranking 305th in the country in free throw rate? They were going to tough it out until toughness wasn’t enough, which turned out to be in the Elite Eight against Villanova.
Duke never has had those issues. Elite talent is the primary ingredient to an NCAA championship, and the Devils have five players who are projected as first-round picks. It’s important to have players who can break down a defense. Junior Wendell Moore can take the ball from the wing to the lane and create opportunities as well as anyone, and has averages of 13.5 points and 4.4 assists to show for it. All-American power forward Paulo Banchero, as well, excels in his ability to drive the ball into defenses. And rim protection: Go through NCAA Tournament history, and see how rarely a team with a 6-9 center who doesn’t block shots is in the middle of the lane for the eventual champion. Size matters, and Mark Williams has 16 blocks in four tournament games.
The one area Duke did not have covered, and the primary reason it lost to non-tournament teams Florida State and Virginia, was a high-end point guard. Jeremy Roach was in and out of the lineup, as Krzyzewski tried to work around his limitations as a creator. Roach still is not that. But he has become a weapon, averaging 12.8 points and 51.3 percent shooting by attacking seams in defenses created by defenses overwhelmed by dealing with such players as Moore, Banchero and AJ Griffin. When Mike Krzyzewski committed to using Roach and instructed him to concern himself first with defending the basketball, he added a definition to this team that had been lacking and allowed Moore and freshman power guard Trevor Keels to focus more on what they do best. Duke may not have exactly everything a championship team would want, but it has more of the right qualities than anyone else.
Why they won't: When the Blue Devils were playing that famous/infamous game to conclude the regular season against North Carolina, there were moments during the first half when it was almost inescapable to look at them and wonder: Who is going to beat this team? Well, before two hours had lapsed, the answer became the Tar Heels. They flipped that game by attacking with speed off the bounce and kicking out to open shooters. Duke appears to have addressed that issue and did a magnificent job of mitigating the threat posed by Arkansas guard JD Notae. But part of Duke’s advantage in that matchup was the Razorbacks lineup included fewer high-level threats beyond him. That’s why the coaches aimed so much of their D at Notae. Such teams as Villanova and North Carolina have more players who are capable of big scoring nights, which will create greater stress on a defense that still ranks only No. 45 at KenPom.com.
DECOURCY: Coach K crosses bridge to Final Four one final time
2. Kansas (32-6)
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Why they might win it: They have the sort of NBA-bound talent that is required to be a serious contender. Either or both of wings Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun will play in the league, and either – or both – could be a first-round pick. Agbaji has accepted the role of star from the first game this season, and Braun lately has been less likely to defer when there’s obviously an opportunity for him to score. Like many other teams in this tournament, they are not elite at the point guard position, but Dajuan Harris understands his physical limitations and generally gets the ball to where it needs to be, and the reemergence of dynamic transfer Remy Martin as a change-of-pace offensive generator is a difficult component for opposing defenses to manage. He can hurt the Jayhawks at times with his shot-selection, but he’s been much better with that during this tournament, save perhaps the first 20 minutes of the Elite Eight game against Miami. Self remains one of the most underrated defensive coaches. He is not one of those who is often cited in such conversations because his schemes aren’t flashy, and because KU is happy to operate at a quick tempo when it suits the roster or the game in question.
Why they won’t: Big man David McCormack is one of the reasons the Jayhawks are here; he was effective throughout the tournament and delivered 15 points in the Elite Eight game against Miami, along with allowing the Hurricanes’ Sam Waardenburg only three shots and serving as a big factor in Waardenburg’s foul trouble. But McCormack has been an inconsistent player, and that rarely is tolerated at the Final Four level. If he’s matched in a title game against Duke’s Mark Williams, can he be a significant factor? The point guard dynamic will be a problem until it is not. If someone such as Villanova’s Collin Gillespie puts a defensive lock on Harris, can Martin be counted upon to do more than just juice the offense? He made some defensive errors in the Miami game that ultimately were lost in the one-sided game, but there’ll be less of a disguise for any issue now. Here’s another thing: It took Kansas until the second half against Miami to make its first 3-point shot. That’s not a one-game thing. The Jayhawks are 285th in 3-point percentage, 283rd in 3-point usage. If a team can limit Agbaji’s quality 3-point looks, KU might have trouble generating the necessary offense to win a close game.
DECOURCY: Kansas gets shot at title it missed out on in 2020
3. North Carolina (28-9)
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Why they might win it: The Tar Heels certainly have a recipe to defeat their semifinal opponent, the rival Duke Blue Devils. They went into Cameron Indoor Stadium on the final day of the regular season and, with the sort of desperation only a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble can understand, blew Duke off the court in the final 11 minutes of a 94-81 win. Their small-guard combination of Caleb Love and R.J. Davis can cause problems for the opposition because each has great quickness and is a high-end 3-point shooter. It will be a different challenge than anything Duke, for all its success, has faced in this NCAA Tournament – although obviously not a new one from what they’ve faced before. But even if the players are the same, they aren’t playing the same. There is an elevated feeling of confidence, which led Love to a career-best 30 points in the Sweet 16, and Davis to lay siege to the Duke lane and set up stretch-4 Brady Manek for open 3-pointers. In the middle of all this is long, bouncy center Armando Bacot, who excels at rebounding and finishing around the rim.
Why they won’t: It’s still not clear Carolina defends at an elite level, although they have turned in some excellent performances of late. They weren’t required to stop an exceptional offense in the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight, although they did shut down the young Baylor Bears in the second round. They do not disrupt the ball; they are 349th out of 358 teams at forcing turnovers, according to KenPom.com. It feels like a squad with bigger, more dynamic wings to attack the lane – like Duke or Kansas -- can cause problems for the Carolina perimeter. A defense that can shut down the Heels’ perimeter attack might afford to go one-on-one against Bacot in the post. He was 9-of-10 for 19 points against Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament, but the rest of the Heels were 3-of-26 from 3-point range. Carolina is talented, but who is the player that can rise above the rest when the national title is at stake?
DECOURCY: Davis guides UNC to Final Four in up-and-down debut season
4. Villanova (30-7)
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Why they might win it: Coach Jay Wright has called Collin Gillespie the best leader he’s had in his program, and this is the guy who coached Ryan Arcidiacono and Jalen Brunson. So maybe after he’s finished playing professional basketball, Gillespie will be President of the United States. The Wildcats are an absolute chore to guard, freeing shooters with a variety of uncommon moves and screens and also by spreading the court and empowering ballhandlers, particularly Gillespie, to back down defenders and either draw in to defenders for kick-outs to open shooters or to score on postups or turnaround jumpers. There is an astonishing degree of physical and mental toughness in this team. It was there across 80 minutes of basketball in two Big East games against Providence and especially in the Elite Eight game victory against Houston, which the officials allowed to devolve into an MMA fight. They will not back away from any competition.
Why they won’t: It starts with the injury to Justin Moore, who tore his achilles tendon late in the Elite Eight win over Houston and will not be able to compete. He averages 14.8 points on a team that is only 150th in scoring offense. The Wildcats don’t have an obvious replacement. Even at full strength, they’re just not big enough. They’ve won the title before with smaller teams than the average champ; listed at 6-9 as center for the 2018 championship Wildcats, Omari Spellman was the shortest tallest regular of any championship team in the past 30-plus years. But he was surrounded by elite talents such as Sporting News Player of the Year Jalen Brunson, future Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges and current Sacramento Kings guard Donte DiVencenzo. This is not that Villanova team. There is a reason the tempo for the Wildcats has slowed to 345th in Division I, compared to 150th with the 2018 champions and 274th with the 2016 winners. Wright wants his teams to be precise on offense, because the ability to execute the constant screening and motion to generate high-quality shots for high-quality shooters is why Villanova has reached its third Final Four since 2016. But the pieces aren’t as exceptional now. The Wildcats only are 102nd in effective field goal percentage. So although they are among the better defensive teams in the country, they can’t compensate as well for the fact they are not built to protect the rim. They rank 264th in block rate; no team outside the top 200 has won the title in the past 20 years, most were in the top 50 and three (03 Syracuse, 04 UConn and 12 Kentucky) were No. 1.
BENDER: Villanova survives slugfest with Houston
New York College Basketball: Ranking the 22 Teams (Jan. 23, Third Edition) | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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New York has 22 Division I collegiate basketball teams. Unfortunately, many of them are terrible. But some are decent and a select few are great. This article ranks New York's 22 college basketball teams from first to worst.
This is the third edition of the New York College Basketball rankings. The first and second can be found here and here .
Explanations are only provided for the top 14 because the bottom eight don't deserve your reading time.
Ranking, Team, Overall Record (Conference Record), Second Edition Ranking
1. Syracuse, 18-1 (5-1 Big East), 1
Without a doubt, the Orange maintain their perch on New York's throne. A 10-point loss to a surprisingly competitive Pittsburgh team is the only blemish on Syracuse's record. The Orange are going to be tough to beat through the end of the season with seven players averaging eight or more points per game.
2. Cornell, 15-3 (1-0 Ivy), 2
Even though Siena is rolling over MAAC competition, Cornell remains a notch above the Saints. The Big Red have won at Alabama and St. John's and took Kansas to the wire. Their other two losses were versus Seton Hall and at Syracuse.
3. Siena, 16-4 (9-0 MAAC), 6
Siena has won 10 consecutive games and 12 of its last 13. To say the Saints are gelling would be a drastic understatement. They're past the point of gelling. Now, they're mowing down anything between them and a 'W. '
Despite having a better RPI than Cornell (32 vs. 37), Siena remains behind the Big Red because the Saints could not pick up a signature win out of conference.
4. Iona, 14-6 (6-3 MAAC), 5
Winners of five straight, the Gaels are the MAAC's surprise of the year. They have used their No. 9 MAAC preseason rank as motivation to rise to third place in the league.
Iona is a defensive-minded team. The Gaels nearly beat Florida State and Baylor in November by playing suffocating defense. A defense that can hold Baylor to 58 points in regulation should fare well in the MAAC.
5. St. John's, 12-6 (2-4 Big East), 3
After starting 10-2, the Johnnies struggled through their adjustment to Big East play. However, they have won two of their last three.
St. John's remains in the top five because, as you'll soon see, none of the teams behind the Red Storm would be favored in a hypothetical matchup with the boys from Queens.
6. Buffalo, 10-5 (3-1 MAC), 9
Before an embarrassing 35-point loss at Kent State, the Bulls had won seven of their last eight games. Their streak in combination with the struggles of other New York programs enabled them to reach the No. 6 spot.
7. Niagara, 11-10 (4-5 MAAC), 4
The Purple Eagles are reeling. Losers of four out of five, Niagara is in serious trouble and stands at an unforeseen sixth place in the MAAC.
8. St. Bonaventure, 9-8 (2-2 A-10), 8
The Bonnies have played .500 ball against decent competition to keep their slot at No. 8.
9. Stony Brook, 13-7 (5-2 A. East), 11
Winners in six of their last eight games, the Seawolves picked up a huge road win at first-place Vermont on Thursday. Stony Brook cracked the top 10 as a result of their hot play and others' stumbles.
10. Canisius, 10-10 (5-4 MAAC), 13
Led by Frank Turner and Julius Coles, the Golden Griffins have continued to surprise the MAAC. They've won four out of six, but the two losses were on the road against Siena and Fairfield, the MAAC's top two teams.
11. Hofstra, 9-11 (2-6 CAA), 7
The Pride fell to No. 11 as a result of dropping six of seven.
12. Army, 12-6 (2-2 Patriot), 10
Despite having three more wins than Hofstra, Army is one slot behind the Pride because of a much weaker schedule.
13. Binghamton, 7-13 (2-3 A. East), 17
The Bearcats have been playing really good basketball, especially given the condition the team was in after the September scandals. Over the last six games, Binghamton picked up notable wins against La Salle and Stony Brook.
The Bearcats lost to BU by eight, Maine in overtime, and Hartford by one. Not bad for a team with seven scholarship players.
14. Manhattan, 7-12 (2-7 MAAC), 12
After starting 5-2, the Jaspers have dropped 10 of their last 12. Manhattan didn't pick up an OOC win as weighty as Binghamton's victory over La Salle, so the Jaspers sit behind the Bearcats.
15. Long Island, 7-11 (5-2 NEC), 16
16. Columbia, 6-9 (0-1 Ivy), 14
17. St. Francis, 8-10 (5-2 NEC), 19
18. Albany, 6-15 (1-5 A. East), 15
19. Fordham, 2-15 (0-5 A-10), 18
20. Colgate, 5-13 (1-3 Patriot), 21
21. Wagner, 3-17 (1-6 NEC), 20
22. Marist, 1-18 (1-8 MAAC), 22
For New York and mid-major basketball, follow Ari Kramer on Twitter by clicking here .
This season, 8 Russians play in the NCAA. How are they? - The Interception - Blogs
Editor's Note: You are reading the user blog Interception, which talks about European basketball. Don't forget that pluses are still the best way to thank the author.
Before the start of last season, I wrote this text. Then I talked to almost all the Russians who were preparing to compete in the NCAA - there were 11 of them at that time - and tried to understand why Russian youth began to leave more massively for American universities. There have never been such a number of Russians in the NCAA.
A year and a half has passed since then, and half of the guys have parted ways: Konstantin Dotsenko is now playing in the Loko farm club, Zakhar Vedischev plays at the base of Krasnodar, Mark Tikhonenko signed a contract with Astana, Andre Toure recently played in Maykop in the second Super League, and Samson Ruzhentsev moved to the Serbian "Mega".
But some remained in America. They were joined by a few more guys who either just left Russia or got into the NCAA from American schools or the NJCAA. In this text, I will talk about all the Russians who play in the first division of the main student league in the world. If last season I wanted to explain why exactly they are leaving, now I have focused on their career.
If you prefer reading, then below is a large text with comments from the players themselves; but this time you have the opportunity not only to read, but also to watch a video about all of our in the NCAA. Inside is my story and a video interview with the guys.
If you watch a YouTube video, don't forget to thumbs up and leave a comment. This will help promote the channel. Subscribe if you love Russian basketball and want to learn more about it.
And now - the promised text about our guys in America.
What is the NCAA
The NCAA, or NCDA, is the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States and Canada. It includes almost 1300 schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions. The teams of these universities are represented not only in basketball - the NCAA also has competitions in American football, wrestling, fencing, bowling, softball, gymnastics, tennis and God knows what else.
But basketball is a very popular sport in the association. Both guys and girls have three divisions, which are ranked by strength. This text is only about those Russians who compete in the first, strongest, division.
The NCAA has a playoff called March Madness. When knockout games start, the whole country switches from professionals to students. Although during the season, the teams also have enough attention from fans: the clubs play in large and good arenas, many people come to the matches, the games are shown on television, and sometimes on national television. There are even universities whose fans spend the night in front of the arena in the hope of having time to buy a ticket.
So the NCAA is a really serious tournament, albeit a student one.
How many Russians are there
I have spent an hour and a half of my life checking the composition of all the colleges that are represented in the first division. There are 358 of them. I broke my eyes, learned about the existence of several countries and even about the presence of basketball in these countries, but still I counted all the Russians.
I got eight people, and now we will get to know them better. The sequence on my list doesn't mean anything, it's just that way because I talked to the guys in that order.
I hope I haven't missed anyone. Please write in the comments if you know someone whom I have overlooked.
Evdokimov is the newest member of the NCAA Division I. He joined the Charleston Cougars - the name of the team of the University of Charleston from South Carolina - in early December last year.
This university belongs to mid-major. In the American system, there is a gradation of universities by strength - from low-major to high-major. Mid-major is the middle level. Most Russian guys perform at universities that fall into this category.
Before moving to the USA, Nikita played for the youth team of Lokomotiv-Kuban and for the national team. Last summer, the defender represented the Russian under-20 team at the Euro Challenger, although he himself was only 18.
Evdokimov has an interesting story about how he fell in love with basketball. In fact, it is strange that he did not go to handball, because his dad is the famous Russian handball player Yegor Evdokimov. Six-time champion of Russia, champion of Spain, champion of Belarus, champion of Ukraine, participant of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. At the dawn of his career, Yegor Viktorovich played in his homeland, in the Chelyabinsk region, the city of Snezhinsk. Nikita was born there.
- I fell in love with basketball when I was 9 or 10 years old. My cousin and grandmother and I went on vacation to the Crimea. There was a playground where I constantly ran and played. Grandma suggested trying to sign up for basketball. And before that, I didn’t consider basketball as a sport at all ... But I went to a training session and instantly fell in love. Didn't miss it at all. Then Lokomotiv saw me at the Russian Championship. Together with a team from my city, from Chekhov, we took fourth place, and everyone was very surprised. I was seen by coach Petar Marinkovic, who called me to Loko, ”recalls Evdokimov.
He says that he could have been in the red-green system even earlier. He was invited to the Yug-Basket camp - this is a camp organized by the club and within which it looks for players in its youth system - but then Evdokimov was with relatives in the United States and could not come.
He ended up in the Loko system in 2017. True, Evdokimov says that, even while playing for Krasnodar, he often thought that he actually wanted to try his hand at American basketball. He has relatives living in the USA, he has been there more than once, and when the chance to move to the university appeared, he did not hesitate for a long time.
Evdokimov learned about the university's interest in him in advance, so he spent the summer with benefit: he trained individually with personal trainers in Moscow and Cyprus, where his father plays handball. There, the defender, at the request of the university coach, worked hard on three-pointers and performed at least 500 long-range shots a day.
Evdokimov will be coached at the College of Charleston by Pat Kelsey, a strong specialist who is widely known in college basketball. He once worked with Jeff Teague and Chris Paul.
Alex is not short for Alexander, but his passport name. He was not born in Russia, but in Canada, his parents went there to give birth to Alex. In this country, he lived the first year of his life, after which he left for Moscow. In memory of Canada, Alex has citizenship (he has a double one).
But he started playing basketball in Russia.
— I started playing basketball at Gloria when I was 10-11 years old. People came to my school - and I studied at an ordinary secondary school - who were looking for young guys who were ready to play basketball. They came into my class, saw that I was tall, did a couple of tests, asked me different questions and invited me to practice. I studied at Gloria for a long time, then I got into the MBA Junior Junior League, from there I was taken to the Super League. I played there for literally a year, and after graduating from high school I decided that it would be wise to go to the United States. I contacted Skryagin (Alexander Skryagin, ProFuturo Sports, - note "Interception"), because he was the only person who knows more about moving to the USA than me. We talked to him, I dropped my highlights to him, and he helped me find a school, - says Kotov.
Alex arrived in the US in 2017 and entered the Montverde Academy. This is a very famous program that prepares players for the NCAA. Kotov spent a year in Montverde and won the championship with this team, the result for the season is 35-0. Alex's partners then included, for example, RJ Barrett, who now plays for the New York Knicks in the NBA, and Turkish Efes center Philip Petrushev.
Alex left Montverde not immediately for the NCAA, but for the NJCAA. It is an association of junior colleges and is also often referred to as Juko. A common story for those who feel like they're not ready for the NCAA yet, but want to play hard and improve. Kotov spent two years in this association, after which he moved to the NCAA, to the Illinois State Redbirds team. This is also a representative university of the mid-major category.
Alex has six months left to study at the university, but he can play in the team for another two and a half years. This happened because the players have the right to use the redshirt option. In fact, this is the right of the player to extend his career at the university, even if he has already graduated from the university. Plus, there's also the "cancellation" of the season due to the coronavirus (this happened last year), which also doesn't count, as well as the "cancellation" of the season due to injury (this happened to Alex in his second year in the NJCAA).
In general, these rules are very complicated.
- Due to an injury in my second year at the NJCAA, I opted to save the year. That's plus one season. In addition, this year I had a lot of misunderstandings with the coach, it all started last year. I thought that it would be possible to influence it somehow, to establish relations with him in the summer, but it turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. Therefore, after a huge number of meetings, we came to the conclusion that this year it would be easier for me to also take the option to save the year. So this year I'm graduating from university, getting an education, but I still have, roughly speaking, two seasons to play in the NCAA, - says Kotov.
Lakhin is the only Russian who represents a high-major university. This means that the university where Vitya plays often goes to the "March Madness" and has a tangible chance of winning the NCAA.
And the story of Lakhin began in Anapa. The parents wanted to send their sons - Vitya and his brother Vasya - to some kind of team sport so that they would play together. And chose volleyball. But because of the coach, they did not last long in the volleyball section and eventually went to basketball.
Lahin started in fourth grade but quickly rose to the city team. And in the Krasnodar Territory, if you play for the city team, then you are in full view of the Lokomotiv scouts. Vitya did not play Loko on a permanent basis, but by the 7-8th grade he was regularly on the team to participate in the Russian championships. The Railroaders took him as a reinforcement player - this is a common practice in children's competitions.
Further - a matter of chance. Loko juniors played in the final stage of the Russian championship and met CSKA twice - in the group stage and in the semi-finals. Lakhin gave two good games and ... received an invitation from the "soldiers".
At first he did not think of moving anywhere and stayed to finish the season in the south. But summer came, and he still went to see it. He was offered to stay after the first practice. Vitya talked to his parents and a month later he arrived at CSKA.
- The first season was probably the most emotional, full of some moments, memories. Because my brother and I arrived for the first time in a big city. On the one hand, this is a great freedom, because there are no parents nearby, but, on the other hand, this is also a great responsibility. Because you have never done the things that your parents did for you before, like laundry, cleaning, all sorts of small things. Even a waste of money: you never thought about it before, you were given - you spent it. And here you have money, and you know that if you spend everything, then at the end of the month you won’t have any left, ”recalls Vitya.
Lakhin reached the final stage of the youth Euroleague with CSKA and spent a pretty good season overall. Alexey Zhukov, the head coach of the “army” CYBL, left to work as an assistant in Nizhny Novgorod, and Maxim Sharafan came to CSKA from Lokomotiv. He worked with Vitya for three years, and during this time Lakhin managed to understand that he wants to play in Russia only at the highest level - in CSKA - and if it doesn’t work out, then it’s better to leave.
- I realized that it would be very difficult for me to get into the base. This is a top club with the highest goals, and as a young player I need to be not even the same as everyone else, but better, because I have no experience. It was necessary here and now to show some level and bring results. Let's be realistic, there were no players who can immediately enter the CSKA system and show something like that for a long time. Probably the Swede was the last one. I realized that I can’t do that, and since my dream is to be in the NBA, I decided to move closer to this league, this Wednesday, to America. That's why I'm here, - says Vitya.
But not everything was so simple. Back in Russia, Lakhin managed to get injured. He fell in the game moment, and his knee hurt. The medical staff did not suspect anything, and Vitya continued to train. The state of health worsened, but then the pandemic came, everyone went into self-isolation, and the center just went home. The knee was still swollen, but the pain was slowly receding. Vitya did not train and therefore did not feel any signs of deterioration. He already knew that he was leaving for America, and just waited for all the permits.
The injury happened in February and the departure was due in September. In the summer, Lakhin himself did an MRI, which showed that he had ... a torn meniscus. He took the results of the examination to the surgeon who scheduled the operation. Vitya went for it and began to recover in Russia, and he came to the USA with an already operated knee.
Everything should have been fine, but when he started running, the pain returned. Lakhin did another MRI, and it showed that the same meniscus was completely torn. The doctors said that it would take six months to recover. Therefore, Vitya simply missed his first season in the NCAA.
— All this time I didn't train, but I was always with the team: in scouting, in the locker room, in training. All lessons were online, and we lived in an apartment with the team. So that year helped me a lot, because even though I didn’t play, I was in the system and I knew the guys. It was my year of adaptation - to a new culture, to people, to new faces, to food. I had the same feeling as when I came from a small town to Moscow. You leave Russia for any other country - even to America, even to Italy, even to Spain - and you go through the same thing, Lakhin believes.
He adds that the Cincinnati had a new head coach at the end of last season and it was a difficult moment. A new specialist was appointed the day before Lakhin's departure to Russia, when he did not yet understand whether he would remain in the team for the next season or not. Whether to leave it, decided the new head coach. But in the end, the center managed to meet with him before departure and find a common language. The coach wanted to protect the Russians in the composition.
During the summer Vitya worked in the USA on his body and improved his skills. The season began in October, and in December, Lahin was the best freshman of the week in his conference. By the way, he has a situation similar to Alex: academically, Lahin is a sophomore, but he is considered a rookie in the team.
Andrey Savrasov, Georgia Southern Eagles
2021/22 stats: 14 games, 23.7 minutes average
11.9 points (51.5% 2-point, 30% 3-point, 73.1% free throws), 6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.4 block shots, 0.9 interceptions, 1 loss Andrey's first coach is a well-known Russian specialist Oleg Aktsipetrov.
— I remember that at first I had very different hobbies: football, basketball, taekwondo… But after the first two or three years of training, I realized that basketball is really mine, that I want to do just that. Slowly, I began to play for the sports school of the Admiralteisky district, for the Zenit Junior Junior League, played for the Russian national team U16, U18. We went to different tournaments, and somewhere the scouts saw my game and invited me to the USA, says Savrasov.
Andrey moved to America three years ago - in January 2019of the year. Now he is finishing his third year at the university, in the American education system it is possible to start studying in the middle of the academic year and, accordingly, then graduate also in the middle of the academic year.
Savrasov managed to play for the Texas Tech team, where he spent a year and a half. The first six months he did not play, he spent in redshirt mode - he trained, worked on his body, was with the team, but did not play for it. But the next season already played in the status of a freshman, that is, a freshman.
Andrei didn't get much playing time, but he still wanted to stay at the university. It was a high-major, and Savrasov wanted to prove that he deserved another role.
But then I talked to the head coach, and together they decided that it would be better to change the university in order to continue their career. The coach even helped find a new team, and that's how Savrasov ended up in Georgia, in the Georgia Southern Eagles team. This is a mid-major university.
Now in his second year with the new team, he is in the starting five and generally has a good role on the court. In theory, Andrei can play for the university for another two years, although he graduates from the university in a year.
Vladislav Goldin, Florida Atlantic Owls
2021/22 stats: 14 games, 16.5 minutes average
5.7 points (47.9% 2-pointers, no 3-pointers, 52.2% free throws), 5.5 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.6 block shots, 0.4 interceptions, 1.3 losses He played with his 2001, but at some point the team just fell apart and disappeared.
Goldin was sent to play by the year 2000, and the coach of this team turned out to be familiar with the coach of CSKA-DYuBL. Vlad and another guy were offered to the "soldiers" - just to look at them. But the screening went well, and after one of the training sessions, Vlad was offered to move to Moscow. New school, new surroundings, heavy loads, training twice a day - Vlad says that the first six months in the capital were the most difficult time in his life.
- At that time, I probably did not quite understand where I was moving and how much it changed. To be honest, I didn't even really know what DUBL was. Wasn't very knowledgeable. Youth League, Junior Team, Superleague… I knew the tournaments where we played: first the Southern Federal District, then the Russian Championship. When I found out that I was already in Moscow and had to go to the CYBL team for a tryout, I even got scared. But they left me, and I trained at CSKA for another four years. Then he played for the Russian national team U18 and U19, after which he received an offer to try himself in America. I decided to take a chance and moved there to the Prep school,” says Goldin.
Prep school is short for preparatory school. In essence, this is an opportunity to play basketball in the USA before going to university.
In October 2019, Vlad entered Patnam School in Connecticut. This is a small private school about an hour from Boston. Together with the team, Goldin became the champion of America in the championship among preparatory schools.
After that, Vlad was called to Texas, to the Texas Tech team - to the same team where Andrey Savrasov played for a year and a half. Goldin saw that this was a big and serious high-major team, saw the conditions for training and accepted their invitation without hesitation.
— In Texas, things are a little different. The way we played there was not like the way I played before, so the first experience was difficult. And then the head coach left us, replacing TexasTech with Texas. Most of the coaching staff left with him, and our team did not quite understand what to do. Only the assistant coach remained with us. And in the end, I decided to move to another team, to Florida, - say Goldin.
Due to the coronavirus, Vlad has the same situation as most student athletes: academically he is a sophomore, but the last sports season did not count, so he is a freshman in the team. Goldin has three years left to study, and he can play four more.
He himself says that his current team plays more European basketball, so he feels great there.
Alexander Glushkov, Appalachian State Mountaineers
2021/22 stats: 7 games, 4.7 minutes average
2 points (60% 2-pointers, 0% 3-pointers, 33.3% free throws), 1 .1 rebounds, no assists, 0.1 blocks, 0.1 steals, no losses
Born in Vladivostok, Glushkov started playing basketball at the age of 13 when he went to summer camp. I came home and told my father: "I want to play basketball." Parents sent Sasha to the section.
Glushkov's first coach is Eduard Sushko. After a year of working with him, Sasha was invited to the Spartak-Primorye system. He played in the Junior Junior League for a year, after which the entire management of the team and almost the entire squad moved to the PSC Sakhalin. At the same time, the base of the club remained in Vladivostok. Glushkov spent a year in the new club, after which he received an invitation from Moscow, from the IBA. His coach Alexander Antipov invited him.
And then it was a matter of chance, and a year later Sasha was already flying to the USA to study at school.
— I came to Moscow and played there for a year. When we were preparing for the Summer Spartakiad in Krasnaya Pakhra at the Trinta base, a coach from the USA arrived there. He was familiar with Alexander Antipov, because before that our guy had already played at the same school. He came just to relax, but he also wanted to look at the players. He probably liked me, and he invited me to school. I took the chance and got into high school. I spent 11-12 classes there, received several offers and decided that I would play in Appalachian State, says Glushkov.
Now Sasha is in his second year, but as you know, last year doesn't count. So Glushkov is considered a “freshman” in the team and can play for the university for another three and a half years, while he has two and a half to study.
When Sasha arrived at the university, he weighed about 90 kg. But now he has noticeably added muscle mass. He began to grow muscles during the last season, but he did the main work in the summer. Due to problems with visas, he could not go home to Russia, and he went to a friend in Houston. There he lived for a month, ate a lot and rocked. As a result, he entered the new season in excellent physical shape. True, the coach still does not really trust him.
Glushkov University is a mid-major who, last year, entered March Madness for the first time in 20 years. Sasha was not released then, but he nevertheless felt the atmosphere of the main student event of the year. Here's what he says about it:
- It was ... unbelievable (unbelievable - approx. "Interception"). Very cool feeling. 64 top teams, all at the highest level. We had two or three hotels, each floor was dedicated to a specific team. I don’t know how much it could be called the same “March Madness”, because, of course, all the measures were taken anyway. We had a quarantine, we had to be tested every day. And so everything was at the highest level,” recalls Glushkov.
David has probably the most atypical fate among all our guys who now play in the first division of the NCAA.
Didenko was born in the north, in the city of Yakutsk. He remembers his childhood quite vividly: he says that the city authorities allowed not to go to school at -45 degrees Celsius, and if the thermometer was only -43, you had to pull yourself together, stick yourselves into a thick down jacket and stomp to school.
— I had a healthy down jacket, maybe five centimeters. I walked around like a big bubble. When I was 8 or 9 years old, we had -57 degrees in winter. Very cold. I didn’t leave the house for two days,” Didenko recalls.
In 2010, David ended up in the USA even before he started playing basketball. He was 10. His older sister was leaving for New York to study English, and David just went with her for a month.
While still in Russia, they found him something to do in the USA. On the classifieds website, the family looked at a message from a Russian coach who lived there, his name was Boris Karebin. The coach was needed so that David would not just mess around in the States.
But the boy got so caught up in basketball that he eventually wanted to stay. Parents allowed, and he went to an American school. Karebin trained him in Brighton Beach, this is a Russian-speaking area, so immersion in American culture was gradual.
— I first lived in New York, where I arrived, and then I traveled. Lived in Florida, then studied in Georgia, in Tennessee. I travel a lot around the country - sometimes I live there, sometimes there. Somehow I quickly learned English, apparently because I was still young. Literally in a year. In Russia, I studied English for three classes, but could not learn it. Here I first lived with my sister, she pushed me to talk to people, and somehow everything turned out by itself, - says Didenko.
David spent his first year after school in Juko. Remember the story of Alex Kotov? This is the same league that prepares players who have not yet grown up to the NCAA. But already in the second year, Didenko ended up in the first division, at the University of Georgia.
He is currently a UT Martin Skyhawks player, where UT is the University of Tennessee. Accordingly, David now lives and studies in this state. He has a year and a half left at the university, and he can still play the same amount at the university level.
At the same time, he is 21 years old and automatically enters the NBA draft next year. In mocks - that is, expert predictions - he is not drafted, but he still has to play the whole season, so everything is in his hands.
Last on the list - not by value, but simply because he is the only Russian I could not contact - Pavel Zakharov from California Baptist Lancers.
Zakharov was born in Sør-Varanger, Norway. In Russia, Pasha played for the Zenit youth team and helped CSKA play in the youth Euroleague, and in 2018, after playing for the Russian U18 team at the European Championship, he left for the Montverde Academy. We talked about it a little earlier.
He was considered a four-star recruit. In American sports, when they want to talk about the prospects of a particular player, they talk about him in terms of stars, and four stars is very good. Such an assessment helped him get into the Gonzaga College in the NCAA - this is one of the top programs, which, for example, reached the NCAA finals last season, having suffered its first loss of the season in this very final. Pasha then did not go to the parquet. A year before, the team did not get into the "March Madness" only because the championship was stopped due to a pandemic.
Zakharov spent two seasons at this university and moved to the California Baptist Lancers in the summer of 2021. Most likely due to playing time, because, obviously, it was much more difficult to get it in Gonzaga. But even at the new university, he still has an average of 10 minutes on the floor and one and a half rebounds. By the way, about playing on the shields: the height of the Russian center is 213 centimeters, in America these guys are called seven-footers.
This is almost all I know about Pavel Zakharov.
It seems that the Russians in the first division of the NCAA are over. If you know someone else that I forgot, please write in the comments.
Thank you for your attention! I will be glad if you share the text or video with your friends who are interested in young Russian players. Well, thumbs up, comments, subscriptions to YouTube - everything is traditional.
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Photo: official websites of clubs, personal archives of players; twitter.com; instagram.com; cskabasket.com
Our pros. Why didn't two student teams have a season in Superleague-2? - ASB - Blogs
If the Last-32 stage of the Belov League has not even started yet, then the Super League-2 season has almost come to an end. Today we will tell you how two women's teams feel in professional basketball, which simultaneously participated in the 2021/22 season and in the Russian Railways Student League.
CSU-Atlanta
But they don't feel the best, I must admit. Teams "Parma-KOR" and "CHGU-Atlanta" closed the Superleague-2 standings at the end of this season.
Let's start with the team from Cheboksary. The two-time champions of the Russian Railways Student League won 6 victories in 28 games of the regular season (one of which was a technical victory over Yenisei-2) and took the penultimate, seventh, place. If, like last season, there were seven teams in Superleague-2, ChGU would have made it to the 1/4 finals. And so, as many as 7 victories separated Cheboksary basketball players from the cherished sixth line of the tournament table.
According to the newly-minted MVP of the Russian Railways Student League Veronika Mikhaleva , the reason for the failures this season lies in the updated team line-up:
“There were ambitious plans for this season - both in the Russian Railways Student League and in Super League-2. I wanted to repeat last year's success, but, as they say, you'll chase two hares... Before the start of the new season, we've updated our roster. If in that year we kept the backbone of the team, who knew the whole “kitchen” and understood the wishes of the head coach, then this year we had to build the team from scratch. For a long time they could not get used to each other and find their game, which definitely affected the result.
At the same time, according to Veronica, the combination of games in the Studliga and Superleague-2 had both its pluses and minuses:
“A large number of games is definitely a plus. You are developing as a player, gaining useful experience, which helped us in the Final Eight of the Student League. More games, less practice. There was not enough physics, and then fatigue affected - and hence the emotional background is not the best. All this influenced the result. In Superleague-2, quite a lot of games were lost in the clutch... Embarrassing defeats, but there is something to work on, to improve your result.”
Recall that last season "CSU-Atlanta" took third place in the Superleague-2. Then the Cheboksary team in a series of matches for the third place outplayed the third team of the "regular season" - "Youth" from the Penza region. For comparison: this year the “young” basketball players scored 4 victories over ChSU in 4 matches, with a total difference in the score of “+70”. Decline in the face.
“We don't have the same understanding this year as we did last season. The team is building, and it takes several seasons to understand each other again, to find team chemistry. Now we have individually strong players, but one person will not win the championship - the team always wins, ” - explains Mikhaleva.
As for individuals, this season, on average, four basketball players scored more than 10 points per match - Olesya Ogurtsova (15.5 points), Maria Anufrienko (13.3 points), Anna Babkova ( 12.1 points; 8.8 rebounds) and Veronika Mikhaleva (10.6 points).
Parma-KOR
For the Perm team, judging by the numbers, the season was, to put it mildly, not the most successful in history. Sixth place in the Russian Railways Student League and eighth place in Superleague-2, with two victories and a 26th (!) fiasco. At the same time, at the start of the Superleague championship, Parma-KOR suffered 19 defeats in a row. It was possible to interrupt the terrifying series only a couple of weeks ago, having defeated just the same “CHGU-Atlanta” with a score of 91:88.
However, the leader of the team, Ksenia Gabova , takes advantage of even such unsuccessful results:
“Absolutely everyone has improved in terms of numbers and skills, many have shown their best numbers in their careers. For us, this is the most important thing at the moment. I'm sure victories will come. I think that somewhere because of the very tight game schedule, we simply lacked the training process, and the girls had to join, so to speak, during the games.
It is also worth noting that out of 26 defeats of the regular season in 7, the Parma-KOR team lost with a difference of only six points or less.
“All defeats are on the case, we never count on luck. I will explain this nuance as follows: someone somewhere didn’t work 100%, didn’t endure, didn’t run, didn’t fulfill the instructions of the coaching staff, ” - Gabova noted.
It is curious that, having settled down in last place according to the results of the regular season, the Perm team is in the TOP-3 in terms of points scored (on average, 76. 9 points per match), and the top three snipers of the league include two Parma basketball players at once - Ksenia Gabova (26.8 points) and Yana Golyakova (25.1 points).
“Our system allows every player to shine and show good numbers. Some people use it, some don't. Speaking for myself, my numbers are the result of years of continuous work. Of course, I'm glad that I have progress, but if my team loses, then no matter how many points you score, they are no longer important, ” - the leader of the Perm team is recognized.
23-year-old Gabova scored, on average, this Superleague season even more points than in the Russian Railways Student League. Such phenomenal performance of the basketball player could not but attract the attention of competitors: “There were offers from other teams, but I did not attach much importance to this. We still have a season, there is no time to think about the future, I play here and now.
What the Cougars accomplished in this tournament after losing two of their five top scorers to season-ending injury at mid-season was remarkable, but winning it all without a projected first-round pick, with a leading scorer averaging 13.8 points and shooting 33 percent on 3-pointers, with a team ranking 305th in the country in free throw rate? They were going to tough it out until toughness wasn’t enough, which turned out to be in the Elite Eight against Villanova.
Size matters, and Mark Williams has 16 blocks in four tournament games.
They flipped that game by attacking with speed off the bounce and kicking out to open shooters. Duke appears to have addressed that issue and did a magnificent job of mitigating the threat posed by Arkansas guard JD Notae. But part of Duke’s advantage in that matchup was the Razorbacks lineup included fewer high-level threats beyond him. That’s why the coaches aimed so much of their D at Notae. Such teams as Villanova and North Carolina have more players who are capable of big scoring nights, which will create greater stress on a defense that still ranks only No. 45 at KenPom.com.
Like many other teams in this tournament, they are not elite at the point guard position, but Dajuan Harris understands his physical limitations and generally gets the ball to where it needs to be, and the reemergence of dynamic transfer Remy Martin as a change-of-pace offensive generator is a difficult component for opposing defenses to manage. He can hurt the Jayhawks at times with his shot-selection, but he’s been much better with that during this tournament, save perhaps the first 20 minutes of the Elite Eight game against Miami. Self remains one of the most underrated defensive coaches. He is not one of those who is often cited in such conversations because his schemes aren’t flashy, and because KU is happy to operate at a quick tempo when it suits the roster or the game in question.
But McCormack has been an inconsistent player, and that rarely is tolerated at the Final Four level. If he’s matched in a title game against Duke’s Mark Williams, can he be a significant factor? The point guard dynamic will be a problem until it is not. If someone such as Villanova’s Collin Gillespie puts a defensive lock on Harris, can Martin be counted upon to do more than just juice the offense? He made some defensive errors in the Miami game that ultimately were lost in the one-sided game, but there’ll be less of a disguise for any issue now. Here’s another thing: It took Kansas until the second half against Miami to make its first 3-point shot. That’s not a one-game thing. The Jayhawks are 285th in 3-point percentage, 283rd in 3-point usage. If a team can limit Agbaji’s quality 3-point looks, KU might have trouble generating the necessary offense to win a close game.
They went into Cameron Indoor Stadium on the final day of the regular season and, with the sort of desperation only a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble can understand, blew Duke off the court in the final 11 minutes of a 94-81 win. Their small-guard combination of Caleb Love and R.J. Davis can cause problems for the opposition because each has great quickness and is a high-end 3-point shooter. It will be a different challenge than anything Duke, for all its success, has faced in this NCAA Tournament – although obviously not a new one from what they’ve faced before. But even if the players are the same, they aren’t playing the same. There is an elevated feeling of confidence, which led Love to a career-best 30 points in the Sweet 16, and Davis to lay siege to the Duke lane and set up stretch-4 Brady Manek for open 3-pointers. In the middle of all this is long, bouncy center Armando Bacot, who excels at rebounding and finishing around the rim.
They weren’t required to stop an exceptional offense in the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight, although they did shut down the young Baylor Bears in the second round. They do not disrupt the ball; they are 349th out of 358 teams at forcing turnovers, according to KenPom.com. It feels like a squad with bigger, more dynamic wings to attack the lane – like Duke or Kansas -- can cause problems for the Carolina perimeter. A defense that can shut down the Heels’ perimeter attack might afford to go one-on-one against Bacot in the post. He was 9-of-10 for 19 points against Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament, but the rest of the Heels were 3-of-26 from 3-point range. Carolina is talented, but who is the player that can rise above the rest when the national title is at stake?
So maybe after he’s finished playing professional basketball, Gillespie will be President of the United States. The Wildcats are an absolute chore to guard, freeing shooters with a variety of uncommon moves and screens and also by spreading the court and empowering ballhandlers, particularly Gillespie, to back down defenders and either draw in to defenders for kick-outs to open shooters or to score on postups or turnaround jumpers. There is an astonishing degree of physical and mental toughness in this team. It was there across 80 minutes of basketball in two Big East games against Providence and especially in the Elite Eight game victory against Houston, which the officials allowed to devolve into an MMA fight. They will not back away from any competition.
The Wildcats don’t have an obvious replacement. Even at full strength, they’re just not big enough. They’ve won the title before with smaller teams than the average champ; listed at 6-9 as center for the 2018 championship Wildcats, Omari Spellman was the shortest tallest regular of any championship team in the past 30-plus years. But he was surrounded by elite talents such as Sporting News Player of the Year Jalen Brunson, future Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges and current Sacramento Kings guard Donte DiVencenzo. This is not that Villanova team. There is a reason the tempo for the Wildcats has slowed to 345th in Division I, compared to 150th with the 2018 champions and 274th with the 2016 winners. Wright wants his teams to be precise on offense, because the ability to execute the constant screening and motion to generate high-quality shots for high-quality shooters is why Villanova has reached its third Final Four since 2016. But the pieces aren’t as exceptional now. The Wildcats only are 102nd in effective field goal percentage.
So although they are among the better defensive teams in the country, they can’t compensate as well for the fact they are not built to protect the rim. They rank 264th in block rate; no team outside the top 200 has won the title in the past 20 years, most were in the top 50 and three (03 Syracuse, 04 UConn and 12 Kentucky) were No. 1.
'
Buffalo, 10-5 (3-1 MAC), 9
They've won four out of six, but the two losses were on the road against Siena and Fairfield, the MAAC's top two teams.
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 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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
Therefore, Vitya simply missed his first season in the NCAA. 
The coach wanted to protect the Russians in the composition. 
We went to different tournaments, and somewhere the scouts saw my game and invited me to the USA, says Savrasov. 
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. 
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. 
Goldin has three years left to study, and he can play four more. 
His coach Alexander Antipov invited him. 
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. 
And so everything was at the highest level,” recalls Glushkov. 
He was 10. His older sister was leaving for New York to study English, and David just went with her for a month. 
Here I first lived with my sister, she pushed me to talk to people, and somehow everything turned out by itself, - says Didenko. 
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 
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. 
Well, thumbs up, comments, subscriptions to YouTube - everything is traditional. 
If, like last season, there were seven teams in Superleague-2, ChGU would have made it to the 1/4 finals. And so, as many as 7 victories separated Cheboksary basketball players from the cherished sixth line of the tournament table. 
You are developing as a player, gaining useful experience, which helped us in the Final Eight of the Student League. More games, less practice. There was not enough physics, and then fatigue affected - and hence the emotional background is not the best. All this influenced the result. In Superleague-2, quite a lot of games were lost in the clutch... Embarrassing defeats, but there is something to work on, to improve your result.” 
Now we have individually strong players, but one person will not win the championship - the team always wins, ” - explains Mikhaleva. 
9 points per match), and the top three snipers of the league include two Parma basketball players at once - Ksenia Gabova (26.8 points) and Yana Golyakova (25.1 points). 
