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How much money does the ncaa basketball tournament make
How Much Does the NCAA Make Off March Madness?
March Madness is big business for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), where its biggest basketball games tip off and sports fanatics scramble to fill out tournament brackets and place bets in office pools. The NCAA typically pulls in about a billion dollars each year in revenue from media rights fees, ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, and a proliferation of television ads anchored around the three-week-long tournament.
And the games aren’t just a big business within the collegiate ecosystem. In 2022, 45 million Americans will wager an estimated $3.1 billion on the tournament, according to the American Gaming Association. Big brands also will take their piece of the profits, but the NCAA conference commissioners and executives will see the heftiest cash-out.
Key Takeaways
Despite a large amount of money generated by the NCAA and its member colleges during March Madness, the players receive zero compensation.
The money generated during the annual tournament is divided among the various conferences and is dependent upon the performance of schools in their division, not directed by the NCAA.
Broadcast rights continue to be a good source of income for the NCAA; CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting found their returns profitable enough to extend their contract until 2032.
The Size of the Pot
Basically, March Madness is the NCAA’s bread and butter. In 2021, college athletics’ governing body earned $1.15 billion in revenue, with the tournament representing almost 90%. On the surface, that seems like cause for outrage, especially in light of how much the players earn: nothing.
One of the most lucrative contracts connected with the tournament is the one for broadcast rights. In 2010, the NCAA signed a 14-year, $10.8 billion contract with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting, paid over the term. The deal was extended in March 2016 for an additional $8.8 billion that will keep the tournament on the networks until 2032.
According to the NCAA, about 90% of the money that it collects immediately flows out to the member schools. It’s the only system in place that assigns a monetary value based on athletic performance.
A 2021 rule change allows NCAA athletes to earn money from their names, images, and likenesses, though they're still prohibited from earning a salary to play while in school.
How Tournament Money Gets Divided
This year, 68 teams got an invitation to play in the tournament. Each of those team’s conferences will get a piece of a pot of money known as the basketball performance fund. The fund is nearly $170 million in 2022.
For each game that a team plays, its conference gets a payout, which is based on its performance over a six-year rolling period. Conferences get units for their tournament participation. If a team makes it all the way to the championship game, it can earn as many as five units. If a team makes the championship game from the first-four bracket, it could earn a total of six units. In 2021, a unit was worth $337,141.
Of course, each conference wants to see as many of its member schools in the tournament as possible, to raise the payout that it receives. For smaller, lesser-known conferences, the basketball fund money that they receive can represent a major portion of their annual income.
For a surprise team that is virtually unknown and makes it through multiple rounds, the payout can represent a much-needed cash injection for its conference. For larger conferences, however, such as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) or the Big Ten, the basketball fund is more like financial icing on the cake than a major source of revenue.
The NCAA’s decision to pull the plug on 2020’s tournament just before it got underway due to the pandemic—the first cancellation in its 81-year history—slashed revenue by more than half for the 2020 fiscal year, to just below $520 million. It ended up posting a net loss of just under $56 million for the fiscal year.
Conferences vs. Schools
The NCAA urges conferences to divide the money equally among their member schools. Larger conferences, which have multiple sources of income, routinely divide up most of the money and send it to their member schools’ athletics programs. Smaller conferences, however, count on that money to cover their own expenses. Only the money that’s left over goes to member schools.
Despite the proliferation of bets associated with the March Madness tournament each year, the NCAA’s official policy on sports gambling is this: “If you put something at risk, such as an entry fee, for an opportunity to win something in return, you violate the NCAA sports wagering bylaws.”
How Much Are the NCAA’s Annual Revenues?
In fiscal year 2021, the NCAA generated $1.15 billion in revenues. March Madness accounts for a majority of its revenues, which come from broadcast rights, ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, and television advertising.
When Was the First NCAA Basketball Tournament?
The first NCAA men’s basketball tournament took place in 1939 with eight teams participating. Today, 68 teams participate each year in what is now known as March Madness.
How Many Teams Play During March Madness?
A total of 68 teams play in the March Madness tournament. The tournament lasts three weeks.
The Bottom Line
There’s plenty of criticism of the funding model used by the NCAA. The colleges see very little, while the players, who actually create the income, see none at all. Still, in the case of the NCAA, the organization isn’t pocketing most of the cash that it takes in. Only what’s left over, according to the NCAA’s financial disclosures, goes to its own operating expenses.
March Madness Daily – Sportico.com
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March Madness can make or break careers for college basketball players and coaches, but no one has more on the line in these three weeks than the NCAA itself.
The governing body controls neither the College Football Playoff, nor any FBS bowl games, which means the annual men’s basketball tournament is the end-all-be-all financially for the NCAA. The association made a record $1.16 billion in 2021 and more than 85% of that came from March Madness.
The biggest driver is the NCAA’s long-term TV deals with CBS and Turner Sports, which will pay the Indianapolis-based organization up to $19.6 billion over the 22-year term. Payments escalate each year, with the NCAA set to receive $870 million this year should it deliver every game.
That if, once an afterthought, has taken on new meaning in the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA canceled the tournament in 2020, and later said it lost more than $800 million in revenue because of the decision. Last year’s tournament was held entirely in Indiana in front of limited fans, which restricted ticket revenue and some sponsorship.
Insurance has helped offset some of those losses. The NCAA collected $270 million from a loss of revenue policy in 2020, and another $81 million last year. Its annual financial report, released in February, said that insurance was no longer available “given the changes to the marketplace due to COVID-19.”
The NCAA distributes about 60% of its annual revenue back to its member schools and conferences. It’s a complex web of payments, but the three biggest buckets are: scholarship grants, payments based on March Madness performance, and championship expenses. Those distributions aren’t critical for a $200 million athletic department like Ohio State’s, but they matter a lot more for nearby Wright State.
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This season, 8 Russians play in the NCAA.
How are they? - The Interception - Blogs
Editor's Note: You are reading the user blog Interception, which talks about European basketball. Don't forget that pluses are still the best way to thank the author.
Before the start of last season, I wrote this text. Then I talked to almost all the Russians who were preparing to compete in the NCAA - there were 11 of them at that time - and tried to understand why Russian youth began to leave more massively for American universities. There have never been such a number of Russians in the NCAA.
A year and a half has passed since then, and half of the guys have parted ways: Konstantin Dotsenko is now playing in the Loko farm club, Zakhar Vedischev plays at the base of Krasnodar, Mark Tikhonenko signed a contract with Astana, Andre Toure recently played in Maykop in the second Super League, and Samson Ruzhentsev moved to the Serbian "Mega".
But some remained in America. They were joined by a few more guys who either just left Russia or got into the NCAA from American schools or the NJCAA. In this text, I will talk about all the Russians who play in the first division of the main student league in the world. If last season I wanted to explain why exactly they are leaving, now I have focused on their career.
If you prefer reading, then below is a large text with comments from the players themselves; but this time you have the opportunity not only to read, but also to watch a video about all of our in the NCAA. Inside is my story and a video interview with the guys.
If you watch a YouTube video, don't forget to thumbs up and leave a comment. This will help promote the channel. Subscribe if you love Russian basketball and want to learn more about it.
And now - the promised text about our guys in America.
What is the NCAA
The NCAA, or NCDA, is the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States and Canada. It includes almost 1300 schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions. The teams of these universities are represented not only in basketball - the NCAA also has competitions in American football, wrestling, fencing, bowling, softball, gymnastics, tennis and God knows what else.
But basketball is a very popular sport in the association. Both guys and girls have three divisions, which are ranked by strength. This text is only about those Russians who compete in the first, strongest, division.
The NCAA has a playoff called March Madness. When knockout games start, the whole country switches from professionals to students. Although during the season, the teams also have enough attention from fans: the clubs play in large and good arenas, many people come to the matches, the games are shown on television, and sometimes on national television. There are even universities whose fans spend the night in front of the arena in the hope of having time to buy a ticket.
So the NCAA is a really serious tournament, albeit a student one.
How many Russians are there
I have spent an hour and a half of my life checking the composition of all the colleges that are represented in the first division. There are 358 of them. I broke my eyes, learned about the existence of several countries and even about the presence of basketball in these countries, but still I counted all the Russians.
I got eight people, and now we will get to know them better. The sequence on my list doesn't mean anything, it's just that way because I talked to the guys in that order.
I hope I haven't missed anyone. Please write in the comments if you know someone whom I have overlooked.
Evdokimov is the newest member of the NCAA Division I. He joined the Charleston Cougars - the name of the team of the University of Charleston from South Carolina - in early December last year.
This university belongs to mid-major. In the American system, there is a gradation of universities by strength - from low-major to high-major. Mid-major is the middle level. Most Russian guys perform at universities that fall into this category.
Before moving to the USA, Nikita played for the youth team of Lokomotiv-Kuban and for the national team. Last summer, the defender represented the Russian under-20 team at the Euro Challenger, although he himself was only 18.
Evdokimov has an interesting story about how he fell in love with basketball. In fact, it is strange that he did not go to handball, because his dad is the famous Russian handball player Yegor Evdokimov. Six-time champion of Russia, champion of Spain, champion of Belarus, champion of Ukraine, participant of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. At the dawn of his career, Yegor Viktorovich played in his homeland, in the Chelyabinsk region, the city of Snezhinsk. Nikita was born there.
- I fell in love with basketball when I was 9 or 10 years old. My cousin and grandmother and I went on vacation to the Crimea. There was a playground where I constantly ran and played. Grandma suggested trying to sign up for basketball. And before that, I didn’t consider basketball as a sport at all ... But I went to a training session and instantly fell in love. Didn't miss it at all. Then Lokomotiv saw me at the Russian Championship. Together with a team from my city, from Chekhov, we took fourth place, and everyone was very surprised. I was seen by coach Petar Marinkovic, who called me to Loko, ”recalls Evdokimov.
He says that he could have been in the red-green system even earlier. He was invited to the Yug-Basket camp - this is a camp organized by the club and within which it looks for players in its youth system - but then Evdokimov was with relatives in the United States and could not come.
He ended up in the Loko system in 2017. True, Evdokimov says that, even while playing for Krasnodar, he often thought that he actually wanted to try his hand at American basketball. He has relatives living in the USA, he has been there more than once, and when the chance to move to the university appeared, he did not hesitate for a long time.
Evdokimov learned about the university's interest in him in advance, so he spent the summer with benefit: he trained individually with personal trainers in Moscow and Cyprus, where his father plays handball. There, the defender, at the request of the university coach, worked hard on three-pointers and performed at least 500 long-range shots a day.
Evdokimov will be coached at the College of Charleston by Pat Kelsey, a strong specialist who is widely known in college basketball. He once worked with Jeff Teague and Chris Paul.
Alex is not short for Alexander, but his passport name. He was not born in Russia, but in Canada, his parents went there to give birth to Alex. In this country, he lived the first year of his life, after which he left for Moscow. In memory of Canada, Alex has citizenship (he has a double one).
But he started playing basketball in Russia.
— I started playing basketball at Gloria when I was 10-11 years old. People came to my school - and I studied at an ordinary secondary school - who were looking for young guys who were ready to play basketball. They came into my class, saw that I was tall, did a couple of tests, asked me different questions and invited me to practice. I studied at Gloria for a long time, then I got into the MBA Junior Junior League, from there I was taken to the Super League. I played there for literally a year, and after graduating from high school I decided that it would be wise to go to the United States. I contacted Skryagin (Alexander Skryagin, ProFuturo Sports, - note "Interception"), because he was the only person who knows more about moving to the USA than me. We talked to him, I dropped my highlights to him, and he helped me find a school, - says Kotov.
Alex arrived in the US in 2017 and entered the Montverde Academy. This is a very famous program that prepares players for the NCAA. Kotov spent a year in Montverde and won the championship with this team, the result for the season is 35-0. Alex's partners then included, for example, RJ Barrett, who now plays for the New York Knicks in the NBA, and Turkish Efes center Philip Petrushev.
Alex left Montverde not immediately for the NCAA, but for the NJCAA. It is an association of junior colleges and is also often referred to as Juko. A common story for those who feel like they're not ready for the NCAA yet, but want to play hard and improve. Kotov spent two years in this association, after which he moved to the NCAA, to the Illinois State Redbirds team. This is also a representative university of the mid-major category.
Alex has six months left to study at the university, but he can play in the team for another two and a half years. This happened because the players have the right to use the redshirt option. In fact, this is the right of the player to extend his career at the university, even if he has already graduated from the university. Plus, there's also the "cancellation" of the season due to the coronavirus (this happened last year), which also doesn't count, as well as the "cancellation" of the season due to injury (this happened to Alex in his second year in the NJCAA).
In general, these rules are very complicated.
- Due to an injury in my second year at the NJCAA, I opted to save the year. That's plus one season. In addition, this year I had a lot of misunderstandings with the coach, it all started last year. I thought that it would be possible to influence it somehow, to establish relations with him in the summer, but it turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. Therefore, after a huge number of meetings, we came to the conclusion that this year it would be easier for me to also take the option to save the year. So this year I'm graduating from university, getting an education, but I still have, roughly speaking, two seasons to play in the NCAA, - says Kotov.
Lakhin is the only Russian who represents a high-major university. This means that the university where Vitya plays often goes to the "March Madness" and has a tangible chance of winning the NCAA.
And the story of Lakhin began in Anapa. The parents wanted to send their sons - Vitya and his brother Vasya - to some kind of team sport so that they would play together. And chose volleyball. But because of the coach, they did not last long in the volleyball section and eventually went to basketball.
Lahin started in fourth grade but quickly rose to the city team. And in the Krasnodar Territory, if you play for the city team, then you are in full view of the Lokomotiv scouts. Vitya did not play Loko on a permanent basis, but by the 7-8th grade he was regularly on the team to participate in the Russian championships. The Railroaders took him as a reinforcement player - this is a common practice in children's competitions.
Further - a matter of chance. Loko juniors played in the final stage of the Russian championship and met CSKA twice - in the group stage and in the semi-finals. Lakhin gave two good games and ... received an invitation from the "soldiers".
At first he did not think of moving anywhere and stayed to finish the season in the south. But summer came, and he still went to see it. He was offered to stay after the first practice. Vitya talked to his parents and a month later he arrived at CSKA.
- The first season was probably the most emotional, full of some moments, memories. Because my brother and I arrived for the first time in a big city. On the one hand, this is a great freedom, because there are no parents nearby, but, on the other hand, this is also a great responsibility. Because you have never done the things that your parents did for you before, like laundry, cleaning, all sorts of small things. Even a waste of money: you never thought about it before, you were given - you spent it. And here you have money, and you know that if you spend everything, then at the end of the month you won’t have any left, ”recalls Vitya.
Lakhin reached the final stage of the youth Euroleague with CSKA and spent a pretty good season overall. Alexey Zhukov, the head coach of the “army” CYBL, left to work as an assistant in Nizhny Novgorod, and Maxim Sharafan came to CSKA from Lokomotiv. He worked with Vitya for three years, and during this time Lakhin managed to understand that he wants to play in Russia only at the highest level - in CSKA - and if it doesn’t work out, then it’s better to leave.
- I realized that it would be very difficult for me to get into the base. This is a top club with the highest goals, and as a young player I need to be not even the same as everyone else, but better, because I have no experience. It was necessary here and now to show some level and bring results. Let's be realistic, there were no players who can immediately enter the CSKA system and show something like that for a long time. Probably the Swede was the last one. I realized that I can’t do that, and since my dream is to be in the NBA, I decided to move closer to this league, this Wednesday, to America. That's why I'm here, - says Vitya.
But not everything was so simple. Back in Russia, Lakhin managed to get injured. He fell in the game moment, and his knee hurt. The medical staff did not suspect anything, and Vitya continued to train. The state of health worsened, but then the pandemic came, everyone went into self-isolation, and the center just went home. The knee was still swollen, but the pain was slowly receding. Vitya did not train and therefore did not feel any signs of deterioration. He already knew that he was leaving for America, and just waited for all the permits.
The injury happened in February and the departure was due in September. In the summer, Lakhin himself did an MRI, which showed that he had . .. a torn meniscus. He took the results of the examination to the surgeon who scheduled the operation. Vitya went for it and began to recover in Russia, and he came to the USA with an already operated knee.
Everything should have been fine, but when he started running, the pain returned. Lakhin did another MRI, and it showed that the same meniscus was completely torn. The doctors said that it would take six months to recover. Therefore, Vitya simply missed his first season in the NCAA.
— All this time I didn't train, but I was always with the team: in scouting, in the locker room, in training. All lessons were online, and we lived in an apartment with the team. So that year helped me a lot, because even though I didn’t play, I was in the system and I knew the guys. It was my year of adaptation - to a new culture, to people, to new faces, to food. I had the same feeling as when I came from a small town to Moscow. You leave Russia for any other country - even to America, even to Italy, even to Spain - and you go through the same thing, Lakhin believes.
He adds that the Cincinnati had a new head coach at the end of last season and it was a difficult moment. A new specialist was appointed the day before Lakhin's departure to Russia, when he did not yet understand whether he would remain in the team for the next season or not. Whether to leave it, decided the new head coach. But in the end, the center managed to meet with him before departure and find a common language. The coach wanted to protect the Russians in the 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
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.
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Foul between the lines. Money is killing collegiate sports in North America
Agents and sponsors chasing the most promising athletes has threatened the collegiate sports system in North America
Collegiate teams are of great importance to the sports industry in the US and Canada, especially in basketball. They train staff for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and draw huge attention to their own competitions. March Madness, the finals of the men's college championship, is successfully competing in ratings with NBA games. Naturally, this is of interest to sportswear brands, financial institutions, automotive concerns and other potential advertisers.
NCAA basketball players are considered amateurs and do not receive a salary - the most successful of them have only a scholarship to cover tuition costs. Under these conditions, contracts with personal sponsors can turn your head. Agents should help calmly understand the financial and legal intricacies without harming your career, but it was their work that brought student sports to a huge scandal.
NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association. Unites 1281 organizations that conduct sports competitions in colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Under the auspices of the NCAA are championships in 24 sports. More than 450 thousand athletes participate in these tournaments. In 2014, NCAA revenue reached $1 billion. At least 80% of the association's money comes from the top division of the men's basketball championship.
Non-amateur transactions
In late September, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested eight NCAA coaches and two athletic equipment managers. All of them appear in the case, which the bureau has been working on for a year and a half. The FBI has identified several cases of coaches and agents using bribes to persuade players to transfer to a particular university. They themselves received rewards for this from the managers of these universities, striving to assemble a stronger squad, in fact, outbidding basketball players, or from sponsoring companies looking for the most promising career development options for their potential clients in terms of moving to the NBA. Students were offered to change not so much the university as the team. This allows the participants in the transaction to earn, but is contrary to the principles of amateur sports.
Former NCAA player, current basketball agent Kevin Tarka commented to the CBC on this situation: “I wouldn't say shocked. Changes in recruitment in recent years are evident. Unfortunately, the influence of outfitters has increased dramatically. But the intervention of the FBI surprised. This is a completely different level in contrast to the internal investigation of the NCAA. Everything starts from the bottom. Athletes are being pulled in all directions: family, friends, shoe companies, coaches, amateur athletes union, scouts, agents. .. When huge sums are involved, it's hard to spot a foul somewhere between the lines. Someone is bound to break the rules to try and make money.” .
$250,000 alleged reward from adidas to young athletes for transferring to company-sponsored universities
Heavy choice
The hunt for the best basketball players is understandable. Such players with sports success can bring millions to their university (most of the huge NCAA profits are distributed among league members), and if they get into the NBA, they will provide good advertising to sponsors and a decent commission to agents.
The problem is that the majority of basketball students enter the NBA draft after their first year. And they have to make a difficult choice: either try to prove themselves in the best league in the world, or postpone this issue until graduation. In the first case (if a contract with an agent is signed), there will be no opportunity to return to the university, in the second, there is a risk of losing three years of a career (and a high salary) in a weaker tournament. Even those who are objectively not ready for the NBA often cannot resist the temptation. For them, the first professional contract is the last, but at the age of 17 it is difficult to soberly assess their strength. Especially when your advisor is very interested in getting a commission. As a result, both the players and the NCAA level suffer.
“We need to find ways to pay players official salaries. Otherwise, the NCAA will put itself in danger of destruction, - sure Kevin Tarka . – It is necessary that the guys understand their true market value. Let the account be available to them only after graduation, but it should be their money. Coaches in the NCAA earn several million dollars, while athletes receive only "free training." Absurd. However, it is necessary to weaken the interest of the NBA. And let the players hire agents to keep them informed, but don't take away their right to training if they can't sign a professional contract!"
Gray Cardinals
In the report released by the FBI, the names of athletes and universities are hidden. Pseudonyms are used - "Player 1", "Player 2", "University 3", "University 4" and so on. For example, it is indicated that the coaches received from adidas (more precisely, from "Company 1") and agents $ 22 thousand for the transfer of one player to the "University 6" team. University 6 is described as similar to the University of Louisville, where Hall of Famer Rick Pitino was fired after the report was published.
There are two main defendants. No one is as closely connected to the black market agents, shoe companies, financial advisors, and recruiters in the NCAA as they are. These are Adidas International Sports Marketing Director for Basketball James Gatto and an employee of the same company, Merle Coad, who previously headed the youth basketball program of another equipment manufacturer (described as similar to Nike). For two decades they remained in the shadows and turned all the deals without too much noise. Both have happy families and crystal clear reputations. The information that surfaced shocked their entourage. Charges of bribery and money laundering threaten terms of up to 40 years. Collaboration with the investigation may knock them down, but in this case, Code and Gatto will have to show something really significant, which will surely result in new arrests among coaches, managers and other industry workers.
$150,000 received, according to investigators, a potential recruit of the University 7 team for choosing their team with the participation of James Gatto
“He was in charge of budgeting, recruiting, college coach relations, ,” says a person who worked with Code. – He controlled everything and nothing could happen without his knowledge. That is why everyone is in fear right now.” .
“Coaches who worked with equipment manufacturers are sleeping in a cold sweat. I imagine myself in the place of James and Merle and understand that their families are dearer to them than even their closest clients. If in such a situation I knew something that would reduce my term, I would certainly tell it. It's not about the war with North Korea, we're talking about college basketball."0257, ESPN analyst Sam Fraccilla , who used to work as a coach at a New Mexico college, estimated what was happening.
Beginning of the end
On the other hand, while NCAA officials think it's dark days, league coaches say it's a great opportunity to take the first step toward fair college sports. Waiting for changes and our expert. “We have finally reached the tipping point. If there is no change to student athlete compensation, the NCAA could be destroyed. Perhaps not in the short term, but in 10 years. But this process has begun now.” - counts Kevin Tarka .
$50,000 - bribe allegedly received by coach Chuck Person, famed NBA veteran, to lure several players into a sponsorship deal with an Atlanta clothing manufacturer
Agree on league outlook and Jay Williams former NBA player and current college basketball analyst: “This is the beginning of the end for the NCAA.
In 2021, a unit was worth $337,141. 
Today, 68 teams participate each year in what is now known as March Madness.
Its annual financial report, released in February, said that insurance was no longer available “given the changes to the marketplace due to COVID-19.”
How are they? - The Interception - Blogs 
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. 
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. 
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 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. 
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). 
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). 
The Railroaders took him as a reinforcement player - this is a common practice in children's competitions. 
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. 
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. 
.. 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. 
1 assists, 0.4 block shots, 0.9 interceptions, 1 loss Andrey's first coach is a well-known Russian specialist Oleg Aktsipetrov. 
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. 
5 minutes average 
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. 
1 rebounds, no assists, 0.1 blocks, 0.1 steals, no losses 
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. 
True, the coach still does not really trust him. 
7 turnovers 
The coach was needed so that David would not just mess around in the States. 
But already in the second year, Didenko ended up in the first division, at the University of Georgia. 
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. 
Agents should help calmly understand the financial and legal intricacies without harming your career, but it was their work that brought student sports to a huge scandal. 
They themselves received rewards for this from the managers of these universities, striving to assemble a stronger squad, in fact, outbidding basketball players, or from sponsoring companies looking for the most promising career development options for their potential clients in terms of moving to the NBA. Students were offered to change not so much the university as the team. This allows the participants in the transaction to earn, but is contrary to the principles of amateur sports. 
.. When huge sums are involved, it's hard to spot a foul somewhere between the lines. Someone is bound to break the rules to try and make money.” . 
Even those who are objectively not ready for the NBA often cannot resist the temptation. For them, the first professional contract is the last, but at the age of 17 it is difficult to soberly assess their strength. Especially when your advisor is very interested in getting a commission. As a result, both the players and the NCAA level suffer. 
Pseudonyms are used - "Player 1", "Player 2", "University 3", "University 4" and so on. For example, it is indicated that the coaches received from adidas (more precisely, from "Company 1") and agents $ 22 thousand for the transfer of one player to the "University 6" team. University 6 is described as similar to the University of Louisville, where Hall of Famer Rick Pitino was fired after the report was published. 
Charges of bribery and money laundering threaten terms of up to 40 years. Collaboration with the investigation may knock them down, but in this case, Code and Gatto will have to show something really significant, which will surely result in new arrests among coaches, managers and other industry workers. 
It's not about the war with North Korea, we're talking about college basketball."0257, ESPN analyst Sam Fraccilla , who used to work as a coach at a New Mexico college, estimated what was happening. 
