After Notre Dame’s center Tom Timmermans sank a career-high 20
points against UCLA last Saturday, Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey
wore a look of mock concern on his face.
“I hope this doesn’t mean that Tom is going to leave
us now,” he joked outside the locker room.
Timmermans, a native of the Netherlands, is one of a significant
number of international college basketball players recruited to
play collegiately in the United States.
But with the lure of million-dollar contracts offered by
European leagues, some players have begun to leave their collegiate
teams in the dust in the middle of the season to return to Europe
and play for pay.
With the departures of three European players from high-profile
programs in the past two weeks, what has always been a possibility
in the collegiate basketball world is becoming an increasingly
disconcerting reality.
“Colleges can take time and effort to recruit a player,
and one day he could be gone,” UCLA assistant coach Donny
Daniels said. “There are no restrictions to make them stay
here, and there’s a chance it’s going to
happen.”
Save for a few players who have sporadically left collegiate
teams in the past, previously the chance remained nothing more than
mere possibility. It was well known that international players came
to the United States for the education and the opportunity to
improve their draft potential in hopes of being able to make the
transition to professional leagues after graduation.
But this year, things have changed as a series of players have
decided to go pro in Europe without waiting to graduate, or, in
some instances, without even waiting for their season to end.
What has put NCAA coaches with international players on edge,
however, is the trend that seems to have started with the departure
of Danish guard Christian Drejer of Florida, who announced on Feb.
18, that he would leave the Gators to play for F.C. Barcelona of
the EuroLeague, the premiere basketball league in Europe.
Drejer, who will reportedly be paid $1 million through June of
2005 with the possibility of a two-year contract extension, was
previously offered contracts on multiple occasions but turned them
down. This time, with his family handling negotiations with the pro
team, he was given only 48 hours to make a decision as the team
sought to fill spots for injured players.
“It’s tough, in the Florida situation, the
kid’s got a million dollars on the table,” UCLA coach
Ben Howland said. “It was either come now or lose the
opportunity. If you put a lot of pressure on an 18-, 19-,
20-year-old kid in that situation, it’s a hard choice to
make.”
Next to go was Latvian Maris Laksa of Providence. Laksa, unlike
Drejer, did not see much playing time in coach Tim Welsh’s
lineup and felt his value was being diminished by spending time on
the Friars’ bench. He left Providence on Feb. 22 to return to
Europe, and plans to compete for a professional team in
Slovenia.
“The Florida situation and our situation are totally
different,” Welsh said last week. “Theirs was a leading
player, I think if our guy was a leading player, there’s no
way he would have left us.”
Different situations, maybe. But with players leaving teams with
what some would consider no regard for the season and the
well-being of their former teams, other coaches are growing
increasingly concerned.
South Carolina coach Dave Odom called for a meeting with coaches
and representatives from the NCAA and FIBA, the world governing
body for basketball to discuss the issue after Laksa announced his
departure.
Calling Drejer’s decision “regrettable,” Odom
voiced not only concern, but criticism over a player’s choice
to leave his team midseason.
“That shows a lack of loyalty and a lack of appreciation
for what Florida and the NCAA did for the kid,” Odom told the
Denver Post regarding Drejer. “They gave him an opportunity
to grow as a person and as a basketball player.”
That was exactly Laksa’s concern and his main reason for
returning to Europe: Without playing time, his visibility and value
were decreasing. And he’s not alone.
German forward Jan Jagla of Penn State indicated that he is
considering signing with a European team after this year, and
foregoing his senior season with the Nittany Lions. Although Jagla
leads Penn State in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, he said
he has kept in contact with coaches at EuroLeague team Alba Berlin,
according to the Pennsylvania Patriot-News.
The last to depart is Nouha Diakite of Louisville. The French
reserve guard not only made the announcement on Tuesday, but hopped
on a plane, as well, returning to his home country in hopes of
pursuing a professional career there. According to the Louisville
press release, Diakite currently has no specific plans. He averaged
1.6 points and 2.2 rebounds in 19 games this season for the
Cardinals.
This sudden series of departures does not surprise many coaches.
European basketball, for players inclined to make the sport their
careers, is significantly more lax in regulations and restrictions
than the NCAA is in the United States.
For players who hope to play professionally in the NBA, enduring
four years of college basketball under NCAA restrictions is no
longer necessary. With foreign NBA scouts in every European
country, international players no longer need to come to the States
to get noticed.
“All the restrictions the NCAA puts on players are hard
because overseas kids can play over there and get paid,”
Daniels said. “They can get a great education overseas and
still be visible for the NBA.”
Daniels noted on a recent trip to Greece, he met NBA scouts from
multiple teams who were from countries where they were responsible
for scouting and recruiting players. Last year, the NBA drafted 21
international players.
“Now that (players) can stay over there and make money,
and now that the NBA is coming to them, the lure of college ball
has been cut away,” he said.
But the credibility of an American education has not diminished,
he added. He isn’t worried that international players will
stop looking to the United States as a destination, nor is he
particularly worried that American coaches will stop recruiting
them. But the recent phenomenon of players leaving when attractive
contracts appear on the table won’t end.
“That will happen ““ it happened last week,
it’ll happen this week someplace, and it will continue to
happen,” Daniels said. “A million dollars is hard to
turn down.”